[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Updated Part 2: Full BOS Vote Violated Brown Act? Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban

[John Thielking]

See more below. I hope this is the last e-mail about this from me for awhile. We need to focus on Ukraine right now. Crimea just today voted to join Russia by a 95% Yes vote.  Hopefully RT America stays on cable tv even after the likely sanctions against Russian investors.


John Thielking


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: "John.Avalos at sfgov.org" <John.Avalos at sfgov.org>; "David.Campos at sfgov.org" <David.Campos at sfgov.org>; "Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org" <Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org>; "Jane.Kim at sfgov.org" <Jane.Kim at sfgov.org>; "Katy.Tang at sfgov.org" <Katy.Tang at sfgov.org>; "Norman.Yee at sfgov.org" <Norman.Yee at sfgov.org>; "London.Breed at sfgov.org" <London.Breed at sfgov.org>; "David.Chiu at sfgov.org" <David.Chiu at sfgov.org>; "Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org" <Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org>; "Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org" <Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org>; "Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org" <Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org>; Robert Norse <rnorse3 at hotmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: Updated Part 2: Full BOS Vote Violated Brown Act? Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban
 


Just as I was sending the previous e-mail another comment was posted on Facebook that characterized the argument over the bottled water ban as being "funny" and the person said that she went to SF all the time in the 1960's when there was no bottled water and she and her friends didn't die. I have an issue with that. The main reason why I am concerned about the bottled water ban is because I have firsthand experience in watching one of my friends "hit the wall" while walking in various parades in SF on hot days such as SF Gay Pride 2013. My friend does have a clean bill of health from his doctor, after taking a few pills every day, but often complains of not being in good shape. I should think that it would be obvious to anyone familiar with people's various medical conditions that for some people it can be immediately dangerous to reach a certain point of dehydration that for others would be characterized as "mild".  These same people may be counting
 on the street vendors to have bottled water available. When/if such is not the case they could be sent scrambling for the few remaining blocks that their energy will carry them.  I suppose that not everyone takes these facts for granted, so I am underlining them here. Please work to provide the equivalent of water fountains that don't require people to bring their own containers in place of street/park vendors of bottled water if you choose to fully implement the bottled water ban on SF city property. Thank you.

Sincerely,

John Thielking
San Jose, CA



________________________________
 From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: "John.Avalos at sfgov.org" <John.Avalos at sfgov.org>; "David.Campos at sfgov.org" <David.Campos at sfgov.org>; "Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org" <Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org>; "Jane.Kim at sfgov.org" <Jane.Kim at sfgov.org>; "Katy.Tang at sfgov.org" <Katy.Tang at sfgov.org>; "Norman.Yee at sfgov.org" <Norman.Yee at sfgov.org>; "London.Breed at sfgov.org" <London.Breed at sfgov.org>; "David.Chiu at sfgov.org" <David.Chiu at sfgov.org>; "Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org" <Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org>; "Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org" <Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org>; "Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org" <Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org>; Robert Norse <rnorse3 at hotmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: Updated: Full BOS Vote Violated Brown Act? Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban
 


After having a bit of a discussion with my friends and friends of friends on Facebook the following points came to light: 1) The city of SF has for the past few years provided water bottle refilling stations at events conducted on city property. 2) These water stations were not noticed by me (John Thielking) at any time since I started visiting SF for events in 1995. 3) It is my opinion that tourists by definition are unprepared and should not be expected to provide their own water containers, unless you expect them to resort to buying a 20 oz bottle of soda and then refill that at the water station. 4) My minimum suggested solution for tourists who are unprepared and unfamiliar with the SF bottled water ban is to have the SF city spend $10000 or so on paper cups that can be made available at the water bottle filling stations. Bigger/better signs on the water stations are also likely needed. A first class, but much more expensive solution, would be to
 install year round drinking fountains connected to city plumbing. Thank you.

