San Francisco voters are set to decide Tuesday on Prop. A, a half-billion dollar bond measure billed as boosting earthquake safety and emergency response.
The measure marks the fourth quake bond the city’s voters have been asked to approve since 2010. But it’s the first to have significant opposition. Both sides agree the threat is real. According to experts, as many as 100 gas-fed fires will break out after a major earthquake in San Francisco.
Back in 1906, San Francisco’s water mains failed during the massive quake, leaving the city defenseless, says James Dalessandro, who made a documentary and wrote a novel about the disaster.
“What saved what little of San Francisco that was left in 1906 was the United States Navy — pumping massive amounts of saltwater onto the Embarcadero and the west side of Van Ness Avenue.”
Today, while much of the downtown area is protected with a seawater fed, high pressure hydrant system constructed after the 1906 disaster, the city’s south and west sides are not protected because the saltwater system didn’t expand along with the city.
Mayor Daniel Lurie says the city needs Measure A to help firefighters get the emergency water supplies they need — especially given what happened when water supplies ran short for firefighters in last year’s Palisades fire.
“We’ve seen what happened down in L.A. We need to make sure that we are ready in the event of an emergency, and this bond is going to help us do that.”
But the No on A forces say they want the current saltwater system extended, instead of spending bond money on the current plan that relies on drinking water supplies to protect vulnerable Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods. They fear firefighters would quickly exhaust the limited supply of Sunset Reservoir drinking water, potentially leaving the whole city parched after the fires were put out.
Besides, they say, a big chunk of the Prop. A money won’t even be spent on boosting quake response.
About $200 million in bond money will be to rebuild Muni’s Potrero maintenance yard as well as provide 100 units of affordable housing.
“It’s a boondoggle,” said John Crabtree, a leader in the campaign against the bond measure.
“The mayor, City Hall, are not being fundamentally honest about this bond.”
But Lurie says the bond will provide $130 million to help protect vulnerable areas, while paying to retrofit fire stations that are not seismically strong. Along with those upgrades, Lurie says, the city needs to rebuild and strengthen the century old Muni facility.
“Muni is absolutely essential to our infrastructure here in San Francisco,” he said in a recent interview. “Without a strong Muni, San Francisco suffers. Our economy suffers. So I’m really proud to be supporting Prop. A.”
“Nobody doubts that Muni needs money — it’s in trouble financially,” Crabtree countered. “But to take it from earthquake safety priorities to put towards a Muni facility that’s in need of repair makes absolutely no sense.”
While acknowledging disagreement about how to fight fires in the long run, the head of the firefighters’ union says the bond is urgently needed to protect the city’s ability to fight fires.
“You need firefighters to put water on fire — that’s step one,” said Sam Gebler, president of the San Francisco Local 798 firefighters’ union. Gebler says he has met with the forces opposed to the bond and understands their concerns. But, he says, the measure is critical because it will pay to retrofit seismically vulnerable firehouses.
“You could have all the water in the world. You could have the Pacific Ocean,” he says, “but if the firehouse collapses and the firefighters can’t respond, then it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t do anything.”
The bond measure requires a two-thirds vote to pass.