Some advocates take the time to address the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which is famous for kicking the can down the street.
The SFPUC continues to defy the citizens of San Francisco by failing to meet standards. Audit after audit indicates that millions of dollars—all taxpayers' money—have been wasted.
After dismissing four sitting SFPU Commissioners - and filling the seats with three and only one remaining from the five past SFPU Commissioners, the present Chairperson - who worked for the SF City Attorney's office.
The present manager of the SFPUC and the assistant general manager also worked for the SF City Attorney's office.
Every commission has a City Attorney, and this SF City Attorney monitors the happenings at the many Commission meetings with minimal guidance and correction.
Let us get to the point - none of the Commissioners paid attention to the Raker Act - which helped Congress to allow the City and County of San Francisco to dam the Hetch Hetchy dam - adversely impact the Tuolumne River - and bring about the demise of the Salmon - that flourished in the Tuolumne River for thousands of years.
Over the years, Hetch Hetchy water—some of the most pristine water on Earth—stored between substantial granite rocks has been doled out to filthy computer companies for cooling operations, making chips, and other products.
Water has been doled out to all sorts of institutions and entities that were never envisioned, with a thorough needs assessment and one sole purpose: to make vast amounts of money.
Over the years, folks in San Francisco have been conserving and saving clean drinking water - the SFPU Commission - has been charging more, and recently, an audit - way more than they should be charging - and has yet to give the ratepayers what the SFPUC has stolen.
Over the years, there has been no meaningful dialog with the Indigenous tribes living in and around the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir - Yosemite - linked to cultural issues - and, most importantly, the demise of millions of salmon - now practically extinct.
On the Westside of San Francisco, a $100 million taping water from the watershed lies stagnant.
The plan was to tap the water and add it to the clean water we receive from Hetch Hetchy—no matter if this water stinks or is foul.
Never mind—the citizens of San Francisco are not given detailed facts, and Juliet Ellis and other lackeys are nowhere to be found.
The problems lie with PG&E - the SFPUC jumped ahead with plans that were not vetted - and permits from Pacific Gas and Electric - have stalled for years.
The SFPUC is known for not doing their work and presupposing they understand their energy needs. Not so this time - and you will see in the future, too.
If a significant fire surge happens in the Sunset, also known as the Avenues, all hell will break loose.
I told the SFPU Commissioner as long as they pander to the rich and sell the clean drinking water from Hetch Hetchy - for cooling and other such operations - they are not fulfilling the obligations linked to the Raker Act - the uncalled action will come to bite the SFPU Commissioners in the butt.
Who are these Commissioners?
Why are they pussyfooting at the SFPU Commission?
When will they realize that the laymen and women are far more knowledgeable than these folks who are there, much like a gadfly on the wall?
THE RAKER ACT
https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/hetch-hetchy/hr7207.html
Judging from the deliberations at the many drab SFPUC meetings - the blatant statements made - false statements - and with no transparency and accountability.
The present SFPU Commission is unaware of the Raker Act or the mission of the SF Public Utilities Commission.
We are in 2025, yet the SFPUC continues flushing clean drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir - down millions of commodes - the idiots do not seem to care about this atrocity.
For thousands of years, the indigenous tribes in and around the confluence where the sacred river waters meet have respected and honored the river. As a token, the Indigenous share the water—any Elder and one they respect gets this water, and those who receive the water feel how deeply the Indigenous care for the river, the water, and the salmon.
Those who are greedy - will never understand how deep the insult is - flushing millions of gallons of Sacred Water - down the commodes and thinking nothing much - typical of the Greedy - the Elders told us - " do not trust those that speak with a forked tongue."
We repeatedly see the SFPUC waste our time at the many SFPU Commission meetings held on each month's second and fourth Tuesdays.
When we speak truth to power, they do not feel any shame and continue their drab conversation. They deprive the taxpayers of standard services and charge them an arm and a leg for sewer, clean drinking water, and electricity - charges.
https://sfpublicworks.org/projects
Take some time to study the many projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
I have been monitoring the project - based on these Flickr photographs for many years - I have been with Flickr since 2007 and before.
The photographs create a lovely collage and give us a sense of what is happening in our once-great City and County of San Francisco.
This project, which aims to tap into the Watershed and add water to the Sunset, aka Avenues, has been stalled for years. It is a large project with a budget of over $100 million.
PG&E has been stalling on permits, causing untold hardships to decent, hardworking citizens. However, there is a war between SFPUC and PG&E when the two entities are supposed to work as a team.
