Jordan vs. Jordan: Candidate Promises, Citizen Mayor Delivers?

Then-candidate Frank Jordan pledged that the city's 911 emergency-call system would be top-notch. His promise: "As mayor, I will make sure the emergency dispatch system is properly trained and fully staffed. If civil service restrictions prevent us from hiring more dispatchers, then I will make sure there is adequate funding to pay overtime so that emergency calls are answered swiftly and professionally."

The delivery: The city has yet to hire a director for the 911 system; Jordan and his police chief, Anthony Ribera, shrugged off two Board of Supervisors committee fact-finding sessions that faulted the administration for failure to staff the agency; and Jordan dumped his own Police Commission appointee, Dorian Nelson, after she complained that Ribera was ignoring the needs of the 911 staffers. Most tragically, the investigation into the 101 California killings in 1993 concluded that the city's 911 system had not operated swiftly in dispatching officers and medics to the scene.

Next week: Jordan on affordable housing.