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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/77GearyStreet.png\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/77GearyStreet-640x449.png\" alt=\"77 Geary Street, home of several art galleries displaced by a technology firm. (Google Maps)\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127517\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">77 Geary Street, home of several art galleries displaced by a technology firm. (Google Maps)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The impact of the technology business on soaring residential real estate prices in San Francisco has gotten lots of attention during the past year. But the tech boom also is one factor driving a sharp rise in commercial real estate in the city and, now, is displacing a handful of long-established downtown art galleries. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several galleries on the second floor of 77 Geary St. were notified in January they'd have to leave space some of them have occupied for decades to make room for a tech tenant. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trish Bransten, director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.renabranstengallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Rena Bransten Gallery\u003c/a>, said the galleries got an eviction notice effective Valentine's Day. The reason: the software and consulting firm Mulesoft, which began renting space in the building several years ago, is taking over most of the floor. Bransten says Mulesoft is offering more than double the rent for her space, which the gallery has occupied for 27 years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Krevsky, proprietory of \u003ca href=\"http://www.georgekrevskygallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\">a neighboring gallery\u003c/a>, said he was leaving the building after 22 years. He said he'd informed clients that \"with the impact of the tech industry on downtown real estate it doesn't really make sense for us to continue to operate a retail art gallery in this environment.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Krevsky said the rent increases are just one technology-related factor bringing upheaval to galleries:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"We're not getting the kind of traditional art gallery-goers. I think the culture has changed, the impact of the Internet, the impact of websites. The whole culture of fine art and this being documents that reflect the history of the 20th and 21st century fine art, it's something that's thousands of years old. And the fact that young people come in and think that all of this can be created with the push of a button on a cellphone is beyond me. ... \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"... I have believed strongly for many years that you need to see the art, look at the art, to be in front of the art, and to have a relationship with someone that interprets the art to you, that understands where the artist is in art history, and where the art market stands. And I think those kinds of relationships — you're not seeing human relationships as much, you see social networks — but human relationships between like-minded individuals that are passionate about, in this case art, I think that's sadly missing.\" \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Krevsky says he’ll run his business by appointment from his home in Oakland. The Rena Bransten Gallery is moving to a temporary space on Market Street above Van Ness Avenue. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trish Bransten said she didn't think her gallery's departure from the building is \"an evil landlord, evil tech company problem,\" but says she's concerned that something's being lost as the small community of galleries she's been a part of is dispersed. \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>I think what's being lost is a center. ... It's a place for artists and audience to go and look at work and see what's happening now. Not necessarily what's made it to SFMOMA, but sort of what is either in the Bay Area or a particular slice of a program that a gallery champions. The fact that these galleries are being atomized across the city removes that kind of nexus. It doesn't mean it's terrible. It means that both the audience and the buyers are going to have to adjust. What I really worry about is, are we going to lose a lot of galleries in the process.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither the landlord at 77 Geary St. nor Mulesoft replied to our requests for comment.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nThis post contains reporting from Cy Musiker of KQED News. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/77GearyStreet.png\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/77GearyStreet-640x449.png\" alt=\"77 Geary Street, home of several art galleries displaced by a technology firm. (Google Maps)\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127517\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">77 Geary Street, home of several art galleries displaced by a technology firm. (Google Maps)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The impact of the technology business on soaring residential real estate prices in San Francisco has gotten lots of attention during the past year. But the tech boom also is one factor driving a sharp rise in commercial real estate in the city and, now, is displacing a handful of long-established downtown art galleries. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several galleries on the second floor of 77 Geary St. were notified in January they'd have to leave space some of them have occupied for decades to make room for a tech tenant. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trish Bransten, director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.renabranstengallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Rena Bransten Gallery\u003c/a>, said the galleries got an eviction notice effective Valentine's Day. The reason: the software and consulting firm Mulesoft, which began renting space in the building several years ago, is taking over most of the floor. Bransten says Mulesoft is offering more than double the rent for her space, which the gallery has occupied for 27 years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Krevsky, proprietory of \u003ca href=\"http://www.georgekrevskygallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\">a neighboring gallery\u003c/a>, said he was leaving the building after 22 years. He said he'd informed clients that \"with the impact of the tech industry on downtown real estate it doesn't really make sense for us to continue to operate a retail art gallery in this environment.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Krevsky said the rent increases are just one technology-related factor bringing upheaval to galleries:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"We're not getting the kind of traditional art gallery-goers. I think the culture has changed, the impact of the Internet, the impact of websites. The whole culture of fine art and this being documents that reflect the history of the 20th and 21st century fine art, it's something that's thousands of years old. And the fact that young people come in and think that all of this can be created with the push of a button on a cellphone is beyond me. ... \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"... I have believed strongly for many years that you need to see the art, look at the art, to be in front of the art, and to have a relationship with someone that interprets the art to you, that understands where the artist is in art history, and where the art market stands. And I think those kinds of relationships — you're not seeing human relationships as much, you see social networks — but human relationships between like-minded individuals that are passionate about, in this case art, I think that's sadly missing.\" \u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Krevsky says he’ll run his business by appointment from his home in Oakland. The Rena Bransten Gallery is moving to a temporary space on Market Street above Van Ness Avenue. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trish Bransten said she didn't think her gallery's departure from the building is \"an evil landlord, evil tech company problem,\" but says she's concerned that something's being lost as the small community of galleries she's been a part of is dispersed. \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>I think what's being lost is a center. ... It's a place for artists and audience to go and look at work and see what's happening now. Not necessarily what's made it to SFMOMA, but sort of what is either in the Bay Area or a particular slice of a program that a gallery champions. The fact that these galleries are being atomized across the city removes that kind of nexus. It doesn't mean it's terrible. It means that both the audience and the buyers are going to have to adjust. What I really worry about is, are we going to lose a lot of galleries in the process.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither the landlord at 77 Geary St. nor Mulesoft replied to our requests for comment.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>\u003cbr>\nThis post contains reporting from Cy Musiker of KQED News. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127164\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5036.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127164\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5036-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Artist and designer Gregory Kloehn sits in the doorway of his latest tiny house, which he calls the Chuckwagon. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist and designer Gregory Kloehn sits in the doorway of his latest tiny house, which he calls the Chuckwagon. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland artist and designer Gregory Kloehn was thrust into the national spotlight in 2011, when he famously transformed a dumpster into a home. Kloehn is again working with tiny structures, but now he’s building them from found materials, and he’s donating the finished structures to homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘I just ripped a page from the homeless person’s book, and then took my basic construction skills and came up with something.’\u003ccite>— Artist Gregory Kloehn\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The homes, all built on wheels, range in size from small boxes that are just big enough to sleep in, to larger structures that you can stand up in. Despite the attention, Kloehn downplays what he’s doing, arguing that his structures are just an upgrade on the many lean-tos and improvised structures homeless people make for themselves. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just ripped a page from the homeless person’s book, and then took my basic construction skills, and came up with something,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127166\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5078-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127166\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5078-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The Chuckwagon is one of the largest structures Kloehn has made for homeless people. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chuckwagon is one of the largest structures Kloehn has made for homeless people. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It all started about two years ago, when Kloehn was working on a self-published book about homeless shelters. He walked around Oakland, observing the makeshift lean-tos and shelters homeless people had created, and he documented them with iPhone photos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I became enamored of them,” he said, while flipping through the photos. So he gathered some materials and got to work building a structure of his own, to see if he could build a home from found materials for no money. (He actually ended up spending about $40 on that home.) Since then, Kloehn has built about 10 tiny homes for homeless people, and he’s ramping up his operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127167\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4661-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127167\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4661-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn fits a wooden gutter on the exterior of a tiny house he refers to as the 'Uni-bomber Shack.' (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn fits a wooden gutter on the exterior of a tiny house he refers to as the ‘Uni-bomber Shack.’ (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn’s studio is located near West Oakland’s Alliance Recycling Center, a popular place for homeless people to return cans for the deposit. Homeless people with shopping carts full of cans — and their possessions — are a common sight in the neighborhood. Several of his structures can be seen throughout the neighborhood. “Sometimes they don’t make it very far,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kloehn, who has worked as a sculptor, says it’s rewarding to make functional objects that are made to be lived in. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every one is unique, and every one is different, and every one offers a different challenge,” he says. And because he’s working with found materials and there is no pressure to recoup his costs, he has the freedom to experiment. “For me, this is exciting,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127168\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5111-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127168\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5111-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"A pair of tiny houses are currently occupied down the street from Kloehn's West Oakland studio. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pair of tiny houses are currently occupied down the street from Kloehn’s West Oakland studio. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn spends a lot of time building the structures, but it doesn’t cost him very much. “I’ll buy gas to drive around, and I’ll buy screws,” he says. But most of the materials come from industrial waste and illegal dump sites around Oakland. He also finds a lot of paint that is illegally dumped in Oakland alleys. He applies several coats of that found paint to his structures so they hold up in the elements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within a week I can find enough materials for a home — or maybe even two homes,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127169\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4886-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127169\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4886-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn works on his newest tiny house, which is made mostly from old beds. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn works on his newest tiny house, which is made mostly from old beds. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn’s latest structure is going to be made almost entirely from beds. Most of the home’s frame is made from backboards, and he plans to use a matching triangular headboard and footboard set as the support for a pitched roof. “I let my materials dictate the size and shape of the homes,” Kloehn says. “The challenge is for you to make it work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127170\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/greg-kloehn-sketches.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127170\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/greg-kloehn-sketches-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn shows off sketches of some of his previous tiny homes. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn shows off sketches of some of his previous tiny homes. