Sam Spade's San Francisco

Murders are way up in most major cities across the country. Murders are on the rise in New York City and the same is true for Chicago. In Oakland the murder rate has risen by an astonishing 37 percent!

In San Francisco, however, the trend has been reversed. San Francisco suffered 96 murders in 2005. In 2006 the figure dropped to 85, a figure still far too high by everyone's estimation.

Recently the Board of Supervisors overrode a veto by the Mayor and went into the business of actively directing the police department. A lot of politicians have been fighting the plan devised by Mayor Newsom and Chief Fong to focus on high-crime neighborhoods by putting more officers into the neighborhoods and keeping the pressure on the crooks.

The Mayor's critics complained that the plan he and Chief Fong devised would never work. According to themselves, they had a better idea. Now the truth is out. The critics on the Board of Supervisors were wrong. The Mayor and the Chief are right.

The reason for the drop in crime is clear: increased patrols in violence-prone areas and more overtime hours approved by the Chief.

I don't know what the perpetual critics of the Mayor and Chief Fong are going to say now. Almost without any doubt they will come up with some kind of song and dance to show why the Mayor and the Chief are still wrong despite clear evidence that Mayor Newsom and Chief Fong had it right all along.

This is a great example of why the members of our Board of Supervisors should zip their lips and let the Mayor and the Chief do their jobs without constant harangue and annoyance from a bunch of well-intentioned but knuckle-dragging dumb amateurs.

Good job Mayor Newsom!
Good job Chief Fong!