San Francisco Values - Leland Yee Edition

Having grown up in Chicagoland, I must admit to being a little embarrassed about the the kind of corruption I see around here. Sure, we get our share of political scandals but- truth be told - it's strictly bush league.

I mean… We had Ed Jew and Chris Daly evading residency requirements and pretending to live in the city of San Francisco while they served as Supervisors of San Francisco. Is that a real scandal? Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi bruising his Venezuelan firecracker’s arm when he grabbed her a little too hard? Mayor Gavin Newsom boinking his campaign manager's wife? Sure, it’s entertaining, but really... We got nuthin'.

How can we ever be considered a major metropolis without some heavy duty world class corruption? Don’t get me wrong. I’m a realist. I don’t expect us to match up to Chicago, New York, New Jersey, DC or New Orleans, but it felt like our pols were not even trying.

That was then. This is now:

Calif. state Sen. Yee affidavit reads like an action thriller
Coke deals. Shoulder-fired missiles. Hit men. Gang politics. Bribery. Deal-making in dark restaurants, parking lots and Las Vegas hotel rooms, and on fishing boats off the Hawaiian islands. A 137-page federal complaint lays out the charges against state Sen. Leland Yee, alleged Chinatown mobster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow and 24 others connected to Chow. But it also reads like a Hollywood script.

There's the slick FBI agent going deeper undercover and pushing the action. There's the gangster with the catchy nickname who publicly claims to have gone straight. And there's the veteran politician, allegedly willing to compromise his values to stay in office. The tale reached a climax Wednesday when the government unsealed charges against Chow, Yee and 24 others after a series of coordinated raids. Chow, 54, stands accused of money laundering and other crimes, while Yee, 65, faces charges that he traded political favors for campaign donations and, at one point, facilitated a gun-trafficking deal."

 Yeah! The Leland Yee scandal, baby! This one has some meat on the bones.

#SanFranciscoValues RT @SFGate Slideshow: The craziest stuff in the Leland Yee FBI investigation http://t.co/lK5LXB6WrH #LelandYee
— The Dividist (@Dividist) March 29, 2014

Bribery, gun-running, extortion, prostitution, drugs, Cosa Nostra, and murder for hire.

Now we’re talking. That's big time.

We can hold our heads a little higher in EssEff.

Yeah. We’re bad.

RIP Mark Stock

An iconic painting hanging in an iconic San Francisco restaurant. One of our favorites. I can't count how many meals we've shared with great friends at Bix. 

And every time I have to stop and stare at this painting. I don't understand why it captivates, but it does.

Rest In Peace Mark Stock. Your brought something unique and beautiful into this world. What more can anyone do?

Post by Bix Restaurant.

BREAKING: Common Sense Prevails in San Francisco Board of Supervisor Vote on Sharp Park

Photo: Thomas Levinson, The Chronicle  

 It was a big win for Sharp Park supporters at City Hall yesterday.

The Chron's coverage features a terribly inaccurate headline. The work approved for the course and wetland is not  in spite of the frogs and snakes as the headline suggests, but specifically to improve the habitat for the frogs and snakes:

Frogs, snakes can't stop Sharp Park Golf Course construction
Marisa Lagos  

"Construction at Sharp Park Golf Course will move forward after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected environmentalists' concerns that the project will threaten the frogs and snakes that call the course home. The Pacifica golf course, which is managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, is home to the threatened California red-legged frog and San Francisco garter snake. Built in 1932 by famed golf course architect Alister MacKenzie, Sharp Park for years has been a point of contention between golfers and conservationists, who want to see it shut down so the land can be used as a sanctuary for the wild creatures.

On Tuesday, environmentalists - led by the Wild Equity Institute - made another effort to force the parks department to conduct a full environmental impact report of the project. They contend the work will hurt the animals' environment, while the city says it will improve habitat for the frogs and snakes. The proposed project involves clearing reeds and sediment from a pond and waterway, doing construction around a pumping station, and digging a new, small pond on the site.

Environmental impact reports are costly and can take months to complete.  The work has been approved by the Recreation and Park Commission and the Planning Commission. The board voted 7-4 to allow it to move forward without an environmental study, with Supervisors Jane Kim, Eric Mar, John Avalos and David Campos voting no. It's not the last City Hall will hear of the issue, however: Opponents of the course will file a lawsuit objecting to the city's decision..."

 Doesn't seem like much. A 7- 4 vote by the Board of Supervisors on -  by any measure - a small project to improve both the frog habitat and golf infrastructure at Sharp Park. Its significance is this - We finally have a project at Sharp Park that has completed the tortuous path through the bowels of City government, will move forward, and actually do something useful for the park.

