Thread by @TheFrisc

We’re thankful for Thursday and about to tune into the 10am @sfbos Government Accountability & Oversight Committee meeting. We’re most interested to hear about a push for a full audit of the @sfzoo, which was hit by a scathing report in Oct

Join us for a live 🧵 in a few minutes! Here’s the meeting agenda sfbos.org/sites/default/…

And here’s that October report sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&…

While we wait for the mtg...

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Before it starts, committee chair @DeanPreston is saying a goodbye. This is the last meeting of the year. He's been chair for 4 years but lost re-election to @bilalmahmood last month.

1st item is abt a Pac Heights home at 2209 Webster that has historic designation. @AaronPeskin makes a guest appearance to tout "non-renewal" of the contract that gives the owner a tax break in exchange for keeping up the property. Peskin wants to limit the contracts to 10 yrs

There's no public comment, and the motion to move it to the full board passes

Next item: a review of the @SFSAFE scandal. Again, @AaronPeskin is taking the reins for this item. The nonprofit affiliated with @SFPD is accused of misusing public funding and the director has been arrested

missionlocal.org/2024/07/kyra-w…

@SFSAFE was founded by @SFPD in 1976 and became a separate nonprofit in 1980, recounts @AaronPeskin, who is now ticking through a timeline of how the org's officials and board members have dragged their feet in cooperating with @sfbos queries.

Two days ago, they finally responded, and @AaronPeskin calls their answers "wholly unsatisfactory" and contradicted by information in @SFDAOffice documents and other public records

In this opening statement, @aaronpeskin is diving into details about who said what & when, hard to squeeze into this space. The big picture: "I'm not doing this to pick on @SFPD," says Peskin. "I'm here to impress upon nonprofit boards their responsibility for oversight."

He's slamming the @SFSAFE board members/officials for looking the other way, at best - having no knowledge of the misuse of funds and no "access to basic financial records or their own meeting minutes"

Peskin is now recounting examples of the director's lavish spending on booze, parties, etc. (A $19K petting zoo, keeping up today's theme.)

Here are the response letters @AaronPeskin mentioned came in a couple days ago sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&…

An assistant @SFPD chief Walsh (sorry, missed the first name) is now defending the department's involvement in some of the @SFSAFE parties. Apparently there's something called a "candy explosion party" 🍬🤯

the petting zoo was a "community event under the guise of @SFSAFE"

Walsh is now going into the weeds on internal investigation details, what he can and can't say because of state law and other protocols

It's Peter Walsh, BTW sanfranciscopolice.org/your-sfpd/lead…

Walsh says he's had "minimal contact" with Worthy and @SFSAFE. How was she hired, asks @AaronPeskin? Are you aware of how @SFPD participated in the hiring process? Walsh: I'd only be guessing.

Before asking Qs, @conniechansf discloses that she was an @sfsafe employee in 2004-05. "That was a long time ago."

Walsh is talking about some of the work @SFSafe does - going to someone's house to help set up a neighborhood watch, for example.

@SFSAFE @conniechansf asks if anyone at @SFPD noticed that @sfsafe has shifted from a crime prevention org into a "slush fund/lavish party/PR arm."

Walsh notes that one of the events wouldn't have "raised his antenna" at the time but in hindsight, he can see the problem

@conniechansf is now asking @SFPD's Catherine McGuire about oversight process of @SFPD grants (which went to @SFSAFE). Maguire: We did monitoring in 2019 then again in 2023.

Sup. Melgar now talking about how hard it was to get video from street cameras set up by @SFSAFE (paid for by public tax $). The requests had to go through Worthy. Walsh: We've been "relooking at that" to have @SFPD become the new caretakers of that system.

McGuire emphasizes the cameras are in use and you can get video from them. Melgar says that's been difficult. @aaronpeskin clarifies that the video group was defrauded by Worthy. @SFSAFE employees haven't been paid. Melgar: We have responsibility to take care of them

McGuire: There might not be a mechanism to pay them. She has the info how much they're owed... but not at her fingertips.

Oh - slight earthquake just now! Did anyone else feel that?