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since word has gotten out about Kloehn’s tiny homes, he’s been getting more volunteers to help build them. And he’s been invited to hold workshops up the coast in Portland, in Boston, and in South Africa. Soon, he’ll be ramping up his operations and moving to a bigger work space at American Steel Studios in West Oakland. But even as he produces more homes, Kloehn acknowledges that he isn’t making much of a dent in the Bay Area’s homeless problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like I’m trying to end homelessness,” he says. But he’s providing a few people who have no homes a more comfortable place to lay their heads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5059-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-127171\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5059-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Gregory Kloehn's tiny houses for homeless people\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Sculptor builds tiny mobile structures that afford privacy and shelter for some of his neighbors. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127164\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5036.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127164\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5036-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Artist and designer Gregory Kloehn sits in the doorway of his latest tiny house, which he calls the Chuckwagon. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist and designer Gregory Kloehn sits in the doorway of his latest tiny house, which he calls the Chuckwagon. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland artist and designer Gregory Kloehn was thrust into the national spotlight in 2011, when he famously transformed a dumpster into a home. Kloehn is again working with tiny structures, but now he’s building them from found materials, and he’s donating the finished structures to homeless people.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘I just ripped a page from the homeless person’s book, and then took my basic construction skills and came up with something.’\u003ccite>— Artist Gregory Kloehn\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The homes, all built on wheels, range in size from small boxes that are just big enough to sleep in, to larger structures that you can stand up in. Despite the attention, Kloehn downplays what he’s doing, arguing that his structures are just an upgrade on the many lean-tos and improvised structures homeless people make for themselves. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just ripped a page from the homeless person’s book, and then took my basic construction skills, and came up with something,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127166\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5078-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127166\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5078-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The Chuckwagon is one of the largest structures Kloehn has made for homeless people. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chuckwagon is one of the largest structures Kloehn has made for homeless people. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It all started about two years ago, when Kloehn was working on a self-published book about homeless shelters. He walked around Oakland, observing the makeshift lean-tos and shelters homeless people had created, and he documented them with iPhone photos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I became enamored of them,” he said, while flipping through the photos. So he gathered some materials and got to work building a structure of his own, to see if he could build a home from found materials for no money. (He actually ended up spending about $40 on that home.) Since then, Kloehn has built about 10 tiny homes for homeless people, and he’s ramping up his operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127167\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4661-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127167\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4661-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn fits a wooden gutter on the exterior of a tiny house he refers to as the 'Uni-bomber Shack.' (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn fits a wooden gutter on the exterior of a tiny house he refers to as the ‘Uni-bomber Shack.’ (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn’s studio is located near West Oakland’s Alliance Recycling Center, a popular place for homeless people to return cans for the deposit. Homeless people with shopping carts full of cans — and their possessions — are a common sight in the neighborhood. Several of his structures can be seen throughout the neighborhood. “Sometimes they don’t make it very far,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kloehn, who has worked as a sculptor, says it’s rewarding to make functional objects that are made to be lived in. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every one is unique, and every one is different, and every one offers a different challenge,” he says. And because he’s working with found materials and there is no pressure to recoup his costs, he has the freedom to experiment. “For me, this is exciting,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127168\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5111-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127168\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5111-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"A pair of tiny houses are currently occupied down the street from Kloehn's West Oakland studio. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pair of tiny houses are currently occupied down the street from Kloehn’s West Oakland studio. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn spends a lot of time building the structures, but it doesn’t cost him very much. “I’ll buy gas to drive around, and I’ll buy screws,” he says. But most of the materials come from industrial waste and illegal dump sites around Oakland. He also finds a lot of paint that is illegally dumped in Oakland alleys. He applies several coats of that found paint to his structures so they hold up in the elements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within a week I can find enough materials for a home — or maybe even two homes,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127169\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4886-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127169\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_4886-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn works on his newest tiny house, which is made mostly from old beds. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn works on his newest tiny house, which is made mostly from old beds. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kloehn’s latest structure is going to be made almost entirely from beds. Most of the home’s frame is made from backboards, and he plans to use a matching triangular headboard and footboard set as the support for a pitched roof. “I let my materials dictate the size and shape of the homes,” Kloehn says. “The challenge is for you to make it work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127170\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/greg-kloehn-sketches.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127170\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/greg-kloehn-sketches-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Kloehn shows off sketches of some of his previous tiny homes. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kloehn shows off sketches of some of his previous tiny homes. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since word has gotten out about Kloehn’s tiny homes, he’s been getting more volunteers to help build them. And he’s been invited to hold workshops up the coast in Portland, in Boston, and in South Africa. Soon, he’ll be ramping up his operations and moving to a bigger work space at American Steel Studios in West Oakland. But even as he produces more homes, Kloehn acknowledges that he isn’t making much of a dent in the Bay Area’s homeless problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like I’m trying to end homelessness,” he says. But he’s providing a few people who have no homes a more comfortable place to lay their heads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5059-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-127171\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/IMG_5059-copy-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Gregory Kloehn's tiny houses for homeless people\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "richmond-officials-take-action-amid-outcry-over-public-housing-conditions",
"title": "Richmond Officials Take Action Amid Outcry Over Public Housing Conditions",
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"headTitle": "Richmond Officials Take Action Amid Outcry Over Public Housing Conditions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/6Ye6jkqsnCU\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Richmond’s city manager has ordered inspections of all 715 public housing units in the city following an investigation that found elderly and disabled residents living in deplorable conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Manager Bill Lindsay also said he will fire the security firm in charge of patrolling the two worst public housing complexes. There, drug dealers and squatters have easy access, as security guards regularly stay glued to their cellphone screens and rarely patrol the properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay made the decisions just days after The Center for Investigative Reporting detailed \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/projects/subsidized-squalor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filth and vermin in Richmond Housing Authority properties\u003c/a> and the agency’s failure to respond to residents’ complaints. For years, tenants say, they’ve stayed quiet, often cowed by a fear of retribution from housing authority staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the residents emerged in full force this week at a City Council hearing following the publication of the series. They recited horror story after horror story: Leaking sewage. Mice and cockroach infestations. Poor treatment by staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Additional Reporting:\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/11/residents-live-in-filth-in-mismanaged-richmond-public-housing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond Public Housing Residents Say They’re Plagued With Filth, Vermin, Mold and Raw Sewage\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/12/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-on-verge-of-takeover/\">Financial Abuse, Mismanagement Leave Richmond Housing Agency Near Takeover\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, an outside contractor will ask residents whether they have made maintenance requests in the past and whether staff responded. They also will ask about any current problems in residents’ apartments. CIR found numerous cases in which housing authority contractors marked problems as being fixed when they weren’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The basic purpose of the inspection will be to determine whether each unit is meeting a high standard for decent, safe and sanitary housing,” Lindsay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2009, Richmond has been on the federal government’s list of the worst housing agencies in the country. The agency is currently about $7 million in debt and owes the federal government $2.2 million for past contracting mistakes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has called Tim Jones, the executive director, ineffective. HUD has \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-verge-takeover-5904\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatened to take control\u003c/a> of the Richmond agency if it doesn’t improve its management and finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, Jones, who has been the executive director for almost nine years, blamed problems on his predecessor and the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, he did an abrupt about-face. Jones stared down a horde of angry residents and City Council members Tuesday night, and he apologized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To all our program participants, accept our personal and professional apologies,” he said. “There is absolutely room for improvement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most severe problems are at Hacienda, a 150-unit high-rise in central Richmond built in 1966. The building’s foundation is splitting apart, according to federal auditors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cracks snake their way along walkways and floors. Contractors have been hired to fix the leaking roof since at least 2006, but it is still leaking, according to authority records. Black and green mold and stalactites hang from Hacienda’s sixth-floor ceiling. In its most recent inspection, nearly a fifth of the units were infested with cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones conceded that Hacienda is uninhabitable. He said the building should be torn down because “it just doesn’t make sense to put that much money into that structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126444\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 323px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1661_la.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126444 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1661_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Geneva Eaton says she has lost any hope that the Richmond Housing Authority will help with problems at its Hacienda apartment complex.“I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she says. “They treat us like animals here.” (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"323\" height=\"215\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geneva Eaton says she has lost any hope that the Richmond Housing Authority will help with problems at its Hacienda apartment complex.“I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she says. “They treat us like animals here.” (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jones said he is meeting with HUD soon to ask for permission to demolish or shut down Hacienda. HUD must sign off before the housing authority can give residents vouchers to find alternative housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city said it hopes to have a plan for Hacienda’s future within three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents, who in the meantime continue to live amid the poor conditions, say the changes are a long time coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a travesty that they let it get this bad,” said Connie Gary, 71, a Hacienda resident. “When we complained before, it was like we didn’t exist. They just didn’t care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five years, Gary lived in a leaky apartment on Hacienda’s top floor that was overrun with mold. She complained repeatedly and described how water seeped in from her roof and dripped on her belongings. She was forced to put pots all over her floors to catch the water. The mold was so thick, she said, that she could barely open her door. She eventually moved out after calling HUD directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Council members expressed concern that housing authority staff were rude to tenants, making them afraid to come forward with complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2014, I would never have thought that we would have a housing authority that is predominantly African-American-supervised that would treat their own people with so much disrespect,” said Councilman\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nathaniel Bates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the blame was pointed at Kathleen Jones, the agency’s asset operations manager. Tim Jones admitted at the hearing that he knew Kathleen Jones (the two are not related) has been disrespectful to residents. “Her delivery lacks tact,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD auditors in the past faulted Tim Jones for not disciplining his staff. “Overall management of staff is poor and staff who do not perform adequately are not disciplined,” auditors wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#/h\">2012 review\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kathleen Jones is a top official at the agency. She deals day to day with tenant issues, including lease enforcement and rent collection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She did not return calls for comment. But the one time she talked to CIR, months ago, she likened her job to being “an unemancipated public slave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the City Council meeting, Tim Jones sent an email to all his staff demanding that they be courteous to the people they are paid to serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 307px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126781 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Steve Muccular visits his family at the Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. The building’s security guards don’t venture up to the sixth floor, he says, so he squatted in the laundry room for months. