SF Fire Dept Votes to Move Meetings to City Hall

When Ken Cleaveland joined the fire commission in July 2014, he began a push to have their meetings televised on SF GovTV. There was strong resistance from San Francisco Fire Department brass and then-commission president Stephen Nakajo, who stated it was enough transparency for the taxpayers to read minutes weeks after meetings took place.

In October 2014, I began attending these meetings and used public comment to advocate for not only airing them but also moving the meetings to City Hall, making it more convenient for many members of the public to participate and observe the commission in action.

On March 12, this important commission voted 3 to 1 to move their meetings to City Hall starting in the new fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2015. President Andrea Evans and Commissioners Cleaveland and Francee Covington voted in favor of the motion, while Commissioner Michael Hardeman was against it and Commissioner Nakajo was absent.

To her credit, Chief Joanne Hayes-White had previously advocated for keeping the meetings at fire department headquarters at Second and Townsend Streets for the convenience of her brass and admin staff, but her thinking evolved over the months and she came out in favor of this leap forward for transparency. Big thanks to her and the commissioners who voted the right way.

The commissioners must wait for the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to approve the department's new budget, which includes funding for televising meetings, and for a camera-ready room at City Hall to open up.

As far as I know, the fire commission is the last major panel in San Francisco government to provide transparency via SF GovTV on cable and the web, and to hold hearings at City Hall.

I must point out that when London Breed was on the commission, I contacted her about bringing transparency to the panel and she did nothing to make that happen. Also, not one member of the Board of Supervisors, despite the fact that the fire department plays such a vital role in public safety and receives a huge chunk of the City budget, lifted a finger to get the fire commission to this point.

That said, it's not too late for the Supervisors to help the commission secure a convenient meeting slot at City Hall now or very soon in the new fiscal year.

Finally, many thanks to commission secretary Maureen Conefrey for keeping me and the public informed about the commission's work and deliberations.

Why SFPD Must Keep Racist, Homophobic Cops on the Force

Idris Shelley. Sheila DeToy. Alex Nieto. Matthew Hoffman. Amilcar Perez-Lopez. Just a few of the names of civilians killed by members of the San Francisco Police Department. Not one of the officers who fatally shot them or any other civilian has been indicted by district attorney's over the years, forget about being driven from the force or jailed.

On Friday, March 13, reporter Alex Emslie over at KQED's site reported on troubling texts contained in a federal court filing involving former SFPD Sgt. Ian Furminger who was convicted recently in federal court of theft and corruption charges. Emslie writes:

"The texts show Furminger and other San Francisco police officers repeatedly swapping slurs about black people and gay people, including other police officers. In one exchange on Nov. 9, 2011, Furminger writes about his son’s school:

"'We got two blacks at my boys school and they are brother and sister! There cause dad works for the school district and I am watching them like hawks.' [...]

"Furminger: 'Yeah we burn the cross on the field! Then celebrate Whitemas … Its worth every penny to live here [Walnut Creek] away from the savages. [...]

"An anonymous SFPD officer had a suggestion for Furminger after the convicted ex-sergeant texted that a friend of his wife’s was visiting with her husband, who is black:

“'Get ur pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to his roots,' the response says. 'Its not against the law to put an animal down.” [...]

"Furminger also repeatedly calls another officer a 'fag,' and makes racist comments about Mexican and Filipino people."

Let's now turn to Jaxon Van Derbeken's story in the March 15 SF Chronicle about the four officers facing an SFPD internal investigation:

"In 2009, [Noel] Schwab was the unwitting star of a video showing him arresting a skateboarder. In the confrontation, Zach Stow was handcuffed and arrested for illegal skateboarding. Before the arrest, Schwab is seen threatening to break Stow’s his arm 'like a twig' if he resists. Although there was a departmental investigation, it is not clear whether he was disciplined in connection with the incident."

Since California's Supreme Court upheld the privilege of cops' disciplinary records remaining sealed from the taxpayers, we don't know if Schwab faced a penalty the skateboarder case. Then there's officer Michael Robison. The Chron says:

"The latest investigation is not the first time Robison has been accused of using a racial epithet. Three years after he joined the force, Robison faced internal misconduct charges related to an incident in which he was accused of placing a loaded firearm under the chin of a suspect and calling him a racial slur."

His charges were dismissed by the Police Commission. What about the third cop? From the Chron: 

"[Michael] Celis, 47, a 16-year veteran, has been in trouble in the past. In 2004, he was charged with four counts of misconduct stemming from an incident in which he was accused of flashing his badge and offering a $100 bribe to try to get into his estranged wife’s Burlingame hotel room. He was also charged with disobeying the department’s order that he be disarmed when he bought a gun the day after surrendering his service revolver in the hotel incident."

