Sunday, March 13, 2005
By Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
The Bay Bridge boondoggle has something for everyone --
even the birds.
It turns out that the state Department of Transportation
is spending $550, 000 to build a strip of special perches along the new bridge
for the double- crested cormorant -- a lanky black bird with a hooked bill and a
parcel of legally protected squatters' rights it earned from having spent the
past 20 years roosting on the underside of the old bridge.
The
double-crested cormorant doesn't rate entry on the endangered species list, but
it is recognized under state law as a "species of special concern.''
And
judging from the amount of tax money going into protecting its perching rights,
it's getting some very special attention.
For starters, the new eastern
span will include the "Corm Condos'' -- 2 1/2-foot-wide, stainless-steel nesting
platforms beneath the span that will be invisible to motorists. That goes for
the causeway now under construction from the Oakland shoreline, as well as
whatever span the state eventually picks to link the viaduct with Yerba Buena
Island.
If the birds don't take to the new digs on their own, biologists
will try to entice them by painting cormorant silhouettes on the perches,
playing recordings of cormorants and putting up mirrors on the platforms.
Then there's the $750,000 that Caltrans is spending under a four-year
contract for a small boat crew of binocular-armed ornithologists. Their job is
to scour the old bridge for as much as 10 hours a week, keeping an official
count of the cormorants along with a handful of endangered birds that inhabit
the structure, including brown pelicans, peregrine falcons and least terns.
The seafaring crew files weekly reports on how birds are being affected
by the noisy bridge construction -- as opposed to the regular noisy bridge
traffic.
The bird monitoring -- and measures to protect the cormorants
-- are all the result of federal and state regulations aimed at safeguarding
native and endangered habitats.
"If we want to build the bridge, we have
to monitor and protect these federally protected birds,'' said Caltrans
spokesman Jeff Weiss.
Usually the cormorants prefer lakes, rivers,
swamps and sea coasts from Alaska and Nova Scotia to Mexico and the Bahamas.
But since around 1984, according to the environmental impact report for
the new bridge, some 600 nesting pairs have made like human East Coast
transplants and settled here to enjoy the good weather, wonderful views and
abundance of good food afforded by the eastern span, turning it into the
second-largest colony of cormorants in Northern California.
And when
their new condos are ready, the span will be able to accommodate at least 1,000
nesting pairs, scientists believe.
As for the more self-reliant falcons
and pelicans that are occasionally spotted on the span, it seems they'll have to
make themselves at home on the new bridge without our help.
Such is
politics -- even for the birds.
L.A. confidential: CNN national
correspondent Bill Schneider was in town the other day talking about how hard it
is to make people care about the L.A. mayor's race.
Even in L.A.
"I even went to a dog track to ask people their opinions,'' Schneider
said. "Nobody had one."
"But they sure had an opinion when I asked about
Michael Jackson. They all said he's guilty as hell."
Growing green: That
suspected arson and explosion at a home in San Francisco's Ingleside
neighborhood the other day that led to the discovery of $300,000 worth of
marijuana plants is just the tip of a very big -- and very green -- iceberg.
Just a few weeks back, you might recall, an electrical fire at another
home out in the Sunset led to the discovery of $2.2 million worth of marijuana
plants.
In fact, over the past year and a half, San Francisco police say
they have raided rented homes on a monthly basis -- mostly out in the avenues --
and discovered many other crops of marijuana being grown.
We're talking
thousands of plants filling every room of a house, with holes punched through
the walls to provide better watering, ventilation and lighting.
It's
been quite a shock to absentee landlords who rented out their income properties
expecting a nice rent check in the mail.
"Now they find their house is
destroyed, and there is no insurance (to cover the damage),'' says Capt. Tim
Hettrich, head of the vice unit. "They're taking $25,000 baths.''
Not
that the illegal activity should come as that much of a surprise to anyone who
spends time in these neighborhoods. Hettrich says there are telltale signs --
such as windows covered with cardboard.
The evidence was a bit more
dramatic in the latest case out on Vienna Street, where an apparently
disgruntled drug customer hurled something combustible at the garage door.
It didn't do much damage because behind the door was a sliding iron gate
-- shut and padlocked.
OK, we get the message: From the mayor's office,
dated March 2:
To all mayoral staff
Subject: Women's History
Month Photo
"Mayor Gavin Newsom cordially invites all female department
heads, mayor's staff and honorable female commissioners to join him for Women's
History Month celebratory photo on the steps of City Hall, Thursday, March 17
promptly at 10:30 am.
Thank you,
Hope to see you there
P.S. Women only please.''
Speaking of messages: Our nomination
for the auto-answer of the month:
"You've reached the Washington office
of Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez. Our office is now closed. We will be closed
throughout the day on Thursday, Jan. 20, due to the inauguration of President
Bush."
Uhhh, Congressman? Might want to update your answering machine.
Get a grip: The two cable car gripmen whose potential firings for
pocketing fares led to a 2 1/2-hour strike on the system March 2 are back at
work at the Municipal Railway.
That's right -- after serving their
30-day maximum suspensions allowed under city rules, the gripmen are appealing
their firings.
In the meantime, they've both been put on "light duty."
Their new assignment: keeping riders from ducking fares on the
14-Mission bus line.
Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew
Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. They can also be heard on KGO Radio
on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Matier can be seen regularly on KRON 4
News and on Sunday night at 9:30 on his own show, "4 the Record." Got a tip?
Call them at (415) 777-8815, or e-mail them at
matierandross@sfchronicle.com.
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©2005 San Francisco Chronicle