Exclusive | San Francisco legislator ignores crime, asks for state investigation into trees

Assemblymember Matt Haney would be quite the tree hugger if he simply knew where to find one.The legislator from San Francisco seems to have reprioritized the city’s many crises — such as homelessness, drug overdose deaths and a housing shortage, to name a few — by asking Attorney General Rob Bonta last month to launch an investigation into a lack of trees in his district, according to a letter obtained by The Post.Haney, who became the focus of a state political watchdog investigation after blowing $75,000 in campaign money on boozy sporting events, wrote that his constituents recently alerted him to a lack of “essential green infrastructure, specifically street trees” in some neighborhoods within his district, which makes up the eastern half of San Francisco. In a head-slapping lack of awareness, Haney acknowledged in his letter that many trees aren’t being planted in his eastern San Francisco district because they don’t meet “survivability” criteria due, in part, to vandalism. “This practice raises a critical question of whether these neighborhoods are effectively being treated as ‘containment zones’ for environmental and social burdens,” he wrote.Haney, whose district has historically included a containment zone for illegal drugs called The Tenderloin, did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.  Get in early.Be the first to know about launch and home delivery.

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Never miss a story Others made aware of Haney’s letter suggested the chair of the state Assembly’s committee on housing might be better off focusing on more pressing issues.“It’s just hard to take anything he does seriously,” said David Latterman, a political analyst in San Francisco.“I’d love more trees.

Trees are good.And he isn’t wrong in that there are not a ton of trees in the southeast ...