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"307\" height=\"205\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Muccular visits his family at the Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. The building’s security guards don’t venture up to the sixth floor, he says, so he squatted in the laundry room for months. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Concerns have been expressed that Housing Authority Staff members have been verbally abusive and rude in their interactions with program participants and the general public,” Jones wrote. “Anything less than exemplary customer service will not be tolerated and will be cause for disciplinary action up to and including termination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resident Jaycine Scott said that security has been a constant issue in Nevin Plaza, another housing authority development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We deserve safe and sanitary housing,” Scott told the City Council. “Let me address the safe aspect. It doesn’t exist. Our security guards are a joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company that runs security at Hacienda and Nevin Plaza, Cypress Private Security, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Richmond officials also are considering reaching out to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to hear how the city cleaned house after it landed on HUD’s list of troubled housing agencies. San Francisco and Richmond were the only two California cities on the list of 44 troubled agencies nationwide last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many City Council members have wondered why the maintenance and security problems were allowed to reach a breaking point after residents had complained about the problems for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Bring in some people who are professional, who know what they’re doing, and clean up the whole mess,” Bates said. “When you have the people who created the mess trying to clean it up, it’s going to be inadequate. If heads have to roll, so be it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, the country’s largest investigative reporting team. For more, visit cironline.org. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/6Ye6jkqsnCU\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Richmond’s city manager has ordered inspections of all 715 public housing units in the city following an investigation that found elderly and disabled residents living in deplorable conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Manager Bill Lindsay also said he will fire the security firm in charge of patrolling the two worst public housing complexes. There, drug dealers and squatters have easy access, as security guards regularly stay glued to their cellphone screens and rarely patrol the properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay made the decisions just days after The Center for Investigative Reporting detailed \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/projects/subsidized-squalor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filth and vermin in Richmond Housing Authority properties\u003c/a> and the agency’s failure to respond to residents’ complaints. For years, tenants say, they’ve stayed quiet, often cowed by a fear of retribution from housing authority staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the residents emerged in full force this week at a City Council hearing following the publication of the series. They recited horror story after horror story: Leaking sewage. Mice and cockroach infestations. Poor treatment by staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Additional Reporting:\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/11/residents-live-in-filth-in-mismanaged-richmond-public-housing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond Public Housing Residents Say They’re Plagued With Filth, Vermin, Mold and Raw Sewage\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/12/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-on-verge-of-takeover/\">Financial Abuse, Mismanagement Leave Richmond Housing Agency Near Takeover\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, an outside contractor will ask residents whether they have made maintenance requests in the past and whether staff responded. They also will ask about any current problems in residents’ apartments. CIR found numerous cases in which housing authority contractors marked problems as being fixed when they weren’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The basic purpose of the inspection will be to determine whether each unit is meeting a high standard for decent, safe and sanitary housing,” Lindsay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2009, Richmond has been on the federal government’s list of the worst housing agencies in the country. The agency is currently about $7 million in debt and owes the federal government $2.2 million for past contracting mistakes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has called Tim Jones, the executive director, ineffective. HUD has \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-verge-takeover-5904\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatened to take control\u003c/a> of the Richmond agency if it doesn’t improve its management and finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, Jones, who has been the executive director for almost nine years, blamed problems on his predecessor and the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, he did an abrupt about-face. Jones stared down a horde of angry residents and City Council members Tuesday night, and he apologized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To all our program participants, accept our personal and professional apologies,” he said. “There is absolutely room for improvement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most severe problems are at Hacienda, a 150-unit high-rise in central Richmond built in 1966. The building’s foundation is splitting apart, according to federal auditors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cracks snake their way along walkways and floors. Contractors have been hired to fix the leaking roof since at least 2006, but it is still leaking, according to authority records. Black and green mold and stalactites hang from Hacienda’s sixth-floor ceiling. In its most recent inspection, nearly a fifth of the units were infested with cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones conceded that Hacienda is uninhabitable. He said the building should be torn down because “it just doesn’t make sense to put that much money into that structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126444\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 323px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1661_la.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126444 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1661_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Geneva Eaton says she has lost any hope that the Richmond Housing Authority will help with problems at its Hacienda apartment complex.“I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she says. “They treat us like animals here.” (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"323\" height=\"215\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geneva Eaton says she has lost any hope that the Richmond Housing Authority will help with problems at its Hacienda apartment complex.“I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she says. “They treat us like animals here.” (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jones said he is meeting with HUD soon to ask for permission to demolish or shut down Hacienda. HUD must sign off before the housing authority can give residents vouchers to find alternative housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city said it hopes to have a plan for Hacienda’s future within three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents, who in the meantime continue to live amid the poor conditions, say the changes are a long time coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a travesty that they let it get this bad,” said Connie Gary, 71, a Hacienda resident. “When we complained before, it was like we didn’t exist. They just didn’t care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five years, Gary lived in a leaky apartment on Hacienda’s top floor that was overrun with mold. She complained repeatedly and described how water seeped in from her roof and dripped on her belongings. She was forced to put pots all over her floors to catch the water. The mold was so thick, she said, that she could barely open her door. She eventually moved out after calling HUD directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Council members expressed concern that housing authority staff were rude to tenants, making them afraid to come forward with complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2014, I would never have thought that we would have a housing authority that is predominantly African-American-supervised that would treat their own people with so much disrespect,” said Councilman\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nathaniel Bates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the blame was pointed at Kathleen Jones, the agency’s asset operations manager. Tim Jones admitted at the hearing that he knew Kathleen Jones (the two are not related) has been disrespectful to residents. “Her delivery lacks tact,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD auditors in the past faulted Tim Jones for not disciplining his staff. “Overall management of staff is poor and staff who do not perform adequately are not disciplined,” auditors wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#/h\">2012 review\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kathleen Jones is a top official at the agency. She deals day to day with tenant issues, including lease enforcement and rent collection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She did not return calls for comment. But the one time she talked to CIR, months ago, she likened her job to being “an unemancipated public slave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the City Council meeting, Tim Jones sent an email to all his staff demanding that they be courteous to the people they are paid to serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 307px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126781 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Steve Muccular visits his family at the Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. The building’s security guards don’t venture up to the sixth floor, he says, so he squatted in the laundry room for months. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"307\" height=\"205\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Muccular visits his family at the Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. The building’s security guards don’t venture up to the sixth floor, he says, so he squatted in the laundry room for months. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Concerns have been expressed that Housing Authority Staff members have been verbally abusive and rude in their interactions with program participants and the general public,” Jones wrote. “Anything less than exemplary customer service will not be tolerated and will be cause for disciplinary action up to and including termination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resident Jaycine Scott said that security has been a constant issue in Nevin Plaza, another housing authority development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We deserve safe and sanitary housing,” Scott told the City Council. “Let me address the safe aspect. It doesn’t exist. Our security guards are a joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company that runs security at Hacienda and Nevin Plaza, Cypress Private Security, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Richmond officials also are considering reaching out to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to hear how the city cleaned house after it landed on HUD’s list of troubled housing agencies. San Francisco and Richmond were the only two California cities on the list of 44 troubled agencies nationwide last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many City Council members have wondered why the maintenance and security problems were allowed to reach a breaking point after residents had complained about the problems for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Bring in some people who are professional, who know what they’re doing, and clean up the whole mess,” Bates said. “When you have the people who created the mess trying to clean it up, it’s going to be inadequate. If heads have to roll, so be it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, the country’s largest investigative reporting team. For more, visit cironline.org. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003cbr>\nThe Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126791\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-126791\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_3561_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Jones (center), executive director of the Richmond Housing Authority, looks over a housing report with Jackie Thompson, president of the Friendship Manor residents council. Friendship Manor is one five public housing complexes owned by the housing authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Jones (center), executive director of the Richmond Housing Authority, looks over a housing report with Jackie Thompson, president of the Friendship Manor residents council. Friendship Manor is one five public housing complexes owned by the housing authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The public housing agency in the East Bay city of Richmond has been racked by years of mismanagement, financial abuse and conflicts of interest, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority is running a nearly $7 million deficit and has to repay $2.2 million for past contracting mistakes. The federal government is threatening to take control of the housing authority this year if key financial benchmarks are not met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2012, Richmond failed to collect more than $157,000 in rent from tenants, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015658-richmond-2012-mass-subindicator.