Also significant - The political arena at the Board of Supervisors level is exactly where the future of Sharp Park is most vulnerable. This is where we lost a 6-5 vote in December of 2011 and Sharp Park was saved only by a Mayor Ed Lee veto. That is what makes this 7-4 victory so significant. Two votes shifted from votes against the course in 2011 to votes for the course yesterday. And the specific votes that shifted were significant in and of themselves. London Breed filled Ross Mirkarimi's seat in district 5 and voted for the course.  Mirkarimi spearheaded the "Destroy Sharp Park" forces when he was a supervisor. David Chiu is President of the Board of Supervisors and  my Supervisor in District 3. He voted against the course in 2011 and voted for it yesterday.

It was a small victory on a small project, but the Sharp Park haters threw everything but the kitchen sink at this to try and kill it. They know a politically motivated Board of Supervisor decision was where they have their greatest strength. And they lost. Again. Common sense finally prevailed.

Of course it's not over. The ex-CBD attorney who founded WEI already stated he will be filing another lawsuit against the City over this decision. So what else is new? We know the lawsuits will never end and we know the reason why.  But, so far, they always lose in court. The vote by the Board of Supervisors was their best chance to prevail, and they lost. This very well may mean that the tide has turned. Good for the California Red Legged Frog. Good for the San Francisco Garter Snake. Good for fans of the landmark Alister MacKenzie golf course. Good for Pacifica. Good for San Francisco. Bad for Wild Equity Institute.

We are underway at City Hall. It's going to be a long one.

In City Hall, at the Board of Supervisor's meeting for a hearing on the WEI appeal of  The Sharp Park Pumphouse, Safety, Infrastructure and Habitat Improvement Project. We are  number 19 on the agenda. The WEBLEEDU's get first crack with public comment in front of the Supes, and they are out in force today. We'll be here a while.

Sharp Park haters lining up around the room

The amount of  misinformation, distortions and outright falsehoods being promulgated right now is truly awesome!

Ex-Center for Biological Diversity staff attorney at the podium

 In short, the usual tripe from the carpetbagging ex-CBD attorney's sincere but misinformed mini-me minions.

Despite a scheduling structure clearly intended to minimize the impact from supporters of the course, we had a great turnout. People who love the course really hung in there.

Sharp Park supporters line up

During Public comment, everyone got 2 minutes at the podium. I was working from notes and presented a single slide:

Support links for these quotes here and here

"Good Afternoon Supervisors. I am a 30 year resident of San Francisco, live on Russian Hill, an enthusiastic but bad golfer and a frequent patron of the San Francisco municipal golf courses,   I am here in support of the Sharp Park, Safety, Infrastructure Improvement, and Habitat Enhancement Project.  I've closely followed the Sharp Park controversy over the last five years and want to share some of my observations.

One of the things I've learned during this controversy is what the best science tell us. Net Net – the California Red Legged frog is doing absolutely fine coexisting with the course.  I don't have time to read these expert quotes that summarize  the status of the frog habitat at Sharp Park so  I'll post them here and have copies for any interested.

We've had golf course operations at Sharp Park for 80 years. The golf course created the fresh water habitat at Laguna Salada for the California Red Legged Frog to thrive. It is a managed habitat, and it is our collective responsibility as stewards of the park to continue to manage and improve it for the frog and snake. This plan does exactly that. Any delays risk the frog habitat. 

The Sharp Park controversy is usually framed as Environmentalists vs. Golfers.  Simply not true.  This controversy is really about "Environmentalists" vs. "Environmentalists".

On the one hand  - you have practical problem solving environmentalists like the dedicated and hard working employees of San Francisco Rec & Park who have the best interest of the Sharp Park wildlife at heart. They just want to start moving ahead with the plan to implement required improvements in the habitat.

On the other side you have ideologically motivated environmental litigation specialists like the Wild Equity Institute for whom the frog and snake are simply a means to an end.  Their end goal, their only goal, is to force the people of San Francisco, by any means necessary to give up control of a beautiful 400 acre coastal park that was a gift to the people of San Francisco and belongs to the people of San Francisco.

I urge the board to not be distracted by the self-serving claims of the WEI Lawyers. Lets move forward and start the process which will improve the managed habitat for the frog and snake at Sharp Park, and incidentally also for golfers.  Thank you."

I had to speak quickly to get all that out in two minutes. I think I managed to get my points across and still remain vaguely coherent.

Bo Links at the podium

The questioning of Rec and Park employees about the plan by some of the Supervisors was truly embarrassing ( I am looking at you David Campos).  Campos is literally reading from spoon fed Wild Equity Institute e-mails without any understanding of what he is reading or what the real issues are. He is also essentially calling the Rec and Park employees liars, in order to make the case for a guy who sued the City, lost, and then demanded the City pay his $550 / hour legal fees for suing the City in a losing cause.