Celis was slapped on the wrist with a suspension. The fourth SFPD officer, Rain Daugherty, apparently has no blots of shame on his record.

And what do our Chief of Police, Greg Suhr, and the Mayor have to say about these guys? The Chron quotes them saying: 

"'It makes me sick to my stomach to even have these guys around,' [Suhr] said. [...] "Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Lee, said the mayor found the texts 'both disturbing and shocking' and that he vowed that 'such actions have no place in the Police Department.'"

I say keep these four SFPD officers on the force. Let them find ways to make amends while on duty and penalize them with lots of unpaid community service to racial minorities and gays. Whether they stay or are fired, they remind us it's apparently OK to Suhr and Lee that cops kill civilians and get away with murder, but using racist and homophobic slurs and offensive language can get you into hot water and may be something to get you fired.

Weekend Woof #97: Beefy BART Riders, Boys Too

I spoke with a straight woman yesterday who mentioned she looks at this photo and video series of men, of all and unknown sexual persuasions or identities, appealing to my queer eye. Carla spurred me to crop and splice recent footage shot around San Francisco and the East Bay, into a new video. Hope she and you find it pleasing to the naked eye.

 

Sup. 'Hillary' Breed Didn't Delete Her Calendar But . . . 

To their credit, Sup. John Avalos and Sup. David Campos both provided me the calendars for everyone in their offices within 24-hours after I filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for those public records. Those records were released in electronic format.

Not so with Sup. London Breed, who's the president of the Board of Supervisors and showing her true colors as no fan of government transparency in a timely and unhindered manner.

Breed received the same request made to Avalos and Campos, for her work calendar from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2025, in an electronic format. Her aide Conor Johnston wrote:

"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under the Administrative Code. You will have a response by March 8."

On March 5, Johnston said Breed would give hard copies of her calender to the Clerk of Board, Ms. Angela Calvillo. Not only was Breed failing to comply with my request for records in a PDF and via email, she didn't provide me with the records directly. Here's the reply from Calvillo's office:

"Due to required review, President Breed’s calendar will be provided to you on an incremental, or rolling, basis as soon as it is available pursuant to the Administrative Code. The Office of the Clerk of the Board will be forwarding you with the remaining responsive records immediately upon review and collection."

Required review? Well, that wasn't necessary from Avalos and Campos. I asked Calvillo's aide to simply put the pages in a copier/scanner hit one button to create a PDF and email it to me. You know, provide a public service to the taxpayer. The reply:

"Per President Breed, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is not authorized to reproduce her calendar, and the documents are available for pick-up in hard copy only. The estimated page count is 58 pages, and is available at the standard rate of $.10/page.  I will be glad to prepare an invoice/receipt for you upon pick-up at the front desk. If you have specific questions about the content of the records, please contact the President Breed’s office."

What politician instructs the third-party to do nothing to make it easy for requester to obtain the responsive public records? One not adequately committed to the spirit and letter of government transparency. Is Breed playing by the Hillary Rodham Clinton rule book for retention and release of her (the public's really) files created on government time, dime and infrastructure? From Calvillo's aide:

"The calendar was reviewed by President Breed's staff.  Again, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is merely facilitating delivery of the documents to you as it was dropped off with us for your pick-up.  If you have any questions regarding the format or contents, please kindly contact District 5 staff."

I went to Silly Hall, paid the $5.80 and tried to read Breed's calendar. She printed all 58 pages in super small font. I've made them into a PDF, available here, and thanks to modern technology, which Breed isn't interested in using to make her office transparent, just use the enlarge open to read her calenders without needing magnifying glass.

Welcome to the Breed Era, where she will be an adversary of full and easy sunshine principles. Not an admirable quality in the President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. This matter is a subject for the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force to adjudicate when my complaint comes before them.

Mission Housing Activists' 3/16 Meeting: Target City Hall 

After months of dysfunction with the Plaza 16 coalition's steering committee and misguided influence of professional community organizers from local nonprofits regarding advance agendas, lack of active committees and little transparency about who's in charge, my activist bones were tickled to receive this invitation.

(Hernandez speaking with Barbara Garcia, SF Department of Public Health boss. Credit: Bill Wilson Photos.)

It's from longtime Mission resident and organizer of the annual Carnivale Celebration Roberto Hernandez. Finally, a grassroots organizing effort that informs potential participants how they'll spend their time, issues to be discussed and a proposed action targeting City Hall. Needless to say, I've put this on my calendar! From Hernandez:

The "Invasion of the Mission" is at an all time record high by nine, 9, developers.These developers' plans are to build market rate housing. Combined all the units they propose to build it's over 1,000.

