Free Republic

"Investigative journalists doing their jobs should dig deep, into Pelosi's role in the controversial, $280-million, federal-funded Hunters Point Shipyard affair - in relation to her alleged role as an investor in a real estate investment called PRESIDIO PARTNERS. Look past the fact that the 936-acre site, of which about 443 acres are not polluted - Hunter Point is the largest tract of undeveloped land in San Francisco. Roll Call stated that in early 2004, Murtha “reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the City of San Francisco” and that “Laurence...

Republicans derided the proposal for the Presidio near the Golden Gate Bridge as a 'Pelosi payoff' and an 'obvious giveaway' House Republicans tried in vain Thursday to block a proposed $200 million allotment for improvements to a park in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district.... ...GOP lawmakers proposed a half-dozen amendments to divert the $200 million to other needs but each Republican proposal was defeated... ...One Democrat, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, defended the allocation for the Presidio, the 1,500-acre park and golf course near the Golden Gate Bridge, claiming Pelosi deserves the money for her hometown because...

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated when the California Transportation Commission voted, despite a host of warnings, to pay a contractor more than $1 billion to build two tunnels and a stretch of road outside San Francisco nine years ago. Schwarzenegger said the project’s new approach, which aimed to cap public expenses and shift responsibility to the private sector, would serve as a “shining example” of an innovative way to improve the state’s highways while saving taxpayer dollars. Now the project, known as the Presidio Parkway, is more than two years late and $208 million over budget. When the commission approved...

Exclusive, gated street on which Pelosi and Feinstein once lived. The wealthy residents of San Francisco's exclusive, gated Presidio Terrace haven't paid a $14/year tax bill for three decades. This led the city to auction off the tony street that boasts among its former residents House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA). The auction was an attempt to recoup its delinquent tax losses valued at less than a thousands dollars (including penalties, interest, etc.).Officials hit the jackpot when a young couple purchased the street at auction two years ago for $90,100. The new owners are reportedly...

Four Mountain Lion sightings have been reported in the San Francisco area since June 30. A joint press release from the Presidio Trust, the National Park Service and San Francisco Animal Care and Control said three of the sightings were made by members of the public, while one of the sightings was captured by a neighborhood security camera. Authorities believe the recent sightings are of the same mountain lion. The animal was last seen on Friday, July 3, in southwest San Francisco near Lake Merced. The mountain lion also was spotted on the 1000 block of Gough Street on July...

Eric Blind sat up to his ankles in mud. With a brush, he scraped away at a structure of 157-year-old brick, taking in a sight he knew would soon disappear. Behind him, sat the entrance to an old tunnel, carved into the bedrock of San Francisco's Presidio in the years when mad gold speculation fueled a population explosion in the City. Just a week ago, this tunnel, with its brick-lined entrance, sat buried beneath 43-feet of earth -- forgotten for a century by just about everyone except for Blind... The rumored tunnel wasn't the kind to conjure images of gold...

Speaker Mop & Glo made headlines for her call to investigate opponents of the Ground Zero mosque, but there was something else about her remarks that should have raised your hackles: “There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we...

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations. The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial. *snip* He mentioned in...

Newsom expects layoffs due to city's $90 million deficit Mayor Gavin Newsom said city layoffs could start in the next few weeks as his office grapples with a budget deficit that could exceed $90 million."I can't defer bad choices," Newsom said.The mayor asked city departments to cut $75 million, but Newsom said new projections from the controller's office will lead to bigger cuts. It's too soon to say how many people will lose their jobs, the mayor said.The Public Health Department faces the biggest cuts because it's the largest department. Health officials revealed $10 million worth of proposed cuts this...

The handful of coyotes that call the Presidio home are still happy, healthy and wild for one main reason: They still fear humans. Experts hope that will be the case for the timid animals now living in Golden Gate Park and Bernal Heights. There has been a flurry of coyote sightings in The City in the last few days, and officials are hoping to quickly educate the public before a rare opportunity turns sour. Experts say it’s possible for coyotes and humans to coexist, as the animals pose no threat to humans who leave them alone. “It’s our job as...

As the proposed implementation of a pilot cross-border trucking program draws near, another international trade corridor project is drawing heat from local residents in Texas. The March 18 New York Times reported on the reactions of residents of the West Texas towns of Marfa and Alpine to a hearing held by the Texas Department of Transportation on the development of an official trade corridor, La Entrada al Pacifico, or “Gateway to the Pacific.” It would link the port of Topolobampo in Mexico’s Sinaloa state through Chihuahua to the U.S. market, via the border crossing at Presidio, Texas, and the oil...

In a little valley ringed by trees on the edge of the Presidio of San Francisco is a lost cemetery containing the graves of hundreds of merchant seamen, buried years ago and forgotten. The graves are unmarked and the names of many buried there are unknown. The cemetery itself, located just beyond the closed Public Health Service Hospital near 15th Avenue and Lake Street, is invisible. The graves, which once had neat wooden headstones enclosed by a fence, were buried under 16 feet of debris from excavations of a missile site in the 1950s. A parking lot was built at...

The drawn faces and melancholy expressions in the Mexican consulate here Thursday reflected the sadness surrounding the now-permanent delay of Cónsul Justiniano Menchaca Fuentes. Reyna Kat Olson, Del Rio consulate director of Mexican Communities Abroad, established media opportunities to meet and interview the Mexican consul recently appointed to his post here. Menchaca was to replace Cónsul Roberto Canseco who departed the position in Del Rio in July 2005. The Jan. 27 press conference was abruptly cancelled without explanation. “At this point, he’s not coming,” said Kat Olson Thursday, urging the News-Herald to discuss the matter with Cónsul Adscrito (designate) Fernando...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

<p>Officials are investigating four vials found at the Presidio containing a crystalized chemical - possibly mustard gas - after an archaeologist for the former U.S. Army base received burns and blisters on her hands while examining them.</p> <p>Megan Wilkinson, an archaeologist at the Presidio, began examining the vials Friday when she noticed a strong odor coming from them. She immediately left the building and called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Presidio Trust spokesman Ron Sonenshine said Monday.</p>