Category: Friends with Benefits

  • Josh Becker: Poor judgement in action

    Last Friday was International Socialists Day aka May Day. One would expect some SF politicians to participate in the random protest here or there because, well, that’s what they do. But would one expect them to protest themselves? Isn’t that peak stupidity/hypocrisy? Apparently understanding that the City and County of SF own and operate SFO airport was above their pay grade. The Chronicle reports

    A May Day protest by airport service workers briefly shut down the departure-level roadway at San Francisco International Airport’s international terminal Friday, diverting traffic as demonstrators rallied over a wage dispute and broader labor concerns.

    Several San Francisco elected officials were arrested after demonstrators blocked the roadway to the international terminal, including Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor Connie Chan and former Supervisor Jane Kim. State Sen. Josh Becker, who represents San Mateo County and part of Santa Clara County, was also arrested.

    “San Francisco airport is the people’s airport,” Chan told supporters before her arrest. “We know our workers deserve fair pay, a fair contract, health care and benefits. We’re demanding that the workers get that benefits and fair pay right now.”

    Like I said, plenty of things are apparently above Connie Chan’s pay grade even as she runs for Congress, but what about our own state senator Josh Becker? What exactly caused him to feel it was a good idea to disrupt traffic at SFO while his constituents were trying to catch a flight? Has he taken care of the insurance crisis, the energy and gas prices, water security, and the state’s budget crisis so airport salaries move to the top of the list?

    And in the ultimate finger to her constituents, SF Supe Jackie Fielder who is supposedly on “medical leave” and has not been doing her job as a supervisor for several months was photographed at the protest. You are judged by the company you keep, senator.

  • High-cost rail – Part 168 Billions more

    The steady drumbeat of bad news just keeps getting worse. This week a new, worst-case number KTLA is reporting a possible hit of $231 billion! They report

    In a newly proposed business plan released this year, project leaders estimate the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco segment will cost about $126 billion, with service beginning around 2040. In the meantime, the state is focused on getting the Bakersfield-to-Merced section up and running earlier, with a target of no later than 2033. All of this falls under what officials are calling an “optimized plan,” which reduces the scope of the original proposal. Under the updated plan, some segments would share tracks with existing systems such as Metrolink, and the number of tunnels would be scaled back, at least for now. Project leaders say those changes could significantly reduce costs. Without them, officials estimate the full Los Angeles-to-San Francisco buildout could have cost as much as $231 billion.

    You would not be wrong to ask why, at this stage of the game, they are still tweaking the design? It’s the shockingly bad management we have some to expect along with the waste noted in Part 167. The latest circus act was reported in the Comicle this week involving Cesar Chavez of all people and his 187-acre monument. The headline read “Add a $1 billion detour for California high-speed rail to Cesar Chavez’s legacy”:

    Add one more twist to the complicated legacy of disgraced civil rights icon Cesar Chavez: A reroute around his grave site has inflated the cost of California’s high-speed rail project by nearly $1 billion. Ironically, Chavez’s monument already sits on a key rail corridor that carries about 36 freight trains each day through the rugged Tehachapi. A single track loops around the property, creating a constant rumble for anyone walking among the Mission-style buildings and courtyards where Chavez lived and organized grape-field workers. Through letters and stakeholder meetings, the Chavez Center and the Cesar Chavez Foundation successfully lobbied for a bespoke alignment called the “refined Cesar Chavez National Monument design option,” which moved the track about three-quarters of a mile away from the monument boundary.  Board directors for the High-Speed Rail Authority adopted the alternative design in 2021, as part of a final environmental impact report for the 80-mile Bakersfield to Palmdale (Los Angeles County) section. Now, some rail authority staff or board members might call for a do-over.

    Here’s the mindset on the Authority Board:

    “We are constantly reviewing decisions that we’ve made along that alignment,” said board director Henry Perea, pointing to other potential revisions, such as the relocation of a future train stop in Merced. Plans that are really lines and dots on draft paper are always subject to change, Perea noted, particularly if policymakers are seeking to save money, or trying to acknowledge a historical wrong.

    Will any gubernatorial candidate with a D after their name have the guts to say we should just cut bait on this monstrosity? We only have a month to go until the primary.

