SUSAN LEAL HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF A CATASTROPHE

Susan Leal the Director of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has all the makings of a major catastrophe. She is not the first lesbian Director to head a major Public Utility but she is the first that has NO experience about utilities to head a major over $4 billion dollar Capitol Improvement Project linked with Hetch Hetchy and the linked aging infrastructure. Lacking engineering experience she has been making general statements and in the last 5 weeks has shown that the path she is taking is one of ambivalence. She has no clear blue plan of the repair, upgrade, and timelines of the Hetch Hetchy Capitol Improvements. If she does not have a concrete time line in place she will have to pay huge fines. The neighboring counties that have contributed over $2 billion to the Capitol Improvement Bond Measure went to Sacramento and saw that precise language held the SFPUC to mandates. Susan Leal has no experience when it comes to Environmental Impact Reports or Assessments. Has never dealt with any major Engineering Project. Has no idea what so ever how to deal with the various counties along the Hetch Hetchy path most of who do not trust Susan Leal who they know lacks experience. It is a shame that Susan Leal was anointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. She saw to it that she got a unique contract making over $300,000 a month including benefits. This is totally uncalled for when first the City and County of San Francisco is over $400 million in the red and when thousands of City Workers will loose their jobs. Thousands already lost their jobs the last time around. Susan Leal has no experience when it comes to the security of our Utility Assets. Recently we had an explosion at the Phelps Raw Sewage Treatment Plant and there was no emergency plan in place linked to the surround community. The same at all SFPUC facilities. By 3rd Street and Cargo one can see the pitfalls and the proposed diversion of secondary effluents further down to bifurcate the main flow going to the Force Main near Pier 80. We have a Force Main that is leaking - hundreds of gallons if not thousands and polluting the water shed and the surrounding area. Also the Bay and adversely impacting thousands of constituents in the Bay Area. The leaking half treated raw sewage nullifies all the good measures the City and County of San Francisco undertakes such us forcing the dentists to be careful where they dump the mercury in their sinks. The residents when it comes to pouring toxins down the drain and into manholes, run off from properties that generate toxins. Susan Leal should do her homework and will find that no one has reported to her about the obvious. Dysfunctional BERM. SFPUC does not have a plan in 2004 that pertains to runoff. I can show SFPUC hundreds of sites, which generate tons of toxins all of that go into the Bay. Much of the toxins around Mission Bay and the Southeast Sector. Add to this the toxins generated from the Phelps Raw Sewage Treatment plant the single most stationary toxic source in the City of San Francisco. The over 3 tons of toxins generated per year by the Mirant and Hunters Point power plants. Millions of half treated sewage that flows into our Bay. Pathogens released by SFPUC facilities including the Asphalt Plant that combines with pathogens from the SFPUC sources to kill innocent residents who live near the Phelps Raw Sewage Treatment Plant. Add to that the mosquitoes that can and will spread the West Nile Virus. Susan Leal sees it all but she no sense and no directive to do anything. In short she lacks leadership and honesty. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the San Francisco Health Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Home Land Security, and a host of other State, Federal, and local agencies are doing nothing about SFPUC. SFPUC is in violation and has been for the past many years on Safety and Health issues. More so now under Susan Leal. She has been warned but pays no heed. The reason is simple the people affected most are people of color and the authorities see nothing special when people of color including children - die. Where are the rights embedded in our constitution? Where are the rights that the United Nations brags about? What are our local leaders thinking and how are they acting? Where is the leadership? We cannot anoint inexperienced people who are inept, arrogant, and ignorant. It does not matter if they are women they have to be educated on issues. One cannot just anoint an inept person to run a $4 billion project without any sense of what direction will be taken and the goals to be attained. In order to understand the goals one has to be an engineer. Have the ability to run large infrastructure projects. Have the ability to address engineers in their language, have the ability to bring about engineering solutions, have a vision to understand and implement contemporary engineering solutions, the list goes on - Susan Leal does not comprehend not one of the above mentioned concepts. I dare anyone to prove me wrong. Several high level federal officials that I have spoken to are shocked that a inept person like Susan Leal has been placed in a position to tackle such a complex project as Hetch Hetchy. They have come to a realization that the only reason she has been placed in the position of Director of the SFPUC is to be at the back and call of corrupt politicians. Do the dirty work of those who want to tap into the $100 million Solar Bond funds controlled by SFPUC. Recently I heard Susan Leal of Channel 11 brag that she can bring people together. You do not bring people together by firing people who are educated on issues and understand the Utility System that will take Susan Leal 50 years to comprehend. The firing of Edward Smeloff will come to haunt the SFPUC for years to come. No one can brag about unity when there is no trust. Most of the employees fear and do not trust Susan Leal. They thought they had it worse with Pat Martel but Susan Leal openly shows her anger and disagrees with those who are sensible. Beware if Fred H. Schwartz and his proxy PowerLight Corporation. It is wrong to give PowerLight the Moscone, the Phelps, and the Pier 96 solar contracts. I know of many other better companies that can do a better job and care about the community. Solar is good but with it comes mitigation. We cannot chastise Pacific Gas and Electric and then allow SFPUC to do the same if not worse. Susan Leal where is the leadership? It is wrong for Fred H. Schwartz and Mayor Gavin Newsom to think that it is fine to build 1600 units on Parcel A at Hunters Point. If you read the Final Historical Radiological Report and find out the truth - only a fool would build anything on Parcel A. Next to Parcel A is the worst contaminated parcel Parcel E that is contaminated. Arc Ecology, Karen Piece, Sophie Maxwell, Olin Webb, Larry Florin, and some other sell outs may think it is fine to build homes in the middle of Chernobyl - but any decent human being with sense will tell you that it is not. Our children are dying. Women suffering from breast and cervical cancer, men dying from all sorts of cancer - respiratory diseases galore - and the City authorities and Susan Leal think nothing much. SFPUC is in a mess but please do not spread your madness in areas where not even the devil will tread. It is not right that Mayor Gavin Newsom think that he can exploit the Southeast Sector the last frontier using puppets from SFPUC and elsewhere to help developers. I challenge Mayor Gavin Newsom and he has heard me speak many times to sit down and discuss the prominent issues facing the Southeast Sector. You will not get that from Sophie Maxwell, Susan Leal, other sellouts that are in for the money. Once all of San Francisco belonged to the Muwekma Ohlone. It was pristine and there were no toxins. The Bay was clean and much of what is today landfill was Bay water. At Hunters Point were two hills - known to those who are educated Shellmound - Sacred Burial Sites of the Muwekma Ohlone. Not one inch of Hunters Point has been archeologically surveyed. The whole Hunters Point Shipyard has to be abated and cleaned to Residential Standards. One cannot put humans to live knowing that they will die. The strangers came and polluted the Bay Area and San Francisco. Even today people like Susan Leal cannot fathom the basics of environmental issues. Quality of Life Issues that make life living decent for those who care about living and life issues. It is wrong to pollute as the SFPUC does our air, our water and our land. The SFPUC gets no blessings from the Muwekma Ohlone when they are told what is wrong and continue to propagate pollution and adversely harm our children. We already have the worst inept, ignorant, and arrogant woman in the Bayview Hunters Point Sophie Maxwell who serves as the District Supervisor. Now to add to that mess we have Susan Leal. This City and County of San Francisco can do better. We need new leadership that has the knowledge and the compassion to bring to the fore Quality of Life Standards and deliver them without compromise. We do not want people who are inept and corrupt.

Old map of SF.


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