Bay Bridge party toll: $37 per walker

At the Bay Bridge's 1936 opening, Gov. Frank F. Merriam and President Herbert Hoover were among the dignitaries. At the Bay Bridge's 1936 opening, Gov. Frank F. Merriam and President Herbert Hoover were among the dignitaries. Photo: Chronicle File, The Chronicle Photo: Chronicle File, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Bay Bridge party toll: $37 per walker 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Bay Area bridge commuters will be ponying up $37 for each of the 150,000 people expected to walk across the new Bay Bridge span during the big Labor Day opening celebration.

That's the breakdown on the math for the $5.6 million in toll money going toward the public side of the public-private celebration marking completion of the new eastern span.

It's also more than twice as much per person as the $250,000 that bridge users spent to shuttle 15,000 walkers to the opening of the new Carquinez Bridge in 2003.

Still, directors of the Bay Area Toll Authority such as Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty say it's well worth the cost.

"I think it's important. This is one of the biggest public works projects in history," Haggerty said. "It's a reason to celebrate."

The public walk is just part of the party. Other bridge bash events - including a fireworks show, a concert on Treasure Island, and a bike race and 12.5-mile run from Oakland City Hall to San Francisco City Hall - will be paid for by millions in private contributions.

A good chunk of the public money - $1.8 million - will go into just getting the walkers to the bridge's eastern end, which is pretty much walled off to pedestrians by freeways.

The idea is to have about 15,000 walkers an hour shuttled to the base of the bridge from Oakland BART stations.

The walk will be held on the final day of a five-day shutdown of all traffic on the Bay Bridge, starting at 8 p.m. Aug. 28.

The first 3 1/2 days of the shutdown will be used to hook up the new span at Yerba Buena Island and get it ready for the opening.

On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 1, as many as 15,000 bicyclists will be allowed for a fee to ride from Oakland to San Francisco - followed by the concert and fireworks that night.

On Labor Day morning, a footrace is planned from Oakland City Hall to San Francisco City Hall. It would be followed by a shorter, 10-kilometer race, if organizers can figure out a starting point and devise a way to get people there.

Once the footraces are over, 125,000 to 150,000 people who request free advance tickets will be shuttled from BART to the east side of the Bay Bridge for a 5-mile-or-so trek to San Francisco.

As for how all those walkers and runners will get back to the East Bay? The plan is for them to ride BART.

By the way, we're told the deal was vetted by a number of public agencies and officials - all the way up to Gov. Jerry Brown's office - before going public.

Drone attack: The great drone debate lands Thursday in Alameda County, as the Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee takes up the Sheriff's Department's request to begin using the eye in the sky.

Even after meeting with the sheriff to help draw up guidelines, the American Civil Liberties Union says it is still against the plan, thus promising a big debate.

"The proposal from the sheriff just isn't there yet," said ACLU spokesman Will Matthews.

The Sheriff's Department's guidelines specify that the 4-pound, unarmed drone would be used on an "mission-specific" basis for situations such as hostage-takings, searches, fires, bomb threats, and cases in which deputies think a felony has happened or is happening.

The drone would not be used for routine patrols, the guidelines say.

In a letter to supervisors, however, the ACLU says nothing would prevent information collected by the drone from being given to federal and state agencies -and that this "strongly" suggests it "would be used for intelligence-gathering purposes."

The ACLU is also concerned about what deputies would do if the drone happened to spot a marijuana farm or similar operation in the course of doing something else.

Sheriff's Capt. Tom Madigan, who tried to work out a deal with the ACLU, summed up law enforcement's view of the split, saying: "I don't think the ACLU is as strongly interested as we are in public safety and the apprehension and conviction of criminals."

The drone issue was first aired in committee back in December, but was tabled when it became clear that the full Board of Supervisors was split on the issue.

From the looks of things, little has changed.

Flash dance: San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi didn't get a personal invitation to the big gathering with other city leaders opposing domestic violence planned for Valentine's Day on the steps of City Hall - so he's having his own party.

Mirkarimi, who has been largely shunned by Mayor Ed Lee since pleading guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment in connection with a fight with his wife, has arranged for prisoners and jail staffers to take part in a flash mob-style dance at the county lockup at San Bruno and at the women's jail downtown. Like the City Hall event, it's part of an international "One Billion Rising" campaign Thursday against domestic violence.

Both prisoners and staffers have been busy this week practicing their routine to the campaign's five-minute musical anthem, "Break the Chain."

"I'm pretty excited about this," Mirkarimi said. "We are the only sheriff's department in the state or country doing this."