Matier & Ross
\nSan Francisco Chronicle<\/p>\n
San Francisco\u2019s effort to get noncitizen parents to the ballot box is pretty much a bust the first time out, with only 49 signing up to vote in the Nov. 6 election.<\/p>\n
Back in July, the city began registering noncitizens \u2014 including undocumented immigrants \u2014 to vote in school board elections.<\/p>\n
The program is the first-of-its-kind in California and followed passage of a 2016 San Francisco ballot measure opening school elections to noncitizens who are over the age of 18, city residents and have children under age 19.<\/p>\n
The city spent about $310,000 setting up the new registration system and encouraging people to sign up.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s election quickly put a damper on enthusiasm for the idea. This year, city officials began voicing concerns that signing up could expose people here illegally to detection by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since voter rolls \u2014 including home addresses \u2014 could be subpoenaed by the feds.<\/p>\n Supervisor\u00a0Sandra Lee Fewer\u00a0<\/strong>urged the city to spend as much as $500,000 to warn undocumented residents that registering to vote could point ICE their way \u2014 but then-Mayor\u00a0Mark Farrell<\/strong>\u00a0nixed her initial request for $125,000 to get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n Whatever the case, the tally to register noncitizen voters comes to about $6,326 per sign up.<\/p>\n At that price, let\u2019s hope they vote.<\/p>\n Fire call:\u00a0<\/strong>One of the people most surprised by San Francisco Fire Chief\u00a0Joanne Hayes-White<\/strong>\u2019s announcement that she is retiring on May 5 was Mayor\u00a0London Breed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For weeks, Room 200 and Hayes-White had been holding talks on the date of the long-standing chief\u2019s exit. And the two sides were far from a deal.<\/p>\n The chief initially wanted to stay on until January 2020 to coincide with the end of her good friend, the late Mayor\u00a0Ed Lee<\/strong>\u2019s, second term. Breed wanted to start moving on a new chief by the end of this year.<\/p>\n As both a fire commissioner and supervisor, Breed had been a regular critic of the chief\u2019s management style.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Firefighters Union Local 798 \u2014 which backed Breed\u2019s mayoral campaign big-time \u2014 has repeatedly called for Hayes-White\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n Hayes-White, however, is a force unto herself. Not only is she San Francisco\u2019s first female and longest-running chief, she is one of he city\u2019s most popular officials \u2014 especially in the Irish enclaves west of Twin Peaks.<\/p>\n Both sides knew the score, and neither wanted a bloodbath.<\/p>\n Talks were going back and forth when, out of the blue, Hayes-White announced she was leaving under her own steam \u2014 and that her ideal exit date was May 5, 2019, Lee\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n In effect, Hayes-White split the difference between when she wanted to go and when the mayor wanted her gone.<\/p>\n In a subsequent memo to the Fire Department, Hayes-White was less emphatic on the exit date \u2014 saying only that she was leaving in the spring.<\/p>\n She also said she was \u201ccommitted to a smooth transition for the department and for my successor.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever the case, Hayes-White will walk out with her head high \u2014 and with an estimated $307,000-a-year pension.<\/p>\n Breed comes out a winner as well.<\/p>\n She promptly announced the start of a selection process for a new fire chief, while stating \u201cChief Hayes-White can continue to focus on what matters most to all of us \u2014 keeping our residents and visitors safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether Hayes-White actually hangs on until May remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Breed has asked the Fire Commission to start the search for a new chief, with the goal of presenting the mayor with qualified applicants by the end of January or early February of next year.<\/p>\n Breed will then decide who will serve as the next chief \u2014 and when.<\/p>\n Suited up:\u00a0<\/strong>Oakland\u2019s plan to file a mega-million-dollar lawsuit against both the Raiders and the National Football League over the team\u2019s impending move to Las Vegas has blown a tire.<\/p>\n Sources tell us that two of the three law firms that had lined up to handle the case \u2014 and cover the up-front legal costs \u2014 have pulled out, leaving only New York attorney\u00a0Jim Quinn\u00a0<\/strong>of Berg & Androphy in the game.<\/p>\n But there is another problem. Quinn, who has already successfully sued the NFL over both player free agency and the 2011 players\u2019 lockout, is not licensed to practice in California\u2019s courts, where the lawsuit would be filed.<\/p>\n Quinn needs to find in-state lawyers who are willing to take the case on a contingency basis, which is how the deal was sold to the Oakland City Council.<\/p>\n That means the firms will only get paid if they win \u2014 and that\u2019s far from guaranteed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still in the process of putting a team together, and that will be done soon,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n