Cost of SFPD's New P.R. Social Media 'Watch' Campaign?

From the Associated Press (via KPIX/CBS and The Guardian), to the Bay Area Reporter, Bay City News (via KRON), and the SF Examiner, all omitted the price-tag for the San Francisco Police Department's new public relations effort Not on My Watch.

Very curious that the AP also omitted the name of the former television journalist who produced the 10-minute video for the campaign, which is all about police officers not tolerating racism, sexism, homophobia and other isms and promoting acceptance of diverse communities.

Thanks to a public records request, I've learned the name of the former reporter is David Stevenson who used to work for KTVU. An invoice shows the SFPD spent $1,600 on bumper stickers and they were shipped to Stevenson at police headquarters.

The total cost, so far, for Not on My Watch comes to $16,400, according to an email from Officer Carolyn Gassen of the department's legal division. 

Spending $16,400 in taxpayer dollars for this public relations campaign should be reported by legacy media and disclosed on the Not on My Watch web site. Let's make it easy for citizens to follow the money!

Mayor's Peskin & Pak Meetings Change His Online Calendar

We filed a public records request for Mayor Ed Lee's calendar, after reading in the San Francisco Chronicle about his meetings with Chinatown powerbroker Rose Pak and Sup. Aaron Peskin.

Neither meeting was listed on the mayor's calendar page and that's the basis of our Sunshine Ordinance Task Force complaint.

In their reply to the SOTF, the mayor's staff state he actually keeps two calendars and that changes have occurred regarding his schedule.

The staff say, "To avoid any potential for confusion in the future, however, we will be posting a disclaimer on the Press Calendar webpage to make clear that the Press Calendar contains only the Mayor's public media events, and that the Mayor's Prop G daily calendar may be obtained by request."

So far, that page does not include the clarification and note about his Prop G calendar. Here's our suggestion to Mayor Lee. Just post both calendars and don't place the burden on the public to file a request for the Prop G daily schedule.

The old version used to read "Mayor Lee's Calendar" and most folks would think that's his official calendar, right?

Mayor Lee now shares only his press calendar and we're waiting to see when his staff inserts the information about how to obtain his real calendar of events and meetings. We'll update on this once our complaint is head at the SOTF.

SF Homeless Piss & Money Tour: 1/27 at Noon

January 26, 2016

Members of the Govt Access Project will gather at Division and Mission Streets on Wednesday, January 27 at noon for an important outreach effort related to toilet access and a monetary giveaway to the homeless people living in tents.

We'll assemble under a bright pink umbrella, then tour the Tent City area with a flyer about nearby San Francisco Fire Department stations, where the public can use the toilets. A small donation will be made to each homeless person.

Late on, at 5 pm we'll attend the fire commission meeting in Room 400 at City Hall to demand the SFFD install signage outside firehouse about the availability seven-days a week of the taxpayer-funded toilets.

Our goals is to direct homeless folks to public toilets where they can pee and poop, and wash their hands, near their tents, and give them funds.


January 27, 2016

The outreach action was a success, in terms of reaching dozens of homeless folks living under the freeway overpass. We received terrific media attention from HoodlineSF, KCBS Radio and later tonight KVTU will air footage of our engagement with homeless people today.

One homeless woman told us the Department of Public Works and police officers have warned them they will be swept out tomorrow, to beautify the City as Super Bowl events gear up.

We've reached out to DPW and Sam Dodge, the Mayor's point-person on homeless issues, about the potential for a sweep tomorrow. When we hear from them, this post will be updated.

 


January 29, 2016

In September 2012, after we learned about the existence of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board and that it meets at 170 Otis Street on the first Monday of the month at 11 am, we called on this City panel to move its meetings to City Hall and air them on SFGovTV.

Unfortunately, Mayor Lee's homeless czar Bevan Dufty and the panel opted to stay off TV and outta City Hall, denying the many stakeholders who can't meetings on Monday mornings the opportunity to learn what exactly they do to solve homeless problems.

This Monday, February 1, at 11 am, the mayor will present his plan creating a new City department of homeless programs to the homeless board at 170 Otis Street, near Division and Mission.

We are not aware of any publicity from either the panel or members of it, or any Homeless Inc groups regarding this important presentation from the mayor and in the middle of the City rolling out the red carpet for a pittance from the NFL and Super Bowl corporate sponsors, with much attention on homeless people.

As of this writing, the mayor's advance calendar for next week is totally blank so his staff doesn't seem to be alerting stakeholders to his appearance before the panel on Monday.