Sincerely,

John Thielking
San Jose, CA


________________________________
 From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: "John.Avalos at sfgov.org" <John.Avalos at sfgov.org>; "David.Campos at sfgov.org" <David.Campos at sfgov.org>; "Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org" <Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org>; "Jane.Kim at sfgov.org" <Jane.Kim at sfgov.org>; "Katy.Tang at sfgov.org" <Katy.Tang at sfgov.org>; "Norman.Yee at sfgov.org" <Norman.Yee at sfgov.org>; "London.Breed at sfgov.org" <London.Breed at sfgov.org>; "David.Chiu at sfgov.org" <David.Chiu at sfgov.org>; "Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org" <Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org>; "Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org" <Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org>; "Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org" <Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org>; Robert Norse <rnorse3 at hotmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2014 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: Full BOS Vote Violated Brown Act? Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban
 


As posted in a comment on Facebook:


I have numerous bones to pick with the SF Board Of Supervisors over this 
new ordinance [the bottled water ban on city property]. First, they may have violated the Brown Act when they 
passed it as mysteriously it took only one day for first the BOS  
subcommittee to take its final vote on it  and the BOS full body to vote on it, neglecting the 72 hour notice rule. As for the law itself a) it 
is not clear if the law will also restrict the sale of bottled soft 
drinks which are not recommended in place of bottled water to combat 
dehydration on a hot day and b) although the subcommittee was looking at language that encouraged the city to develop more sources of public 
drinking water it is not clear if any specific funding was allocated in 
the final version (ie this could be an unfunded mandate which could 
result in no public water sources in food deserts such as Dolores Park 
for the next 10-20 years while at the same time tourists are not allowed to buy bottled water from street vendors and/or are forced to buy 
bottled soft drinks. )  Finally, I did an experiment where I hung an 
empty soda bottle and water bottle from opposite ends of a balance beam. The soda bottle proved to be heavier than the water bottle. So if 
tourists will simply be buying soda instead of water in plastic bottles, the amount of disposable plastic will only increase.

Sincerely,

John Thielking
San Jose, CA



________________________________
 From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: "John.Avalos at sfgov.org" <John.Avalos at sfgov.org>; "David.Campos at sfgov.org" <David.Campos at sfgov.org>; "Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org" <Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org>; "Jane.Kim at sfgov.org" <Jane.Kim at sfgov.org>; "Katy.Tang at sfgov.org" <Katy.Tang at sfgov.org>; "Norman.Yee at sfgov.org" <Norman.Yee at sfgov.org>; "London.Breed at sfgov.org" <London.Breed at sfgov.org>; "David.Chiu at sfgov.org" <David.Chiu at sfgov.org>; "Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org" <Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org>; "Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org" <Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org>; "Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org" <Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org> 
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:53 PM
Subject: Re: Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban
 


Another reason to vote the ban down is that the ban does nothing to discourage the sale of soft drinks in plastic bottles. Consuming soft drinks instead of water on a hot day further complicates the problems caused by dehydration on hot days as it is not recommended to consume sugary drinks in place of plain water when dealing with dehydration.

John Thielking




________________________________
 From: John Thielking <pagesincolor at yahoo.com>
To: "John.Avalos at sfgov.org" <John.Avalos at sfgov.org>; "David.Campos at sfgov.org" <David.Campos at sfgov.org>; "Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org" <Malia.Cohen at sfgov.org>; "Jane.Kim at sfgov.org" <Jane.Kim at sfgov.org>; "Katy.Tang at sfgov.org" <Katy.Tang at sfgov.org>; "Norman.Yee at sfgov.org" <Norman.Yee at sfgov.org>; "London.Breed at sfgov.org" <London.Breed at sfgov.org>; "David.Chiu at sfgov.org" <David.Chiu at sfgov.org>; "Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org" <Mark.Farrell at sfgov.org>; "Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org" <Eric.L.Mar at sfgov.org>; "Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org" <Scott.Wiener at sfgov.org> 
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:47 PM
Subject: Please Vote Down Bottled Water Ban
 


While I appreciate the efforts of SF city govt to rein in pollution and excessive production carbon footprints associated with bottled water by promoting a ban of bottled water under 22 oz on city property, I must object for the following reason:

Often people from out of town who are on the street at a festival conducted on city property such as the Gay Pride Festival may not be able to find a store not on city property that can sell bottled water. At the last gay Pride Parade event there was a small store located near the event that I could have gone to, but in the real world there is no guarantee that that one small store would not run out of bottled water. The vendors on the street are much better suited to supply large crowds with the amount of bottled water that is needed for the event. That particular day was quite hot and going without bottled water would have been quite dangerous. Other events, such as those conducted at Dolores Park, are not near stores that I am familiar with. Please reconsider your campaign to ban the sale of smaller bottles of bottled water on city property. Thank you.

Sincerely,

John Thielking
San Jose, CA
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