By Rachel Gordon
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco voters approved a $412 million bond measure Tuesday to shore up and expand San Francisco’s emergency water supply system, upgrade fire stations and construct a public safety building in the city’s emerging Mission Bay neighborhood.
Proposition B, which required the support of a two-thirds majority or better, won easily.
“Passage is a critical step to protecting the city’s infrastructure. What’s at risk is the city’s ability to recover from a large-scale disaster that will assure first responders have the ability to protect lives and property in the city,” said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.
Backers of Prop. B said the aging infrastructure — chiefly the emergency water-supply system consisting of a reservoir, two large storage tanks and 172 underground cisterns — is in desperate need of an upgrade and expansion. Left unchanged, firefighters may not have the high-pressure water they need to put out fires in the quake-prone city.
The bond proceeds also will pay to seismically retrofit some neighborhood fire stations and construct a new building in Mission Bay to house a police command center and neighborhood police station now located at the Hall of Justice, as well as a fire station.
To fund the projects, property owners will be assessed up to $70.74 a year for every $400,000 of assessed property value.
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