Drs. Kerr & Rivero Quentin Kopp’s Ruminations Kathy Howard and Susan Vaughn Our oversight watchdogs take a look at the The professional sports owners get a tongue Affordable housing or the environment — it clean needle site proposal ....................... 2 lashing. Recology’s rate increase skewered .. 3 may not be an either/or situation .................. 3 Steve Lawrence Patrick Monet Shaw Sharone Franzen’s Health Matters Sharone looks at tingling and numbness in the Will “Renewable Energy” increase green- Thought Patrick was finished with the May- extremities, and how to deal with it ............ 14 house gases? Steve’s on the case ....... 5 or’s Hiring Binge? Nope ............................. 9 Volume 30 • Number 7 Celebrating Our 30th Year www.westsideobserver.com September 2017 25 Years Later: Smash & Grab: City’s Streets Are Littered in Glass Alioto’s Landmark Anti-smoking Laws by George Wooding & Frank Noto Car smash-and-grab break-ins have reached Former Board President Angela Alioto Shares Lasting Memories epidemic proportions in San Francisco By Tony Taylor uring a recent citizen and police t was 1991, and for the first time in a long time, Angela Alioto turned gathering in District 7, Park Sta- to her legislative aide and said “go get me a smoke.” She had just lost Dtion police captain John Sanford Ithe legislation to ban indoor smoking and, after being smoke-free for stated that “97% of the crime in D7 is due 11 years, that day’s setback only fueled her flame. to car break-ins and 67% of those break-ins were to rental cars.” She thought of ordinances to All too often, residents and visitors/tour- ways to stop the eliminate tobacco ists to San Francisco experience the disap- tobacco industry advertising and pointment of finding their car window smashed and valuables gone. In 2015, auto burglars in the from permeating commercials near City and County of San Francisco walked off with more than $19 million in stolen goods. The their injustices schools, basket- problem of stolen property and cars damaged by break-ins has become so common it is considered onto San Fran- ball courts, librar- part of the cost of City life. ies or educational cisco’s youth. Unfortunately, auto burglary in San Fran- County of San Francisco. In the early phase of the institutions Tobacco adver- cisco occurs more than 70 times a day, every research, we learned that the number of car break- where children tisements and day, across all neighborhoods, and to all kinds ins in 2015 had reached a five-year high — 24,800 frequented. vending machines of people — especially to visitors driving rental recorded incidences. Media sources indicate this is She and her were near schools, cars. Thieves can recognize rental cars because of a 34 percent increase over the previous year and team went after ballparks, corner company decals and bar codes on windshields, almost three times more than reported in 2011. Joe Camel and the stores, and other bumpers, and side windows. We make a conservative estimate, based on 2015 eye-level ad campaigns targeted at establishments where children fre- Car break-ins in San Francisco really took off SFPD data, that theft of property related to these children. Studies showed that by age quented. She knew that preventing shortly after state voters passed Proposition 47 crimes cost victims a minimum of $19 million. six, nearly as many children could illness due to tobacco meant more on November 4, 2014. The purpose of Propo- This estimate excludes the costs of repairs to vehi- name Joe Camel, the R. J. Reynolds than just a ban on smoking inside sition 47 was to reduce California’s population cles and inconvenience to the victim. Tobacco Company cartoon creation the workplace. of prisoners who had been convicted of non- “This conservative figure calculated from in the 1980s, in association with cig- “Childhood is when you addict violent, low-level crimes. Additionally, crimes reported incidents only is based upon $1 for each arettes as they could name Mickey them,” Alioto says of the tobacco including many car break-ins that used to be report classified as a misdemeanor and $950 for felonies were reduced to misdemeanors. each report classified as a second degree felony, While statewide evidence for a link between where $950 is the lower limit for felony property Restaurant owners feared a loss in revenue with Prop. 47 and car break-ins may be mixed, the theft. Thus, 20,280 [auto break-ins] X $950 = the indoor-smoking ban, but statistics proved otherwise. new state law created a perfect environment for $19,266,000 minimum value of felony reports plus Restaurant sales improved by 22 percent after the ban car break-ins: more released criminals and