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most recent inspection\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As its finances spiraled out of control and residents’ basic needs went ignored, the authority spent lavishly, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”710c32e9e0a80855a25dd284662579aa”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Tim Jones, charged hundreds of dollars on meals in New York and Washington, including a roughly $400 meal at an upscale midtown Manhattan restaurant\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>where a strip steak with truffle fries runs $41.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meals cost as much as many public housing tenants pay each month in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones’ pay also increased about 30 percent over three years as the authority ran up debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the housing authority’s finance manager improperly used public money for personal use, putting gas and meals on the agency credit card, records show. Federal inspectors in 2012 called his financial knowledge \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p12/a144143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inadequate\u003c/a>, saying he routinely failed to provide basic paperwork detailing the authority’s finances. He’s still working at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority also made several late payments on the agency credit card, triggering late fees,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD discovered that the No. 2 man at the agency had steered contracts to his brother and wanted him banned from doing work with the federal government. Two years later, the housing authority paid for his retirement party, violating city rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These revelations come on top of CIR’s findings of deplorable conditions for residents who occupy the authority’s two largest housing complexes. Residents there\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>are dealing with severe rodent and insect infestations, mold-ridden walls and a slow reaction to fix basic maintenance problems like plumbing leaks and broken heaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lax security has enabled squatters to take up residence in some of the authority’s vacant units. Richmond now ranks among the nation’s worst public housing authorities, according to federal data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126783\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126783 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/mice-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Ruffus Carter disposes of dead mice and roaches caught on a sticky pad in Geneva Eaton’s apartment. Eaton sleeps with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she hears chewing through her walls will bite her in her sleep. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruffus Carter disposes of dead mice and roaches caught on a sticky pad in Geneva Eaton’s apartment. Eaton sleeps with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she hears chewing through her walls will bite her in her sleep. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To tell this story, CIR reviewed hundreds of pages of HUD audits, internal memos and report cards dating back a decade\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that show the troubled housing authority veering further and further out of control. Until now, the story of the housing authority’s financial abuses has not been told.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The place is being badly managed, poorly managed, and something has got to change,” said Jackie Thompson, a resident who serves on the authority’s tenant advisory commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones has been in charge since 2005. He blames the housing authority’s troubles on his predecessor. He said the authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>has cut its staff significantly, has a plan to get out of debt and is working closely with HUD to make fixes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I arrived, we had a staff of 65,” Jones said. “Now there’s a staff of about 28. We are lean here. There is no fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones did not respond to numerous requests for follow-up interviews once the extent of the authority’s financial abuses became clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Lindsay, Richmond’s city manager, has asked HUD to give Jones a chance to turn the authority around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He inherited some terrible staff that he can’t unload,” he said. “He took something that was in dismal shape, and he made cuts and stopped this place from really heading for financial disaster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the documents show how the financial problems and mismanagement have festered on Jones’ watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The current executive director has been there approximately 6 years, but few improvements have been made,” according to a June 18, 2012, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p2/a144141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HUD memo\u003c/a>. “The financial condition of the authority has gotten worse by the year, and based on audit findings from as far back as 2009 … the total lack of internal controls has contributed significantly to the authority’s current condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/135520676&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The abuses weighed on the minds of HUD officials, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p13/a144144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wondered in memos\u003c/a> whether firing Jones would solve the problems. But the memos say that Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and the City Council likely would oppose such a move and that there was no qualified successor in the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s now do-or-die for the Richmond Housing Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of being warned about money and bookkeeping problems, it is being forced to overhaul its public housing operation. HUD says that so far, Richmond is making progress. But officials there have threatened to seize control of the authority if key benchmarks – such as turning in audits on time and getting out of debt – are not met this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get out of debt and pay fines, Richmond is selling an apartment complex that was supposed to be a long-term source of funding for the agency. Officials also said they have a more permanent solution. They have a $65 million plan to refurbish four of the authority’s five public housing complexes and turn them over to private management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fate of its worst complex, Hacienda, is still undecided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Improper contracts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority gets about $26 million a year from the federal government to provide safe and decent housing for the needy. In addition to its 715 housing units for poor, elderly and disabled residents, the authority provides Section 8 vouchers to 1,750 Richmond residents who can use these subsidies to pay rent anywhere in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>was in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive director lacked basic skills, its files were in shambles and staff couldn’t carry out rudimentary bookkeeping, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/846796-rha-doc-6-richmond-moa-part-b-2005-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents show\u003c/a>. Federal auditors swooped in and came up with a 250-point plan on how to turn around the agency. One of their solutions: Hire a qualified executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126785\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126785 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/jones-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones hands out copies of notes from a previous meeting to residential council leaders from the city’s public housing properties. Jones blames years of federal funding cuts for the problems plaguing the authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones hands out copies of notes from a previous meeting to residential council leaders from the city’s public housing properties. Jones blames years of federal funding cuts for the problems plaguing the authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Richmond brought in Jones, the Oakland Housing Authority’s housing management director, to fix the broken agency. For a few years, it looked like he’d turned the place around. Employees got basic training. A new activist mayor,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>McLaughlin, made economic injustice a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>HUD got a tip that something was amiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manuel Rosario, Jones’ No. 2 man at the agency, had steered $61,000 in contracts to his brother in 2008 and 2009, \u003ca href=\"http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig0991020.pdf\"> HUD\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig0991020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">’s inspector general found.\u003c/a> Rosario sat on a committee that gave his brother’s company an inspection contract. Months later, the contract was renewed for a year even though it didn’t have an option to be extended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario, HUD documents say, also arranged for his brother to get more housing authority work. Jones was supposed to sign off on these documents. But he didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a properly run system, the absence of these basic functions would have raised red flags. HUD wanted Rosario banned from working with the federal government in 2009. Jones wouldn’t say whether he fired Rosario, but the agency did pay for his retirement pizza party with taxpayer funds, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">records show\u003c/a>. City policies prohibit spending public money on these kinds of events. It’s unclear from the records how much the party cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, the federal investigation found the agency had misspent $2.4 million on contracts over the previous decade. While some of that activity occurred under the previous leadership, the report uncovered a host of misdeeds by the new management team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority messed up its competitive bidding process for contracts, and it approved payments to contractors without proof that the work had been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD trained authority staff on how to write and manage contracts. Jones, meanwhile, began overseeing contracts. But the problems continued. In 2012, seven out of 25 housing authority payments \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/27344\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reviewed by auditors\u003c/a> didn’t have documents that backed up the work that was done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The executive director claims he is now the procurement officer, but despite attending procurement training, he lacks the procurement knowledge required to comply with requirements and disregards many requirements,” according to a 2012 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#/h\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal HUD memo.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>who by this point had been on the job for more than six years, continued to blame the previous administration for\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the breakdown in contracts. “We’re trying to find a way to fix it,” he said\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>in an interview with CIR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority is in the process of repaying $2.2 million for its contracting\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>mistakes. It made its first payment in July. The agency told HUD that\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the payments would “severely undermine the Housing Authority’s fiscal stability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Excessive expenses\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD delivers an annual\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>report card on each of the more than 4,000 housing agencies across the country. And Richmond’s low marks have placed it among the nation’s worst housing authorities every year since 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond authority repeatedly has missed its deadlines to file annual financial reports with HUD.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>If it had turned in the audits on time, federal officials would have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>seen sooner that Richmond was running out of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency has overspent its budget\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>nearly every year since 2007. Instead of making ends meet, the housing authority regularly went to the city to help pay its workers’ salaries, gradually piling up debts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Richmond got low financial marks again in 2011,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>HUD sent in a team of specialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specialists found that as the housing authority was going deeper into a financial hole, top officials were loading up the expense accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126786\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126786 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/listen-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"John Oliver, 76, a 10-year Nevin Plaza resident, listens as Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones explains issues at a Housing Advisory Commission meeting Oct. 22, 2013. Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance often are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Oliver, 76, a 10-year Nevin Plaza resident, listens as Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones explains issues at a Housing Advisory Commission meeting Oct. 22, 2013. Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance often are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a trip to New York in November 2009, Jones got the authority to pay for a $417.34 meal at Fabio Piccolo Fiore, a high-end Italian restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HUD documents show\u003c/a>. In Washington, he had taxpayers fund $130.60 and $279.90 meals at an upscale soul-food restaurant called Georgia Brown’s in 2008 and 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD found the charges to be excessive, according to a review that stretched from 2008 to 2011. In addition to charging the meals, Jones appears to have billed taxpayers a $40 stipend each day he traveled, records show. Government officials are supposed to limit their meals to the per diem costs, so they shouldn’t be charging meals at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones also charged taxpayers for meals closer to home. He took his\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>staff to the Italian restaurant Salute E Vita, which overlooks the Richmond marina, three times in three weeks, racking up tabs as high as $195.