@DeanPreston apparently didn't, because he didn't stop talking. The topic is whether there's a liability policy that could hold the @SFSAFE directors/officers culpable

Now more discussion about the @SFSAFE officials' conduct. Perhaps try to hold them in contempt, says @AaronPeskin. Dep City Attorney Brad Russi is talking about legal possibilities

Now everyone's phones (including mine) are blowing up with a tsunami warning. @DeanPreston: we'll continue until someone tells us not to. @AaronPeskin: If you're surfing right now, you should stop 🏄🌊

@DeanPreston @AaronPeskin

Preston and Peskin acknowledge feeling the slight earthquake a few minutes ago. We're heading into public comment

First, @AaronPeskin runs thru details from communications that point to knowledge years ago that people were alarmed by Worthy's spending and asks McGuire: Is there interest from @SFPD to investigate these inconsistencies?

McGuire: If there were no conflict with @SFPD conducting the investigations - AND if there weren't active investigations already - then yes

@AaronPeskin is now talking at length about problems with Worthy's previous gig in Richmond, and he's drawing connections that aren't a "deep state conspiracy" between lobbyists, Chevron, and SF "crypto billionaire" Chris Larsen kqed.org/news/11998148/…

@AaronPeskin is asking that GAO pursue this further in the new year, when @conniechansf will be the committee chair. It's now time for public comment. 🗣️

Only one comment. We'll hear more about this in 2025. Time for the @sfzoo item 🐯

As Simon and Garfunkel once sang, "Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo."

Holy crap: Sup. Melgar just said that the quake was a 6.6 and because the @sfzoo is in the tsunami zone, they're currently moving all animals to higher ground

@sfzoo Melgar: This is a request that @SFBOS analyst do an audit in 2025. Melgar: the Oct report wasn't official. It was by two people and not approved by an official zoo oversight committee. That said, the zoo hasn't been audited since 1999 by the BLA or the @sfcontroller

@sfzoo @sfbos @sfcontroller Melgar goes on the record that she's pro-panda 🐼

That is, she supports the @LondonBreed push to bring pandas to @sfzoo, an effort that the Oct report slammed. This audit is not to sabotage the panda transfer, says Melgar. This is quite the contrary.

There was grumbling that @LondonBreed did the panda push to boost her cred among Chinese voters. Now that @DanielLurie is taking her seat, we'll see how much priority the pandas get

An @sfzoo rep is now on the mic (sorry, missed her name): Confirms yes, the tsunami warning means the zoo is being closed and evacuated and the animals are being moved

That's it for committee discussion. Now public comment. First up is the @sfzoo board chair Melinda Dunn, who says various people are working "hard for our demise." The full burden of infrastructure upgrades, especially for 100-yr-old facilities, is on the board to fundraise

Dunn singles out Justin Barker, an "anticaptivity" activist who has campaigned against the zoo veganfta.com/2024/08/06/jus…

A lot of folks have lined up to speak. So far, they're all aligned with the @sfzoo - one top exec says the city needs to raise its stipend to the zoo. This fellow says he's negotiating to bring the pandas, and the audit threat is putting the panda deal in dangert

This @sfzoo employee wants the audit. His union rep also says yes, citing the problems that employee whistleblowers brought forward and were highlighted in an April 2024 @taraduggan investigation sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl…

This @sfzoo employee, 16 yrs as an animal welfare expert, says the Oct report is filled with "misinformation" and authors' "projection" of how animals feel. She spoke with authors Barker and Jane Tobin pre-report but her comments weren't included. She calls the authors biased

@sfzoo Public comment is over.

Melgar: This is not a hearing about the Oct. report. This is a vote about an audit. This isn't punitive, it's a "best practice" for the health of the zoo. She supports revisiting the MOU, perhaps giving the zoo more city money, but not without an audit

@conniechansf echoes Melgar that an audit could help prepare the @sfzoo for the pandas, but said "pausing the relationship" re the pandas might be necessary. (Sad panda photo courtesy of @tedweinstein)

@DeanPreston says "this kind of performance audit should be welcomed" esp. from an organization seeking more city support. He suggests this is misunderstanding on the @sfzoo side about the reasons for an audit. He hopes everyone is "pleasantly surprised" about how it proceeds

The motion passes & heads to @sfbos next week for a full vote. We have a motion too:

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