The trolls have not only taken over this site, but they've highjacked other people's identities. They have no ethics, no shame, and zero credibility. Another good reason to ignore what they have to say.

You think SF govt is empire building??? What to explain wtf you're talking about?

Either something deserves the public's support or it doesn't. If it does, the public supports it via taxes.

A public private partnership is another way of saying, "let's give some of the public's assets over to a small group of private citizens, in other words, let's privatize it."

This is not to say govt shouldn't be run efficiently or that govt agencies should have more employees than necessary or that govt employees should have ridiculous salaries or ridiculous pensions or ridiculous work rules (either for or against them).

If something needs to be done only on an interim basis, then that's fine to have private co's bid to do that. But anything that's done on a regular basis related to public assets that doesn't require expertise should be done by govt employees.

Privatizing those kinds of jobs would not save money and if it did, it would only be via labor savings and then you get what you pay for.

I would like to go with my family to enjoy the beautiful beach, restored wetlands, picnic areas, Ft. Point, and the bike paths but how can I when George Lucas is making movies in one end of the park near the Marina gate?

And then, even if I could overlook that mess, any choice of enjoyment is destroyed by the fact that the classic old soldier quarters are being rented out to wealthy people.

That's why I spend my free time in the Tenderloin nowadays.

drive such trades offshore. It really doesn't matter where you trade these days. So your idea would only work if every nation did the same thing at the same time. Not gonna happen.

A national VAT or sales tax might fly if coupled with a corresponding reduction and flattening of income tax. I believe that the GOP are considering this.

None of these would be local, of course.

which said explicitly if said benefits cost the City ANYTHING, then police and fire would increase their pension contributions to pay for it??

It cost hundreds of millions of dollars and police and fire did not increase their contributions one dime - so no the "initiative process" was not followed by City employees.

Or do you mean like that 25% raise over four years police, fire and nurses all demanded and which the CIty could not afford??

CIty employees have raped our treasury, and the logical result is crumbling roads, privatization of our parks etc. We are only at the beginning.