Maybe not

​San Francisco is a favorite punching bag of right-wing provocateurs who decry it as a West Coast bastion of European-style socialism. (Whatever that might be.) Sadly, even some of our city's local journalists buy into the pat image of San Francisco as a cautionary tale of the excesses of expansive government, joining the likes of Bill O'Reilly, who famously dispatched a reporter here to determine what America might look like in the dark night of the Obama administration.More >>

Joseph Schell

Marcus Santiago, constantly at work

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Earlier this week we reported on an interesting potential development regarding the city's park rangers. A Matt Smith cover story last year revealed that head park patrol officer Marcus Santiago had transformed his small force into a lucrative overtime machine -- more than doubling his take-home pay in the process. The Recreation and Park Department's inspired solution to this problem? Hire a "chief" park patrol officer and insert him as insulation between Santiago and Dennis Kern, the manager who has consistently looked past Santiago's transgressions.

Those transgressions, however -- they're not exactly cheap. A former ranger named Mike Horan, as referenced in Smith's story, filed suit against Santiago and the city, alleging discrimination in the distribution of overtime hours. This also resulted in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing a case against the city.

Horan's lawyer, Andrew Pierce, says that case may be nearing an official settlement. And sources within government tell SF Weekly it will involve a hefty $250,000 payout.

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Joseph Schell

The Rec and Park Department finds a creative way of "dealing" with Marcus Santiago

​Last year, SF Weekly alum Matt Smith revealed that the San Francisco Park Patrol has been twisted into an overtime machine by -- and for -- Marcus Santiago. The head patrol officer earned upward of $85,000 on top of his $67,000 yearly salary, a feat accomplished by billing the city for 70-hour weeks, every week of the year.

Santiago's favored officers also received plum overtime assignments, often doubling their salaries -- even when they reportedly didn't show up for work, or worked second jobs. Santiago's supervisor, Dennis Kern, has long shielded the head patrol officer, as Santiago has turned his corner of the Recreation and Park Department into a revenue generator for the city.

Rec and Park has found a novel way to "solve" this "problem." Faced with a middle manager who has created a lucrative overtime golden goose and an upper manager unwilling to stop him, the department is proposing the creation of a layer of insulation between the two. Tucked into Rec and Park's proposed budget under the amorphous heading of "Park Safety Enhancement," the department proposes hiring a chief park patrol officer who'll stand one rung above Santiago and one below Kern.

This non-fix figures to cost the city $150,000.

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When your $833K runs out...

​In a city where, even late last year, perhaps 40 percent of voters still thought Gavin Newsom was mayor, it may be hard to get people worked up about the position of city administrator. But bear with us -- and you'll be rewarded with references to the lavatory.

In any event, Ed Lee is now mayor -- after formerly serving as city administrator. A woman named Amy Brown was appointed to the post in his stead, but she was last year named the city manager of Campbell. The woman who has been serving in her stead, Naomi Kelly, is well on her way to assuming the full-time job.

What does city administrator do? Depending on whom you ask, it's a vital behind-the-scenes job or a somewhat vestigial post created when Willie Brown pushed through a strong mayoral system in 1996, neutering the position of "Chief Administrative Officer." But that's neither her nor there. Kelly has earned The Snitch's good favor by tirelessly crunching the numbers and figuring out how much money this city flushes down the toilet -- literally.

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Doherty employees

​A San Mateo County woman has been charged with 57 felony counts of cheating her employees of more than $600,000 in wages while working on projects for both the city and school district in San Francisco.

According to District Attorney George Gascón, 51-year-old Frances Ann Doherty is the owner of Doherty Painting & Construction, a painting contracting company that was awarded numerous public contracts with the city of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, and other public agencies. Contractors on public work projects are required to pay their workers the prevailing wage and verify to the public agency -- on a weekly basis -- that the correct wages were paid out.

However, court documents indicate that Doherty reported 23 different public projects, and said her employees had been paid the prevailing wage on each and every project, with some projects lasting several months. But evidence in a criminal investigation revealed otherwise, according to the DA.

In fact, Doherty Painting's employees were only paid a fraction of the wages to which they were entitled.

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​Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Mark Farrell have proposed measures to end Ranked Choice Voting in San Francisco, while David Campos and John Avalos have proposed allowing even more ranked choices on the ballot.

What is the best voting system for San Francisco?

• Whoever raises the most awareness wins
  

• One tweet, one vote
  

• Just let the lawyers decide everything
  

• Dance-off
  

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Ross Mirkarimi's former colleagues won't weigh in on his guilt or innocence. But they understand the "tyrant" label.

​Until this point, this paper -- and, we assume, others -- did not publish stories about Ross Mirkarimi's well-known temper and lengthy history of loudly berating City Hall staffers. To do so while the sheriff is facing domestic violence charges could be construed as prejudicial; a propensity to yell at less powerful colleagues does not make one a batterer.

But when Mirkarimi's own lawyer refers to him as "a bit of a tyrant" -- an interesting legal maneuver, to say the least -- it necessitates an explanation.

The former supervisor's propensity for high-decibel dressings-down of his staff and other city staffers was well-known -- largely because sound travels through City Hall even faster than rumors. Former colleagues told SF Weekly that they could hear Mirkarimi through the thin walls, berating staffers either on the phone or in person. This was regular behavior. For years.

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Doing your job is the surest way to prove you are a productive worker

​A former Human Services Agency employee appeared in court Tuesday afternoon where she pleaded not guilty to multiple charges claiming she stole Social Security and other confidential information from more than 3,000 Medi-Cal applicants.

Prosecutors say, starting in 2006, Shawn Williams, who was an eligibility worker, gathered the names and Social Security numbers of Medi-Cal applicants by forwarding e-mails from her work account to her personal account. Strangely enough, she wasn't ripping off the data to use or sell, but rather to help prove she was a prolific worker.

Prosecutors say she used that information create more paperwork that she stockpiled as a way to show she was productive while she built a case against the city where she claimed she was being discriminated against.

Indeed, a comprehensive review of her performance revealed just how productive she was -- in stealing information.
 
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What is it about cheap tacos that make people do crazy things?

​Late-night burgers might make you fat, but they don't turn you into a sociopath.

While the Richmond District Jack in the Box fights to keep serving hammered and hungry patrons at all hours of the night, residents are pushing to make sure the fast-food chain closes its doors after 2 a.m.

Supervisor Eric Mar -- the city's notorious fast-food foe -- is hosting a community hearing in the Richmond District on Friday so that residents and Jack in the Box reps can duke it out about whether the 11th Avenue and Geary Boulevard restaurant should return to operating 24 hours.
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Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Stopped at the border

​It's always interesting to see the sorts of contraband that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are intercepting in the Bay Area. About a year ago, we heaved a sigh of relief after "destructive" Pakistani insects were detected by the feds in a shipment of rice in Oakland.

But such arthropod invaders seem pedestrian next to the latest scourge discovered by CBP. In a statement this morning, the agency announced that six mouse deer skulls were found concealed in bags of dried fruit peels at the international mail center at San Francisco International Airport. The mail came from Laos, and was destined for Minnesota.

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