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Shots fired in this war...
San Francisco voters tend to be San Francisco something-elses come off-season, municipal elections. We have just such an election coming up on June 3 and, if history is a precedent, perhaps fewer than one in four members of the electorate will bother to cast a ballot.
A good deal of money and vitriol has been poured into both of these conflicts. The latter took a step into odd territory of late, however, with a campaign video featuring a "community advocate" claiming Proposition B would "
open up loopholes developers can use to avoid environmental regulations."
That's an interesting argument. Also interesting: Prop. B is staunchly backed by the Sierra Club. The "community advocate" in this broadside against it is a longtime executive with PG&E and an energy industry consultant.
Our messages for Bruce Agid, the
managing director for business development at Energy Experts, International have not yet been returned. But a quick perusal of his
online C.V. reveals he's made a career at Pacific Gas & Electric and other consulting gigs in the energy industry.
Well, there's no shame working for energy companies or being an energy industry consultant. But it is a bit different than labeling oneself a "community advocate." It's also a handicap when one is arguing environmentalism with the Sierra Club.
Prop. B would require a vote of the people for any development that exceeds existing height limits along the waterfront. At least on paper, it's a very straightforward measure. But, its opponents argue, it could open up a Pandora's Box of environmental maladies.
Agid hasn't yet returned our call to explain how this could open loopholes enabling environmental degradation. But Mike Theriault, the president of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council,
has advanced the same contention.
Part of his argument relies on domino theory: If San Francisco voters wrest away decisions normally entrusted to state bodies, "voters in conservative counties might decide, say, to fill present tidelands for commercial development and an improved tax base."
Locally, Theriault argues, developers could sneak environmental end-arounds into a ballot measure. That's potentially so. But developers could do that whether or not Prop. B passes. And, for a builder who's argued, again and again, that the city needs to
build, build, build, and build some more and do it now, now, now -- Theriault's sudden concern for the California Environmental Quality Act is a
bit rich.
In any event, there's an election on June 3. Try to participate. Some people seem to think it's kind of important.