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>In the three years reviewed by\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>auditors, Jones charged 23 meals from this restaurant at an average of about $80 a meal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144423\">H\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UD records show\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City of Richmond’s policy specifically prohibits employees from expensing work lunches with other city employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones approved all his own credit card charges with no outside oversight. “There were no internal controls to ensure that such activity does not occur,” auditors wrote. Jones declined to comment on the credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the few people who could have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>spotted the abuse was the finance manager. But he also was abusing his credit card, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144424\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents show\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Taplin, the housing authority’s finance manager, used the card to fix his car, fill it with gas and buy personal meals. The city said all unauthorized purchases were eventually repaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taplin didn’t respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority also catered its Board of Commissioners meetings, which consist of the City Council and advisory commission members. One catering bill in 2008 came to $2,142.24.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have since canceled the agency credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">After the housing authority first was labeled one of the worst in the country, Jones made $205,000 in salary and benefits.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>As the finances worsened, Jones’ salary kept rising. The city’s community and economic development director gave Jones a total of 31 percent in raises from 2008 to 2011, at a time when the agency didn’t have enough money to make payroll, HUD auditors found. Auditors described the raises as aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the year after the housing authority first was labeled one of the worst in the country, Jones made $205,000 in salary and benefits, according to a survey four years ago\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>of\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>housing authority executives in California. He was in the top third of the highest-paid housing heads in the state, according to the HUD survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His pay since has dropped as the housing authority’s budget has gone down. In 2012, he made almost $187,000 a year in salary and benefits, according to city payroll records. HUD no longer ranks executive director pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2012, the agency ran $5.8 million into the red. By 2013, it owed the city almost $7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones would not answer questions about his pay or his expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the agency’s finances are getting better. “Our mission is our mission. It can be done as long as we’re trending north,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD found problems beyond the staff. Its inspectors faulted the board, which includes the mayor, for allowing the agency to rack up debt year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Board of Commissioners do not appear to have sufficient knowledge of Housing Authority operations, programs, financial condition, or activities, and as a result, have not provided proper oversight of the Executive Director,” according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p11/a144157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2013 HUD document\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside>\u003ca href=\"//cironline.org/richmondhousing/partner?partnername=KQED\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://u.s.kqed.net/2014/02/14/CIRsmall.png\" alt=\"\" align=\"middle\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThis story was produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/richmondhousing/partner?partnername=KQED\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more about CIR’s work.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The executive director reports directly to the city manager. The City Council occupies seven seats on the nine-member authority board. An advisory board of residents and community members can make recommendations. And HUD inspectors audit and inspect the housing units annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay took over the housing authority’s finances in 2012. McLaughlin, who as mayor serves as board chairwoman, said she was not aware of the financial abuses at the agency or Jones’ pay increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said once Richmond completes the sale of one of its buildings, it will be debt-free and off HUD’s troubled list. She also pointed the finger at HUD for cutting public housing budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HUD needs to realize that the federal government is being negligent in its responsibility to provide public housing funds for cities that have experienced decades of economic injustices,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When later confronted with questions about Jones’ expenses and pay, McLaughlin deferred to Lindsay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is only one other housing authority in California that is currently on the troubled list: San Francisco. After it was labeled troubled, Mayor Ed Lee cleaned house. He replaced most of the members of the board of commissioners and hired a new executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There has been no such change in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Troubles with rent collection \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond’s most recent federal report card is its worst yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing agencies are rated on a 100-point system, and Richmond got a 47 on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015477-richmonds-federal-scorecard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report released in 2013\u003c/a>. Anything below 60 is failing. In addition to financial problems, HUD gave the authority failing marks for its\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority is essentially a landlord: It’s supposed to collect tenants’ rent, ensure properties aren’t in disrepair and make sure that people in public housing qualify for the subsidy. But hundreds of thousands of dollars of rent has gone uncollected. The authority also has fallen behind on checking residents’ incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the Richmond Housing Authority was one of the only agencies in California that hadn’t completed the minimum number of income checks for residents, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015709-delinquency-report-9aph-ph-20131108-6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to federal data\u003c/a>. Without checking these finances, tenants could be charged too much rent, or they\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>might\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>make too much money to qualify for public housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dysfunction trickles down to tenants living in the housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents say the agency routinely\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>misplaces their checks and slaps residents with a $25 late fee even when they pay on time. For residents on a fixed income, they say that can mean five meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126784\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126784 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/hasnat-640x418.jpg\" alt=\"Juanita Hasnat, 47, cleans a wound on her leg in her Nevin Plaza apartment. Hasnat, whose legs were amputated after she contracted the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because her bathtub didn’t have a safety bar. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"251\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Hasnat, 47, cleans a wound on her leg in her Nevin Plaza apartment. Hasnat, whose legs were amputated after she contracted the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because her bathtub didn’t have a safety bar. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita Hasnat is a double amputee and former nurse. She has lived in Richmond public housing for more than three years. She said she’s paid her $233-a-month rent on time each month since she moved in. But last month and this month, she got a note from the housing agency that she was late on rent\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and had to pay a penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your people put it in late, it’s not on me,” Hasnat said at a public meeting in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones told her that he’d look into the issue and, if Hasnat was correct, he’d give her an apology in writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Housing Advisory Commission, a group of tenants and community members that airs resident complaints, repeatedly has brought up the late rent issue to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s management,” said Commissioner Sylvia Gray-White. “They don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue and Mark Katches. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, the country’s largest investigative reporting team. For more, visit cironline.org. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003cbr>\nThe Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126791\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-126791\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_3561_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Jones (center), executive director of the Richmond Housing Authority, looks over a housing report with Jackie Thompson, president of the Friendship Manor residents council. Friendship Manor is one five public housing complexes owned by the housing authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Jones (center), executive director of the Richmond Housing Authority, looks over a housing report with Jackie Thompson, president of the Friendship Manor residents council. Friendship Manor is one five public housing complexes owned by the housing authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The public housing agency in the East Bay city of Richmond has been racked by years of mismanagement, financial abuse and conflicts of interest, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority is running a nearly $7 million deficit and has to repay $2.2 million for past contracting mistakes. The federal government is threatening to take control of the housing authority this year if key financial benchmarks are not met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2012, Richmond failed to collect more than $157,000 in rent from tenants, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015658-richmond-2012-mass-subindicator.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most recent inspection\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As its finances spiraled out of control and residents’ basic needs went ignored, the authority spent lavishly, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its executive director, Tim Jones, charged hundreds of dollars on meals in New York and Washington, including a roughly $400 meal at an upscale midtown Manhattan restaurant\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>where a strip steak with truffle fries runs $41.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meals cost as much as many public housing tenants pay each month in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones’ pay also increased about 30 percent over three years as the authority ran up debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the housing authority’s finance manager improperly used public money for personal use, putting gas and meals on the agency credit card, records show. Federal inspectors in 2012 called his financial knowledge \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p12/a144143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inadequate\u003c/a>, saying he routinely failed to provide basic paperwork detailing the authority’s finances. He’s still working at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority also made several late payments on the agency credit card, triggering late fees,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD discovered that the No. 2 man at the agency had steered contracts to his brother and wanted him banned from doing work with the federal government. Two years later, the housing authority paid for his retirement party, violating city rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These revelations come on top of CIR’s findings of deplorable conditions for residents who occupy the authority’s two largest housing complexes. Residents there\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>are dealing with severe rodent and insect infestations, mold-ridden walls and a slow reaction to fix basic maintenance problems like plumbing leaks and broken heaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lax security has enabled squatters to take up residence in some of the authority’s vacant units. Richmond now ranks among the nation’s worst public housing authorities, according to federal data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126783\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126783 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/mice-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Ruffus Carter disposes of dead mice and roaches caught on a sticky pad in Geneva Eaton’s apartment. Eaton sleeps with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she hears chewing through her walls will bite her in her sleep. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruffus Carter disposes of dead mice and roaches caught on a sticky pad in Geneva Eaton’s apartment. Eaton sleeps with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she hears chewing through her walls will bite her in her sleep. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To tell this story, CIR reviewed hundreds of pages of HUD audits, internal memos and report cards dating back a decade\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that show the troubled housing authority veering further and further out of control. Until now, the story of the housing authority’s financial abuses has not been told.