Who is Funding the Campaign for Prop B? (And, Ooops!)

You’re probably going to see lots of material in support of Proposition B (the 30-year, $4.65 billion set-aside for park funding with very little oversight on how it’s spent). They have a war-chest of nearly $400 thousand to promote this measure. Where’s the money coming from?

More than half of it is from two sources:

The San Francisco Parks Alliance ($101 thousand) and
“Committee to Expand the Middle Class, Supported by AirBNB Inc.” ($100,000).

Other funders include developers, investors, and construction companies. Here’s the list, provided by a San Franciscan who obtained it from the Ethics Commission.

	Person or organization	Employer		Contribution
25-Apr-16	COMMITTEE TO EXPAND THE MIDDLE CLASS, SUPPORTED BY AIRBNB, INC.			100,000
11-Jan-16	SAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCE			75,000
26-Apr-16	SAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCE			26,000
10-May-16	OSL BISON, LLC			25,000
26-Apr-16	THOMAS COATES	JACKSON SQUARE PROPERTIES		25,000
14-Apr-16	WILLIAM S. FISHER	X INVESTOR	MANZANITA CAPITAL	16,666
14-Apr-16	JOHN J. FISHER	X PRESIDENT, PISCES, INC.		16,666
14-Apr-16	Robert Fisher	managing director, Pisces		16,666
11-May-16	RONALD CONWAY	INVESTOR, SV ANGEL, LLC		12,500
18-May-16	SUPERVISOR MARK FARRELL FOR SAN FRANCISCO COMMITTEE			11,492
6-May-16	THE RELATED COMPANIES OF CALIFORNIA & AFFILIATES			10,000
12-Apr-16	THE CALIFORNIA CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN (ID#			10,000
19-May-16	PG&E CORPORATION			5,000
12-May-16	BRIAN BOTHMAN	VICE PRESIDENT, BOTHMAN CONSTRUCTION		5,000
9-May-16	VIVEK KHULLER	CEO, CLEARFLY COMMUNICATIONS		5,000
5-May-16	UA LOCAL 38 COPE FUND			5,000
4-May-16	ROSELYNE SWIG			5,000
2-May-16	BOSTON PROPERTIES, LP			5,000
18-Apr-16	BAUMAN LANDSCAPE & CONSTRUCTION			5,000
4-May-16	ELLEN HARRISON	ACCOUNTANT, ROSS		2,500
8-Apr-16	JONATHAN NELSON	X CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER	OMNICOM DIGITAL	2,500
31-Mar-16	SF FORWARD (ID# 891575)			2,500
16-Apr-16	JOHN CLAWSON	DEVELOPER/CONSULTANT, EQUITY COMMUNITY BUILDERS		1,500
28-Apr-16	SAN FRANCISCO POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION			1,000
9-May-16	ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES GROUP, INC.			750
9-May-16	ARG CONSERVATION SERVICES			750
4-Apr-16	HELEN RAISER	X CHAIR	RAISER ORGANIZATION	750
11-Apr-16	DEBORAH ROBBINS			100
15-Apr-16	HELEN RAISER	X CHAIR	RAISER ORGANIZATION	-500
		Total		391,840

OOOPS! ERROR IN THE VOTER PAMPHLET
In related news, the Controller’s Office made an error in its statement in the Voter Pamphlet. It says that the spending would be overseen by the Board of Supervisors. It won’t. Here are the details (from the No On B campaign):

Many of us have been concerned about the Controller’s Statement in his letter in the Ballot Pamphlet, in which the next to the last paragraph reads:

“The proposed amendment requires Recreation and Parks to set goals and measures, develop a five year strategic plan and set operational and capital spending plans. The plans must be approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission, the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors.”

However, the legislation actually states:

7 lines 21-25 “Following Commission approval of the Strategic Plan [also Capital Plan], the Department shall submit the Strategic Plan to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors. The Boards of Supervisors shall consider and by resolution express its approval or disapproval of the Plan, but may not modify the Plan. If the Board expresses its disapproval of the Plan or makes recommendations regarding the Plan to the Department, the Department may modify and resubmit the Plan.”

After being contacted about this error, the Controller issued a correction (attached):

” Upon further review of the proposed amendment, I would like to clarify the approvals required for the five-year strategic plan and annual capital expenditure and operational plans as outlined in my March 11, 2016 letter. The Recreation and Parks Commission must approve these plans prior to submitting them to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors for review and comment. The Board of Supervisors can approve or disapprove the five-year strategic and annual capital expenditure plans, but may not amend the plan. If the Board disapproves, the Recreation and Parks Department can modify the plans. ”

“This clarification does not impact my earlier assessment of the proposed amendment’s cost to government, as outlined in my March 11, 2016 letter. ”

As we all know, “can” is not the same as “shall” and so under Prop B Rec and Park has the freedom to create and modify their plans, without BOS authority to modify those plans.