Drs. Kerr & Rivero Quentin Kopp’s Ruminations Police Report Ever wonder why the SFPD is acquiring He goes there—high-speed trains and other Taraval Station has a new Captain, Robert Yick military gear? ........................................... 2 “fake news” .................................................. 3 takes over the job ....................................... 10 Steve Lawrence Patrick Monette-Shaw Calendar Response to Global Warming is Managed The City is suing “big oil” — so why is the Never a dull day in San Francisco—as our Retreat —but Why? ............................. 5 retirement fund still investing in it? ........ 6 monthly calendar illustrates ........................ 11 Volume 30 • Number 89 Celebrating Our 30th Year www.westsideobserver.com November 2017 Plan to Protect Neighborhoods from Fire Abandoned No water to fight fires in southern and western neighborhoods could result from SFPUC’s decision by Thomas K. Pendergast s the smoke clears from the devastating fires north of San Francisco that burned roughly 200,000 acres, incinerated more than 7,000 houses and killed 42 people, San Francisco might notice the Adistant roar of its own disastrous inferno approaching. More than 15 San Francisco neighbor- hoods could burn to the ground due to a lack of water at the SF Fire Department’s (SFFD) disposal after a major earthquake. A plan to expand the city’s domestic system’s pipelines sus- was spread the fire,” he explained. emergency firefighting network tained more than 300 breaks on “The United States Navy stopped was stalled for years because of water mains and 23,000 breaks the fire. They ran hose lines along political interference and one city on service connections. Conse- the Embarcadero from Van Ness agency’s refusal to ask voters for quently, the fire department lost toward the Ferry Building. And Far,Far Away, in the Shadows all of the money that is needed water pressure at the same time they ran another hose line up to protect neighborhoods in the that busted gas lines sparked a Van Ness Avenue to California War on Residential Housing southern and conflagration, which Street. They pumped salt water western parts of ultimately devastated into the engines for fire fighters by George Wooding the city. Experts much of San Francisco. and people in the neighborhood n December 7, the San Francisco Planning Department will say alternative According to James came charging out of their build- try to destroy all of the residential housing codes throughout plans being pro- Dalessandro, who wrote ings with curtains and blankets Othe City that pertain to housing demolition. moted are likely the novel “1906,” a fic- and towels and soaked them with If the new codes are approved, Planning will allow residential hous- to fail, leaving vul- tional story set in San salt water to beat the flames down ing to be built almost twice as large as existing housing. You may soon nerable city resi- Francisco dur- on some of their be living in the shadow of your neighbor’s home. dents, like seniors ing the earth- buildings. That’s and the disabled, quake and its what stopped the to perish in a aftermath, f i re .” The goal was to build the largest homes possible … firestorm of the many people Estimates vary, there was little to no public transparency or meetings city’s making or to The blue-topped fire hydrants sup- died in the fires but there could be that included regular citizens, because Planning felt that suffer the conse- ply high-pressure water for fire- that followed as many as 100 fires quences of disease fighting to the AWSS’s lower zone. the massive flaring up in the its real constituencies were developers and architects.” and other maladies due to a lack shaking, and only Navy outer avenues soon of fresh water after a disaster. ships pumping sea water after a large earth- Housing speculators, develop- them. Experts say it is inevitable that down Van Ness Avenue quake, and many ers, realtors, and contractors will Neighborhood streets will someday there will be another eventually stopped the more across the make a fortune building larger become unrecognizable, with earthquake on the scale of what wall of flames. The red-topped fire hydrants are city. There were 27 homes next to smaller homes. larger “McMansion” homes struck the City in 1906, a 7.8 on While researching for used in the upper zone, above 150 fires reported after Let’s not forget 90% of Planning replacing smaller homes. Neigh- the Richter Scale. Now, genera- his book, Dalessandro feet in elevation. the 1989 Loma Department revenue comes from borhood character will be tions after the fact, the lessons discovered that within 10 minutes Prieta Earthquake, which lasted building permits. destroyed. Worse, even the larger learned from that of the