  

Currently over 3,000 children are homeless most are Latino/as and a lot from the Mission.

We have been on the defense! Now is time to get on the offense! We been talking about how do we build affordable housing. Now is the time!

Date: MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM  

Location: The L CAFE, 2871 - 24th Street, near Florida

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions - 5 minutes

2. Vision for all of us to work together effectively to manage the invasion -  5 minutes

3. Details of the 9 proposed developments  ~ 10 minutes

4. Creation of 9 Committees to monitor each development ~ 10 minutes

      

5. Role & Responsibility of Committees ~ 10 minutes

6. Sign up for a Committee ~ 10 minutes

7. Proposal to build 3,000 new units of Affordable Housing in the Mission - 10 minutes

8. Sites to build affordable housing - 10 minutes

9. Purchase of properties that go up for sale by non-profit community based Mission organizations - 10 minutes

10. Purchase of properties by social responsible entrepreneurs ~ 10 minutes 

11. Sign up on Committee to Build Affordable Housing in the Mission

12. Draft of Demands to the City of San Francisco  ~ 10 minutes 

13. Proposed Mission Day of Action at City Hall  ~ 10 minutes

      i: Board of Supervisors members

      ii: Planning Commission members

      iii: Mayor Ed Lee

14. Sign up for Mission Day Action at City Hall - 10 minutes

15.   Announcements

Time to build Affordable Housing in the Mission by the People! 

Si Se Puede!

Roberto Y Hernandez

Our Mission No Eviction

Castro's Warner Plaza to Be Cluttered With a News Rack?

Public space in San Francisco diminishes daily and I'm a longtime and strong believer in deleted a lot of the street furniture cluttering our sidewalks and other areas. As many readers know, I've insisted since August 2011 that the Castro gayborhood's news racks be removed and first called for City-wide consolidation in 2009.

(Warner Plaza and 17th Street, August 2011.)

With the expansion of the Castro's sidewalks last year, the Department of Public Works had to remove the pedmount at 17th and Castro Street, abutting Jane Warner Plaza. It not only block the view of patrons of the historical landmark Twin Peaks bar, but was also a safety impediment for wheelchair users and pedestrians, so when it disappeared many were pleased.

But now DPW is about to reinstall that pedmount and one merchant, Steve Porter who's the general manager of Harvey's bar and restaurant, is pleading with Mohammed Nuru, the chief of DPW, to 17th and Castro Street pedmount free. Porter writes:

"On Friday March 6th I attended a neighborhood walk through with your staff, representatives from the publishing industry, and fellow merchants.  I’m happy to say that we were able to reach compromises that work for everyone with regard to the placement of most of the racks on Castro Street.  However the proposed location of the 6 pack box at the southeast corner of 17th and Castro is entirely unacceptable. 

"I’m sure you are well aware of all the arguments against this location so I won’t waste your time by reciting them again.  I want to go on record as joining the chorus of voices that are urging you to do the right thing and put the interests of our community first.  Allowing the publishers and Clear Channel to place a box anywhere on that corner will setback the efforts our community is making to provide a safer atmosphere in Jane Warner Plaza, will also restrict the flow of pedestrian traffic in an already congested area."

Joining the chorus is Andrea Aiello, the executive director of the Castro Benefit District, who sent this to Nuru:

"I am writing to put on record the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District's opposition to replacing the pedmount at 17th and Castro. As you are well aware, placing a pedmount in this location is the antithesis of all the (good planning by City forces) and the CBD are doing right now in Jane Warner Plaza to create a more open plaza; one which has no physical barriers to pedestrians entering the plaza. [...]

"When the CBD has events in the plaza, those [Twin Peaks] windows facing 17th st. have a great view of the entertainment. A pedmount in front of these windows is ugly and blocks the view. People don't go to Twin Peaks to have a drink and stare at the pedmount news rack. [...] Help keep the Jane Warner Plaza an interactive and positive environment and encourage visitors to the Castro."

Here's the email received today from Cynthia Hoe, DPW's program manager of news racks:

"I was joined on the [March 6] walk by representatives from the News Rack Advisory Committee, publishing industry, community members, and Jana Lord of Clear Channel.

"We walked and reviewed all the locations that pedestals have been designated to be reinstalled and a majority are to be reinstalled at their original locations prior to the temporary removal during the streetscape construction.  I am evaluating the possibility of reinstalling the pedestals originally in front of Bank of America at alternate locations, agreed by all individuals present. 

