'Social justice' in contracts costs S.F. millions

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 8, 2011 | John Coté

[artichokegrower]

San Francisco's much-heralded "social justice" requirements for city contracts are costing local taxpayers millions of dollars a year in overcharges, according to workers in departments ranging from the Municipal Transportation Agency to the Department of Emergency Management.

In one case, a Muni worker said the city paid $3,000 for a vehicle battery tray. Such parts can be found online for $12 to $300, depending on the type of vehicle. City officials said they couldn't verify that purchase, saying the trays are usually bought in bulk with the battery.

Other city purchasing policies, if followed, would mean paying about $240 for getting a copy of a key that actually cost a worker $1.35 to get done at a hardware store on his break, the employee said. Another city worker called the use of catalog pricing for supplies "Pentagon-style purchasing."

Markups from approved vendors range from 10 to 150 percent, employees said, with one calling the city's requirement that contractors provide health care benefits for domestic partners "the expensive white elephant standing in the middle of the room (that) no one wants to mention."

Some vendors are suspected of being little more than middlemen who comply with San Francisco's very specific requirements for contractors - like disclosing historic ties to slavery and providing domestic partner benefits, a provision known as 12B because of its chapter in the Administrative Code - then turn around and buy the products from companies that don't meet the restrictions, city officials acknowledge.

[artichokegrower]

This is how business is done down in Mexico. You have to pay the "Mordida" (the bite) to the local officials in order to get anything done. Everyone gets their little piece of the action, add nothing constructive to the process, and everything costs more and gets slowed down. Welcome to the third world San Francisco.

[Lysandru]

A “social justice”— the siren phrase that has been helping destroy the United Methodist Church— and other once fine institutions.

[Steely Tom]

San Francisco people love paying taxes for this sort of thing. They can’t get enough of of it.

[ConjunctionJunction]

Some, like requiring city contractors to provide employees health care, have a direct financial benefit to the city, said Theresa Sparks, executive director of the city's Human Rights Commission, which certifies compliance with many of the contracting provisions.

"If these people weren't on their company's health insurance, many of them would be on Healthy San Francisco," the city's universal health care program, Sparks said.

There ya go. The city doesn't want to pay for it, so they force private companies to pay for it. But then they pay through the nose: $250 for a copy of a key that would only cost about $1.35.

[JudgemAll]

So, for all of SF’s fraudulent and unconstitutional doings, they are now claiming they are being frauded on their attempts of frauding, because the contractors use front “Social Justice” friendly companies which overcharge but get the items, anyways, from dirty China...

AH AH AH

So, what now, f@@gies of SF? Ur gona fight a nuke war with China, ISlam and RUssia because their thug mafyas overcharge you for their crap?

Eh eh eh, you can’t make this up. Liberals are retards.

[scorchedearther]

San Francisco and its policies is one of the chief reasons California as a state is bankrupt and broke.

San Francisco is a liberal mecca.

San Francisco is a sanctuary city.

San Francisco is immoral and decadent.

San Francisco is soft on crime and criminals.

San Francisco is nanny statism run amuck.

San Francisco is politically correct to the extreme.

San Francisco has no checks and balances.

[Iron Munro]

Nothing to see here -

Just another thinly disguised wealth redistribution scam to enrich the chosen classes on the backs of taxpayers.

[artichokegrower]

Looked up City of San Francisco Administrative Code Section 12B

Yep pretty strange

C. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS: Includes but is not limited to refusal to provide goods or services, disparate treatment, verbal and/or physical harassment, intentional and deliberate misuse of appropriate forms of address and/or pronouns, and/or denial of access to bathroom/restroom that is consistent with and appropriate to the customer’s or client’s gender identity.

5. GUIDELINES

A. BATHROOMS/RESTROOMS: Individuals have the right to use the bathroom/restroom that is consistent with and appropriate to their gender identity. The Commission wants to ensure that people of all genders have safe bathroom access. Therefore, the Commission strongly urges that all single-use bathrooms be designated gender neutral (unisex) and that all places of public accommodation and employment provide a gender neutral bathroom option.

B. VERIFICATION OF GENDER: Requiring proof of an individual’s gender is prohibited, except in situations where all persons are asked to verify their gender.

C. EMPLOYMENT: When requested by the employee, an employer must make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s health care needs, including but not limited to health care provider or counseling appointments, time off to recover from surgery or from a transition-related complication.

D. DRESS CODES: Employees have the right to comply with the gender-specific dress code that is appropriate to their gender identity when employers implement employee dress codes that are gender-specific.

http://www.sf-hrc.org/index.aspx?page=29

[cookcounty]

And to think there are Californians who wonder why their state is going to hell. You really cannot get stupider than that.

[blueunicorn6]

San Francisco - bravely marching forward into the bay wearing lead boots.