  • Corpus Costs: High and going higher

    As I predicted last year, the County sheriff saga isn’t over yet. Neither are the spiraling costs to County taxpayers. The Daily Post is staying the investigative course and offers some peeks at the tab for this mess. The Post notes $139,594 for “one of many lawsuits”, an unreleased amount for outside counsel, $4.4 million for the special election, $200K for Judge Cordell’s report, $8K “to create a removal process”, and another undisclosed amount for different outside legal representation. Oh, but wait, there’s more. Corpus “is also collecting her pension. She will get $402,338.28 a year in pension and health care benefits in her retirement.”

    Then there is the new claim filed last Friday alleging she was defamed and naming 32 people. I’m guessing the County taxpayers will only be on the hook for the County’s legal fees, not Corpus’ as they were before. Happy Tax Day.

  • High-cost Rail — Part 167 An insider view of the waste

    Just when you think you know a lot about how poorly designed and managed the high-cost rail project is from 166 prior posts, someone with insider knowledge steps up to add to the long tale of woe. I’ve plucked this directly from an X post and it rings so loudly of truth that I will just paste it all here:

    Since my account is somewhat anonymous, I’m going to disclose where some of the California high-speed rail money gets wasted. 99% of you don’t realize where giant chunks of the money are disappearing to. 

    The California high-speed rail authority literally owns thousands of parcels of land that are in various stages continued litigation, tenant improvements, eviction, and constant maintenance.  For example, there are many homes and apartment complexes in the planned path that have been purchased years ahead of construction. Removing those tenants is a slow and expensive process. (let’s ignore the extra stress on housing that all of these destroyed properties are causing). In some cases, these are low rent apartments with a lengthy eviction process.  

    During that process, the State of California is the landlord and has to maintain the property to code the same as any other landlord.  This means repairs, adding smoke detectors, fixing roofs, vegetation management, landscaping, paying off tenants to leave early, boarding up windows, constant trash cleanups, towing vehicles etc. 

    But the High Speed Rail Authority doesn’t just have to maintain these properties at normal cost.  Every single bit of that work has to be done at California prevailing wage rates.  The work can only be done through qualified contractors that have passed through a long series of idiotic mazes to qualify to perform the work. 

    An average rate per hour (charge rate) for a worker to perform any service on these properties is approximately $200 an hour for labor only.  The cost go up for specialized work, like electricians, plumbers, or machine operators.  

    Properties that are literally worthless are being maintained at huge expense just so the next round of homeless transients can break into the property and cause more damage.  For reasons I can’t explain, the process to finally demo and remove the structures takes years.  I’m only mentioning the tip of the iceberg regarding my firsthand knowledge. 

    Completely separate from those outlandish costs are the inflation caused by the construction.  The prevailing word on the street is that nothing is getting done. The truth is that a lot is getting done and none of it efficiently.

    The amount of concrete being poured daily and monthly to build gigantic overpasses for both the rail and roadways is not understood.  In these work areas, every concrete mixing company is fully scheduled out and cannot offer building materials for other basic services, such as building a house, often times for weeks when the average lead time for many of these services used to be one day.   And that’s just the schedule, never mind the huge cost increases from straining the supply chain and labor pool.  The amount of concrete and steel that has gone into the structures so far is massive. Dozens and dozens of new water wells have been dug just for dust control.

    Thousands upon thousands of acres of highly productive tree fruits and nuts have been torn up and shredded.  Utility scale solar fields have been uprooted and sometimes relocated at extravagant costs. 

    Every type of business you can imagine has gone through either a closure, relocation, or a long-term tenant agreement with the Rail Authority.  In some cases, it’s just a buyout where the business closes its doors forever. The owners get something; all of the workers get nothing. 

    Don’t get me started on how thick the layers of bureaucracy are for these minute tasks that occur on all of these properties.  The inefficiency is far beyond your wildest dreams.  In many cases, this is not related to fraud in any way it’s just absolute ignorance, red tape, and failed leadership.  

    I can go much deeper into specific examples, but I think that gives some of you an idea of what’s actually happening in California.  If the rail is ever usable, some portions of the structures will be decades old and already in disrepair.

    That’s the conclusion of the anonymous post on X. You would not be wrong to ask why no mainstream media has reported on these financial sink holes. Or why no elected politician or wannabe governor from the dominant party in the state talks about any of this.

  • The Many Flavors of California Fraud

    You have to take notes to keep track of all the flavors of fraud being uncovered in California. Not that you would read about even half of it in the SF Comicle or other establishment press. The drumbeat is loud elsewhere, and today’s drum majorettes are highlighting the “wildlife butterfly bridge” in LA to help mountain lions cross 101 in Agoura Hills. Scoped at $50 million in 2022, it’s now at $114M and counting since it’s not finished. Considering its short span (210 feet), it might rival high-cost rail or the state capitol annex on a percentage basis.