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The place is being badly managed, poorly managed, and something has got to change,” said Jackie Thompson, a resident who serves on the authority’s tenant advisory commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones has been in charge since 2005. He blames the housing authority’s troubles on his predecessor. He said the authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>has cut its staff significantly, has a plan to get out of debt and is working closely with HUD to make fixes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I arrived, we had a staff of 65,” Jones said. “Now there’s a staff of about 28. We are lean here. There is no fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones did not respond to numerous requests for follow-up interviews once the extent of the authority’s financial abuses became clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Lindsay, Richmond’s city manager, has asked HUD to give Jones a chance to turn the authority around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He inherited some terrible staff that he can’t unload,” he said. “He took something that was in dismal shape, and he made cuts and stopped this place from really heading for financial disaster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the documents show how the financial problems and mismanagement have festered on Jones’ watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The current executive director has been there approximately 6 years, but few improvements have been made,” according to a June 18, 2012, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p2/a144141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HUD memo\u003c/a>. “The financial condition of the authority has gotten worse by the year, and based on audit findings from as far back as 2009 … the total lack of internal controls has contributed significantly to the authority’s current condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/135520676&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The abuses weighed on the minds of HUD officials, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p13/a144144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wondered in memos\u003c/a> whether firing Jones would solve the problems. But the memos say that Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and the City Council likely would oppose such a move and that there was no qualified successor in the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s now do-or-die for the Richmond Housing Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of being warned about money and bookkeeping problems, it is being forced to overhaul its public housing operation. HUD says that so far, Richmond is making progress. But officials there have threatened to seize control of the authority if key benchmarks – such as turning in audits on time and getting out of debt – are not met this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get out of debt and pay fines, Richmond is selling an apartment complex that was supposed to be a long-term source of funding for the agency. Officials also said they have a more permanent solution. They have a $65 million plan to refurbish four of the authority’s five public housing complexes and turn them over to private management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fate of its worst complex, Hacienda, is still undecided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Improper contracts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority gets about $26 million a year from the federal government to provide safe and decent housing for the needy. In addition to its 715 housing units for poor, elderly and disabled residents, the authority provides Section 8 vouchers to 1,750 Richmond residents who can use these subsidies to pay rent anywhere in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>was in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive director lacked basic skills, its files were in shambles and staff couldn’t carry out rudimentary bookkeeping, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/846796-rha-doc-6-richmond-moa-part-b-2005-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents show\u003c/a>. Federal auditors swooped in and came up with a 250-point plan on how to turn around the agency. One of their solutions: Hire a qualified executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126785\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126785 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/jones-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones hands out copies of notes from a previous meeting to residential council leaders from the city’s public housing properties. Jones blames years of federal funding cuts for the problems plaguing the authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones hands out copies of notes from a previous meeting to residential council leaders from the city’s public housing properties. Jones blames years of federal funding cuts for the problems plaguing the authority. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Richmond brought in Jones, the Oakland Housing Authority’s housing management director, to fix the broken agency. For a few years, it looked like he’d turned the place around. Employees got basic training. A new activist mayor,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>McLaughlin, made economic injustice a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>HUD got a tip that something was amiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manuel Rosario, Jones’ No. 2 man at the agency, had steered $61,000 in contracts to his brother in 2008 and 2009, \u003ca href=\"http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig0991020.pdf\"> HUD\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig0991020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">’s inspector general found.\u003c/a> Rosario sat on a committee that gave his brother’s company an inspection contract. Months later, the contract was renewed for a year even though it didn’t have an option to be extended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario, HUD documents say, also arranged for his brother to get more housing authority work. Jones was supposed to sign off on these documents. But he didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a properly run system, the absence of these basic functions would have raised red flags. HUD wanted Rosario banned from working with the federal government in 2009. Jones wouldn’t say whether he fired Rosario, but the agency did pay for his retirement pizza party with taxpayer funds, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">records show\u003c/a>. City policies prohibit spending public money on these kinds of events. It’s unclear from the records how much the party cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosario could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, the federal investigation found the agency had misspent $2.4 million on contracts over the previous decade. While some of that activity occurred under the previous leadership, the report uncovered a host of misdeeds by the new management team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority messed up its competitive bidding process for contracts, and it approved payments to contractors without proof that the work had been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD trained authority staff on how to write and manage contracts. Jones, meanwhile, began overseeing contracts. But the problems continued. In 2012, seven out of 25 housing authority payments \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/27344\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reviewed by auditors\u003c/a> didn’t have documents that backed up the work that was done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The executive director claims he is now the procurement officer, but despite attending procurement training, he lacks the procurement knowledge required to comply with requirements and disregards many requirements,” according to a 2012 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#/h\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal HUD memo.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>who by this point had been on the job for more than six years, continued to blame the previous administration for\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the breakdown in contracts. “We’re trying to find a way to fix it,” he said\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>in an interview with CIR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority is in the process of repaying $2.2 million for its contracting\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>mistakes. It made its first payment in July. The agency told HUD that\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the payments would “severely undermine the Housing Authority’s fiscal stability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Excessive expenses\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD delivers an annual\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>report card on each of the more than 4,000 housing agencies across the country. And Richmond’s low marks have placed it among the nation’s worst housing authorities every year since 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond authority repeatedly has missed its deadlines to file annual financial reports with HUD.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>If it had turned in the audits on time, federal officials would have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>seen sooner that Richmond was running out of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency has overspent its budget\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>nearly every year since 2007. Instead of making ends meet, the housing authority regularly went to the city to help pay its workers’ salaries, gradually piling up debts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Richmond got low financial marks again in 2011,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>HUD sent in a team of specialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specialists found that as the housing authority was going deeper into a financial hole, top officials were loading up the expense accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126786\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126786 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/listen-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"John Oliver, 76, a 10-year Nevin Plaza resident, listens as Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones explains issues at a Housing Advisory Commission meeting Oct. 22, 2013. Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance often are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Oliver, 76, a 10-year Nevin Plaza resident, listens as Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones explains issues at a Housing Advisory Commission meeting Oct. 22, 2013. Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance often are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a trip to New York in November 2009, Jones got the authority to pay for a $417.34 meal at Fabio Piccolo Fiore, a high-end Italian restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HUD documents show\u003c/a>. In Washington, he had taxpayers fund $130.60 and $279.90 meals at an upscale soul-food restaurant called Georgia Brown’s in 2008 and 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD found the charges to be excessive, according to a review that stretched from 2008 to 2011. In addition to charging the meals, Jones appears to have billed taxpayers a $40 stipend each day he traveled, records show. Government officials are supposed to limit their meals to the per diem costs, so they shouldn’t be charging meals at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones also charged taxpayers for meals closer to home. He took his\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>staff to the Italian restaurant Salute E Vita, which overlooks the Richmond marina, three times in three weeks, racking up tabs as high as $195.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>In the three years reviewed by\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>auditors, Jones charged 23 meals from this restaurant at an average of about $80 a meal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144423\">H\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UD records show\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City of Richmond’s policy specifically prohibits employees from expensing work lunches with other city employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones approved all his own credit card charges with no outside oversight. “There were no internal controls to ensure that such activity does not occur,” auditors wrote. Jones declined to comment on the credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the few people who could have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>spotted the abuse was the finance manager. But he also was abusing his credit card, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p8/a144424\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents show\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Taplin, the housing authority’s finance manager, used the card to fix his car, fill it with gas and buy personal meals. The city said all unauthorized purchases were eventually repaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taplin didn’t respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority also catered its Board of Commissioners meetings, which consist of the City Council and advisory commission members. One catering bill in 2008 came to $2,142.24.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have since canceled the agency credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">After the housing authority first was labeled one of the worst in the country, Jones made $205,000 in salary and benefits.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>As the finances worsened, Jones’ salary kept rising. The city’s community and economic development director gave Jones a total of 31 percent in raises from 2008 to 2011, at a time when the agency didn’t have enough money to make payroll, HUD auditors found. Auditors described the raises as aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the year after the housing authority first was labeled one of the worst in the country, Jones made $205,000 in salary and benefits, according to a survey four years ago\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>of\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>housing authority executives in California. He was in the top third of the highest-paid housing heads in the state, according to the HUD survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His pay since has dropped as the housing authority’s budget has gone down. In 2012, he made almost $187,000 a year in salary and benefits, according to city payroll records. HUD no longer ranks executive director pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2012, the agency ran $5.8 million into the red. By 2013, it owed the city almost $7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones would not answer questions about his pay or his expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the agency’s finances are getting better. “Our mission is our mission. It can be done as long as we’re trending north,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD found problems beyond the staff. Its inspectors faulted the board, which includes the mayor, for allowing the agency to rack up debt year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Board of Commissioners do not appear to have sufficient knowledge of Housing Authority operations, programs, financial condition, or activities, and as a result, have not provided proper oversight of the Executive Director,” according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015652-june-18-2012-hud-memo.html#document/p11/a144157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2013 HUD document\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside>\u003ca href=\"//cironline.org/richmondhousing/partner?partnername=KQED\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://u.s.kqed.net/2014/02/14/CIRsmall.png\" alt=\"\" align=\"middle\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThis story was produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/richmondhousing/partner?partnername=KQED\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more about CIR’s work.