Hall Monitor

Paper chase For almost a decade the city has paid the Fang family about a million dollars a year to print notices of government business in their home-delivery paper, the San Francisco Independent. Now, due to questions about the paper's circulation, that reliable source of cash is in jeopardy. And the cash confusion is feeding speculation about the Fangs' finances and, ultimately, the fate of the San Francisco Examiner, which they took control of in 2000.

According to city hall sources, the Indy has been meeting the requirement that it publish three days a week by printing a meager 500 copies of the paper each Thursday. And even though the paper surpasses the contract's other main requirement – that 50,000 copies be printed every week – the Fangs have apparently been printing fewer papers than their bid promised after they slashed the Tuesday press run by almost two-thirds.

That inconsistency was enough for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to vote 6-5 June 10 against renewing the Independent's designation as the official newspaper for printing public notices. (Supes who are generally supported by the Fang papers – Sophie Maxwell, Fiona Ma, Gavin Newsom, Bevan Dufty, and Tony Hall – voted for renewal, while those who've more often fallen victim to the Fangs' political attacks opposed it)

One city hall source says the Fangs indicated that the circulation reduction was a cost-saving measure, which encourages more questions about the future of both the Indy and the Ex. Hearst Corp., which now owns the San Francisco Chronicle, agreed to reimburse the Fangs $66.7 million to run the Examiner. But the money is set to run out at the end of July, and many say that it's already been spent (see "All in the Family," 4/30/03).

It's unclear what the city will do now. Legally, it's supposed to have an advertising contract signed by July 1, but a 1994 voter initiative backed by the Fangs makes it difficult for any other paper to step in. The official paper must be printed in the city and come out three days a week – and publications that are owned by a woman or a member of a racial minority are given priority. The only other paper to submit a bid this year, the SF Weekly, is published just once a week. The City Attorney's Office says that until something changes that allows either the Independent or another paper to become the city's official newspaper, San Francisco can fulfill its obligation by running its legal advertisements on an ad hoc basis – and the legals could be divided up among a number of publications. (Tali Woodward)

In poor health Dozens of public health service advocates and recipients streamed before the Board of Supervisors June 10 to comment on the austere budget proposed for the Department of Public Health.

Although Mayor Willie Brown's June 1 budget revision restored $2.1 million of the $20.4 million in spending cuts that had been proposed in his earlier budget, speakers blasted the remaining deep cuts as shortsighted.

Homeless advocates said cutbacks to outreach services, drug treatment centers, and mental health programs will exacerbate a homelessness problem that has grabbed the public's attention. Others decried reductions to health services in poor neighborhoods or noted that none of the cutbacks to AIDS/HIV programs had been restored in the latest budget.

The hearing was designed to take input from the public and didn't yet require action by the board, which is slated to consider changes to the public health budget at a special hearing June 26.

The board was scheduled to consider adoption of an interim budget plan – which is essentially a 30-day extension authorizing spending after the fiscal year ends June 30 – at its June 17 meeting, after press time. If adopted, the city's new budget deadline would be July 30. (Steven T. Jones)

IRV update Plans to implement instant-runoff voting in the November elections will be thrashed out before the Elections Commission June 18 in what's expected to be a lively public hearing featuring vendor Election Systems and Software.

IRV, also known as ranked-choice voting, recently won a nearly $2.4 million funding allocation by the Board of Supervisors and was the subject of a hand-count demonstration June 9 before the Secretary of State's Office personnel who must approve the system.

Both supporters and opponents of IRV have vowed to get their way – in the courts if need be – and both sides are expected to weigh in at this first public hearing on the implementation plan. The Elections Commission meets Wed/18, 7 p.m., City Hall, Room 400, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, S.F. (415) 554-4305. The agenda is available at www.sfgov.org/site/electionscommission_page.asp?id=18003. (Jones)

URS gets contract For the second time in two weeks, on June 10 the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission narrowed a broad staff recommendation to hand URS Corp. the first part of a $150 million Calaveras Dam rehabilitation project.

The commission had delayed its May 27 decision because of public scrutiny over the recommendation (see Hall Monitor, 6/4/03). Now, commissioners struck $6 million from a proposed $10 million agreement and refused to authorize SFPUC general manager Patricia Martel to negotiate further phases of the project directly with URS.

"I would expect that they [URS] would be in the running for subsequent work, [but] there is no slam dunk for anybody," SFPUC president Dennis Normandy told us.

Representatives for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, which has been a vocal critic of URS's insider role in the bidding process, urged the commission to limit the contract. The union had previously called for the commission to investigate the selection process before proceeding with an award.

In joining the unanimous vote approving the URS contract, Normandy stressed the urgency attached to the Calaveras Dam upgrade, which commences the city's water system overhaul.

But Normandy said he would push for cooperation with the project advisory panel of experts who will review the project between commission meetings. While approving the contract, the commission directed Martel to assemble the advisory panel. (Matthew Hirsch)

Campaign Watch

Kamala kicks off It was not by mere happenstance that deputy city attorney Kamala Harris – who is aiming to oust District Attorney Terence Hallinan from office in November – held her June 7 campaign kick-off at the San Francisco Women's Building on 18th Street in the Mission District.

Her mother, Shyamala Harris, made a point her campaign consultants acknowledge will become a major theme in the Harris campaign: she would be the city's first female district attorney – as well as the first one of color. Harris is half African American and half Indian. At a handful of public forums, Harris has said she has a special sensitivity to some of the most difficult issues facing women. She frequently mentions her experience as a prosecutor (she has worked in the Alameda and San Francisco district attorney offices) dealing with domestic violence. Most recently, as the head of the city attorney's neighborhood services division, she has worked with girls forced into prostitution.

It was clear Harris intends to persuade voters that her administration would offer better representation of the city's communities of color. Chinese dragon dancers served as the show opener after a large group of supporters wearing black T-shirts reading, "Another registered voter from the Bayview," wove through the crowd in a single file and took their places, all in the first-row balcony. (Several speakers later suggested Hallinan has been ineffective in dealing with gang- and drug-related violence – a major issue affecting the Bayview and Mission neighborhoods.) Another contingent wore red T-shirts proclaiming, "Asians for Kamala." And when Shyamala Harris said that because her daughter is half Indian, she is also of Asian descent, the audience cheered.