    It turns out the $31 billion with a “b” EDD fraud is just the tip of the fraud iceberg. There’s the homeless-industrial complex fraud, the drug treatment center fraud, Medicaid fraud, autism fraud, hospice fraud, Proposition signature gathering fraud, the community college financial aid fraud, the commercial driver’s license fraud, the non-profit fraud and the cap-and-trade sleight of hand.

    I’m sure there are more flavors, so we will just use this post as the “fraud bucket” to be continually filled. When you hear we need this bond measure or that tax rate increase or that new fee, remember how leaky the bucket is.

  • County: Follow the Money, if you can

    The Washington Post is not one of the six newspapers I subscribe to nor is it available on the racks like the Daily Post or the FT (that is available at Safeway). Therefore, I do not have the WaPo article that goes along with this graphic, but as we used to say when proving a math problem was completed to the point of being obvious: res ipsa loquitur.

    It’s mostly a legal term, but translates to “the thing speaks for itself”:

    The only equation that is more out of balance than the San Mateo County line item is the State of California equivalent. We know from the Merc’s reporting today that:

    Ousting Sheriff Corpus cost at least $4.8 million –but San Mateo County won’t reveal the full legal bill

    Taxpayers foot at least $4.8 million for election, investigations and hearing costs

    While a lot of money, that’s a drop in the bucket overall. Where is the money going? Keep this in mind as you ponder the Transit tax that is in the pipeline.

  • Mahan: From San Jose to Sacramento?

    Even with Gov. “Kneepads” Newsom termed out of Sacramento and travelling the world to lay the groundwork for a presidential run, the race for governor has been a total yawn so far. Katie “Get out of my f*^%king shot” Porter is toast. As Randy Wong said today on the John Phillips Show (12-3pm 810am KSFO), “people either don’t know who Tom Steyer is or really don’t like him” regardless of how many expensive commercials he runs during Warriors games. The rest are pretty much ho-hum at best. The saddest is Tony Thurmond, state superindendent of public instruction, which would be the biggest example of the Peter Principle in history.

    But the news this morning that San Jose major Matt Mahan’s wife gave him to go ahead to jump into the race, as he relayed in an interview with Ashley Zavala of KCRA Sacramento, has invigorated the race to the June 2nd primary. Per the SF Standard:

    But Mahan does have some aces to play: He has won the ardor of some of California’s technology crowd, including Y Combinator leader Garry Tan and entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley. That cohort alone could provide the millions needed to propel him to Sacramento. He has also carved out a moderate, party-bucking lane on homelessness and criminal justice (e.g. a big Prop 36 supporter) that a large swath of voters might find appealing, as Democrats continue their soul-searching after the 2024 election. And in a political environment where bucking the status quo is in vogue, Mahan has been quick to criticize the state’s leadership, which could excite both disaffected voters and well-heeled donors.

    As mayor, Mahan has pushed for stricter rules on unsheltered homelessness, is an advocate for interim shelter sites, and often rails against state regulations he says stymie housing production. He is considered an ally to business interests, and, like San Francisco’s mayor, has largely stayed out of national political conversations. He has instead argued that his energy should be spent on combating local issues. His term in San Jose runs until 2028, after he handily won reelection in 2024.

    A reasonable person could ask, “why would you want the job?” when the next governor will inherit budget deficits as far as the eye can see–or passed it, if (when) the stock market hits its next speed bump. The emerging story is the public service unions and the health care unions with their “billionaire tax” vs. the “center-lane” candidate who can line up enough millions to level the advertising playing field. And if Mahan loses, he still has a job for two more years. Popcorn anyone?

  • Transportation Monies: $187.1M

    I wanted to dig a little deeper into the DJ story about $200M going for road upgrades this past week. Whenever I see this sort of number being trumpeted as a standalone factoid, I get curious about the entirety of the picture. On the surface it sounds like a lot of money, but there are about 750,000 people on the county. The DMV doesn’t make it easy to figure out how many licensed drivers there are in the county, but 70% isn’t a bad guess. Call it 525K. The actual budget number from the TA press release last June was $187.1M for a per driver capita expenditure of $356 per fiscal year. Given the cost of any noticeable road improvement, $187.1M won’t go far.