mis- 4,546 X $1 = $4,546.00 minimum value of misde- because people who avoided smoke were now dining out”. demeanor charges for many car break-ins. Now, meanor reports amounts to a total of $19,270,546.” if someone breaks into your car and steals less In a related story, the New York Times reported, than $950 they may be charged with a misde- “Recent data from the F.B.I. show that San Fran- Mouse in association with Disney. industry. “You wouldn’t believe how meanor rather than a felony. Additionally, there cisco has the highest per-capita property crime rate She also passed legislation ban- they intentionally hooked third-year must be an eyewitness to the crime or tangible of the nation’s top 50 cities. About half the cases ning self-service cigarette displays. and fourth-year high school stu- evidence such as broken glass on a suspect’s here are thefts from vehicles, smash-and-grabs …” Of all the passed initiatives, Alioto dents and minority communities.” clothing. A misdemeanor charge may mean no Unfortunately, of the 24,800 reported incidents calls the 1993 verdict to ban indoor Alioto was determined to stop more than a night in jail, particularly after first- in San Francisco in 2015, only 484 (1.9%) arrests smoking “the big one.” the tobacco industry from preying. time convictions. These “get out of jail for free” were made. Most large Cities have an arrest However, her victory came at But as she wrote her legislation for citations allow a perpetrator to be breaking into rate of over 14%. San Francisco has become the a cost and she says some friends the City to sue the tobacco indus- cars the next day. national Mecca for people who break into cars. turned their backs on her. try, she found that the industry and The 2016 Grand Jury report, Auto Burglary in Drivers of rental cars are constantly targeted “People would be outside their an influential political figure were San Francisco, stated: “This report is based on an because smash-and-grab thieves know that they offices smoking and I’d have to clouding her vision. investigation conducted from June 2015 through will often have luggage, high-technology equip- cross the street because if I walked Former mayor Willie Brown, who March 2016 into the crime of auto burglary in the ment, and the most difficulty coming back to was then speaker in front of them Cont. p. 8 of the Assembly, they would call had sat down in me names and Proposed St. Luke’s Hospital Sub-Acute and SNF Units Closure Endangers Everyone a Sacramento throw things. restaurant with They were livid some tobacco w it h m e .” CPMC’s Shameless Patient Dump industry hon- Restaurant by Teresa Palmer, MD and chos. There they owners feared a drafted a sec- loss in revenue Patrick Monette-Shaw tion of the Wil- with the indoor- ut-of-county patient dumping of lie L. Brown-Bill smoking ban, San Franciscans following hospi- Lockyer Civil but statistics Otalization is certain to increase. Liability Reform proved other- San Francisco is poised to lose its only Act of 1987 on wise. Restaurant skilled nursing facility (SNF) providing a napkin, which became the 1987 sales improved by 22 percent after both sub-acute care for patients who need “Napkin Law,” prohibiting Cali- the ban because people who avoided ventilator care, as well as for those who fornians from suing the tobacco smoke were now dining out. need routine post-acute hospitalization industry. Now, nearly 25 years after her vic- rehabilitation. Ruth Cativo testifys before the Health Commission opposing the closure of St. Luke’s The Napkin Section states that tory over the tobacco industry in St. Luke’s, operated by California Pacific sub-acute SNF unit where her father is a long-term care patient. Photo: © Courtesy anyone who uses a product that is San Francisco, there’s a newly pro- Medical Center, announced June 6 it’s clos- of California Nurses Association; used with permission. “known to be unsafe by the ordi- posed cigarette ban that could go up ing its SNF unit October 31, as there will be represents a watershed moment in the history of nary consumer” is forbidden by law in smoke: a proposition to halt sales “no space” for a skilled nursing facility in either San Francisco, a moment when many genera- to sue on the grounds of product of menthol and flavored tobacco. of its two new hospitals (St. Luke’s and Cathedral tions of San Franciscans will look back and won- liability. California law forbids any Funded almost entirely by the R.J. Hill locations). der what happened to the options for persons consumer from suing the industry Reynolds Tobacco Company, Let’s Licensed for 79 SNF beds, St. Luke’s SNF cur- who need neighborhood-based or local options for selling an unsafe product.