BART board pulls no-strike measure after unions waver on tax

Mayor Ed Lee (right) listened to James Ho, a member of the hospital Board of Trustees Tuesday February 25, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee appeared at a ceremony marking the final steel beam installment at the new Chinese Hospital being built in Chinatown. less Mayor Ed Lee (right) listened to James Ho, a member of the hospital Board of Trustees Tuesday February 25, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee appeared at a ceremony marking the final steel ... more Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close BART board pulls no-strike measure after unions waver on tax 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A veiled threat that unions would not support an extension of the Alameda County transit tax this fall was one of the key reasons the BART Board of Directors tabled talk of putting an advisory measure before voters asking if they wanted to ban transit strikes.

Board members tell us that the unions made it clear to directors that they had only so much money to spend this year - and that they could use it either to help pass the tax measure or to defeat the no-strike proposal.

"We would have to dedicate a lot of our resources to fighting this into challenging this ... rather than into securing resources for other projects," Chris Finn, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, told the BART directors Thursday night.

If voters OK the measure to double the county sales tax for transportation from a half cent to a full cent for 30 years, BART stands to reap $710 million for modernization and expansion, including $400 million to run tracks to Livermore. It would also get $38 million for maintenance.

M.I.A.: Political powerhouse and mayoral confidante Rose Pak was noticeably missing at Tuesday's ceremonial hoisting of the last beam for San Francisco's new Chinese Hospital.

Pak has been the driving force behind the $190 million project. But she had jetted off the day before to Beijing to attend the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - the Chinese government's select political conclave.

It's no secret that Pak has been the People's Republic "go-to" person in San Francisco for years.

Former Deputy Mayor James Ho, who has worked closely with Pak to get the new hospital built, tells us the Chinese government has contributed $100,000 to the project.

And as Mayor Ed Lee joked to the crowd, "Rose is probably in China collecting another $100,000 check."

Jerry's juggernaut: Gov. Jerry Brown's taking out of papers to run for re-election might wind up being the most exciting part of the 2014 gubernatorial campaign.

Brown's opponents, so far, are all Republicans: Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), former Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari and Laguna Hills Mayor Andrew Blount of Orange County.

None of the three is exactly a household name, and none is likely to raise the $17 million that Brown already has in the bank.

Mark DiCamillo, who runs the nonpartisan Field Poll, tells us there is a "high likelihood" Brown will score more than 50 percent of the vote in the open primary in June.

Brown's folks are shooting for more like 60 percent.

Not-so-supermajority: There's a good reason state Senate Democrats have been tying themselves in knots over how to deal with convicted Sen. Rod Wright and indicted Sen. Ron Calderon - their exit will kill the Democrats' legislative supermajority for the current legislative season.

And that's also why Republicans have been so eager to toss the Los Angeles County pair.

As it stands, Democrats have 28 seats in the Senate, one more than needed for the two-thirds supermajority.

The Democrats' original play was to allow Wright, convicted of eight felony counts for misrepresenting where he lived, to keep his seat at least until May. That's when a judge is scheduled to rule on his request to overturn the convictions.

But then came the Calderon bribery indictments last month. The accumulated pressure from Republicans became too much, and Wright opted for a paid leave of absence.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has given Calderon until Monday to decide whether to follow suit or be suspended without pay.

Either way, Calerdon's exit would leave the Democrats without a supermajority.

Travels with Quan: Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and her chief deputy, former state Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, were in the front row Thursday for the White House press conference to launch President Obama's "My Brother's Keeper" program to help minority youth.

The White House was the second stop for Quan and Swanson on a two-day jaunt that included a stopover at the National League of Cities convention in New Orleans.

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

High-end hits: The economy is booming, and so are robberies at some of San Francisco's most fashionable stores.

Most recently, a man in red sneakers who described himself as a music producer talked a clerk at Shreve & Co. on Post Street into letting him try on a $103,000 Rolex - then ran out the door.

Central Station police Capt. Garret Tom tells us the Rolex runner is only the latest in a string of robbers who are finding Union Square to be prime hunting grounds.

Cops just nabbed a man dubbed the Panty Raider after he tried to make off with more than 50 pieces of expensive underwear from Victoria's Secret at the St. Francis Hotel - his fourth such raid in recent weeks.