Company for Critical Mass. In
Santiago, Chile, where the surrounding Andes trap smog like steam in
a Turkish bath, hundreds of people hop on their bicycles once a
month to make a pitch for more bike lanes and to fight air
pollution. The August 16 Christian
Science Monitor suggests that the Ciclistas
Furiosos seem pretty reasonable after some of the other
environmentally friendly proposals that have floated through the
city: "There was the suggestion to have planes dump water on
the capital to simulate rain. Pinochet even rallied to cut a hole in
the Andes mountains that encircle the city."
Cueing
up. The folks at UC Berkeley sure know how
to throw a bash. Every Wednesday at noon, a group of about 75
clerical workers and friends gather outside California Hall, where
Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl hangs his hat. Despite the festive air,
this is not a social occasion. These men and women, mainly members
of the Coalition of University
Employees, have been congregating on the same spot every week
since June. They take a winding route through the campus — one
week to University Hall, another week to Faculty Glade, beating on
an assortment of kitchen utensils like cast members in a revival of
"Stomp." One energetic marcher has managed to smash a
gaping jagged hole in the middle of her aluminum cake pan.
But the wonderful din is not all musical comedy.
Among the navy blue T-shirts that read "I work for free on
Friday," a few chartreuse T-shirts stand out: these are the
hunger strikers, the people who have vowed to fast at varying
intervals until the university agrees to pay what they consider a
fair wage. CUE claims that the market rate for comparable jobs is 21
percent higher than what these employees receive, and adds that
present salaries haven’t even kept up with the cost of living. The
university has countered with a proposed 2 percent increase, a
rankling figure in light of recent large raises to high-level
administrators and faculty members. Contract negotiations have been
continuous for two years, ever since CUE became the union of choice
for the university’s 18,000 clerical workers statewide.
News from the neighborhoods. Our
Mayor has got the city’s homeless situation figured out — it’s
’cuz we’re too nice. His monthly column in the latest San
Francisco Downtown runs a detour around our city’s skyrocketing
housing costs to lay the blame on our own hospitable natures:
"Over the years, countless people have come here seeking refuge
in our reputation for tolerance. As the rest of the country has
reduced investments in social services and institutional care, a
number of people profoundly alienated from society have gravitated
to San Francisco." <> Victor Miller, writing in
the August New Mission News, casts a nay vote for district
elections: "Tom Ammiano, unless he is caught in bed with a live
woman or a dead man, will be the supervisor from District 9, which
includes nearly all of the Mission. As nice as it will be to be
represented by a person of such decency and integrity, it will also
mean that the neighborhood will be considered enemy territory by a
grudgy Willie Brown, still irked by Ammiano’s upstart campaign for
mayor last year." <> The July Sunset Beacon
detects Our Mayor’s fine Italian hand in a recent Planning
Department proposal to impose stricter building controls on the
Inner Sunset. Contributor Carol Dimmick notes that "tougher
controls take a potentially hot item off the table during upcoming
district elections — one that has the potential to spur
disgruntled residents into electing a maverick supervisor."