"The next steps are to obtain approval for any pedestals to be reinstalled at alternate locations.  Once we obtain the necessary approvals, we will provide installation photos to Clear Channel, who will then apply for permits."

Hoe shared this photo of her crew measuring the location of where it's highly likely the news racks will be back on 17th Street.Does this mean we're about to permanently lose more of our precious public space in the gayborhood? 

Sup. Campos Avoids Reporter's Questions About Mission Housing

Can someone please serve District 9 Supervisor David Campos a bit of vegan cheese to go with the whine he made at the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday? On the agenda was another supervisor's legislation introduced to curb monster construction in Corona Heights, which brought forth these words from Campos, captured by the closed-captioning function of SF GovTV:

"The difference actually between the two neighborhoods right now in terms of where corona heights is and where the mission is, is that we, in my office, have yet to actually introduced a formal proposal for the mission and yet there has been opposition already to something that hasn't even been presented but the reality is that in in each case neighbors want to slow down a certain type of development."

About a month ago, Campos sent up another one of his lead balloon ideas, this time about a moratorium on market rate housing in the Mission. Put aside the fact that Campos would not be able to muster the necessary votes among his colleagues to pass such a radical measure, because Campos is still twiddling his thumbs and hasn't shown anyone draft legislation for this moratorium. 

It's never too early to call Campos out on his nonsense. What's taking Team Campos so long to provide everyone with the moratorium legislation? 

I saw Campos outside City Hall yesterday and tried to question him about the Maximus Parnters' proposal for a huge building at the BART 16th Street Plaza and housing issues in the Mission. My video camera was rolling hoping he'd say a few comments, but he remained silent. Just more of the same from this lazy politician who is simply playing for time as his Supervisorial tenure heads into the sunset in 2016. It's not too late for Campos to learn how to play for keeps and become the fighter at City Hall that the Mission so desperately needs.

Here's my video. Pardon my mistake with the wrong year on the opening title card. The magazine he's holding is Car and Driver:

No Homeless Folks or Open Mic at SF Homeless Forum

Don't get enough of lecturing and pontificating from members of the Board of Supervisors during their weekly meetings at City Hall which, by the way, never schedule public comment at a fixed time so you have to wait for hours for them to hush up so the taxpayers can speak?

Are you in need of hearing from nonprofit executives, most likely saying they need more money, and from a member of the Mayor's staff touting his homeless navigation center, as he steamrolls to his November coronation, er, reelection campaign?

Not interested to listen to what current or former homeless people, or you and other members of the general public, have to say about homeless in San Francisco? If yes, there's a forum for you.

Homeless Inc and Mayor Ed Lee's homeless czar Bevan Dufty and his staff are putting on a three hour meeting tomorrow, March 11, at the Nourse Auditorium on Van Ness at Grove Street, and it's an event I'll be sure to miss. Some info on the agenda:

6pm - Open networking 

6:40pm - Welcome
Kara Zordel, Executive Director of Project Homeless Connect

7:00pm - Presentations:
SF Navigation Center: Sam Dodge, Mayor’s Office of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships, & Engagement (Deputy Director)
Crowdfunding for Neighbors in Need: Rose Broome, HandUp (Founder)
Mobile Showers for the Homeless: Doniece Sandoval, Lava Mae (Founder)
Ending Veteran and Chronic Homelessness: Emily Nolan, The Rapid Results Institute (Catalyst)
Tent Villages: Arondo Washington Cox, Camp Unity (Camp Supervisor)

8:05pm - Panel Discussion:
Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Magazine (Editor)
Supervisor Jane Kim, City & County of San Francisco
Supervisor Mark Farrell, City & County of San Francisco
Sherilyn Adams, Larkin Street Youth Services (Executive Director)
Jeff Kositsky, Hamilton Family Center (Executive Director)
Joe Wilson, Hospitality House (Program Manager)

8:55pm - Closing Talk
Greg Gopman, Founder of A Better SF
Kara Zordel

Slumlords Gave How Much to Campos for Assembly?

The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo county and a private law firm in 2013 announced an out of court settlement with Dipak Patel, owner of the Industrial Hotel which primarily houses mentally challenged individuals. It was alleged that Patel ignored several deplorable conditions at his hotel including a bedbug infestation.

Patel is a member of an extended family of hotel owners who have long been the bane of housing advocates and residents of their dwellings. Lots more info on the Patel family and why they are viewed as slumlords is here.

The SF Examiner's Jessica Kwong in November 2014 wrote about the legal troubles of Nasir Patel because of shady housing practices:

"Steve Collier, an attorney with the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, on Wednesday filed a wrongful eviction lawsuit on behalf of Kirkbride and five other former tenants at 1040 Folsom St. against building owner Nasir Patel and Haber, alleging they refused to re-rent the units to the displaced occupants after the May 5, 2011, fire. [...]