In San Francisco - when it comes to the many hydrants - some are painted black at the top of the hydrants, others painted blue at the top of the hydrant, and others red in color - we see them - but we know little about these hydrants.
When one digs deeper - we cannot find documents linked to the Hydrants - when were they tested - what were the results - do they have the necessary pressure - if there is a large, surging fire, and other questions that the SFPUC refuses to see to an answer.
Then we have the Cistern - some 200 of them - large wells that can hold as much as 75,000 gallons - we know little how many have been upgraded - if large generators can aid in the pumping of water - if water can be transported by large trucks with tanks - to areas that are difficult to rich - and where the hydrants - lack sound pressure.
In the past, we have had problems with communication - the SF City and County of San Francisco have their own Emergency Management - that is not up to par - we have seen them fail before and cannot wait for a large fire and the Emergency Management Office - lag behind.
We need several Sterling Systems - we need state-of-the-art generators that we do not have today - we have no sound Blue Print that the SF Fire Department, the SF Police Department, the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the San Francisco Emergency Management has in place, tested, and vetted.
San Francisco does not have a helicopter, so we need several just because of the terrain, the many hills, and the strong winds we receive occasionally.
In recent years, we have had flex pipes - made in Japan - help bring water directly and safely - to places like the San Francisco General Hospital.
We must prioritize right now without delay - and stop making excuses - to have ready and on-the-go operations and assets to deal with a large fire in San Francisco.
As I have mentioned before, in 1989 - I was alive and saw what really happened and how unprepared San Francisco was - nothing much has changed - in terms of state-of-the-art assets - needed to stop and fight a large fire.
The SF Fire Department must demand that the essential assets be provided. Having them helps us and others when the need arises.
We need more transparency and accountability regarding the occurrence of large fires - and sound safety of the citizens of San Francisco.
We must be mindful of large areas in San Francisco - prone to liquefaction, earthquakes, and the many natural gas lines that can give way and start large fires. There is more—the experts can sing the blues.
The SFPUC could post a map on its website showing the significant areas in San Francisco prone to severe liquefaction and other adverse factors.
Not long ago, the San Francisco Legislative Budget Aide revealed in a report that several audits—linked to several large projects—were conducted without transparency or accountability.
Middle management and some SFPUC employees are not well-versed and trained in how the projects are run.
Countless change orders - all of which reveal - that the entire SFPUC system lacks standards.
This system of bidding low and getting a contract—then making change orders—must stop. For too long, this method of low bidding has fostered the worst type of corruption, and part of that is the bribes those in charge receive—pay to play.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Center, which I designed to handle Career Jobs, was scheduled for the contractors to come at the eleventh hour to check the blueprints and read the hard copies linked to the many contracts.
The Contracting Center was closed throughout the Covid pandemic. It opened after a two-year closure, and some of us who used the Center were left in the dark.
For the last two years, some of us Elders, determined to help the community, have volunteered and gathered at the Contracting Center to understand chronologically what has become of our community. We meet on a Wednesday from 11 am to 2 pm. We have to reserve the conference and have it for three months at a time.
During the last two years, from 2022 to 2024 - we witnessed the SFPU Center being underutilized - even though we are doing good work - we have our Wednesday booked - to entities that book it on the other days - but someone tries to put hurdles in our way.
Some of us attend the SFPU Commission and give our input during public comment - two measly minutes given - and we try to do our best.
As much as we ask for a presentation on the number of miles of clean water and sewer pipes that have been replaced, we, the people, are not listened to and left in the dark.
At least when Harlan Kelly was there, we could do and speak to him personally, and he gave us access to information.
We now a Cabal - who do as they wish - and give a damn to the concerns of those who speak up - and think they know it all - making promises and not keeping them - kicking the can down the street.
The Contract Center should be available every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We occasionally use it until 4 p.m., but that is very rare.
We, the people, would like to get a presentation on the Task Force document that was created to address Community Benefits. The Task Force was dismissed, and its contents were kept secret.
Even today, little information is available to us who ask for pertinent and relevant information.
Soon, some information will be released about Dwayne Jones, who wasted millions of dollars—taxpayers' money. We still have some who cooperated with Dwayne Jones—one or two testified in court—but the fact remains that these folks who now still work for the SFPUC are complicit.
The fact remains that Juliet Ellis, Julie LaBonte, Susan Leal, AECOM, and the Joint Venture ploys still need to be investigated.
The EMERSON document I have mentioned several times - reveals all the ploys, machinations, and shenanigans.
The SF Controller must hand over the EMERSON document to the recently created Inspector General Office - and the crooks who stole the money in the millions - brought to book.
