By Matthew Hirsch

Tony Hall has a proclivity for bad publicity. His antics have made the one-time wedding singer and current chief of the Treasure Island Development Authority a fixture in the newspaper gossip columns. Sometimes you can't help but wonder if he's asking for it, like the time he called San Francisco Examiner columnist P.J. Corkery and left on his answering machine what sounded like a vague threat of retaliation for a recent column.

"He took that completely out of context," Hall told the Bay Guardian when asked about the phone message. What Corkery understood as intimidation, Hall told us, was actually an explanation of the challenges of running a redevelopment agency.

When we checked this story with Corkery, who quoted from the phone message in his Jan. 14 column, he wasn't buying it. "It's hard to suppose that so skilled a singer and interpreter of lyrics as Tony Hall could leave such a message and not have it mean what it says," Corkery said. Hall hasn't asked the Ex for a retraction.

Hall took the helm by special appointment of the mayor in August – right around the time we reported Treasure Island had been shortchanging the city millions for water and electric services (see "Pirates of the San Francisco Bay," 8/18/04).

Six months later, the bills still haven't been repaid. So as San Francisco residents gear up for higher water and sewer rates (expect an 11 to 22 percent sewer rate increase later this year) imposed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hall, whose annual salary is $160,000, is freely spending TIDA's money – all from what amounts to a generous subsidy from the PUC.

A few of Hall's expenses, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, include $928 a month for a 2004 Aviator SUV and $4,000 for a December holiday party.

Meanwhile, TIDA's debts are mounting, and almost nobody is willing to say publicly that one of the best ways for Treasure Island to raise revenue is to continue what it's already doing: offering cheap public power delivered by the PUC.

TIDA owed the PUC $3.7 million for that power when Hall arrived on the job. By the middle of the year that figure may stand at $4.4 million or higher, according to an estimate by consulting firm Raines, Melton, and Carella.

Former Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods president Joan Girardot, who keeps a close eye on the PUC, said the money needs to be repaid, and soon. "If I had a $3.7 million water bill in arrears, they'd shut my water off," Girardot told us. "Why is the PUC treating TIDA differently?"

TIDA's special treatment dates back eight years to when the agency came into existence. That's when then-mayor Willie Brown brokered an unwritten agreement allowing TIDA to defer its utility bills until major development on the island had begun.

This arrangement has allowed TIDA directors – first Annemarie Conroy and now Hall – to essentially use PUC ratepayer dollars as a Treasure Island slush fund. And as with Conroy, there's a chance Hall could be on to his next job by the time the bill comes due.

Unless the bill deferment deal ends, Hall can decide how much to spend on utility services. This year TIDA has chipped in about $350,000 to take on the cost of some backup generators on the island, according to TIDA deputy director Frank Gallagher.

It remains an open question whether the Treasure Island utility system will be publicly owned once the land is transferred to the city, something PUC spokesperson Tony Winnicker said general manager Susan Leal is keen to explore.

"One thing the general manager doesn't want to do is give Treasure Island over to a private utility," Winnicker told us.

Sup. Ross Mirkarimi said he would welcome the effort. "While Treasure Island is trying to dig itself out of its debt load, there should be a complete investigation of all new revenue regeneration streams, such as converting Treasure Island to a [permanent] public power utility, considering they are already paying less for electricity than we are here in San Francisco, which is completely absurd," he told us.

So far Hall has spent most of his tenure deflecting criticism over how he spends TIDA's money and his dealings with film commissioners, producers, and journalists. Meanwhile, TIDA's unpaid water and electric bills are mounting.

In light of all this, how does Hall evaluate his performance?

"I think when you're doing things that are good for the city, when you're doing the right things, people take hits on you," Hall confidently stated. "So we must be doing something right."

E-mail Matthew Hirsch