We'll attend the meeting and listen to the mayor's presentation, then report back to everyone.

> Support disrupting City Hall darkness. Make a donation today. < 

Agenda for Peskin's Rent Control Brain Trust's City Hall Meeting?

Affordable Housing Inc in San Francisco has mastered the illusion of being a bottom-up, grassroots component of the City, but the more accurate depiction is of a cabal continually meeting behind closed doors amongst themselves and elected officials.

Leaders of the cabal include Randy Shaw, a Berkeley resident who runs several Tenderloin nonprofits, Gen Fujioka lawyer and reporter for 48 Hills, Fred Sherburn-Zimmer, director of the Housing Rights Committee, Scott Weaver, lawyer and leader of Plaza 16, Tina Cheung of the Chinatown Community Development Center, and Peter Cohen of the Council of Community Housing Organizations.

They had a one-hour private meeting with Supervisor Aaron Peskin at City Hall on January 7th and the topic was Rent Control Brain Trust according to Peskin's calendar. I've filed a public records request for the agenda and all notes kept by the supervisor or his staff.

If there were genuine progressive transparency in San Francisco, these nonprofit leaders would disclose at a followup public meeting what was discussed with Peskin about this brain trust.

And govt transparency would be better served if Peskin and all Supervisors, elected officials and public servants required to keep a calendar, posted their schedules on the web.

Until then, there's the Govt Access Project!

Disrupting City Hall's Darkness

Welcome to our new site. As way of a brief introduction explaining our goals, we are sharing our fundraising appeal. 

Please donate today using the PayPal button on this blog. Ask friends to contribute. Spread the word about the Govt Access Project. Promote our IndieGoGo campaign. Let the sunlight shine bright!

The Govt Access Project

All elected San Francisco officials,from the Board of Supervisors to City department chiefs, thanks to open government laws, must make their work calendars public but no statute mandates posting the calendars online.

Not a single Supervisor or department chief posts his or her calendar on the web. That must change.

The Govt Access Project will enhance transparency expanding the public's access to govt information, making our leaders fully accountable to voters and taxpayers by showing how they spend their time, issues on their agenda and who they meet with.

GAP needs funding to create a calendar database just a few clicks away for the public and press to access. We're prepared to upload dozens of calendars in our possession.

Here's how GAP will disrupt City Hall's data darkness:

Phase 1 - Gather and store calendar data from Supervisors and other public servants, solicit donations and support: Now till January 15.

Phase 2 - Standardize monthly requests to City Hall officials, follow-up when records are withheld, late or incomplete, develop layout and navigation of database site: Now and ongoing.

Phase 3 – Launch the site with Supervisors' calendar data on January 18; other officials' calendars published January 25.

Phase 4 – Keep calendars flowing from City Hall and quickly posted to our database, raise funds to sustain the project: February onward.

This valuable sunshine effort is a time-intensive project. Funds raised go toward a much-needed computer hardware upgrade and technical assistance, already costing us $1,000, high speed web access, time spent requesting and archiving calendar data.

With your contribution, GAP will deliver enhanced open government and democracy in San Francisco. Tell your friends to also donate, please!

Here is the list of thirty-four public servants whose calendar data will be collected and shared:

Board of Supervisors:

Avalos, John

Breed, London

Calvillo, Angela (Clerk of the Board)

Campos, David

Cohen, Malia

Christensen, Julie (Term ended in November)

Farrell, Mark

Kim, Jane

Mar, Eric

Peskin, Aaron (Term started in December)

Tang, Katy

Yee, Norman

Other Elected Officials and Department Chiefs:

Arts Commission, Tom DeCaigney

Assessor-Recorder, Carmen Chu

Budget and Legislative Analyst, Harvey Rose

City Administrator, Naomi Kelly

City Attorney, Dennis Herrera

City Controller, Ben Rosenfield

Department of Public Health, Barbara Garcia

Department of Public Works, Mohammed Nuru

District Attorney George Gascon

Ethics Commission, LeeAnn Pelham

Fire Department, Joanne Hayes-White

Mayor Ed Lee

Planning Department, John Rahaim

Police Department, Greg Suhr

Office of Citizen Complaints, Joyce Hicks

Recreation and Parks, Phil Ginsburg

San Francisco Airport, John L. Martin

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Ed Reiskin

San Francisco Unified School District, Richard Carranza

Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi (Term ends in December)

Sheriff, Vicky Hennessy(Term begins in January)

Treasurer, Jose Cisneros

Vice Mayor, Steve Kawa