Features

S.F. a good place for criminals 

SAN FRANCISCO — Experts say diversity, transportation and high-quality social services are good reasons criminals looking to lie low choose to come to San Francisco. 

“We have the density and the diversity; you can blend right in,” said Inspector Thomas Parisi, who handles all fugitive extraditions for the San Francisco Police Department. 

Geographically central in California, San Francisco is easily accessible by plane, car, train, bus, even boat, police said. 

Another lure is the city’s well-known network of homeless shelters and soup kitchens, said Andrew Black, the FBI’s San Francisco spokesman. There are also many single-room occupancy hotels, which offer cheap, day-to-day lodging. 

Since October 2000, the city has been host to a man accused of slaying his family in Oregon, another man charged in the Florida murder of a gay man and a young couple charged with killing a Texas sheriff’s deputy and an Indiana man. 

Police say about 300 fugitives a year, or 25 a month, are captured in San Francisco. 

Ground Zero travelers get sick at home 

MENLO PARK — Seventy percent of the members of California Task Force 3 — Peninsula firefighters, physicians, engineers and dog handlers who traveled to New York’s ground zero — have complained of getting sick after coming home, according to a survey released Monday. 

Forty-seven members of the Menlo Park-based search-and-rescue reported symptoms that ranged from nagging coughs to bronchitis and pneumonia. 

The team helped from Sept. 19 through Sept. 30 and may have breathed in all sorts of harmful particles, such as pulverized glass and concrete, benzene, propylene, human remains, asbestos and smoke. 

“I think there needs to be more analytical study into this,” Menlo Park fire Capt. Harold Schapelhouman told the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday. “These guys deserve to know. They took the risks. They did it gladly, and they’d do it again tomorrow ... Somebody has a responsibility to provide us with that information.” 

Questionnaires have been sent to all members of California’s eight task forces and statewide results continue to be compiled, Schapelhouman said. 

Tech museum  

attendance down 

SAN JOSE — Attendance at the Tech Museum of Innovation has plunged by 39 percent since its opening in its new downtown building three years ago. 

In 1999, 808,686 people visited the Tech; 496,192 came last year. Although the museum is on solid financial footing, officials say they must bring in more patrons to fund exhibits and justify the public investment. San Jose, which contributed $50 million toward construction, spends $1.3 million a year to support it. 

Membership has also dropped by a third. Profits from the store have dwindled by 72 percent. Six people have been laid off and 21 positions cut. 

The museum plans to cut top administrators’ salaries by 10 percent, said Ned Barnholt, CEO of Agilent Technologies and chairman of the Tech’s board. The museum is also trying several approaches to boost attendance, including applying for grants. 

The Tech also plans to partner with local companies to reduce the price tag of new exhibits in 2003, Barnholt said.