Grants

By Bruce Wolfe, HANC Vice President

In 2011, in the wake of a corrup­tion scandal that still threatens the tenancy in the Parkmerced apartments adjacent to SF State University, which began many months of hearings brought by angry renters, the Sunshine Ordi­nance Task Force (SOTF) found several SF elected Supervisors to be in violation of the Ordinance for not adhering to state Brown Act open meetings rules.

In 2012, the entire member­ship of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) was summarily purged at their regular appointment cycle, not for the reason above, but for a specious supposition made by Supervisors that the SOTF disobeyed City Charter Article IV when it adjusted its bylaws over an inconsequential voting procedure. The SOTF for three years researched its author­ity to do so, finding its obedience is to California state law, not to the City Charter.

The Sunshine Ordinance which created the Task Force was first cre­ated by ordinance of the Board of Supervisors in 1993. It was amended by the voters in 1999 under Prop G. It is considered the strongest of its kind in the country and acts as the primary approach for all other municipal sunshine laws nationally. As per inquiry at a duly-held 2014 Board of Supervisors meeting, legal counsel had answered that the SOTF does not fall under the rubric of the City Charter, thus California state law applies instead.

Nonetheless, not one of the 2012 SOTF members was ever reappointed due to a majority of the Board of Supervisors who held ground in retribution over the Parkmerced debacle. Until now…

Despite strong support from Rules Committee Member D1 Supervisor Eric Mar, his colleagues on the Rules Committee, Katy Tang and Malia Cohen, strongly opposed the return of a member of that 2012 SOTF membership who applied for the position as a person with a disability and member of the LGBT community, no less, highly com­petent on the Sunshine Ordinance and its application. The Rules Com­mittee recommendations to the full Board of Supervisors excluded this applicant.

Ten days later, the Board met and decided at the assertion of Supervisor Mar and seconded by Supervisor John Avalos to substi­tute one of the appointments in Seat 6 with this excluded applicant. A repeat of the same specious alle­gations were made about the 2012 SOTF membership but this time, with the returning of D3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the balance of influ­ence has shifted. The vote to include this applicant ended in a 7-4 result.

This applicant is your vice-president, Bruce Wolfe.