Political Junkie: He Ain't No Hollaback Supe
This shhhhh really is bananas! Just like Gwen Stefani, Supervisor Chris Daly stuck it to the student teachers (stomp stomp), getting ev'rybody riled up (stomp stomp). He ain't no hollaback supe -- he ain't no hollaback supe!
So what's the hollering about? What's it always about? MUNI! So Daly, who's been on the forefront of protesting the MUNI fare hikes, made a routine motion at yesterday's Board of Supes meeting to put off discussing the rollback in the parking fees so it could be discussed at the same time as the other MUNI budget objections he and the transit advocates wanted to make. Supervisor McGoldrick then said he wouldn't vote for the motion. "Are you kidding me?," our peroxide-blonde cheerleader ska-punk-pop princess said. Sandoval then said he wouldn't either. Response, Mr. Daly? "F*** that!"
Bring it, Chris! (item 24, 6:57.)
Chanting, gavel-banging, and the cops get called, after the jump. Holla!
It's on! The crowd starts chanting, "We want to speak! We want to speak!" Daly starts pumping his arms up and down in time-honored rock star fashion. ("Lemme hear you say heeeeeeey! Louder! Left side! Now right side! Now lemme hear you screeeeeeeeeam!") and ultimately sits down in the audience and starts clapping along too. Poor Aaron Peskin, going bang-bang-bang with the gavel to no avail -- and also waving his arms to try and get people's attention ("lemme not hear you say heeeeey! Let me not hear you screeeeeeeam!"), as other supervisors hastily left the chambers. The sheriffs' department had to be called!
After a tense recess, the board did ultimately move the parking fees motion for later discussion (though Daly did say, loudly, "it's crap," when McGoldrick said something about working together to make San Francisco a "transit first" city.) At the later discussion, the proposal to nix the budget entirely (the Supes don't have line-item power over the MUNI budget, so the only way to strike the rollback of the parking fees and the fare increases was to vote down the entire budget) failed, 7-4 (the four who voted against the budget were: Ammiano, Mirkarimi, Daly, and Sandoval -- coincidentally or not, in districts where people rely heavily on buses and light rail).
Pro-car supervisor McGoldrick called the increased parking fees "punitive taxation" on working-class people with cars and small businesses near parking meters, and said, "I bet everyone in this room's been in a car this year. It's time to balance things." McGoldrick also said, "I didn't organize in the ghetto for a year or two. I grew up in the ghetto." (Can someone find out where McGoldrick grew up for us? It doesn't seem to be online anywhere).
Elsbernd, who voted for the fare hikes, was upset again about Daly, saying, "There are certain bounds of decency that supervisors should follow and that crossed the line."
Meanwhile, in a vain attempt to forestall this in the future, Sandoval has moved for line-item authority over the MUNI budget. "No one who sets MUNI's budget is elected. It's taxation without representation," he said.