In the wake of revelations that the little Los Angeles County town of Bell was paying its city manager nearly $800,000, state Attorney General Jerry Brownhas announced plans to review all local government salaries of more than $300,000.

"The Bell salary abuses went under the radar," Brown said Friday. "We want to take a wider look to make sure that municipal salaries have a reasonable relationship with the work being done, and that the jurisdictions can pay them."

Brown, who is running for governor, said he was also motivated by a "sense of fairness" in these lean times to find out why cities of the same size pay widely different salaries to their top execs.

He can start right here in the Bay Area.

The city manager of San Ramon, for example, is knocking back $359,669 a year - making him one of the highest-paid municipal administrators in the state.

Not bad for a city of 64,860, especially considering Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would make $212,179 - that is, if he took a paycheck.

Meanwhile, the city manager of nearby Pleasanton - which has a larger population (67,543) than San Ramon - makes $211,176. That's nearly $150,000 less than his colleague up Interstate 680.

San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson, who is running for the state Assembly, did not return repeated calls for comment.

City Councilman Jim Livingstone, however, told us, "We have a pay-for-performance pay scale. In other words, you exceed expectations, you get potentially as much as a 7 percent raise every year. Our city manager, Herb Moniz, has been there some 20 years and he is worth every dollar he is paid."

While Brown's investigators are in the neighborhood, they might want to check out the city manager of Livermore, who clocks in at $302,472, - or nearby Danville, which pays its city manager $310,029.

It's not Bell-size bucks - but it's not bad, either.

Michela's pick: The race in San Francisco for District Two supervisor just got a lot more interesting - in a very personal way.

Popular incumbent Michela Alioto-Piertells us she is endorsing political newcomer Mark Farrell as her replacement.

"Mark was raised in the Marina and has the fiscal sense that City Hall needs at this time," Alioto-Pier said.

As for her long-time friend Janet Reilly?

"I like Janet Reilly very much, but her progressive politics are just out of step with District Two," Alioto-Pier said.

Reilly has the endorsement of just about every Democratic office-holder in town, from Sen. Dianne Feinstein on down.

She also has the backing of former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who in addition to running the party central committee is one of the biggest behind-the-scenes power players down at City Hall. Peskin also clashed repeatedly with Alioto-Pier during his days on the board.

And as Alioto-Pier sees it, "We have enough Peskin protégées on the Board of Supervisors as it is."

Reilly responded through her campaign spokesman, Josh Morrow, who said, "The voters will decide who represents District Two, not Michela Alioto-Pier."

Supervisor SeanElsbernd, from District Seven out West of Twin Peaks, has also come out for Farrell - but for more personal reasons.

"I've known him for 25 years. We went to high school together," Elsbernd said. "We were very good friends."

Not sure you can say that about Alioto-Pier and Reilly anymore.

Surprise, surprise: One of the reasons everyone from officials to consumer advocates were caught off guard by the San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion is that for all the politics surrounding utility regulation in California, no one can recall the last time pipe safety was mentioned at a hearing.

Just ask Jeff Brown, who served on the Public Utilities Commission from 2001 to 2007.

"In the six years that I served on the commission, we had fights over just about everything," Brown said. "But I can't recall a single time the issue came up."

"I can't recall it coming up, either - except as it related to rate hikes," said Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for the consumer group The Utilities Reform Network.

No doubt it will be a hot topic in the future - and if there are new rules that mean replacing old pipes?

"It will come under the heading of 'maintenance,' which means that ratepayers will absolutely be picking up the tab," Brown said.

Birds of a feather: San Francisco is spending $9,500 to reconfigure a street to avoid trimming the overhanging branch of a tree popular with the world-famous "Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill."

The target of the project is an Italian Stone Pine growing out of the median on Alta Street, near the end of Montgomery Street up by Coit Tower.

The trunk and branches of the tree are hanging over the narrow street, causing trucks to clip it as they pass.

Rather than cut back the tree - and in the process disturb the birds - the Department of Public Works' Sustainable Streets program has opted to put in a diverter to steer traffic around the tree.

Saving the tree was the subject of community meetings, two public hearings and one Department of Parking and Traffic review - with nary a squawk.

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.