"Collier pointed out that apart from failing to allegedly re-rent units to displaced tenants, the landlord in 2008 obtained a $100,000 interest-free loan from the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development to renovate the hotel and agreed to keep 10 units affordable to people making 40 percent of the area median income for 15 years.

"The office on Oct. 28 issued a notice of default on the loan due to Patel and Haber's alleged failure to rent the units at the agreed-upon rate."

According to public records, Dipak Patel gave Supervisor David Campos $2,000 for his assembly race, while the Nasir Patel Family Trust donated $200.

Campos also received $4,100 from Van Ness Clay LLC, the company that built and owns the outrageously expensive and hideously ugly luxury condos at the Vida complex, located 2558 Mission Street, pictured. Many protests have targeted the complex as a prime example of disfigurement and gentrification of the Mission.

What other Mission condo developer gave to Campos last year? The Mission Position blog in October reported Campos accepted $4,100 from the Residential Builders Association, $1,000 from Sean Keighran and $1,500 from his firm SJK Development, all of whom were pushing for Planning Commission approval of the 490 South Van Ness complex that neighbors were opposing.

A donation of $1,500 from Urban Inc sweetened Campos' coffers, and that development firm also pressured the commission and Campos also raked in $500 from Reuben and Junius, the law outfit for 490 South Van Ness. The Mission Position points out that Campos, after years of objections, in October dropped all opposition to this complex and it won approval for construction to begin.

The folks at the Anti Eviction Mapping Project delved into Campos' donations and gleaned information showing at 26%, his largest category of donors came from people working in the real estate or building industries.

Just a few pieces of data found on the Campos money trail.

Plaza 16 Sunshiners: Planning Dept Status of 1979 Mission

There needs to be more transparency over the 1979 Mission condo project being pushed by Maximus Partner and the Plaza 16 made more of a functional coalition with various actors and factions, which is why I've formed the Plaza 16 Sunshiners. It's an affinity group out to educate about govt documents and various public files, how to obtain them, what to do when records requests are denied, and the importance of sharing responsive records on the web.

I've kvetched lately that there's no concise report out there about where the planning and approval process is for 1979 Mission. Well, this document was distributed at a fall meeting of Plaza 16, which I wasn't at, and is exactly the doc I need to bring me up to speed. Surely a few deets must have changed since this was circulated, but it's a fab primer for me, maybe others too.

Btw, I followed the link at the very end to the planning department's property search engine and looked up the latest figures and such on 1979 Mission. Color me shocked to read the land mass for it worth only $1,082,055. Seems the land alone should be worth way more, given the sizzling hot property values of the Mission. Here's the primer:

1979 Mission

Planning Department Status

September 25, 2014

Conditional Use

In order to receive building permits for 1979 Mission, Maximus must receive a Conditional Use Authorization from the Planning Commission.  The Planner overseeing this process, Doug Vu, does not know when the Commission will consider this Conditional Use, but is confident it will not be in 2014.

Planning Department Contact:  Doug Vu, 415-575-9120, doug.vu@sfgov.org.

Appropriate Environmental Document

An Environmental Review that considers 18 aspects must be completed before the Conditional Use can proceed.  The Planning Department will evaluate background technical reports on a variety of factors to determine if it will require a more extensive Environmental Impact Report on some of those 18 environmental topics.  These reports will most likely be issued in early 2015, and will be open to public comment at that time.

Planning Department Contact:  Debra Dwyer, 415-575-9031, debra.dwyer@sfgov.org.

Transportation Study

One important environmental factor is transportation and parking.  By Planning Code, the 1979 Mission project requires no parking spaces, except for an off-street loading space if the gross floor area of the commercial uses exceeds 10,000 square feet and two spaces for commercial uses exceeding 60,000 square feet.  Maximus is proposing 155 off-street parking spaces (22 for retail, 133 for residential) in an underground garage accessible from Capp Street.

Planning Department Contact:  Andrea Contreras, 415-575-9044, andrea.contreras@sfgov.org.

Shadow Study

The Planning Department will consider shadow impacts from the proposed development as part of its Environmental Review, especially new shadows on SF Recreation & Park properties (required by 1984’s Prop K) and other public open spaces, like the BART Plaza (required by California Environmental Quality Act).

Planning Department Contact:  Doug Vu, 415-575-9120, doug.vu@sfgov.org.

This information comes from telephone and email conversations with Planning Staff and from http://propertymap.sfplanning.org/?dept=planning.  Enter 1979 Mission in address box.