In This Issue

THE PEOPLE WHO put together the front pages for both the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner thought the single most important thing that happened in the world May 20 was the San Francisco Civil Service Commission's decision to give the Board of Supervisors a pay raise. "Fat Cash for Supes," the front-page banner in the Ex screamed. "Pay for Each S.F. Supervisor to Triple," the Chron's top-of-the-page headline announced.

But really, although the timing is terrible, the pay thing isn't that big a deal. The voters decided last year that the job of a San Francisco supervisor was a full-time gig, and they approved a City Charter amendment giving Civil Service the right to set an appropriate salary. The final number – $112,320, or $2,160 a week – sounds impressive, and it's obviously a lot of money, but it's also about what top managers across the city make.

The only one on the board who is making noise about the "fat cash" is Gavin Newsom, who is also by far the wealthiest supervisor and the only one who really doesn't need the money. I agree with Matt Gonzalez: The city's top policymakers ought to get paid enough money that they don't have to look for outside jobs, consulting gigs, and other work that's guaranteed to create conflicts of interest.

Yeah, a lot of people live on a lot less, and the supes could too (they currently make $37,440, with no health insurance or retirement benefits, and most work at the job full time). Perhaps, given the budget crisis and the fact that other city employees are facing cutbacks, they could offer to take a pay reduction – say, of 10 percent. Then they'd be making $101,088. Or they could take 20 percent less and make $89,856 – and the Ex and Chron would still be all atwitter. I just can't get that agitated about this one.

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In other news: At press time I got a message from tenant activists who support Assemblymember Mark Leno's A.B. 1217, a bill that would prevent landlords from using the Ellis Act to evict tenants from residential hotels. They're worried that Leno's S.F. colleague, Assemblymember Leland Yee, won't vote for the bill when it comes up next week. His office was closed by the time I got the message, but you might give him a call or send an e-mail and urge him to support the measure.