Stop trying to fool us - pulling the wool over our eyes - thinking that we are not aware of the deep corruption - that fosters right to this day. Taxpayers' money must be accounted for - and it is not.
The SFPUC has failed regarding large contracts linked primarily to the Sewer System Improvement Project - (SSIP).
The Sewer System Improvement Project started with a budget of $6 Billion in 10`6 - is now $12 Billion and heading to $20 Billion - and no one who is someone seems to care.
The SF Controller has often stated that every audit on a large SFPUC project reveals blatant mistakes and adds to that corruption of the worst order.
Two individuals have been indicted: Harlan Kelly and Dwayne Jones.
Paradoxically, those who provide empirical data revealing the SFPUC's misdeeds are ignored.
If the FBI had not followed the money, the SFPUC would have drowned in a cesspool of its own creation.
Dennis Herrera, the last SF City Attorney, was appointed to fill the seat created by the firing of Harlan Kelly, the former Manager of SFPUC, by the former Mayor London Breed, the fox guarding the chicken coop.
The corruption in San Francisco has reached a saturation point - and most of the corruption continues - although SF City and County has many attorneys who fail to maintain standards.
We will have an Inspector General for the first time this year, and time will tell.
The City and County of San Francisco have appropriated millions of dollars to upgrade our clean water pipes. Many of the old pipes are 95 years old.
The plan was to report to the public - a presentation given - the last one was given to us five years ago by Karen Kubick.
It is the same with thousands of miles of sewer pipes—95 years or older—that need replacing. The money is there, appropriated, but used for other things.
We have yet to see a presentation that promises to be shown twice a year.
This gives us a sense of the connections between replacing the clean water and sewer pipes, hydrants, huge water tanks to aid firefighting, and 200 plus cisterns in San Francisco—each carrying 75,000 gallons—giving access to our firefighters.
If we ask for documentation, such as when the cisterns were checked, when their contents were checked, and whether any tests were done, we will not receive any information.
Those - who know some are told not to speak and to keep the information secret.
We, the people, need to know how many of these assets have been upgraded - and how many times they have been tested.
An entire block on Thomas Street in the Bayview burned some years ago. The hydrants had low pressure and failed to extinguish the fire, as did the University Mound Reservoir, a few miles away.
However, only when the hydrants are tested can we determine whether they produce the necessary pressure.
Only engineers can help us understand more - the present General Manager is an attorney, and his deputy came with him from the SF City Attorney's office.
The SF Department of Public Works has received work orders to repair pipes and hydrants and upgrade cisterns in the past.
From 2020, SF Public Utilities do the work, including taking inventory, monitoring and maintaining the assets, and ensuring the tests are done and everything works.
This has not happened; we need to see the documents if it has.
Climate change is here - in Northern California, closer to Yosemite National Park and Hetch Hetchy - we have had big fires - the Paradise Fire is one of them.
The SFPU Commissioners and those in charge are nonchalant and do not accept suggestions.
They think they know it all.
Wait until we have a fire here in San Francisco—more on the west side, known as the Avenues.
Homes will burn and topple down - mostly poorly built wooden frame homes - most of them have no sound foundation - laid on sand.
All it takes is an earthquake that ignites large fires from broken natural gas pipes or humid conditions—hot weather and strong winds—that favor a large fire and rapid surge, covering thousands of acres.
I was there when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake - a five-story building in the Marina District prone to liquefaction - became two stories, and fires burnt many homes.
The hydrants did not work, so a Fireboat was used to pump water from the Bay and aid the firefighters.
The City and County of San Francisco were caught off guard - they did not have an Emergency Office or teams to address the situation.
Today, our SF Fire Stations upgraded their assets. However, we are not fully prepared for a massive fire and must not wait until the eleventh hour.
We need to hold a presentation and a convention from time to time to share with the citizens of San Francisco what works in place and how our assets will be deployed.
Also, how our taxpayers' money is spent and what is done to inform and keep some of the training going—training citizens to deal with situations to help and uplift one another.
We hear during Fleet Week about some of this training with our SF Emergency Office - the SF Firefighters - and other Law Enforcement - however, climate change is here - and more is needed to address the many emergencies.
Finally, we need to stop the fireworks near residential buildings.
It is ridiculous to see fireworks right in the middle of a residential area, and SF Law Enforcement is not speaking up and doing their job.
An ordinance stating that fireworks will not be tolerated near any residential, commercial, school, church, or other institution must be passed. The Ordinance should include hefty fines to set the tone and put those who choose to use fireworks on notice.
Those who like to see and enjoy fireworks can go to locations where legal fireworks are permitted and monitored and enjoy themselves—safety comes first.
