Category: Update

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Former SF official agrees to plea deal, will cooperate with FBI in corruption investigation

By Andre Torrez : ktvu – excerpt

SAN FRANCISCO – A former San Francisco aide to Mayor London Breed has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and will cooperate with the FBI in their ongoing corruption investigation of San Francisco City Hall…

Federal officials made the announcement on Tuesday regarding the former Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services Director, Sandra Zuniga…

“This investigation continues, but the window of time for cooperation is closing.  If you are involved in public corruption at any level, reach out to the FBI before the FBI reaches out to you. Early cooperation is always viewed favorably.”…(more)

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City suspends contractors involved in ongoing corruption scandal

By Michael Barba : sfexaminer – excerpt

San Francisco is suspending five individuals charged in the City Hall corruption scandal and their companies from receiving contracts under a new local law aimed at keeping government clean.

The defendants, Nick Bovis, Alan Varela, William Gilmartin, Florence Kong and Walter Wong, are the first to be temporarily barred from doing city business under the newly implemented legislation that allows local officials to block contractors from engaging in city business while their criminal cases are pending or while the debarment process against them is underway…(more)

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Bay Area cities want to end single-family home zoning, but will it create more housing?

By J.K. Dineen : sfchronicle – excerpt (via email)

The national movement to eliminate exclusionary single-family zoning is picking up steam in the Bay Area as cities explore the benefits of getting rid of a land use policy designed to keep people of color and working class families out of certain neighborhoods.

Last week, the city councils in Berkeley and South San Francisco took steps to end single-family zoning, with Berkeley promising to get rid of it within a year and South City initiating a study as part of its general plan update. After the Berkeley vote, Council Member Terry Taplin, one of the authors of the resolution, called it a “historical moment for us in Berkeley.”

But while the movement to allow multifamily buildings in zones previously limited to single-family homes is being embraced as a correction of past discriminatory policies — Sacramento, Oregon and Minneapolis have passed such laws — the question of whether it will actually increase housing production is a lot more complicated, according to builders and architects…(download.pdf)

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Governor Newsom’s Latest Executive Overreach – a “Housing Accountability Unit”

By Livable California :

Governor Newsom recently included a new Housing Accountability Unit (HAU) in his proposed budget. Livable California opposes this as major executive over-reach threatening the balance of power between the executive branch, the legislative branch, and local governments.

The governor said: ““Let me just make this clear to all my friends,” Newsom said, “this is to monitor city council meetings. This is to monitor board of supervisors meetings, planning commission meetings. We’re not going to wait for an article to be written to be proactive in terms of holding local government accountable to increasing housing production.”

Livable California strongly supports local government and the close participation of communities at that level. We believe that having an state executive “policeman” in our local meetings will have a chilling effect on communities’ dialogue with their local elected officials…(more)

Consider signing the opposition letter on the site or write your own.

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Hundreds of SF Renters Threatened With Eviction During Pandemic (SF Public Press)

by Nina Sparling : publicpress – excerpt

Keeshemah Johnson rushed her partner to the emergency room last summer. Maurice Austin had lost his appetite and wasn’t getting out of bed much. Then he started struggling to breathe. He tested positive for COVID-19 in the ER.

Austin died on Aug. 1, less than a week after Johnson took him to the hospital.

Within days, Johnson said, their landlord began pressuring her to leave. On Sept. 15, she received an eviction notice, stating that she had five days to move out of their Hunters Point apartment. The couple had never added Johnson’s name to the lease — a fact the property owner cited to claim that Johnson and her stepson were illegally squatting in the home they shared with Austin.

“He wasn’t even in the ground yet before they were expecting us to vacate the apartment,” Johnson said.

Johnson is among hundreds of San Francisco renters whose landlords have tried to force them from their homes in the midst of a global pandemic. A San Francisco Public Press analysis of the city’s Rent Board data found that from March 1 through Dec. 31, 2019, landlords filed 1,226 eviction notices; during the same period in 2020, landlords filed 535 notices, even as city, state and federal moratoriums on pandemic-related evictions remain in effect… (more)

What happens when the landlord is a non-profit housing management contractor that works with the city? Is the next strep a complaint to a whistleblower program, call the rent board, or look for a pro bono attorney?

 

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SF moved people onto Treasure Island despite serious toxic dangers

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

Navy and its contractors gave inaccurate info on chemicals and radiation as development of housing moved forward, data at hearing shows.

For more than ten years, the US Navy provided inaccurate, incomplete or false data on the risks of chemical and radiological contamination at Treasure Island – while the city was moving more than 1,000 mostly low-income people into housing on the island.

That’s what a state official testified today in what Sup. Aaron Peskin called profound information. “You are the first person in a decade and a half to tell the truth,” Peskin said to Anthony Chu, the director of radiation safety at the state Department of Public Health…(more)

Stay tuned as more hearings are on the way.

