Hetch Hetchy

Water World -- San Francisco Style

The Prop. H Campaign's Big Lie

Will the new Hetch Hetchy plan wring San Francisco dry?

Some question conservation targets in water-system upgrade By Peter Jamison The $4.4 billion plan to upgrade the Bay Area’s aging water system — a vast public-works edifice that delivers water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park to San Francisco and surrounding cities — r ... More >>

Enviro Sacrifice Watch: No More Clubbing Baby Seals

MoeLyn PhotosEnvironmentalists came first for my bottled water. And I didn't speak up because I drank Hetch Hetchy springwater on tap. And then they came for my garbage cans, requiring me to separate out recyclables from trash. I didn't speak up, because, well, I thought I could manage. An ... More >>

The Class of 2000

Eight years after being swept into office, a once-disorganized band of neighborhood leftists tries to create a citywide political machine.

Mi Amor

Let him count the ways this unique Italian restaurant won his heart

A Bridge Too Costly

The city's way of contracting out public works construction is broken — so much so that companies are not bidding on important municipal projects and that could cost us billions

Powerful Advice

Leaders should ignore the temptation to over-regulate energy policy and let competition reign

Bridge Out

A look at the comically delayed Fourth Street drawbridge project, and how the city's Byzantine contracting system costs millions

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, May 4, 2005

The 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Public Relations

The envelope, please ... and the Pulitzer goes to -- Environmental Defense!

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, September 29th, 2004

Big Dam Mess

The Environmental Defense Fund embarks on a national campaign to shame San Francisco into restoring the other great Yosemite valley, Hetch Hetchy. But is shame really a good political strategy?

Surprise!

If you think S.F. is ready for a terrorist attack – even two years-plus after 9/11 – think again

Derailing the Jaye Train

Why Matt Gonzalez should stick with his progressive roots, and ignore pressure to act "responsibly"

The World According to Bechtel

There are well-connected companies. Then there's Bechtel.

It's a Bechtel World

Think that a $680 million Iraq contract is a big deal? You don't know Bechtel.

Notes From the Edge

The choices are dark and dreary, but the only candidate for governor is (be still, pounding heart) Gray Davis

The Horror

Darkness descends at City Hall as supervisors argue ceaselessly over dogs and apartment size

A Vote of Competence

This is no time for softheaded governing. In this election, Prop. F and Dennis Herrera pass the confidence test; MUD fails completely.

Dead Mud Walking

A ballot measure that would create a Municipal Utility District has so many legal flaws, it's all but DOA. In fact, passing the measure might delay the advent of public power here for years.

Letters to the Editor

Week of April 18, 2001

Delusions of Power

Is it smart to jump into the Bay Guardian's version of public power, without even studying whether it will save money?

Smoke and Smearers

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Side Dish

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Back Home

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Slap Shots

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Riff Raff

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Night+Day

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

Your Water Rates May Be Going Up -- But the PUC Will Still Happily Give You a Cartoon Map of City Reservoirs For Free

Sure, many of us harbor troubling notions about hikes in the water rates, or what Hetch Hetchy Valley looked like before we opted to make it our principal water source. But if you're a sucker for cartoons, maps, and have a soft spot for recently deceased Farley creator Phil Frank -- well, then the P ... More >>

S.F.'s tasty tap water about to get a little murkier

Sure, many of us harbor troubling notions about hikes in the water rates, or what Hetch Hetchy Valley looked like before we opted to make it our principal water source. But if you're a sucker for cartoons, maps, and have a soft spot for recently deceased Farley creator Phil Frank -- well, then the P ... More >>

Has Willie Brown Outfoxed the Board of Supervisors -- Again?

Why was Willie Brown -- that's him on the left -- involved in sponsoring an Assembly bill the city's Board of Supervisors is madly hoping to derail?It probably wasn't really Mark Twain who said "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But until the day 80-proof distilled spirits ... More >>

Willie Brown tries to force city to restore lucrative contract with engineering firm

Why was Willie Brown -- that's him on the left -- involved in sponsoring an Assembly bill the city's Board of Supervisors is madly hoping to derail?It probably wasn't really Mark Twain who said "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But until the day 80-proof distilled spirits ... More >>

SF Gov inAction: All Chris Daly Jokes Must Now Be Translated Into Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog Upon Request

There are only three meetings left standing this week: By contrast, four meetings were supposed to happen, but canceled. Is it just me, or are city hall meetings increasingly resembling network programming? "Well, we would LIKE to have a City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee mee ... More >>

