Petrelis Files

Chronicle Omits Costs
of 5 SF Pols' Trip to Seattle

Here's a good example of the decline of basic journalism in San Francisco.

The Chronicle's Heather Knight, who wields a wide sarcastic streak in most of her opinionated items for the quasi-news column City Insider while omitting key facts, yesterday reported on Monday's trip by several department heads and the mayor to Seattle to tour a wet house, among other official duties.

Costs for the field trip? Knight does not say. She curbed her sarcasm this time and still forgot to inform readers of the tab for the travel and related expenses. Five City Hall officials hop up to Seattle to visit the wet house, and readers are left in the dark why they all had to make the trip.

There's also the matter of how close San Francisco may be to opening a wet house. The Chronicle didn't report on that either, or if the officials plan to hold a public meeting reporting back to taxpayers about their Seattle visit.

From the Chronicle:

That controversial plan to open a wet house in San Francisco where chronic homeless drunks can get city housing and keep drinking took a big step forward Monday. Mayor Ed Lee and a bevy of city officials toured the Seattle version, where the building's staff even goes on booze runs for some residents, dispersing beer, wine and vodka. Critics have dubbed the facility "bunks for drunks." [...] Bevan Dufty, the supervisor-turned-mayor's-homeless point person, has long advocated for a San Francisco wet house and showed Lee the Seattle model along with Barbara Garcia, director of the Department of Public Health; Henry Alvarez, head of the Housing Authority; and Joyce Crum, director of housing and homeless programs for the Human Services Agency. 

Dufty said the group toured the facility's common areas, met with staff and saw the private room of one of the residents whose life has changed so dramatically, he's now a chef who makes meals for his still-homeless buddies. Dufty wouldn't say whether Lee has pledged to open a similar version in San Francisco, but did say, "I thought it went well. I was really happy. It's definitely something we're going to keep talking about." [...]

Um, if the mayor is not ready to begin operating a wet house in San Francisco, why did all of the officials head up to Seattle on Monday?