June 21, 2007
SFist Photo: Playing Politics with Street Repaving?
Mmmmm... the smell of new asphalt. Those bumpy rides to your day spa are history now that Union Street, or at least the retail stretch of it in Cow Hollow anyway, has a fresh layer of bitumen.
Have any potholes in your area? We're sure that help will be on its way to your district eventually. Did these blocks on Union need repaving more than the other 12,400 in S.F.? We don't know, but powerful San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin seems to feel that politics plays a role in choosing which areas get attention first. Is it true that DPW recently adjusted its schedule due to pressure from the Mayor’s Office and a "particular supervisor", as alleged by Board President Peskin, or is this just a case of responsive governmental entities acting as they should? We don't have enough information to know for sure. Do you?
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I do believe that it is important to give a high priority to the roads used by the tourists since that is a big source of economic health for the City. Union Street is definitely on the tour guide.
The streets (and parking lots, like the one beside the Watermark condo at Bryant and The Embarcadero) around AT&T Park are pretty important, especially when we have an All-Star baseball game and internatiional media attention coming to that part of town.
Hey - didn't Union get repaved because they recently completed a large sewer replacement project? Let's not "Daly" and start making accusations before we have any facts.
Hey - didn't Union get repaved because they just recently completed a large sewer replacement project on that street? Let's not "Daly" and start making accusations without any facts!
good for you. Here's an idea, tho it would take some work. DPW should have stats on what they've repaved in the last year. Somebody should make a Google maps mashup of that.
i would guess then it would become more painfully obvious
Perhaps I'm really naïve, but isn't government spending *always* related to politics?
Wow... Union was repaved because of a massive sewer project...
I live in Pacific Heights and the streets here are completely crappy. They are full of pot holes and loose gravel. You can't drive down Green or Scott without bouncing all over the place. I actually think the city doesn't want to repave pac heights and cow hollow because it would look too favorable to the weathier people that live here.
Improper political influences going on in Gavin's Department of Public Works? No way! Wake up, people. DPW is one of the shadiest departments in the City. Does anyone remember Mohammed Nuru, the Deputy Director of DPW who forced street cleaners to campaign for Gavin on the city's dime? He was publicly slapped on the wrist and privately told to keep up the good work. He still has his job.
DPW is one of Gavin's most potent tools for wielding political influence. I'd love to see a Google map of where they've been working. I'll take any bet that District 6 isn't at the top of the list.
Yeah, I'm sure that the City is afraid of showing favoritism. Reverse-classism must stop now!
I'm all for the mash-up idea, but it smacks of government transparency so its doubtful that'll happen anytime soon.
i'm starting to think it's time for a civil war here in the city. winner take all.
here's what i suggest.
progressives vs everyone else, meet at civic center on july 4th at noon, no holds barred, channel 4 news style, just no touching of the face or hair. i'll bring my trident.
the winners get to set the priorities for the budget, make our government accountable, fire all the union employees and replace them with immigrants that actually work, the losers have to shut the fuck up, forever.
if we win, the homeless go to treasure island, we bulldoze the tenderloin and 6th street corridor to redevelop it into something useful.
if we lose, we abondon the city and let the homeless and the progressives turn it into the shit hole they are so hellbent on it becoming and we say good riddance.
Didn't Peskin slam Ed Jew and Gavin Newsom in May for "playing politics" to get a horrible stretch of Noriega Street repaved a year early?
www.examiner.com / a-716009~Peskin__Politics_push_street_repair_timeline.html
If you have a pothole that you need fixed, you should go to the DPW website and report it. While they claim to get it done within something like 48 hours that isn't likely to happen, but you can always re-report it or move on up the line. If your whole street is f#(ked, report it, then have your neighbors report it. Keep doing this once a week. Until you actually start reporting this stuff, quit yer bitch'n. (I have reported stuff to DPW and they were fixed in about a week.)
That is exactly what they did to Page Street when they replaced one of the underground utilities a few years ago (actually they did that 3 years in a row as they replaced each of the utilities a year apart).
Of course these decisions are political. Isn't that why we have district elections in the first place? So that our local supervisor can make sure the roads in the neighborhood get kept up? Or put pressure on the police for patrols when violence gets out of hand, like Mirikami did last week...
Supposedly the city has a 5-year policy on utilities. The utilities are supposed to do all of their work when the street is scheduled for repaving. Then there's a 5-year moratorium on digging up the street for new wires, pipes, whatever. Of course in case of emergencies then they can go ahead.
Amen to representation by District. I can't understand the call for City-wide Supervisor seats in place of Districts.
I observed City-wide City Councilmembers in Detroit achieve little to nothing for years - 40 years after the Civil Rights blowout and tanks rolling through the streets, Detroit is still an eyesore and a half.
Michiganders also regret term limits ... because it leads to elected officials ALWAYS politicking for that next elected position up the totem poll ... City something to County something to State something to another State something to U.S. something ... etc... Politicians need to govern a majority of the time, not 10%.
I don't think wealthy or tourist-y areas have any priority. If you have driven or biked on Stockton or anywhere else in Chinatown, you'll know how the pavement or sidewalk conditions really are.
A stretch of 16th Street was repaved just last week, so that blows the "it's not happening in D6" complaint out of the water.
The streets citywide are in generally bad shape, not just in one neighborhood.
Well, they tore up the street in front of my house to redo the gas lines. Then they tore up the street to replace the sewer lines.
Then, about six months later, they repaved the street and fixed the sidewalk.
It was a mess while they were working on it, but it is nice now.