The Realignment, or "9 Fellows Walk Into a Bar... (Pt. 3)"

“Yes, you’re right to think this is a bunch of bullshit.”

Such was the political sentiment in Sacramento, a town that only exists because of indecisive planners, cheap land and shady 19^th century business deals.

The rest of our afternoon was filled by meetings with various bureaucrats and politicos including Assemblymembers Ma and Ammiano, Senator Leno and Senator Leland Yee’s Chief of Staff. As is often the case, our time with the staff was the most educational, as they were more familiar with the technical challenges of legislation and the Sacramento political process. Nonetheless, all of the reps were engaging and outspoken about otherwise sensitive political issues. Fiona Ma shared her perspectives on transitioning from San Francisco politics to Sacramento, which mostly boiled down to “omg there are real Republicans here” and that old adversaries from the City are now political allies. It turns out that outside of San Francisco our representatives don’t actually differ that much on wider issues, and indeed agree on 95% of all matters addressed by the state. Relativity. Huge surprise.

Perhaps the most interesting bunch that we met with on our trip to the capitol was a budget consultant group called Lynn Suter & Associates. Their relatively few staff members are experts on a plethora of state issues with no particular partisan alliances and no interest in running for office, and they're mostly from San Francisco. They are California’s technocrats.

League of Cities! or "9 Fellows... (Pt. 2)"

The bus was delayed. BART rail to Walnut Creek was delayed. The ride from Walnut to Creek to Sacramento SHOULD have been delayed, but somehow Marielle, Eliot, Whitney and I made it through any traffic and across the Central Valley in an hour 0_O thanks Rocco!

All of the fellows were booked for one room in a huge 1880’s Victorian home-turned-to-hostel just a few blocks from the Capital building. Way back in the day it was owned by a wealthy family making bank on the industries sprouting up around the Gold Rush, but it was later purchased by a hostel company and moved a few blocks down the road (yeah, that’s right. The whole thing.), perhaps because buying another building and simply keeping it on its foundation would have cost too much. Our check-in lasted about 5 minutes – hardly enough time for a superfast suit-up – and then we were off to the California League of Cities.

The League stands up to state government tyranny!

Defends the Integrity of Redevelopment Agencies!

Protects the way of the public sector lobbying institutions!

And fights for the good of all Cities! (except for Vernon. They actually want to dis-incorporate Vernon.) *(1)

The League today is essentially a government PAC. Ideally it consolidates the interests of over 480 member cities in California, and affects issues that impact those members through the state's legislative process and rule-making bodies. LoCAC also offers consultation and expertise to these institutions on matters affecting local government, as well as to each other. In reality Los Angeles, San Francisco and - oh, let's say El Cerrito - differ on a lot of issues. The 10 largest cities are permanent members of the Board, but each municipality gets one vote in their general Assembly. This makes for some good arguments about state priorities.

Our speaker laid out 3 critical areas of an effective organization in their field:

The Heretic, or "9 Fellows Walk Into a Bar... (Pt.1)"

The air was crisp, and dark, and it bit at my fingers.

My fingers, as it happens, were decisively wrapped about the handle of a wheelie-bag filled with expensive clothing, while the rest of me just waited for a bus. My mind was sloshing around some part of my brain trying to avoid the idea of “morning”. It was succeeding splendidly, as there was certainly no sunlight to argue otherwise. And everything was damp.

And so, I sat at my favorite bus stop on a Tuesday morning with a valuable suitcase, slowly collecting dew, staring at a spot of coffee I had spilled on the bag and trying to avoid eye contact with the homeless man next to me as the digital display informing passengers how soon the bus would arrive counted upwards. I was concerned because the bag wasn’t really mine, per se, and because the generic, scruffy San Franciscan homeless man seemed more interested in the bag than anything else.

The bus eventually came 15 minutes late. I stepped through the doorway and thought of my poor little breakfast sandwich sitting on a plate in my apartment, all alone with no one to eat it, forgotten and abandoned by its creator. I frowned.

I swiped my MUNI card and trundled toward the back of the bus, and only then did I realize – despite the fact I had sneaked in just 3 hours of sleep before my alarm went off (thus denoting, obviously, that it was very, very early) – that this bus was inexplicably packed to the brim with strangers.

WHY?!!

This seemed nothing short of an insurmountable challenge as my eyes still squinted from the brightness of the lights. I turned back in the off-chance that a new seat had just appeared in the doorway behind me by some impossible magical means, but my eyes fell only upon the scruffy man, who had mysteriously produced an enormous orange in his hands. His eyes met mine and he gestured toward me with a piece of the orange, palm up, as though an offering. I waived my own hand passively and shook my head at the fruit. Scruffy was suddenly very upset, his eyes widening and disbelief filling his gaze. He had not been offering me the orange at all, I would shortly learn, but was gesturing for me to move forward; and yet I can only reason that my denial of this treat that he was not even offering to begin with was so audacious to this man that it was an affront to his very being. He exited the bus two stops later, shouting and cursing and glaring at me the whole while with shifty, focused eyes fit for a confrontation with heresy.

