Blog                                       Return to "News Stories about LHH and SFGH" Index
San Francisco Weekly
October 1, 2008

Hospital Held Hostage: Tenants Group Disgusted by Landlords’ “Blackmail” but then Declares that Two can Play at that Game
by Joe Eskenazi

Ironically, in a piece that outlines a number of issues with Proposition A to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital that no one is adequately debating, Mr. Eskenazi asserts interested voters won’t find those issues (or any meaningful debate) described in the newspapers.

That apparently includes the Weekly’s hardcopy issue, since Eskenazi’s article is available only by blog (http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/10/hospital_held_hostage_tenants.php#more), and isn't even mentioned in the Weekly’s October 1–7 print edition.

In his piece, Eskenazi notes that Ted Gullicksen, director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, has raised concerns about the 50 percent pass through to tenants if Proposition A passes.

Eskenazi reports that the principal and interest on the bond will push the total costs for the SFGH bond measure to a minimum of $1.527 billion.

He indicates his column next week will hear from “one of the only men in the city who actually seems to want to question Prop. A on its merits.”  What Eskenazi is missing is that there is a growing chorus of men and women in San Francisco who have raised legitimate concerns over Prop. A, not the least of which are costs to renters that may spell the end of rent control.

Eskenazi deserves a shout out for being one of the few reporters in town to uphold journalistic fair balance by reporting that opponents of Proposition A are seeking public debate about the bond’s merits.

Isn’t that what we were taught in high school civic’s classes that citizens have a civic-duty obligation to do, regardless of whether you’re a tenant or a lanlord?

.

Top
Return to "News Stories about LHH and SFGH" Index

_______

Copyright (c) 2008 by Committee to Save LHH.  All rights reserved.  This work may not be reposted anywhere on the Web, or reprinted in any print media, without express written permission.  E-mail the Committee to Save LHH.