Fixing Hetch Hetchy Dam costs $1 billion more than it should

There are only three meetings left standing this week: By contrast, four meetings were supposed to happen, but canceled. Is it just me, or are city hall meetings increasingly resembling network programming? "Well, we would LIKE to have a City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee mee ... More >>

City Dwellers Doused as Water Department Flushes Fire Hydrants

Joe EskenaziJed's a millionaire!​ Conversation in the line for a chi-chi Mission Bay taqueria was dampened the other day when, a few yards off, a city water department employee hooked what appeared to be an oversize cow bell to the fire hydrant. Before anyone could make a "more cowbell" joke, a to ... More >>

Flushed: More Information Floods Forth on City's Roaring Hydrants

Joe EskenaziWhitewater! ​The other day, we wrote about the proliferation of Water Department employees cracking open Mission Bay's fire hydrants, letting 'em rip, and then cooling their heels for up to three hours or more while untold quantities of Hetch Hetchy water gushed into the sewers. Sure i ... More >>

Engineer: Century-Old Pipes Bursting From Old Age Won't Survive Quake

Wait! We're not ready! ​You don't need to be a top-flight engineer to figure that a century-old water main that crumbled on its own over the weekend turning SoMa into a swamp would not have survived a strong earthquake. Chris Poland, however, is a top-flight engineer, and he confirmed it -- the ci ... More >>

The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.

Spend more. Get less. We’re the city that knows how.

Signs of Progress

San Francisco politics were dysfunctional in the 2000s,but recent changes suggest there's reason for hope.

McClatchy Newspapers Renew Misleading Anti-Hetch Hetchy Crusade

Coming soon? Don't count on it. ​"Hetch Hetchy could go on ballot," declares a headline in today's Modesto Bee atop a story claiming the group Restore Hetch Hetchy is on the verge of putting a measure before San Francisco voters this November that, if successful, would lead to the destruction of O ... More >>

Why Does Chron Ignore What Willie Brown Writes -- In the Chron?

What'll it take to get Willie Brown quoted in the Chronicle?​If you were penning an article for the Chronicle about whether Willie Brown was a viable candidate to serve as San Francisco's interim mayor, you'd think the following quote from Hizzoner himself would be somewhat relevant: "I have no in ... More >>

Your Rundown on the Week in S.F. Government

A Tea Party slogan unknown in San Franciso government​Should be a fun week -- the Board of Supervisors is weighing in on the fiasco involving narcotics analysis at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab, the Police Commission is trying to reform its process for disciplining wayward officers ... More >>

Drink up: SF Tap Water "Safer" Than Bottled Water

sfwater.orgWorth every penny​Take a long, cool drink of the Hetch Hetchy the next time someone hands you a bottle of Fiji: city officials have long said that the imported mountain water which provides San Franciscans' tap water is better than bottled H20, and now they have a study to prove it.The ... More >>

Barbara Boxer Helps Score $36.8 Million for California Counties. S.F. Gets a Piddling $5,668.

Hey, thanks a lot!​Sen. Barbara Boxer, in a tight re-election contest against Republican Carly Fiorina, has helped largely poor and rural California counties to a vat federal funds. Boxer has lent a hand in hastening this year's installment of government payments showered upon counties to com ... More >>

Ross Mirkarimi Pushes for Paperless San Francisco

Your days are numbered, pal...​This morning, while lamenting the demise of his progressive Muni charter amendment, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi couldn't help but tell SF Weekly about the mind-blowing amounts of paper associated with the mind-blowingly long and complicated Hunters Point Naval Shipyard ... More >>

City Wants $150M Water Recycling Plant in Golden Gate Park -- But Shut One There in 1981

Recycled water isn't emanating from those sprinklers in San Francisco. But it did in the days of yore. ​Last night, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission held its first public meeting regarding a proposed water recycling plant in Golden Gate Park. The $150 million plant would treat 2 milli ... More >>

Mayor Lee Declares Soda Free Summer Because He Hates Summer

Nancy Pelosi/FlickrMayor Lee: ruiner of summer.​We love Mayor Ed Lee. The push-broom mustache, the quiet authority, the no-drama way he's run City Hall -- we'd give it five stars on Yelp. So it pains us to say this, but: Mayor Ed Lee is trying to destroy summertime. "San Francisco is fortunat ... More >>

Guardian pick Leland Yee Also Wins Approval from PG&E

Nancy Pelosi/FlickrMayor Lee: ruiner of summer.​We love Mayor Ed Lee. The push-broom mustache, the quiet authority, the no-drama way he's run City Hall -- we'd give it five stars on Yelp. So it pains us to say this, but: Mayor Ed Lee is trying to destroy summertime. "San Francisco is fortunat ... More >>