earthquake at least 45 seconds. Mayor Lee will be happy units could be built in excess of catastrophe still 51 recorded fires broke Frank Blackburn retired from because he is hoping that the permissible limits. For the sake of resonate today as out. the SFFD in 1991 as an assis- newly-modified homes will build density, the City has declared war the SF Public Util- “The majority of them tant chief after a 32-year career additional units. This will help on residential housing. ities Commission were in the South of Mar- with the department. He was the mayor build the 5,000 units Believe it or not, San Fran- (SFPUC) and pol- ket area, which was a lot also the director for earthquake annually that he has promised. cisco claims to have almost no iticians struggle to of cheap hotels and some preparedness. The Mayor loves housing density. enforceable demolition codes. plan for the next industrial areas,” he said. “Most people think that the The residential housing neigh- The Department of Building “big one.” Without water to fight earthquake did all of the dam- borhoods won’t know what hit Cont. p. 4 The death toll the fires, the SFFD found age in 1906, but no, it didn’t,” for that calam- itself helpless to react, Blackburn said. “The fires that The Real Heroes ity in 1906 is now so the fires soon spread started following the earthquake Part 2 estimated at about among collapsed build- destroyed 27,000 buildings.” 3,000, according to The black-topped fire hydrants are ings until it created a Building a safety network by John Farrell used in the Twin Peaks Zone, ser- ast month I wrote an article ‘The Real Heroes’ professor Charles conflagration that swept In the years immediately Scawthorn, an vicing the city’s higher elevations. across the City. thanking all the people who risked their own expert on fire modeling at UC “The military, in their infinite Cont. p. 4 Llives to save those people and animals that Berkeley. genius, decided to were in grave danger due to the massive flooding Before that infamous earth- use dynamite to try and rains during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. I also thanked all quake, the City had a good, func- and stop the fire those who helped one another during Hurricane Maria in Puerto tional water supply system. Then, by blasting away at Rico and the massive earthquake in Mexico. But it doesn’t end there. the ground shook violently for wood-frame build- The recent Northern Califor- emergency workers and volun- almost three minutes and the ings but all it did nia wildfires were the deadliest teers who rose to the occasion in California history. The fires to confront the fires and assist destroyed over 5700 structures, those in need, as well as those Fireman Warns Westside evacuated 90,000 people from who have provided donations. their homes, and killed at least It is times like these that “Highly Vulnerable” 42 people. The stories of people remind us of how strong we are by Thomas W. Doudiet losing their homes and lives were when we put our differences s a 60-year resident of the Richmond District heart wrenching. I have several aside and unite for the common and a 32-year veteran of the SF Fire Department friends who lost their homes. It good. A(SFFD), I have long been aware that the Outer is devastating and shocking. Now that we are in a recovery Richmond and Sunset districts, with their hundreds of But never give up on the mode, our public officials need blocks of wood-frame buildings, will be highly vulner- human spirit. There were more to review our infrastructure and able to fire immediately following the next great Bay than 10,000 firefighters battling emergency plans to ensure our Area earthquake. the fires, and coming from Can- preparedness in the future for Cont. p. 18 ada and as far away as Austra- the next potential catastrophe. lia unbelievable dedication and John Farrell Broker/Realtor® – My message: There will be almost no The AWSS is a gravity-fed system originating at the Twin Peaks Reser- self-sacrifice. They were helping Farrell Real Estate, MBA, For- voir. High-pressure water is delivered to higher elevations in the city via others first and risking their lives mer Assistant Assessor – Budget emergency water supplies for the SFFD to use black-topped hydrants, median height to red-topped hy-drants, and blue- was second. & Special Projects, Westside in these neighborhoods for fighting fires after topped hydrants to the lower elevations. During an emergency, salt water I cannot say enough about resident - farrellreinvestments@ from the bay can be pumped into the entire system to maintain water those firefighters, police, yahoo.com the “big one” hits.” pressure high enough to fight multiple fires Page 2 November 2017 Judicious SFPD Covertly Procuring Military Gear By Dr.