Dog Bites

Food Fight
Geraldine Johnson, African-American community activist and until recently a restaurateur at Yerba Buena Gardens, is crying foul over the Redevelopment Agency's decision to shut down her eatery, California Creole. Owing close to $30,000 in back rent and an agency loan to pay utilities, Johnson and five partners -- including other prominent black pols -- were asked by the agency to put up or shutter up.

Ever the political spinstress, Johnson suggests an ulterior motive: She complains that she had a loan coming from an economic development firm, and she had so informed Redevelopment officials. At the same time, she says, one of the agency's commissioners, Manny Rosales, was pressuring her to sell her lease to an acquaintance of his. Johnson says she refused but Rosales kept asking her to strike a deal with Fresno restaurateur Sheila Guarderas. "I thought it was improper he was up there voting to close me and at the same time pressuring me to give the cafe to a friend of his," Johnson says.

Rosales says he tried to get Guarderas and Johnson together, but only because he had Johnson's best interests at heart. The way Rosales tells it, Guarderas is a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in the Central Valley. Because Rosales is chair of the statewide chamber, he says, Guarderas called him for help in locating in San Francisco. Rosales says he put her in touch with Johnson. "Maybe I made an error," he says. "But my only intention was to help Geraldine stay in business."

Rosales had no direct stake in Guarderas getting into Yerba Buena Gardens, except, perhaps, to keep his dues-paying chamber member happy. It's entirely possible that Johnson is just angry because she and her partners found it harder to sell bona fide sausage than to make the political variety. That's the way Helen Sause, the Redevelopment Agency's project manager at Yerba Buena, sees it, anyway. "They were undercapitalized and didn't have any experience in running a restaurant," she says.

No-Frills Flying
Maybe they were inspired by Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi."
The situation: A passenger at SFO, traveling on a pass to Phoenix, tells gate personnel she has reserved a seat on a Southwest flight. The exchange:

Southwest gate agent: "Why do you have a reservation? You are not allowed to have a reservation."

Passenger: "Uhm ... I thought I was supposed to make a reservation. I physically showed the coupon and all the other information to your ticket agent at the Southwest Airline counter for this reservation, yesterday."

Agent: "Whoever issued this to you could lose all their privileges."
Passenger: "Because I made a reservation?"
Agent: "If you continue to argue I can deny you access to the airline. ... I will put you on the stand-by list."

Passenger: "How many people are ahead of me on the stand-by list?"
Agent: "There are six REVENUE passengers ahead of you."
Supervisor is now called onto the scene. Coincidentally, a police officer appears as well.

Supervisor: "I need to know the exact circumstances leading up to your reservation here so that I can evaluate whether or not I'm going to let you travel."

Passenger explains exact circumstances -- again.
Supervisor: "Because you have made a reservation, I can prevent you from traveling for an entire day, not just on this flight. ... [But] it sounds like this may have been a miscommunication between you and the reservation agent, so I'll let you get on the plane."

Southwest, the airline with fun fares.

By George Cothran, Lisa Davis