They Don't Like That I'm Bringing Light to Their Problems. But They're Still Not Bringing Light to Treasure Island.
They Say I'm Asking Too Many Questions. I Say They’ve Been Ignoring Too Many Outages. A “General Rule of Reason,” They Call It.
You’ve got to admire the language, if not the logic.
That’s the phrase SFPUC used to justify throttling my access to public records:
“We are invoking a general rule of reason…”
Sounds noble, doesn’t it?
Almost philosophical.
A little Roman, even—like they’re laying down some timeless code of civic balance.
But let’s decode it.
What they’re actually saying is:
We’ve decided your need for answers is no longer reasonable.
We’ve decided our discomfort with your questions outweighs your right to ask them.
We’ve decided to govern public transparency based on our patience—not your rights.
That’s not a rule of reason. That’s a rule of convenience.
And here’s the kicker—the irony so sharp it could cut the power.
**They invoke “reason” to justify blocking access to information about a power system that’s been failing—**unreasonably—for over 25 years.
Let me spell that out:
There have been over 290 documented power outages on Treasure Island since 2017.
Fifty-eight outages have happened just since I joined the SAP UC.
Some people have lost power a dozen times a year.
Seniors have been left without elevators.
Families have spent nights without heat, light, or refrigeration.
And for decades, city agencies—SFPUC included—have shrugged and said: “We’re working on it.”
So let me ask:
Was it reasonable to keep redeveloping Treasure Island while the grid collapsed underneath it?
Was it reasonable to leave families in public housing vulnerable to constant blackouts?
Was it reasonable to approve budgets, issue bonds, and launch projects, all while the basics—keeping the lights on—went unresolved?
But now that I’m requesting documentation? Now that I’m holding a flashlight to the file cabinet?
Now I’m the unreasonable one?
Let’s be clear:
What’s unreasonable is trying to spin transparency as a threat.
What’s unreasonable is weaponizing bureaucratic language to avoid accountability.
What’s unreasonable is pretending that searching emails is a heavier lift than surviving your twelfth blackout in a year.
So no—I’m not moved by the poetry of your “general rule of reason.”
Because nothing about this situation has been reasonable. Not for years.
If they really believed in reason, they’d be sitting in living rooms during outages.
They’d be reviewing emergency response failures, not redacting them.
They’d be standing on Treasure Island, not hiding behind desktop policies.
So yes, I’ll keep filing records requests.
Because “reason” should belong to the public, not to the institutions failing us.
And until SFPUC proves otherwise, I’ll keep shining the light.
Because Sunshine is coming.
Even if the electricity still isn’t.
Let me know if you want to break this part out into a stand-alone op-ed. It’s strong enough to live on its own in local media or on a campaign website. We can even format it as a spoken-word style piece or monologue for community meetings.
