The Weekly Digest (December 3, 2023)

Dec 3

Happy Sunday, Brionies!

Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:

City Hall

Tuesday, December 5 at 2pm: Regular Meeting of the Board of Supervisors, (agenda and call-in instructions here):

Item 24 – Ordinance to strengthen the Controller’s audit and monitoring responsibilities for nonprofit organizations contracting with the City. (See below for a small sample of city contracts with nonprofits exceeding $10 million.)
Item 27 – Ordinance amending and approving the Surveillance Technology Policy governing the use of Automatic License Plate Readers by the Police Department.

Wednesday, December 6 at 10am: Regular Meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here):

Item 12 – Resolution approving a pharmaceutical purchasing agreement between McKesson Corporation and the Department of Public Health (DPH), to increase the Agreement by $596,269,164 for a not to exceed amount of $977,652,155.
Items 16 and 17 – Two resolutions approving contracts between nonprofit organizations and DPH: an agreement with Richmond Area Multi Services, Inc. to provide vocational rehabilitation employment and training programs for $40,837,235, and an agreement with The Latino Commission for substance use disorder treatment services for an amount not to exceed $17,598,422.
Item 18 – Ordinance to extend by five years the sunset date of the provisions authorizing the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (“HSH”) to enter into and amend contracts without requiring competitive bidding.

Thursday, December 7 at 10am: Regular Meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee (agenda and call-in instructions here):

Item 1 – Hearing on the 2022-2023 Civil Grand Jury Report, entitled “Time to Get to Work: San Francisco's Hiring Crisis.”
Item 2 – Hearing on the 2022-2023 Civil Grand Jury Report, entitled "Hitting the Performance Bullseye: Contracting for Better Outcomes in Homelessness Services"
Item 5 – Resolution approving a contract between Heluna Health and HSH to provide outreach and case management for an amount not to exceed $36,897,380.

Action Items

Object to any one-sided resolution by the Board of Supervisors regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
Consider this petition to demand the resignation of SFMTA chief Jeffrey Tumlin for implementing anti-car measures and ignoring input from residents and business owners.

Happenings around town

Tuesday, December 5 at 4pm, City Hall, Room 408
Agenda: pretext stops. A state proposal to ban pretext stops recently failed. Undeterred, the Police Commission, an unelected body of volunteers, is trying to subvert the state legislature and block SFPD from using this important crime-fighting tool. As background, a pretext stop occurs when a police officer enforces a traffic violation, such as tinted windows or a broken taillight, to investigate a potentially more serious crime. Pretext stops are a constitutionally protected policing technique. When implemented professionally, such stops keep the community safe because criminals don’t specialize. Indeed, simple traffic stops led to the arrests of serial killer Ted Bundy and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

What we’re reading

As a reader of the Briones Society’s Weekly Digest, you know that we offer a conservative critique of San Francisco’s leadership. But did you know that we are running a slate of candidates for the Republican County Central Committee? Not only are we committed civic leaders who keep a close eye on City Hall, but we are also quite photogenic.
On the subject of unaudited and unchecked yet highly-funded nonprofit organizations (see the Budget and Finance Committee agenda highlights, above), Susan Dyer Reynolds published an eye-opening piece in this week’s Marina Times about Supervisor Shamann Walton and the Young Community Developers (YCD). Walton is the sole agent of a subsidiary of YCD, which won a lucrative no-bid contract on a 60-unit affordable housing project with the city back in 2014. The story is confusing, with layers of acronyms and similarly-named general partners, but we would love to see an independent auditor take a crack at this tangled web.

Quick hits

Bill Jackson

The Weekly Digest (December 10, 2023)