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Litquake and Hendrick’s Gin present
donations to research at UCSF. Laguna Honda Hospital Foundation may now be defunct, but it serves to illustrate the lack of controls and oversight of the foundations beyond even gift disclosure.
Off the bOOks It might be characterized as a web of influence, cronyism, or just the way business is done. But is there something improper about all of this? Private funding often represents a needed boost that allows for important work to take place beyond what could happen under ordinary budgeting. At the same time, it smacks of privatization. While departments and funders point to lean times in the public sector to justify the need for this help, the funding continues to flow whether it’s a good year or a bad year for city government. And at the end of the day, the most glaring issue of all seems to be the lack of transparency. Are city departments ever tempted to bend the rules to lend a little help to their Friends? As long as the funding is in the dark, the public has no way of knowing. Ethics chief St. Croix told us
THE FUTURE THAT NEVER WAS
his office lacks the resources to visit every city website and check up on whether departments are following the disclosure rules. “If someone brought it to my attention that a department received a gift and didn’t post it [on the website],” he said, “we would look into it.” But if the watchdogs need watchdogs, citizens who can’t even review documents that should be publicly available, then these quasi-governmental functions and the people who fund them will remain in the shadows. 2
A 150th Anniversary Tribute to Jules Verne
Danielle Parenteau contributed to this report.
ADDeNDUM
Jean-Christophe Valtat
When city funders operate in the dark, one of the best ways to learn about corrupt influence, misuse of funds, and other transgressions is from whistleblowers. If you have a tip for us, send us snail mail at SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN, 225 Bush, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104. Or email us at news@sfbg. com. Just make sure not to use an email address provided by your workplace, which is less secure.
(author of Aurorarama)
Mark Growden Trio Complimentary Cocktails from Hendrick’s
in the city
Where innovation is the literary tradition
Litquake’s Opening Night Party
Friday, October11 Z Space, 450 Florida St.
Co-presented by Consulate General of France in San Francisco, French American Cultural Society, Melville House, Red Snake Press, 7x7 magazine
Master of fine arts in Writing faculty
Catherine Brady • D.A. Powell Bich (Beth) Minh Nguyen Dave Madden • Nina Schuyler Lewis Buzbee • Norma Cole Stephen Beachy • K.M. Soehnlein Joshua Mohr • Porter Shreve Susan Steinberg • Ryan Van Meter Bruce Snider
OCTOBER 11–19
information meetings october 12, 11:30am, Kalmanovitz hall, room 367 and november 21, 5:45Pm, mclaren center 250 • Fiction, poetry, and nonfiction • Workshops paired with craft seminars • Teaching assistantships • Two semesters of one-on-one thesis instruction
Tickets, schedule, and info: litquake.org | litcrawl.org
SPONSORED BY: Miner Anderson Family Foundation
Thomas Sayers Ellis, visiting writer learn more at: 415-422-6066 mfaw@usfca.edu • usfca.edu/mfaw
photo: David Yu
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October 9 - 15, 2013 / SFBG.com
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