    Not that I want more taxes like Measures A and W that fill this fund or higher gas taxes, but just the Broadway grade separation is $500-600M and climbing by the year. And the TA’s funding included bicycle and pedestrian improvements as well. As a state, we don’t fare well on national rankings:

    California’s road condition rankings vary by study but generally place it poorly, often in the bottom 10 to 15 states, with reports citing significant percentages of roads in poor condition, ranking low in pavement quality for urban/rural interstates and arterials

    It didn’t used to be this way. When I got here in 1981, the roads were awesome compared to New England roads. As they should be. What went wrong? The state is certainly spending a ton of money on something–the tale of the tape is

    California’s state budget has significantly increased under Governor Newsom, growing from around $200 billion in 2019 to proposed levels near $350 billion for 2026-27.

    Bringing some salaries at places like the TA back to earth and making the EV drivers to pay their “fair share” would be a good start. Let’s hope the next governor can rein in the top line spending while reallocating more to infrastructure like roads, reservoirs otherwise things will only get worse out on the asphalt.

  • Smaller state districts? Sure, why not?

    Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while and so it was this week with the SF Comicle Open Forum column. Under the title State needs to expand Legislature, some SF attorney made the case that we need smaller Assembly and State Senate districts leading to more elected members. I seldom think we need more politicians, but he makes an interesting point.

    California has fewer legislators per capita than any other state. The Assembly has 80 seats and the Senate 40, figures established in the 1879 Constitution and left unchanged even as the population grew from under 1 million to nearly 40 million.

    Today, a single state senator represents more people than live in South Dakota. Districts of this scale make competitive elections the exception rather than the rule. Reaching such a vast number of residents requires money, name recognition and organizational infrastructure that challengers rarely have. The mechanics of campaigning tilt toward incumbents and the dominant party. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in 2022 found that a majority of respondents believed the state was headed in the wrong direction. That same year, almost every legislator seeking reelection kept their seat.

    Geography adds a separate problem. When a district stretches across counties and communities, minority-party voters in suburban and exurban areas are often lost in electorates so large that their preferences barely register. We saw the consequences of this dynamic in 2024 when Republicans won nearly 41% of the Assembly vote but secured only 25% of the seats.

    The true irony of all this is that the Legislature foisted five tiny little city council districts on us at the local level. Back in 2021, with a push by a SoCal lawyer, we lost citywide council elections thus we each lost four of our five votes. Some people lost all five of their votes when no candidate stepped up to run. Similar micro-districting happened to school boards, water districts, et al. But not in Sacramento. Maybe it’s time, but the self-preservation force is strong for the status quo.

  • CSM: “Free college” and new housing

    I’ve been taking a class at CSM one day a week for the last six or seven semesters. It’s a beautiful campus with a lot of open space, top notch facilities and not a lot of students. I’m paying a modest tuition for a two-hour, non-degree class and happy to do so. For some degree-seeking students, tuition is “free”. Of course, it’s not free but rather taxpayer subsidized. The freebie has been given to about 5,000 students over the last three years and yet the campus often feels empty on a Tuesday afternoon except for the athletic facility. Now our state senator, Josh Becker, wants to double down on “free” per the DJ:

    Following the success of the San Mateo County Community College District’s Free College pilot, a bill making the initiative a permanent program will be introduced to the California Legislature in the new year.

    The district covers the costs that are waived for qualified students, which Moreno described as a necessary investment. For the 2025-26 school year, the Board of Trustees approved allocating $12.5 million for the Free College expenses.

    The freebies for select students doesn’t give me a lot of heartburn but calling it “free” does. The $12.5M per year comes from somewhere and everyone–students, administrators and taxpayers–should remember that. The next move up on the hill in San Mateo is a big change from a community college to one with on-campus housing. Per the DJ 

    Districtwide student housing at College of San Mateo is inching closer to becoming a reality after the community college district’s Board of Trustees approved a $61.85 million contract with developers who intend to break ground in the spring. 

    The proposed housing facility will provide 316 beds to first-generation, low-income and housing-insecure students attending any of the three colleges within the San Mateo County Community College District.

    As I said, there is a lot of land up there and that makes it possible to do this sort of project at about $200K per bed. The land is also not “free” – it has opportunity costs as well as infrastructure costs to accommodate the intensified usage. Let’s hope this major project is run on the up and up and doesn’t result in another big trial of anyone involved like what is going on down in RWC right now. It would also be nice if the county’s cities got a bit of a RHNA credit for the new housing. Everyone but the YIMBYs knows the RHNA numbers are way off and should be redone. Here’s one chance to do so.

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