This is a political process in front of an unpredictable San Francisco Board of Supervisors, so no telling how the vote will go.

It's been over four hours. Will probably update tomorrow with the vote if we can hold out that long.

UPDATE: The vote was 7-4 in favor of the Sharp Park Project and against the WEBLEEDU appeal to stop it. A big win. Coverage of the vote linked here.


Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

EDIT: Consolidated posts. Fixed formatting. Added notes and links. 

Here we go again...

Heading down to City Hall for the Round 3 of the latest skirmish in the SF Golf War. This will be in front of  the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Believe it or not, the WEBLEEDU's are fighting a project that will improve the existing habitat for the frog and snake.

Will report on the outcome later. Or not.

Stay tuned. Or not.

 From the SF Public Golf Alliance:

Friends: Please clear your calendar for next Tuesday, March 25, 3 p.m. at the Supervisors' chambers, Room 200, San Francisco City Hall, to attend and speak to the SF Board of Supervisors in favor of Sharp Park Golf Course.  We oppose an appeal by Wild Equity Institute from a unanimous decision Jan. 23, 2014 by the SF Rec & Park Commission to proceed with the Sharp Park Safety, Infrastructure, and Habitat Improvement Project, based on a unanimous decision Jan. 16, 2014 by the SF Planning Commission to approve a Mitigated Negative Declaration and proceed without a full-blown Environmental Impact Report.  Mr. Plater's group wants to halt the project and require a full-blown Environmental Impact Report -- which would delay the project a couple of years, at least.     This is another hurdle that we must clear.   In its unanimous Jan. 16 decision, the Planning Commission adopted a 40-page analysis by Planning Staff, which found that no EIR is required here, because there will be no significant negative environmental impacts to the project if the City performs a list of mitigations.  1.  Sharp Park is historic, course, built 1932 by Alister MacKenzie, history's greatest golf architect 2.  Low-cost golf, beloved by public golfers of all ages, ethnicities, genders, persuasions, economic strata 3.  Founding venue (1955) of Western States Golf Assn., the country's oldest, largest African-American golfing society 4.  Community center and gathering place for Pacifica 5.  One of only 2 reasonably-priced public courses in San Mateo County 6.  A beautiful, enjoyable, sweet place to spend time and enjoy nature and friends and good company 7.  Compatible place for humans and nature to co-exist -- as they have done for 80 years 8.  The work to be done in the Sharp Park Safety, Infrastructure, and Habitat Improvement Project -- much of it ordered by the US Fish & Wildlife Service in October, 2012 -- is for benefit of the frog and snake.  San Francisco is trying to comply with the USFWS directives to build new pond for these species.  And now Wild Equity wants to prevent this work from being done.  9.  The golfers want a place where public golf and the frog and snake can happily coexist.  The City has come up with a plan to do that -- which was developed by the City's expert consultants and unanimously approved by all City Commissions who have considered the matter.  And the City should now go forward with it.   Thank you.  Save Sharp Park.    San Francisco Public Golf Alliance

19th Hole

Brad and Mike  were unhappy with their  scores, but I can't complain.

BK 97
MW 100 So close, yet so far.
MS 101
RZ 113

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Redecorating the Sharp Park clubhouse

Brad and Gino do a little redecorating in the clubhouse with an illustration providing historical  MacKenzie context.

The illustration is a recreation of the original Sharp Park layout, from Brad Knipstein's "Alister Mackenzie's Legacy of Public Golf at Sharp Park"

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Other Mike out of jail on 18...

... with a spectacular shot through the trees.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

16th tee portrait

One of the great vistas on the course. 

The landscape not the portrait.

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Rick out of 15th trap..

... amazingly on the first try.

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Rick on 14th tee

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Somewhere after the turn

MW  48
MS 48
BK 49
RZ 55

Hope.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

8th Green

Four balls on the green:

Four missed birdie putts:.

Four pars.

You'd think there were real golfers in this foursome.

Rick insisted I report that he was closest to the pin.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

In the gallery on the 6th fairway

A very pretty garter snake was meandering down the fairway, but it was not THE garter snake. Looks like a juvenile Coast Garter snake. Still the first snake I've ever seen after 20 years playing here. Very cool. After taking his portrait we stayed well clear and let him continue on his way.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Other Mike stripes one on 6

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Brad's approach on four...

... had much further to go than my drive 30 feet in front of him.

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Moment of Impact

Rick tees off on 3

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Other Mike's birdie putt enroute

Drano.

Great comeback after his 7 on the first hole. 

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Brad found a little trouble on two

The pressure of playing with a new group no doubt.

Not to mention having your round and bad shots live blogged.

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Live blogging Sharp Park

A little Alister MacKenzie-ish Scottish fog this morning.

Playing with Rick, Brad, and the Other Mike.

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