San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

San Francisco Blog

NEWS BLOGS RESTAURANTS BARS / CLUBS CALENDAR MUSIC MOVIES ARTS BEST OF CLASSIFIED PROMOTIONS SEARCH THE ADS

Will 'Extinct' Plant's Diagnosis: Killer TV Nostalgia For Past

Discovery Kill Highway Abysmal Warriors
Rebuild? Trades

Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership'

From Mayor Newsom, Who Governs Via Press
Release. Also: Sky Is Blue And Sea Is Green. Advanced Archive Search >>

By Joe Eskenazi in Government, Politics Friday, May. 8 2009 @ 8:30AM

Fortunately for Gavin Newsom, no one Most

pays attention to Civil Grand Jury
Recent Commented
reports.
Recent Commented
Unfortunately for the people of San
iBike -- New App Helps
Francisco, according to the Civil Grand Users Write City's Bike
Jury, Newsom isn't paying attention to Routes
following through on his grand plans,
Could Discovery of 'Extinct'
making it damn near impossible to tell Plant Toss Monkey Wrench
if San Francisco is living up to its Into Doyle Drive Rebuild?
Audrey Fukuman
"Performance Measurement" goals -- Two More S.F. Cars Burned;
in other words, it's exceedingly difficult to tell if we're spending our billions wisely. Third In Two Days
The Grand Jury faults Newsom and his department heads for a "lack of
Media Advisory: Mayor
leadership," and opened its 19-page salvo by pleading that the mayor govern "by Gavin Newsom's Schedule of
the numbers rather than just publicizing the ones favorable to him." Public Events For Nov. 19,
2009
In typical San Francisco -- and, one could argue, Newsom -- fashion, the Jury San Francisco-Libs
found the city has devised many excitingly named systems of measuring things.
More Recent Entries...
And we ignore them and do whatever it is we do.

The Jury notes Newsom and his staff referring to an "Accountability Matrix" Slideshows
"Accountability Index," and, for good measure, an "Accountability Report." This
matrix-index-report covers 380 policy items spread over nine policy areas -- which
is odd, because last year, the mayor established "10 Strategic Pillars." The nine
policy areas of the matrix-index-report and the 10 Strategic Pillars do not jibe and
"as of February 2009 there was no link between the two documents."

Similarly, every department is required to draw up an "Efficiency Plan" each year

1 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

Performance Stat," which notes how approaching these numbers incorrectly

can lead to an "utterly simplistic, noticeably ineffective, and thus purely
symbolic sham." Some of Behn's criteria are "no clear purpose," "The
meetings are held irregularly," and "no follow-up." Glancing at the dubious
list, the jury feels San Francisco is batting 6.5-for-7."To have missed
six-and-a-half times out of seven is an interesting Performance
Measurement matrix in itself," it snidely reports.
Insane Clown Posse @ The
Important measures are ommitted from the 1,000 "metrics" the city tracks; Warfield
for example, there is not one metric regarding San Francisco's crippling,
$100 million overtime problem. Of the metrics we do track, many are
tracked inefficiently.

A full 77 percent of city workers tasked with filling out Performance

Management reports told the Jury they got their data from colleagues; only
4 percent were given the data by managers and department heads --
meaning city higher-ups are falling down on the job when it comes to
Sweet Stuff: Holiday Chocolate
informing subordinates how, exactly, they will be judged for competence.
Show @ Fort Mason
"The Jury finds there is no regular communication between Departments or
between Departments and the Mayor on city goals, targets, and
achievements as part of a formal Performance Management process..."

"The practice of changing targets in mid-year to match performance to date

does not encourage people to strive hard to meet their goals." Wow. That's
an amazing concept -- I wanted to hit 40 home runs this year, but, at the
All-Star Break, I'm at 10. Guess I'll shoot for 20. But, getting back to city Dead Prez @ Green Fest After
matters, it doesn't seem to be a big deal how many home runs you hit: "The Party
Jury finds the Mayor and most Department heads are not paying attention
More Slideshows >>
to the numbers."

I'd report on the Jury's recommendations -- complete with flow charts! -- but it's Twitter Updates
clear the mayor (and probably no one else with any influence) doesn't care to hear
Follow Us >>
them. (You can read them here).

Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard told the Chronicle that "the grand jury doesn't SF Weekly Flickr Pool
know what it's talking about," noting Newsom keeps a thorough record of all his
pledges in his "accountability index" each year (indicating he didn't read the grand
jury report, which is pretty darn familiar with the matrix-index-report).
Incidentally, it warrants mentioning that, in the latest mayoral accountability
index -- just to pick one example -- the entry "Rebuild Laguna Honda Hospital" is
listed as "In Progress." There's no mention of the fact that gargantuan cost
overruns led to the project cutting one-third of the proposed bed space -- yet the
endeavor has still gone several hundred million dollars over budget. Actually,
Ballard probably didn't read this 2008 Grand Jury report either -- which
specifically stated the mayor's accountability index is worthless.

Ballard also told the Chronicle that members of the Grand Jury should sit through
Newsom's 7.5 hour YouTube address. In other words, "Go fuck yourselves."

Tags: accountability, Civil Grand Jury, Gavin Newsom, Nathan Ballard

2 comment(s) / Post a Comment

Add your photos >>

Now Click This
Subscribe to RSS

2 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

SF Weekly Street Team

Serena Bardell says: Receive e-mail "Band Pick of the Week"
updates
Although your lead states,"Fortunately for Gavin Newsom, no one pays on MySpace
attention to Civil Grand Jury reports," recent history contradicts that claim Follow the SF Weekly
via none other than the mayor himself: Street Team on Twitter
Monthly Archives San Francisco Text Alerts
On the very day Mayor Newsom first took office he initiated action on two SF Weekly Alternative
grand jury reports released six months earlier by the'02-'03 civil grand Healing Directory
jury, one on corruption in the Dept. of Building Inspection, the other on Categories Become a friend and a
the disastrous state of diaster preparedness. fan of SF Weekly on
Facebook
The 2005-06 SFGJ report, “Disaster Planning,” found both great
Virtual Career Fair
improvement in many areas cited by the previous report and many Linkage
LikeMe
remaining problems, most notably in medical preparedness, including
Hype Machine
doubtful seismological safety and the lack of a helicopter landing facility at
the city’s main emergency hospital. Creep Machine -An Art Blog

Here is what the mayor had to say: Alameda Daily News Free Classifieds San Francisco,

CA
Alameda Musings
"For almost a decade I have been looking to the San Francisco civil grand buy, sell, trade (3,289)
jury for insightful and valuable reports on issues of great importance to all Anil Dash musician (395)
San Franciscans." rentals (5,499)
Athletics Nation
jobs (761)
As a former grand juror myself ('96-'97) and a longtime director of both
Bagel Radio adult entertainment (4,320)
the state and local organizations of grand jurors, I have followed closely
the changes that have taken place both in vastly improving juror training Barbarian Blog
foam order.com
and strengthening laws mandating detailed responses to all grand jury
Beast Blog Cushions
recommendations by affected officials and/or civil servants.
Platform beds
Beetle Beat Latex mattress
Just as one may not see immediate change result from a newspaper Organic Mattress
investigation or a "Blue Ribbon Panel" report, so results from jury reports Berkeley Bubble Memory Foam Mattress

often show up over a period of time--the wheels of bureaucracy grinding

Blogging Bayport Alameda
slowly. Grand juries are possessed of three qualities lacking in the other PERSONAL OF THE DAY
two bodies: subpoena power; lifelong vow of secrecy, which protects Chowhound
whistle blowers; and the above-noted requirement for responses. Add to
Curbed SF
that the fact that in recent years the BoS has held hearings on every grand
jury report, and you are really hard put to back up your statement, which Current Blog
is more of a cliche than a fact.
Daily Kos

Dellums Watch
Posted On: Sunday, May. 10 2009 @ 8:54PM
East Bay SPCA Shelterlife
Don says:
Blog
My guess is Ms. Bardell works for the mayor. Fecal Face

Posted On: Tuesday, May. 12 2009 @ 10:02AM Good Morning Silicon

zola78ajd76
Valley Why you should get to
Name: know me: "Because I
Grand Lake Guardian have style, poise and
Email: grace, yet can kick it
Grasping Reality With Both with the boys too."More
URL: Hands about what I am looking
Remember personal info? for: "Someone who is
Halfway to Concord open to new ideas,
mind-blowing
Comments (you may use HTML tags for style): Laughing Squid conversations, and
green tea."
Live365
More Personals >>

New West Notes

NovoMetro

Oakland Focus

Oaktown News

Pandora

Peninsula Press Club

3 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner
before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for Political Blotter
waiting.)
Radio Paradise
All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking "Post," you acknowledge
that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.
San Francisco Cityscape

