Features

Sierra Club gives S.F. air a C-minus 

SAN FRANCISCO — A Sierra Club report gives San Francisco a C- for its efforts to clean the air with public transit. 

The “Clearing the Air with Transit Spending: Sierra Club Grades America’s Fifty Largest Cities” report gives New York the highest grade for investing more money on providing people with transportation alternatives than on new roads. It flunked Oklahoma for having a high amount of smog from cars and trucks per person and spending just $5.80 on public transportation for every $100 it spends on highway and road construction. 

San Francisco received a C for the amount of smog from cars and trucks per person, and got a D for the amount spent on public transit versus highways per person. In San Francisco, 65 pounds of smog from cars and trucks is created per person per year and 46.9 percent of smog is from cars and trucks. To address this, in California, only $56 is spent per resident on public transit for every $100 spent on highways. 

Police get huge raise 

OAKLAND — Police voted Monday to accept a five-year contract with the city that makes them among the best-compensated public safety officers in the state. 

Highlights of the contract, which expires June 30, 2006, include a 27 percent pay hike over five years, new benefits such as differential pay for certain shifts, an enhanced retirement package and premium pay for bilingual officers and evidence technicians. 

Officer Bob Valladon, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, called the contract the best in 30 years. 

He said one reason for the overwhelming approval by the OPOA membership was the security the contract provides. 

“Now everybody can see for the next five years what they will be receiving and make plans, like buying a house,” he said 

Valladon praised the city for its good faith and efforts during bargaining. The first meetings began in the spring, and a tentative agreement was reached last month. 

The Oakland City Council is expected to ratify the agreement in early December.