Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Public Safety vs. Public Health 1: The Fireman's Ball



An expensive public relations campaign being paid for by San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, which includes full-page newspaper ads and robo-calls to San Francisco citizens, culminated on Tuesday afternoon with a protest rally in Civic Center Plaza.



The purpose was to decry possible budget cuts to the police and fire departments by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.



There were a lot of children involved...



...along with many of the usual political suspects, including the local Republican leaders above...



...Scott Weiner of the Democratic Central Committee...



...and political fixer Jim Lazarus who has been working for downtown interests since Dianne Feinstein was mayor.



Joanne Hayes-White (above), the fire chief who climbed to that position from departmental chauffeur, looked happy and excited to be at the event...



...except when she was having her photograph taken.



San Francisco's Public Defender, Jeff Adachi, talked with some of the attendees before crossing the street to a counterdemonstration on the steps of City Hall. "Mayor Newsom doesn't seem to think my department is part of public safety," he told me, alluding to the fact that his already underfunded department is slated for draconian cuts.

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