San Leandro Bytes About Us | Work for SF

Weekly | Esubscribe |
SFGate Culture Blog
National Advertising | Privacy
SFist Policy |
Problem With the Site? | RSS
Silicon Valley Watcher
| Site Map
Silicon Valley Wire ©2009 Village Voice Media
All rights reserved.
Slashdot

Spot-On

Stretcher

TechCrunch

Techdirt

The Daily Dirt

The Hayword

The Heuristic Squelch

TourFilter.com

ValleyWag

VentureBeat

Newspapers: Daily
Alameda Times-Star

Argus (Fremont)

Contra Costa Times

Daily Review (Hayward)

East Bay Daily News

East County Times

Los Angeles Times

Oakland Tribune

San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Daily Journal

San Francisco Examiner

San Jose Mercury News

San Mateo Daily Journal

San Ramon Valley Times

The Daily Californian

The New York Times

The Sacramento Bee

The Wall Street Journal

The Washington Post

Tri-Valley Herald

Valley Times

4 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

West County Times

Newspapers: Other
Alameda Journal

Chloe Veltman

Asian Week

Bay Area Reporter

Berkeley Daily Planet

Berkeley Voice

Concord Transcript

Contra Costa Sun

Danville Times

Danville Weekly

East Bay Business Times

El Bohemio

El Latino

El Observador

El Tecolote

Livermore Independent

Metro (Silicon Valley)

Montclarion

Nichi Bei Times

NikkeiWest

Oakland Globe

Oakland Post

Piedmonter

Pleasant Hill/Martinez
Record

Pleasanton Times

Richmond Globe

Rossmoor News

San Francisco Bay

Guardian

San Francisco Business

Times

SF Weekly

Silicon Valley/San Jose

Business Journal

Singtao Daily

The Irish Herald

The Journal (Albany, El

Cerrito, Kensington)

The San Leandro Times

5 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

Valley Sentinel

Vietnam Daily News

Walnut Creek Journal

Other Local
Publications
7x7

Alameda Magazine

Bay Area Parent

Bay City News

BeyondChron

Bitch

Cafe Magazine

Cal Law

Chloe Veltman

California Lawyer

California Magazine

Catholic San Francisco

CNet News.com

Colorlines

Common Ground

Diablo

Dwell

East Bay Monthly

El Cerrito Wire

Environmental News
Network

Hi Fructose

Hyphen

India Currents

India West

Indybay

IndyMedia

J the Jewish Newsweekly

JPG

Kitchen Sink

Lip Magazine

McSweeney's Internet
Tendency

Mother Jones

New American Media

News From Native

California

6 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

North Gate News Online

Oakland Magazine

Philippine News

ReadyMade

Red Herring

Salon

San Francisco Magazine

SF Gate

SF Station

Silicon Valley Daily

Sunset

The Believer

The Wave Magazine

Tikkun

Tri-City Voice

Tri-Valley Magazine

Wholphin DVD Magazine

Wired

Wired News

Web Sites: Politics

Cal Berkeley Democrats

California Conservative

California Progress Report

California Secretary of State

California Voter Foundation

Calitics

Flash Report

League of Women Voters

Political Muscle

Rough & Tumble

The California Majority

Report

Radio
89.3 KOHL

KALW 91.7 FM

KALX 90.7

KCBS 740 AM

KCEA 89.1

KCSM 91.1 FM

KDON 102.5

KDYA 1190 The Light

7 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

KFAT Online

KFAX 1100 AM

KFJC 89.7

KFRC 610 AM

KGO 810 AM

KKUP 91.5 FM

KLIV 1590 AM

KMEL 106.1

KNBR 680/1050 AM

KNDL 89.9

KPFA 94.1 FM

KPIG 1510 AM

KPOO-FM 89.5

KQED 88.5 FM

KRCB 91.1 FM

KSCU 103.3

KSFO 560 AM

KSJS 90.5

KSMC 89.5

KSUN 91.5

KUSF 90.3 FM

KVCH 104.1

KZSU 90.1 FM

Live 105

The Bone 107.7 FM

WILD 94.9

Youth Radio

Television
BETV

CBS 5 KPIX

CCTV

Current

KFTL

KGO 7 ABC

KICU 36

KQED PBS 9

KRON 4

KTEH 54

KTSF 26

KTVU Fox 2

NBC-11 KNTV

8 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM
San Francisco - The Snitch - Civil Grand Jury Finds 'Lack of Leadership' ... file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/1/Desktop/Civil%20Grand%20...

PCTV 26/28

The CW Bay Area

TV 30

TV 50 KFTY

Your TV20

9 of 9 11/19/2009 12:43 PM