Love the editorializing in your so-called news coverage. Typical SF Weekly. "far left?" what the hell are you talking about?

these people were elected in most cases by large margins. I realize you have a duty to harsh on San Francisco and locals because you out of towners are so brilliantly smart, but really. This kind of crap is very Bay Guardian like, but I guess to suck up to your masters out in shitty Arizona with its wonderful record of living standards, you gotta suck up and pump out shit like this.

I will be SO GLAD when you and the rest of the print world finally fucking dies. We need you like a rash.

San Francisco doesn't seem to know how to hire people for under 100k

Average salary in Newsom's city hall is 98k (before benefits).

Peter,

A smart mouth backed up by an empty brain. Yep, you're a front line Weakly journalist OK.

There are Lafco's in virtually every county in the State. They're a mechanism created for specific projects. Some of my friends in Penn Grove put one together to pave streets and run water and utilities in an unincorporated area.

The purpose of SF's Lafco is to promote Public Power. No matter what anyone tells
you, that's the truth. It's a good truth. The City loses over 300 million dollars a year to PG&E. And, it's illegal for PG&E to control the SF grid. Congrats to the Bay Guardian for keeping the pressure on for 40 years.

Mr. Jameson, you're a smart-mouthed dip stick with no knowledge. Get yourself to Yuppie bar right now.

h.

Dear H.,

It's a common fallacy among LAFCo's supporters that San Francisco's Local Agency Formation Commission is nothing unusual. It is. The many LAFCos that exist elsewhere in the state serve a narrow set of purposes involving the creation of special districts -- fire protection, water service, and so on -- or expansion of municipalities in previously unincorporated land. (It sounds like your friends' LAFCo falls into this category.) I suggest you browse the Web site of the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions, www.calafco.org, to get an idea of what the typical LAFCo does. Hint: It's not promoting public power or community choice aggregation. The purpose of a LAFCo, as its name suggests, is to allow for the orderly formation of needed government agencies -- not to promote a particular vision of energy policy in a city with a functioning government.

Regards,
Peter Jamison

Peter,

Thanks for response. Your logic is flawless but somehow you get the wrong answer. This Lafco is precisely for Public Power. What have they spent most of their money on over the life of the agency? Why, studies trying to calculate a fair price for PG&E's grid. They opened by hiring an ex-PG&E engineer (E.J. Simpson)for around 75k to give them a cost estimate. He had over 20 years on the ground in SF and came up with a report that was quickly deep-six'd by then Lafco Executive Director and Clerk of the Board, Gloria Young and then Board prez Matt Gonzalez. Seems the contractor had double-billed someone and therefore his results were deemed tainted. Gloria's office charged me $13 for a copy of Simpson's report and it was the only copy sold in the City. Both Young and Gonzalez admitted they hadn't even bothered to read it.

The Board quickly let another contract with a legal firm wearing suits that cost 2k each and over the years they ran up several million in legal bills searching for the elusive value of the grid.

Amazingly, this firm actually quit. They told Lafco that there was no way the job could be done because PG&E put so many blocks into their on-the-ground examination of equipment that by the time they finished the commissioned survey it would be no good cause the equipment at the start would now be years older.

At this time Dick Sklar said before the SFPUC that the only way to get power distribution out of PG&E's hands was to build our own grid. Now, he wasn't talking
through his hat. This is the guy who'd rebuilt the cable car system and put in all of the electric trolleys. Who rebuilt the infrastructure of Bosnia.

Bottom line? The Class of 2000 formed the local Lafco to move into Public Power. It has not advanced the cause. Instead, we get CCA (Community Choice Aggregation, or as Gonzalez calls it: "Public Power Lite") and millions wasted to high end law firms. Only way to change this is to get a new and genuinely Progressive mayor. Don't hold your breath.

Again, flawless logic but wrong answer. Reason is that you didn't do enough research into our Lafco. Do so. You'll find that they've studied everything from Tidal Power to Solar to Wind and on and on. The common thread through all of the studies is that the alternative energy derived thereof would be owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco. Yep. Uh huh.

h.