But by and large, the city's famed diversity gets protection from Mayor Willie Brown Jr., an African-American elected in December 1995, and from openly gay Airport Director John L. Martin, appointed in November 1995. For instance, the city now requires all of its contractors to offer identical benefits to employees' domestic partners, straight or gay. Located on a hilly peninsula crumpled by the San Andreas fault, SFO contains so little room that its new international terminal spans six inbound and five outbound lanes of airport traffic. Financing for the expansion relies entirely on revenue from landing fees, leases and concessions. The city began planning the expansion during the go-go years of Asian tourists.
Some primes use the goals as legal weapons.
In August 1996, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc. bid low to provide the automatic train-control system for SFO's new people mover. The dispute delays the people mover's opening by a full year, to December 2001. The CMs resolve construction conflicts, such as deciding when a contractor may use a crane that gets in others' way. Other airports use fewer CMs. When the entire budget began escalating, the airport integrated Parsons' team into SFO's in-house program management in June 1996.