Thus began my journey to Sacramento. . . .

I resent pink insulation

The backs of my hands still prickle from the hundreds of tiny tiny tiny fiberglass shards that chose to “stick around” after this weekend (ha, get it?). But then again, we almost have a new bathroom and closet.

For those of you who missed it, a) my family has for years traveled up to Sonoma County to spend time at a property we share with my uncles, and b) a pipe froze, exploded and flooded a bedroom, a bathroom and part of a kitchen – twice. And that was at the start of January. Since then it’s been a predictable mess with insurance and contractors, so this past weekend a family friend in construction came over and we tried to fix it ourselves. Unfortunately for you, Reader, there are no tales of insane disasters. It actually went pretty smoothly, which is surprising considering the work party we had :P

My brothers, my dad and I worked with Ed (the one guy who knows what he’s doing) to rewire the room, install insulation (which, for the record, was entirely lacking in every wall and most of the ceiling, despite the freezing mountain temperatures in the winter), put up sheetrock and re-plaster everything. Two days later, the bathroom looks like a bathroom again the closet is now the warmest room in the house.

*(as a quick note, a company called Owens Corning developed the pink fiberglass insulation and patented it. It’s good insulation, but it’s only pink because buyers like it more when it’s pink. No joke. Patented pink.)

BLISS Construction

Construction of the BLISS figure for Burning Man 2011on Treasure Island (Fall 2010)

This crane eventually became a 3-story tall flame thrower...

Finished Winter 2011

California CAT

I learned recently that Cap-and-Trade policy in California may not include rules for allocating emissions credits to new energy producers entering the market after initial distribution. As far as I can tell, they will have to buy them from other incumbent sources :/

I’m very curious about what this may do (?). Does this insulate the market from more competition? Would it be better to encourage the development of new companies in energy production, or would that only prop up small entities with too little capacity to adapt to fluctuating market forces and consumption demands?

Ideas are welcome.

New Mayor, New Lt.

San Francisco has a new mayor this week as Gavin Newsom finally accepts his populist promotion to Lieutenant Governor. The 6’3” political progressive (actually considered a “moderate” in the City’s own political culture) heads to Sacramento to catch up with Jerry Brown's administration after delaying his swearing in by a week in order to secure the support of a new Board of Supervisors. The incoming BoS is more conservative than its predecessor, which was for years dominated by a bloc of Progressive supervisors often at odds with Newsom on economic policies. Among other benefits, a more cooperative field of local legislators has allowed the outgoing executive to negotiate the appointment of an interim mayor that will serve through the rest of 2011 until scheduled elections are held this Fall.

There was an array of potential candidates being offered up for the position before this week’s resolution. At the top of the short list were SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington (that’s right, Uncle Eddy), Sheriff Michael Hennessey, and City Administrator Ed Lee. All of the most serious candidates were touted as effective and generally a-political administrators that would expectedly focus more on operating the hybrid City-County and its financially troubled agencies well, without getting their hands into the cookie jar/bear trap that is the upcoming mayoral race.

Nearly a dozen notable figures have already declared or expressed an interest in the election this fall, including several of the incumbent members of the Board of Supervisors. And this is where the whole thing gets sticky.

You see, in any other sane city, the responsibilities of the executive would normally fall to the Cit Administrator or City manager when the mayor leaves for a new job or otherwise resigns before the end of his/her term (assuming that those responsibilities do not already lie with said administrator – how does your City operate?) In many cities – especially smaller ones – these administrators are responsible for the successful day-to-day operations of the municipality, and the Mayor is instead a figurehead or part of the local legislature. This is called a Council-Manager form or mayoralty, and is the model de facto in places like Los Angeles and Phoenix.

This transfer of authority makes sense, right? The executive leaves and you as Urban Citizen X want someone to keep the lights on and the buses running until a new guy can come in to kick over the political ant hills. Well, as any Bay Area local can tell you, San Francisco is not like other cities. No, instead we have it written into our extensive City Charter that absent an appointment by a majority of the Board of Supervisors – at least six of the eleven (yes, we also have 11 supervisors for 49sq.miles of City/County) – the sitting President of the Board will inherit the mayoralty as “Acting Mayor”. Because legislators are great at public administration.

In this tale, however, the sitting President David Chiu clearly has an interest in being elected Real Mayor in the fall, and so do a few of the other Supervisors. Getting to play Interim Mayor leading into the elections would give Chiu and [“unfair”] advantage in the campaign, and so the Board was inclined to choose a neutral outsider to manage the position while they all fight for it with all-stars like City Attorney Herrera and ex-Mayor Willie Brown.