\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The executive director reports directly to the city manager. The City Council occupies seven seats on the nine-member authority board. An advisory board of residents and community members can make recommendations. And HUD inspectors audit and inspect the housing units annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay took over the housing authority’s finances in 2012. McLaughlin, who as mayor serves as board chairwoman, said she was not aware of the financial abuses at the agency or Jones’ pay increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said once Richmond completes the sale of one of its buildings, it will be debt-free and off HUD’s troubled list. She also pointed the finger at HUD for cutting public housing budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HUD needs to realize that the federal government is being negligent in its responsibility to provide public housing funds for cities that have experienced decades of economic injustices,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When later confronted with questions about Jones’ expenses and pay, McLaughlin deferred to Lindsay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is only one other housing authority in California that is currently on the troubled list: San Francisco. After it was labeled troubled, Mayor Ed Lee cleaned house. He replaced most of the members of the board of commissioners and hired a new executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There has been no such change in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Troubles with rent collection \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond’s most recent federal report card is its worst yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing agencies are rated on a 100-point system, and Richmond got a 47 on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015477-richmonds-federal-scorecard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report released in 2013\u003c/a>. Anything below 60 is failing. In addition to financial problems, HUD gave the authority failing marks for its\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority is essentially a landlord: It’s supposed to collect tenants’ rent, ensure properties aren’t in disrepair and make sure that people in public housing qualify for the subsidy. But hundreds of thousands of dollars of rent has gone uncollected. The authority also has fallen behind on checking residents’ incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the Richmond Housing Authority was one of the only agencies in California that hadn’t completed the minimum number of income checks for residents, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015709-delinquency-report-9aph-ph-20131108-6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to federal data\u003c/a>. Without checking these finances, tenants could be charged too much rent, or they\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>might\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>make too much money to qualify for public housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dysfunction trickles down to tenants living in the housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents say the agency routinely\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>misplaces their checks and slaps residents with a $25 late fee even when they pay on time. For residents on a fixed income, they say that can mean five meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126784\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-126784 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/hasnat-640x418.jpg\" alt=\"Juanita Hasnat, 47, cleans a wound on her leg in her Nevin Plaza apartment. Hasnat, whose legs were amputated after she contracted the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because her bathtub didn’t have a safety bar. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"251\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Hasnat, 47, cleans a wound on her leg in her Nevin Plaza apartment. Hasnat, whose legs were amputated after she contracted the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because her bathtub didn’t have a safety bar. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita Hasnat is a double amputee and former nurse. She has lived in Richmond public housing for more than three years. She said she’s paid her $233-a-month rent on time each month since she moved in. But last month and this month, she got a note from the housing agency that she was late on rent\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and had to pay a penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your people put it in late, it’s not on me,” Hasnat said at a public meeting in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones told her that he’d look into the issue and, if Hasnat was correct, he’d give her an apology in writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Housing Advisory Commission, a group of tenants and community members that airs resident complaints, repeatedly has brought up the late rent issue to no avail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s management,” said Commissioner Sylvia Gray-White. “They don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue and Mark Katches. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, the country’s largest investigative reporting team. For more, visit cironline.org. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Josh Wolf\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-02/activists-call-for-revival-of-harvey-milks-anti-speculation-proposal\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_125915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/tenants_convention.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-125915\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/tenants_convention-640x425.jpg\" alt=\"Activists gathered Saturday to discuss and vote on a raft of legislative proposals to address the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco. (Josh Wolf/San Francisco Public Press)\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists gathered Saturday to discuss and vote on a raft of legislative proposals to address the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco. (Josh Wolf/San Francisco Public Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If Harvey Milk had not been assassinated in 1978, the rampant speculation raging across San Francisco might not have become the problem it is today. Or at least that is the perspective brought into focus by one leading San Francisco housing activist who wants to revive one of Milk’s unrealized tenant protection proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his death, Milk proposed an “anti-speculation” plan that would have heavily taxed profits generated by quickly flipping properties in San Francisco. Now Brian Singer, a housing activist and former president of the nostalgically named \u003ca href=\"http://www.milkclub.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Harvey Milk Democratic Club\u003c/a>, is pushing for the city to resurrect the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that speculators would lose half of their profits from the immediate sale of a newly purchased property. The tax hit would decrease proportionally over the first six years of ownership and drop off completely after six years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost overwhelming to think about being able to pass the very last thing Harvey Milk worked on during his life,” Singer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal was one of seven considered at Saturday’s citywide Tenant Convention at the Tenderloin Community School auditorium. Participants were able to rank their preference for various proposals by ballot. The event was the culmination of a series of neighborhood tenant conventions that aimed to generate ideas to solve the city’s affordable housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is happening at the same time that the Board of Supervisors is uniting to pass stronger protections for tenants and encourage the development of both new market-rate and affordable housing. At the convention, which quickly reached legal capacity, six of the 11 supervisors were in attendance: John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu, Malia Cohen, Jane Kim and Eric Mar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of you tenants of San Francisco are angry and outraged and fearful and frustrated, and City Hall knows that,” Sara Shortt, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.hrcsf.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco\u003c/a>, told conventioneers. “You’ve helped us make a great statement that we can no longer wait around until this becomes more than just a crisis but a disaster of epic proportions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organizers said they would lobby the supervisors to approve the proposals that receive the most support. And that if the Board of Supervisors ignores them, they would work to advance a ballot measure in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants were asked to rank the following proposals and to suggest one of their own that was not listed:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Anti-speculation tax: Impose a windfall profits tax on speculators who buy and sell housing without keeping their buildings for at least six years. The rate would decrease each year of ownership, starting at 50 percent of the gain. The quicker the “flip,” the higher the tax.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eviction moratorium: One-year pause on certain no-fault evictions, including owner-move-in evictions for long-term tenants with more than 10 years tenancy. A pause also on demolition and capital improvement evictions, except for code compliance or safety upgrades. The moratorium would not apply to Ellis Act evictions. Other exception would apply.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Department of Rent Control Enforcement and Compliance: Create a new city office charged with assuring that policies comply with laws protecting tenants, monitoring enforcement — and supporting research on rental housing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Upgrade relocation assistance: Increase relocation payments to tenants for no-fault evictions (aside from Ellis Act evictions) to cover the difference between a displaced tenant’s existing rent and market-rate rent for not less than two years. Proposal would complement currently pending Ellis Act relocation assistance legislation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Excessive rents tax: Create a new tax on new rental agreements if rent exceeds affordability levels set by the city. The tax would increase with higher levels. Under some circumstances, tax costs could be passed through to existing tenants.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Housing balance requirement: Restrict or condition city approval of new market-rate housing based upon the developer’s ability to meet affordable housing goals, and replace housing lost because of Ellis Act evictions and demolitions. Policy would create incentives to build new affordable housing and preserve rent-controlled housing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Legalize illegal units: Improve process to convert illegal rental units into legal-rent controlled housing. Restrict “removal of unit” evictions where units can be legalized. Waive nonessential zoning and code enforcements not related to safety.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In weekend tenants' convention, an anti-speculation idea from the late Harvey Milk is resurrected. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Josh Wolf\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-02/activists-call-for-revival-of-harvey-milks-anti-speculation-proposal\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_125915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/tenants_convention.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-125915\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/tenants_convention-640x425.jpg\" alt=\"Activists gathered Saturday to discuss and vote on a raft of legislative proposals to address the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco. (Josh Wolf/San Francisco Public Press)\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists gathered Saturday to discuss and vote on a raft of legislative proposals to address the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco. (Josh Wolf/San Francisco Public Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If Harvey Milk had not been assassinated in 1978, the rampant speculation raging across San Francisco might not have become the problem it is today. Or at least that is the perspective brought into focus by one leading San Francisco housing activist who wants to revive one of Milk’s unrealized tenant protection proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his death, Milk proposed an “anti-speculation” plan that would have heavily taxed profits generated by quickly flipping properties in San Francisco. Now Brian Singer, a housing activist and former president of the nostalgically named \u003ca href=\"http://www.milkclub.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Harvey Milk Democratic Club\u003c/a>, is pushing for the city to resurrect the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that speculators would lose half of their profits from the immediate sale of a newly purchased property. The tax hit would decrease proportionally over the first six years of ownership and drop off completely after six years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s almost overwhelming to think about being able to pass the very last thing Harvey Milk worked on during his life,” Singer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal was one of seven considered at Saturday’s citywide Tenant Convention at the Tenderloin Community School auditorium. Participants were able to rank their preference for various proposals by ballot. The event was the culmination of a series of neighborhood tenant conventions that aimed to generate ideas to solve the city’s affordable housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is happening at the same time that the Board of Supervisors is uniting to pass stronger protections for tenants and encourage the development of both new market-rate and affordable housing. At the convention, which quickly reached legal capacity, six of the 11 supervisors were in attendance: John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu, Malia Cohen, Jane Kim and Eric Mar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of you tenants of San Francisco are angry and outraged and fearful and frustrated, and City Hall knows that,” Sara Shortt, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.hrcsf.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco\u003c/a>, told conventioneers. “You’ve helped us make a great statement that we can no longer wait around until this becomes more than just a crisis but a disaster of epic proportions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organizers said they would lobby the supervisors to approve the proposals that receive the most support. And that if the Board of Supervisors ignores them, they would work to advance a ballot measure in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants were asked to rank the following proposals and to suggest one of their own that was not listed:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Anti-speculation tax: Impose a windfall profits tax on speculators who buy and sell housing without keeping their buildings for at least six years. The rate would decrease each year of ownership, starting at 50 percent of the gain. The quicker the “flip,” the higher the tax.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Eviction moratorium: One-year pause on certain no-fault evictions, including owner-move-in evictions for long-term tenants with more than 10 years tenancy. A pause also on demolition and capital improvement evictions, except for code compliance or safety upgrades. The moratorium would not apply to Ellis Act evictions. Other exception would apply.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Department of Rent Control Enforcement and Compliance: Create a new city office charged with assuring that policies comply with laws protecting tenants, monitoring enforcement — and supporting research on rental housing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Upgrade relocation assistance: Increase relocation payments to tenants for no-fault evictions (aside from Ellis Act evictions) to cover the difference between a displaced tenant’s existing rent and market-rate rent for not less than two years. Proposal would complement currently pending Ellis Act relocation assistance legislation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Excessive rents tax: Create a new tax on new rental agreements if rent exceeds affordability levels set by the city. The tax would increase with higher levels. Under some circumstances, tax costs could be passed through to existing tenants.