S.F. TOPS ALL COUNTIES IN DRUG CARE AND DEATHS

When it comes to drugs and alcohol in San Francisco, there is good news and
bad news.

The good news is that San Francisco offers more treatment to drug and
alcohol addicts than any other large county, according to a new state study
released yesterday.

The bad news is that San Francisco has the highest rate of death from drugs
and alcohol in California.

``The bottom line is we all know what to do, but no one has the political
guts to stand up to it,'' said Supervisor Gavin Newsom, who believes that
the government must take the billions of dollars spent on punishment and
redirect that money to prevention. ``For every dollar we invest in
prevention, taxpayers in San Francisco save more than $7.''

The findings come from the state's first-ever comparison of how each of
California's 58 counties performs in various areas, such as collecting
child support, keeping libraries open, caring for foster children and
treating cases of drug and alcohol abuse.

Overall, the nine Bay Area counties rated higher in delivering services to
their citizens than most other counties in the state. Singled out were San
Mateo and Santa Clara, which generally ranked the highest in performance.
Although there was less information available for Marin and San Francisco,
they, too, ranked near the top.

The report noted that the residents of those counties are some of the
wealthiest in the state, therefore providing the counties more revenue.

However, the report added that the generally high ratings in San Mateo,
Santa Clara and Marin might stem partly from low numbers of social service
and criminal justice cases within their borders.

``Many Bay Area counties do better than other counties around the state,''
said Marianne O'Malley, who coordinated the survey for the state
Legislative Analyst's Office.

``But even so, a lot of county services are not being provided at a level
people would expect. These counties are trying mightily, but they're still
forced to do triage,'' O'Malley said.

Generally, most Bay Area roads are safe. Napa and Sonoma had a high rate of
injury traffic accidents. A high rating means that the county is 10 percent
or more above the state's average accident rate of one injury accident per
million miles traveled.

Marin and Santa Clara had low accident rates. Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin
and Solano were at the statewide average.

Foster care performance was spottier.

San Mateo was able to place 89 percent of children it served in permanent
foster homes within four years. Santa Clara could do so for 86 percent.

But both San Francisco and Alameda were below the statewide average of 75
percent. San Francisco was at 60 percent, the lowest rate in the Bay Area.
Alameda was at 63 percent.

Some counties excelled in one area but fared poorly in others.

Sonoma County, for example, has the best record in the state for collecting
child support for families involved in the CalWORKS welfare program.

San Mateo was the next highest-ranking Bay Area county, with a rate of
collection that was 80 percent of Sonoma's. Santa Clara, San Francisco and
Solano followed with rates that were, respectively, 73, 64 and 59 percent
of Sonoma's collection rate.

Even though San Francisco has the most beds, people needing drug or alcohol
treatment must wait 19 days before they get it. In San Mateo, the wait is
50 days.

San Mateo keeps its 13 libraries open more hours of the week than any other
county. But San Francisco has the most staff per 10,000 residents.

Alameda has more sheriff's deputies per 10,000 residents than any other
county. Yet from 1986 to 1996, the county crime rate fell only 1.4 percent.

The complete findings can be viewed at the Legislative Analyst's Web site,
www.lao.ca.gov.

BC: ASSESSING COUNTY PERFORMANCE In the first statewide assessment of how
well California's counties are doing their jobs, the state Legislative
Analyst's Office compared each county in various areas. The full results of
the report can be viewed on the Legislative Analyst's Web site at
www.lao.ca.gov. Below is a look at how the nine Bay Area counties fared on
child support collections, the safety of their roads and highways and the
number of libraries they operate and how many hours a week they stay open.
------------ BC: CHART: .

Child Bay Area Support Accident Number of libraries Counties Collections(x)
Rate(y) and hours open(z) . Alameda 61% Medium 12/7 hours Contra Costa 64%
Medium 26/10 hours Marin Not available Low 12/26 hours Napa Not available
High Not available San Francisco 64% Not available 29/14 hours San Mateo
80% Medium 13/19 hours Santa Clara 73% Low 11/13 hours Solano 59% Medium
6/6 hours Sonoma 100% High Not available (x) - Child support collections
for families on welfare only. County percentages are based on how well they
did compared to best performing county, Sonoma. (y) - Accident rate
calculated based on average statewide accident rate of one injury accident
per 1 million miles traveled. A ``high'' rating is 10 percent or more above
statewide average. ``Low'' is 10 percent or more below. (z) - Hours of
operation are per 10,000 county residents. .

Source: Legislative Analyst's Office

©1998 San Francisco Chronicle

Checked-by: Richard Lake