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Vaccine Information

Posted on District 5 Newletter:

It is critical that everyone in San Francisco get vaccinated as soon as it is their turn. It is not mandatory, but vaccinating most people is critical to stop COVID-19 from mutating and continuing to impact our world. Information is constantly changing, and we suggest checking the latest here.

There is also a COVID-19 Vaccinations Tracker that provides information on the number of people who live in San Francisco who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and the number of doses administered within San Francisco to anyone. We also encourage you to sign up to be notified when you’re eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Right now, we do not have enough vaccines for mass vaccination sites, but those will be set up as soon as we receive a shipment. Unfortunately, we have not received a timeline on the arrival of further vaccines, though it is coming. You can learn about future prioritization groups here.

To get your vaccine, contact your primary care physician. Please remember that the vaccine is in short supply so you may not be able to book your appointment today. If you do not have a physician, contact the SF Health Network.

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SF supes take on political corruption?

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

[Government Oversight and Audit Committee] Committee hearing will give us a clue. Plus: Protecting SRO tenants, preventing evictions and saving nightlife venues…
The last time a measure to create a public advocate – an independent office that could among other things investigate public corruption – some supervisors said it wasn’t needed. After all, they said, the board has a Government Oversight and Audit Committee, that can and should be investigating the kind of evolving scandal that has hit City Hall…


The supes have subpoena power if they want to use it, and can force witnesses to testify under oath.

That hasn’t happened yet in this scandal, but the committee has, indeed, decided to hold a hearing on the matter, and asked controller and the city attorney for updates…(more)

This raises some questions about who is being protected and shows a lack of will on the part of the supervisors to deal with corruption at City Hall differently from the way they handled problems with private contractors related to engineering disasters. Subpoenas were used for these hearings.)
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The urgency of vaccines for people with disabilities

by Howard Chabner,  48hills – excerpt – download the letter

January 24, 2021

Dear Mayor Breed, Board President Walton and Supervisors:

First, credit where credit is due.Mayor Breed, you and the SF Department of Public Health have made some smart, prudent decisions about lockdowns, and about closing and reopening businesses, functions and activities.You’ve implemented a strong mask policy.These actions have saved lives and reduced serious illness.San Francisco’s Covid 19 death rate is low for a city of its size. Thank you.

I’m writing, unfortunately, about something not so good. Unconscionable, in fact.

San Francisco’s COVID vaccination policy prioritizes healthy, able-bodied people 65 and older over high-risk individuals below age 65, including individuals below 65 with major disabilities and health conditions. This policy is based on guidance from the State of California and the CDC.

This policy means that people younger than 65 with muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, Down syndrome, primary progressive multiple sclerosis, other autoimmune diseases, Huntington disease, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, Gaucher disease, and others at high risk of contracting COVID and at high risk of severe illness or death if they do contract it, will have to wait longer — and depending upon vaccine supply, often far longer — to be vaccinated than healthy, able-bodied people 65 and older who have no significant medical conditions.

The policy also does not take caregivers into account, which is wrong both for the caregivers themselves and for individuals who rely on them…

San Francisco must immediately change its policy to very highly prioritize:

  • People of any age with specified chronic medical conditions, including but not limited to ALS, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington disease, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and Down syndrome. People of any age with other specified chronic medical conditions should be placed in this category if they can demonstrate by compelling medical evidence that they are at great risk of severe health consequences, including death, if they contract the virus.
  • Disabled people of any age who rely on caregivers coming to their home for assistance with activities of daily living.
  • Caregivers of any age, regardless of whether they are from government agencies or programs, private agencies, hired directly by disabled clients, or are family members of the individual for whom they are caring…

Howard Chabner, is a disability rights activist and retired lawyer…(more)

download the letter. Supportive comments are appreciated on the source site.

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The safety of Treasure Island residents must be addressed

By Guest Columnist  : sfexaminer – excerpt

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news-columnists/the-safety-of-treasure-island-residents-must-be-addressed/

“… It’s not surprising residents struggle to trust the Navy, which is why Supervisor Matt Haney called the hearing. After years of inaction, Treasure Island residents deserve transparency and accountability. They also could use a groundswell of action from San Franciscans who care about environmental justice and systemic racism…

“The health situation is pretty bad,” Carol Harvey, an investigative reporter who covers Treasure Island for the San Francisco Bay View National Black newspaper, told me.

At the upcoming hearing, Harvey plans to anonymously list residents’ health issues. She has photos of people’s painful skin rashes, pustules and lesions. She has reports of above average rates of miscarriages, stillbirths and birth defects. Cancers and strokes are common. Bones break — an indication of radiation exposure. Family dogs have seizures.

robynpurchia.com…(more)