SAN FRANCISCO TO CONSIDER GROWING POT AFTER PROP. S PASSES

SAN FRANCISCO -- Officials here will name a panel to seriously consider
entering the pot-growing business now that voters have approved a measure
directing them to study whether this city should cultivate and sell its own
medical marijuana.

In what officials called a first-step gesture of defiance against the
federal government's zero-tolerance marijuana policy, voters passed
Proposition S by a 2-1 ratio.

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno said officials will name a three-member
committee to "hold hearings and bring in professional expertise," exploring
legal and medical ramifications of the program.

"We're breaking new ground here," Leno said. "Our mission is to fulfill the
will of the voters."

The success of the controversial measure, which was not backed by Mayor
Willie Brown, has miffed federal officials, who have made arrests at
medicinal pot clubs in San Francisco and elsewhere in California.

"The mayor of San Francisco has said publicly he doesn't think the city
should get into the pot-growing business, and we support him," said Richard
Meyer, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San
Francisco. "It's an illegal substance."

Brown spokesman P.J. Johnston said the mayor did not take a position on
Proposition S. Though a supporter of citizen access to medical marijuana,
Brown doesn't believe the measure moves in the right direction. "It's a
little too wacky, even for San Francisco," Johnston said.

Other issues settled by California voters Tuesday ranged from the
substantive to the quirky.

- - In Oakland, a city recently racked by homicides, voters passed a measure
to hire 100 police officers but defeated a companion tax measure that would
have paid for them.

Erica Herrold, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jerry Brown, called the election
outcome "bittersweet."

In a city suffering from considerable budget deficits, "we really don't
know how we're going to pay for these officers," she said.

"But Mayor Brown is committed to rolling up his sleeves and finding a way
to accomplish the voter mandate. We're going to have to look at some
creative financing."

- - In adjacent Berkeley, residents soundly rejected an initiative that would
have required that all coffee in city cafes be grown in an environmentally
friendly way and sold at a "fair trade" price as a way to help struggling
Third World growers. Opponents of Measure O, which would have tripled the
price paid to growers, defeated the proposal by a 70% margin.

- - In San Francisco, voters also passed a measure to change the way the city
assists the homeless. Sponsored by Supervisor Gavin Newsom, a mayoral
hopeful, Proposition N slashes city welfare payments made to about 3,000
people from $395 to just $59 a month, using the savings to create more
affordable housing and services.

In a split decision on urban sprawl, California voters rejected large
development projects Tuesday, but balked at imposing new limits on home
building in cities around the state.

Voters blocked construction of thousands of new dwellings in Ventura and
Alameda counties, but in a litmus test for just how far activists could go,
a second generation of growth controls failed in Sonoma County, Berkeley
and Simi Valley.

And an environmental backlash measure in rural Nevada County, which would
have reimbursed property owners when local regulations prevented full
development of their land, also lost handily.

Nevada County Supervisor Peter Van Zant said voters realized the measure
would have drained county coffers and set a dangerous precedent.

In San Diego, Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis defeated Dist. Atty. Paul
Pfingst, a two-term incumbent. Pfingst's reelection bid was hurt by a vote
of no confidence from his deputies and controversy over his handling of
several high-profile cases.

Although Dumanis is leading Pfingst by nearly 3,000 votes, 80,000 absentee
ballots remain to be counted. But Pfingst all but conceded the election in
an e-mail to his staff.

Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland in Ventura, Tony Perry in San Diego and
special correspondent Emily Gurnon in Eureka contributed to this report.