Elections San Francisco

Willie Brown, San Francisco's high-profile, high-energy mayor, is finding himself in trouble with voters as he gears up for next year's municipal elections. Brown initially enjoyed such widespread popularity that residents greeted him like a movie star when he strolled along San Francisco's streets.

Willie Brown, San Francisco's high-profile, high-energy mayor, is finding himself in trouble with voters as he gears up for next year's municipal elections. Brown initially enjoyed such widespread popularity that residents greeted him like a movie star when he strolled along San Francisco's streets.

To build or not to build hotels on San Francisco's waterfront? That long-simmering issue, one of many facing the city's voters on Election Day, has provoked a storm of controversy for the beleaguered Port of San Francisco. The self-supporting agency, desperate for new sources of cash to fund freight shipping and fishing operations, has endorsed two projects with small hotels proposed for rundown piers south of Fisherman's Wharf.

Roly, the geriatric pygmy hippo, lives in a small slice of aging suburbia here at the edge of the Pacific Ocean--a concrete cage with peeling paint and postage-stamp swimming pool. Minnie and Tallulah loll listlessly on 160 square feet of concrete island surrounded by a moat and topped by a jungle gym, the closest thing to a jungle these middle-age chimps have ever seen. Secretive Thelma, meanwhile, finds an orangutan's needed privacy underneath a garbage can.

Roly, the geriatric pygmy hippo, lives in a small slice of aging suburbia here at the edge of the Pacific Ocean--a concrete cage with peeling paint and postage-stamp swimming pool. Minnie and Tallulah loll listlessly on 160 square feet of concrete island surrounded by a moat and topped by a jungle gym, the closest thing to a jungle these middle-age chimps have ever seen. Secretive Thelma, meanwhile, finds an orangutan's needed privacy underneath a garbage can.

Months ago, before veteran Assemblyman Willie Brown announced that he was running for mayor, he declared that he could not afford to live on the job's annual salary. Paychecks totaling $139,000 a year, it seemed, were not meaty enough to sustain a lifestyle of luxury cars and Brioni suits. In the end, of course, Brown decided to risk his version of poverty and leap into the race. And now, with the election just two days away, it appears that he had better start pinching his pennies.

This has got to be a new low: The turnout in Tuesday's runoff election was barely over 9%. Assuming the election cost us taxpayers $1.5 million (a conservative estimate), that means the city paid out close to $10 for every single vote cast ... at a time when hospitals are closing and our schools are facing cutbacks. This is a crime. It's time to change this busted system and elect our leaders with one election, not two. If the city simply used instant runoff voting, we could get a majority winner in each race the first time out and not have to dump millions of taxpayer dollars into costly runoff elections.

Shortly after San Jose rejected a bond issue that would have financed a stadium for the San Francisco Giants, owner Bob Lurie gathered his staff for a meeting at Candlestick Park. He told them that it was his last attempt at winning a vote from the electorate, considering that his record is 0-4 in stadium elections. Former San Francisco catcher Mike Sadek, now the Giants' assistant director of community affairs, raised his hand. "If it's any consolation, I went 0 for 4 a lot," said Sadek, a .

Americans have been picking politicians the same way for so long -- winner take all -- that it might seem there is no other way to do it. But the cities of Davis, Calif.; Oakland and Minneapolis, as well as Pierce County, Wash.; have passed ballot measures that will lead to "instant runoff" or "proportional representation" voting in city and county elections. There was no organized opposition to the measures.

The House on Wednesday narrowly passed a proposal by a Northern California congressman that would strike a blow against San Francisco's use of its domestic partner benefits law. Gay and lesbian couples are prime beneficiaries of the San Francisco law. The amendment targeting it--authored by Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Windsor)--was condemned by Democratic lawmakers as part of a sustained GOP attack on homosexuality as fall elections near.

Months ago, before veteran Assemblyman Willie Brown announced that he was running for mayor, he declared that he could not afford to live on the job's annual salary. Paychecks totaling $139,000 a year, it seemed, were not meaty enough to sustain a lifestyle of luxury cars and Brioni suits. In the end, of course, Brown decided to risk his version of poverty and leap into the race. And now, with the election just two days away, it appears that he had better start pinching his pennies.

To build or not to build hotels on San Francisco's waterfront? That long-simmering issue, one of many facing the city's voters on Election Day, has provoked a storm of controversy for the beleaguered Port of San Francisco. The self-supporting agency, desperate for new sources of cash to fund freight shipping and fishing operations, has endorsed two projects with small hotels proposed for rundown piers south of Fisherman's Wharf.

IF YOU WERE outraged by the recent news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger increased salaries of top executive-branch officials, take a deep breath, count to 10 and remember the People's Party. In the 1850s, the People's Party, blasting wasteful spending, swept to power in municipal elections in San Francisco.

California's new elections system and redrawn political maps have surprisingly combined to forge a rockier path for Democrats hoping to win back a majority in Congress this fall. In Tuesday's primary, Democrats failed to secure a general election slot in one place they were counting on because of a changing voter pool - an Inland Empire district where the contest will instead feature two Republicans. The maps and the "top two" rule, in wide use for the first time, produced at least six other same-party House contests and yielded a November ballot slot for a wealthy independent in a coastal Los Angeles County district.