Former Taxi Commissioner responds

Regarding stories about the Taxi Commission (“S.F. taxi chief’s ethics questioned” and “Cab agency under fire for cronyism,” July 6): After graduating UC Hastings law school 10 years ago, I confess to being bitter that some classmates didn’t have to worry about student loans because their daddy was a law partner or judge who helped them into a highly paid law firm job.

I chose to work for government straight out of law school, volunteering for then-Supervisor Gavin Newsom for six months before he offered me a paid aide position. Any career coach will tell you that employers favor known candidates when qualifications are equal. That’s hardly cronyism: It’s usually less risky than relying on a 30-minute interview in choosing staff.

Anyone who has worked closely with Mayor Newsom, including his family members, will attest that he demands more from people he knows — he expects that they can do better. Similarly, having previously worked professionally with Mr. Bettencourt and known him for many years, I trust him to do an outstanding job as acting director in my absence from the Taxi Commission. And that ought to be “good enough for government.”

Heidi Machen

The City

Talking to the mayor

If Ken Garcia didn’t have Chris Daly to kick around, he’d have to invent him (“Daly needs bigger forum than Q and A for issues with Newsom,” July 6). Parroting the Newsom line word for word, Garcia dismisses Daly’s charter amendment with ad hominem attacks.

The proposed formal policy discussion would be between the holder of the office of the mayor and sitting supervisors, not between Daly and Newsom, and would be televised.

While any supervisor can walk down the hall and meet privately with the mayor, average citizens cannot. We elect supervisors to oversee the executive branch. When the executive balks at explaining himself publicly, the public’s right to know evaporates.

I would like to hear Mayor Newsom explain his administration’s delivery of services, such as health care, street cleanliness, police protection, transportation and education to San Franciscans. Perhaps if such matters were raised formally, publicly and on television, we might see government function more for our needs than for Newsom’s corporate base.

Marc Salomon

The City

Health care planning needed

Listening to the usual city experts at the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee, it became clear that the two health coverage concepts promoted by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Tom Ammiano were in their infancy and could not be designated as viable plans (“Mayor presses ahead with health plan,” July 6).

What are we going to offer? How will we prioritize care? Maintain qualitative levels of care? Ration care? Who will bear the brunt of these costs? What will be the impact of these taxes? What are the risks and costs associated with the population to be insured?

Nations that provide health care coverage to all citizens use the entire national populations to reinsure health risks. Nations can print money, have a vast array of taxing mechanisms, and can spread the health risk across the entire population. San Francisco has none of these advantages.

The Newsom and Ammiano health concepts must go back to the drawing board. Real multidisciplinary experts, not the cast of usual résumé misfits, must delve deeply into all these issues.

A poorly planned health care program could backfire on the insured by not providing care up to expectations, cripple San Francisco financially, and drive even more businesses away. Let’s plan properly for once.

Brian Browne

The City

Waterfront art

Richard Everett’s letter of July 5 regarding the new Pier 14 and accompanying waterfront art, “Passage,” is uninformed and a tad ironic.

Mr. Everett criticizes the “nonfunctional” nature of the pier, its cost, and the level of public involvement in the project.

The breakwater underneath what is now Pier 14 was a utilitarian piece of infrastructure that protected adjacent ferry landings from rough waters. The recent addition of the scenic walkway atop that breakwater is itself, artful.

Design for Pier 14 and placement of “Passage” were discussed many times over in public hearings of the Port Commission — anyone who knows the port knows its constituency is very active and very vocal.

Funding for Pier 14 consisted of contributions from nine public agencies dedicated to open space and pedestrian improvements. The Port’s

share was 15 percent. “Passage” cost The City nothing.

Daley Dunham

The City

Freedom of the press

The New York Times has revealed to the world our strategy for tracking down terrorists through their banking records. How many Americans will now be murdered as Osama and his buddies get this gratuitous tip-off? If the Times had gotten wind of our D-Day invasion plans in World War II, they might have given the Nazis a heads-up on that one, too.

Scott Abramson

San Mateo