And so, after a cascade of increasingly bitter fights amongst the Board members over their preferred candidates – which culminated in Supervisor Daley going stark-mad Hulk status during a televised meeting (accusing Chiu of political sabotage) and proclaiming “It’s on like Donkey Kong!”, and several secretive meetings between Mayor Newsom and other Supes – the Board eventually agreed upon City administrator Ed Lee as the preferred interim mayor. Never mind that he was in Hong Kong at the time on vacation, or that he had just been reappointed for another 5 year term as C.A.; he is legitimately a very nice guy, a good administrator, and ultimately my boss at GSA. Go home team #2!

Lee is now the first Chinese American mayor that this city has ever seen, despite its long and colorful history of strong Chinese communities. Newsom joins Brown is Sac to face difficult challenges with our state budget and a failing legislative process (now over $25 billion in the red), though his job stats seem to have lightened dramatically (see comparison). With a new governor, a new mayor and a new boss at GSA, we may see something of a structural shuffle in the coming months, but we’ll just have to see. Fortunately, I’m on contract, so I can watch from a safe distance and enjoy the education :)

Lame Duck experiements with Four Loko

The Lame Duck Congress has transformed into an enormous Energizer bunny. In a period when politicians traditionally accomplish little to nothing at all, representatives in the House, Senate and White House have shown a strange and alien characteristic - the ability to cooperate (enough). Democrats have displayed a greater willingness to compromise (mixed feelings here) in the wake of the November elections in which Republicans took back majority control of the House and made significant gains in the Senate, and a handful of Republicans - many of them retiring or resentful of the Tea Party movement's belligerence - broke ranks and gave Democrats enough votes to pass some pretty significant legislation that had been stalling for months.

Just to emphasize the fact, this generally isn't supposed to happen. For nearly 70 years, the Lame Duck session has been a time when congressmen/women accomplish relatively little, or insert text into other legislation to get earmarks or local victories.

Let's take a look at some of the wins/losses from this LDS you should have heard about:

• Congress passes legislation to aid 9/11 rescuers and cleanup crews with ailments from their work on Ground Zero.

• Congress and the WH agree on compromise legislation that extends Bush-era tax cuts (for poor, middle class and phenomenally wealthy Americans :/ ) for another two years, at which point the cuts will undoubtedly become part of the 2012 campaign season.

• Congress (finally) passes a Defense Spending budget for next year. House Republicans had been blocking the legislation until the WH agreed to permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts. (refer to previous bullet)

• The DREAM Act fails a vote in the Senate, but President Obama vows to renew the bill next year as part of comprehensive immigration reform.

• The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces was repealed this week (sort of suddenly) by the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. DADT was implemented as a military policy in 1993 as a compromise between President Clinton and a more Congress, but it's intent to protect gay men and women from prejudiced targeting was never fully realized.

• President Obama rallies enough Republican support to ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the Russian Federation. 13 Republican Senators crossed the isle for a 71-26 vote, and the Russian Duma is now expected to ratify the treaty by the end of the month. New START replaces the previous START that expired early this, and has be become a point of contention under President Bush when he moved forward with missile shield projects in Eastern Europe. It's better now.
  

• The Food Safety Modernization Act passes the House and Senate, and is signed by President Obama. Several amendments are passes weeks later to fix unresolved gaps issues and fill gaps in the regulations.

For the Cherry on top, the EPA is releasing new regulations for energy production and oil refineries :D This shift is a welcome last-ditch effort to wrap up some priority legislation before the new Congress is sworn in next week, at which point it's likely that nothing enjoyable or productive will come out of the legislature for a good long while.

ADDENDUM: I recently learned (thanks to SFGSA-IT) of another odd but reasonable law that was passed during this session. SB.2847, or the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (that's right, CALM), forbids television ads from playing at a volume noticeably louder than the programs during which they air. You know when you're watching a rerun of Law and Order on TNT, and it skips to a commercial that is suddenly twice as loud as anything you'd previously seen on that channel? Well, they can't do that anymore.

Law and the Multiverse

"Is Tony Stark in violation of federal arms control laws when he flies to Afghanistan in search of justice by exporting defense articles to a foreign territory?"
"Does the explicit organization of superviallains through the Legion of Doom expose all of its associate members to RICO claims and prosecution?"
"Can the Second Amendment protect Superman's heat vision?"

You may never have thought to investigate these kinds of questions, or if you have it was probably at 3am with a group of 2nd year law students who just finished finals (eh hem...). But no worries, now there is a place to address these timeless questions! Law and the Miltiverse launched on November 30 when two attorneys teamed up to explore the hypothetical legal ramifications of superhero/supervillain relations.

As an unexpected benefit of working in public risk control, this has become even more awesome. But even for those with no experience in criminal law or property insurance, it's worth a read.

Check it out.