Millions Of Dollars Of Event Tickets Doled Out To City Workers, Commissioners In Ethical Quagmire, Report Finds

San Francisco CA

02 October, 2021

4:39 PM

Description

By Joe Eskenazi, Mission Local October 1, 2021 An unusually strongly worded report from the city's Ethics Commission condemns the ethical murkiness and inadequate reporting measures regarding the millions of dollars worth of tickets and other perks gifted to city departments and doled out to employees, politicians, and their guests. The report, which was quietly released on Sept. 29, outlines the problematic nature of the $1.29 million in tickets disseminated by city departments since 2009. In some cases, third-party vendors are actually contractually mandated to provide the city with loads of free tickets — a longstanding San Francisco tradition the Ethics report bluntly described as "a culture of expectation that is the basis of a pay‐to‐play system." Along similar lines, the War Memorial Board of Trustees — which oversees the auditorium building and is populated by some of the city's wealthiest elites — has received more than $516,000 worth of free performance tickets since 2012. To read the full article, click here. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.