SF Supervisor Carmen Chu: June Election Opportunity

There are seven local measures for San Francisco residents to vote on for the June 8 statewide primary election. Although there will be more information coming to you, I wanted to highlight the importance of two measures - one would reduce the amount of money that our city pays for employee retirement benefit costs and another would ensure the safety of our residents after a significant earthquake.

Reducing cost to City for employee retirement benefits With the passage of this reform measure (Prop. D), the City anticipates saving between $400 million to $600 million over the next 25 years. It would accomplish this by smoothing out how benefits are calculated, and would require certain employees who get more to pay more. This measure also adds fiscal discipline and requires the City to continue paying into our pension and health obligations.

These changes combined can result in $400 million to $600 million in savings over the long run and does not negatively impact existing employees.

Protecting our neighborhoods
The recent anniversary of the great earthquake and fire of 1906 and the recent devastation brought on by earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, China and other places are urgent reminders that San Francisco must be prepared for the next major earthquake or emergency. The Loma Prieta quake in 1989 was a striking example of what an earthquake can do to San Francisco.

A U.S. Geological Survey indicates there is a 63 percent probability of a large earthquake striking the Bay Area within the next 30 years. What is not commonly known is that most damage is actually incurred by fires after a large earthquake. That's why I support the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond (Prop. B) on the June ballot.

In addition to encouraging that households be prepared for an emergency (www.72hours.org), we also have a responsibility to make sure the public safety infrastructure we have in place works. Specifically, the bond:
• Upgrades the citywide backup water system to provide a dedicated high-pressure water system for fighting fires. It would also pay for the installation of large water storage cisterns underground that can be accessed when pipes fail;
• Makes repairs and improvements to neighborhood fire stations, the place where first responders work;
• Would pay for the construction of a police center that is able to serve as a command center in the case of an emergency.

It is important to know that because the City will be seeing bonds paid off over the next few years, the bond debt will not increase property tax rates compared to our base level in 2006 (when the city's Capital Plan was first created). For more information on this measure, please visit www.sfearthquakesafety.org. For additional information on ballot measures for the June 2010 election, visit the SF Department of Elections' website at www.sfgov.org/site/elections_index.asp.

The opinions expressed here represent the personal views of Carmen Chu.