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Housing balance requirement: Restrict or condition city approval of new market-rate housing based upon the developer’s ability to meet affordable housing goals, and replace housing lost because of Ellis Act evictions and demolitions. Policy would create incentives to build new affordable housing and preserve rent-controlled housing.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Legalize illegal units: Improve process to convert illegal rental units into legal-rent controlled housing. Restrict “removal of unit” evictions where units can be legalized. Waive nonessential zoning and code enforcements not related to safety.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Today on Bay Area Bus Wars ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_125276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-125276\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/genentech-bus-e1391616229791.jpg\" alt=\"genentech bus\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Lancour/KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That's the Genentech bus, transporting passengers through the Marina this morning on its way to the company's South San Francisco office. The idea presumably being that the message \"This bus removes 120 cars from your commute everyday\" will make drivers stuck behind the lumbering vehicle think it's a small price to pay for fighting climate change -- although, as pointed out by the \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/02/05/new-genentech-bus-ads-removes-120-cars-every-day-2/\" target=\"_blank\">Chronicle\u003c/a> today, \u003ca href=\"http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/everyday-vs-every-day/\" target=\"_blank\">\"Everyday\" should be \"every day.\"\u003c/a> So, for every two protesters that sentiment removes from the streets, one livid English teacher will emerge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Genentech spokesperson told the Chron that the new slogan, which started appearing in December, isn't a response to the multiple \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/google-buses/\" target=\"_blank\">Bay Area protests against the Google bus\u003c/a>, which has become a symbol of privilege in a time when many blame the influx of new tech workers for evictions and high housing prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some, of course, have made the very argument that the new Genentech slogan does: The buses are a great idea environmentally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago, local author Rebecca Solnit wrote one of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n03/rebecca-solnit/diary\" target=\"_blank\">seminal broadsides\u003c/a> against the buses in the \"London Review of Books.\" As News Fix's Dan Brekke \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/07/good-read/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote last month\u003c/a>...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Solnit’s piece was a sort of declaration that the buses are a key part of the engine remaking the city in a particularly unfriendly way for anyone not employed with the technology industry or engaged in some other lucrative enterprise. “Most of them are gleaming white,” she wrote in opening the essay, “with dark-tinted windows, like limousines, and some days I think of them as the spaceships on which our alien overlords have landed to rule over us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In response, Ben Adler of Grist, an environmentalist news site, \u003ca href=\"http://grist.org/cities/hey-protester-leave-those-google-buses-alone/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote a critique\u003c/a> of that line of argument ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Solnit’s complaint that Google thinks its employees are too important to “drive themselves” is backward and nonsensical. Driving in one’s own private car is far more elitist than sharing a bus with one’s coworkers. It is also vastly worse for the environment. The buses take cars off the road. Fewer cars mean less traffic, and less idling in traffic, which is especially polluting.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Solnit hit back last month with another essay, called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/rebecca-solnit-resisting-monoculture/\" target=\"_blank\">Resisting Monoculture\u003c/a>,\" in the magazine \"Guernica.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Most people (including Adler at one point in his all-over-the-place piece) wonder why people who work 40 miles away should travel those 80 miles daily down and back one of the more congested freeways around. The buses encourage them to pursue this geographical ridiculousness. And thus come the well-paid engineers to San Francisco, and thus go the longtime activists, idealists, artists, teachers, plumbers, all the less-well-paid people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, perhaps, any ride-sharing program may seem green and community-building, but the effects of the Google bus on the ecosystem of San Francisco are complicated. One of the organizers of the Google bus blockade last month just wrote me, in response to Adler’s piece, “The idea that all of the techies would choose to live in SF and drive to Silicon Valley if not for the buses is a total exaggeration. Half the techies surveyed by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency said they wouldn’t drive by themselves (only 3% would carpool) & 31% said they wouldn’t be able to make the trip at all according to info I found in SFMTA’s Private Commuter Shuttles Policy Draft Proposal. The proposal also notes the ‘Google’ buses’ average dwell time (at bus stops) is 3x that of the Muni.” So the buses aren’t creating greener transit for people who’d live here anyway. They’re also enabling long-distance commuters who wouldn’t live here otherwise.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The controversy is so intense that master's candidates have been doing their theses on it. Here's one from a UC Berkeley student called \"\u003ca href=\"http://svenworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goldman_PRFinal.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Francisco's Dotcom Boom 2.0\u003c/a>.\" And here's a more recent one from UC Berkeley called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.danielledai.com/academic/dai-weinzimmer-shuttles.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Riding First Class: Impacts of Silicon Valley Shuttles on Commute & Residential Location Choice\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latter asked and answered the question: \"Does the provision of shuttles and knowledge of shuttle stop locations influence commute mode and residential location choice? In short – yes.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The data show that nearly half of current shuttle riders would drive alone if the shuttles were not provided, supporting the positive impacts of the shuttles provided, on environmental and congestion reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, since 20% say they would use public transit were the\u003cbr>\nshuttles not available, the shuttles do have an impact on public transit ridership and finances. With regards to residential choices, the data indicate that many are choosing to live farther away from their workplace than they otherwise would. Additionally, 22% of shuttle riders have already moved farther from their jobs since accepting their offer, suggesting that shuttles enable some commuters to live in San Francisco who would otherwise live closer to work.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate continues ...\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Today on Bay Area Bus Wars ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_125276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-125276\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/genentech-bus-e1391616229791.jpg\" alt=\"genentech bus\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Lancour/KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That's the Genentech bus, transporting passengers through the Marina this morning on its way to the company's South San Francisco office. The idea presumably being that the message \"This bus removes 120 cars from your commute everyday\" will make drivers stuck behind the lumbering vehicle think it's a small price to pay for fighting climate change -- although, as pointed out by the \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/02/05/new-genentech-bus-ads-removes-120-cars-every-day-2/\" target=\"_blank\">Chronicle\u003c/a> today, \u003ca href=\"http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/everyday-vs-every-day/\" target=\"_blank\">\"Everyday\" should be \"every day.\"\u003c/a> So, for every two protesters that sentiment removes from the streets, one livid English teacher will emerge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Genentech spokesperson told the Chron that the new slogan, which started appearing in December, isn't a response to the multiple \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/google-buses/\" target=\"_blank\">Bay Area protests against the Google bus\u003c/a>, which has become a symbol of privilege in a time when many blame the influx of new tech workers for evictions and high housing prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some, of course, have made the very argument that the new Genentech slogan does: The buses are a great idea environmentally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago, local author Rebecca Solnit wrote one of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n03/rebecca-solnit/diary\" target=\"_blank\">seminal broadsides\u003c/a> against the buses in the \"London Review of Books.\" As News Fix's Dan Brekke \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/07/good-read/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote last month\u003c/a>...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Solnit’s piece was a sort of declaration that the buses are a key part of the engine remaking the city in a particularly unfriendly way for anyone not employed with the technology industry or engaged in some other lucrative enterprise. “Most of them are gleaming white,” she wrote in opening the essay, “with dark-tinted windows, like limousines, and some days I think of them as the spaceships on which our alien overlords have landed to rule over us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In response, Ben Adler of Grist, an environmentalist news site, \u003ca href=\"http://grist.org/cities/hey-protester-leave-those-google-buses-alone/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote a critique\u003c/a> of that line of argument ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Solnit’s complaint that Google thinks its employees are too important to “drive themselves” is backward and nonsensical. Driving in one’s own private car is far more elitist than sharing a bus with one’s coworkers. It is also vastly worse for the environment. The buses take cars off the road. Fewer cars mean less traffic, and less idling in traffic, which is especially polluting.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Solnit hit back last month with another essay, called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/rebecca-solnit-resisting-monoculture/\" target=\"_blank\">Resisting Monoculture\u003c/a>,\" in the magazine \"Guernica.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Most people (including Adler at one point in his all-over-the-place piece) wonder why people who work 40 miles away should travel those 80 miles daily down and back one of the more congested freeways around. The buses encourage them to pursue this geographical ridiculousness. And thus come the well-paid engineers to San Francisco, and thus go the longtime activists, idealists, artists, teachers, plumbers, all the less-well-paid people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, perhaps, any ride-sharing program may seem green and community-building, but the effects of the Google bus on the ecosystem of San Francisco are complicated. One of the organizers of the Google bus blockade last month just wrote me, in response to Adler’s piece, “The idea that all of the techies would choose to live in SF and drive to Silicon Valley if not for the buses is a total exaggeration. Half the techies surveyed by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency said they wouldn’t drive by themselves (only 3% would carpool) & 31% said they wouldn’t be able to make the trip at all according to info I found in SFMTA’s Private Commuter Shuttles Policy Draft Proposal. The proposal also notes the ‘Google’ buses’ average dwell time (at bus stops) is 3x that of the Muni.” So the buses aren’t creating greener transit for people who’d live here anyway. They’re also enabling long-distance commuters who wouldn’t live here otherwise.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The controversy is so intense that master's candidates have been doing their theses on it. Here's one from a UC Berkeley student called \"\u003ca href=\"http://svenworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goldman_PRFinal.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Francisco's Dotcom Boom 2.0\u003c/a>.\" And here's a more recent one from UC Berkeley called \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.danielledai.com/academic/dai-weinzimmer-shuttles.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Riding First Class: Impacts of Silicon Valley Shuttles on Commute & Residential Location Choice\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latter asked and answered the question: \"Does the provision of shuttles and knowledge of shuttle stop locations influence commute mode and residential location choice? In short – yes.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The data show that nearly half of current shuttle riders would drive alone if the shuttles were not provided, supporting the positive impacts of the shuttles provided, on environmental and congestion reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, since 20% say they would use public transit were the\u003cbr>\nshuttles not available, the shuttles do have an impact on public transit ridership and finances. With regards to residential choices, the data indicate that many are choosing to live farther away from their workplace than they otherwise would. Additionally, 22% of shuttle riders have already moved farther from their jobs since accepting their offer, suggesting that shuttles enable some commuters to live in San Francisco who would otherwise live closer to work.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate continues ...\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "All-Cash Buyers Scoop Up Bay Area Real Estate",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124461\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS612_foreclosure20120511-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-124461\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS612_foreclosure20120511-lpr-640x418.jpg\" alt=\"Homes in Richmond, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"418\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes in Richmond, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Here's some quantifiable proof of how the Bay Area housing market is squeezing out the little guy: The percentage of homes going to all-cash buyers soared from 14 percent to 27 percent over the course of last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national numbers are even more dramatic. All-cash buyers were snapping up 18 percent of American homes at the end of 2012; by the end of 2013 they were buying more than 42 percent of them. (Note: All-cash buyers are those who can make the purchase without taking out any loans, not necessarily those who offer up a briefcase full of Benjamins.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daren Blomquist is a vice president at \u003ca href=\"http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/short-sales-and-foreclosure-sales-combined-accounted-for-16-percent-of-us-residential-sales-in-2013-7967?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreclosure-market-report-rss-feed+%28RealtyTrac+Foreclosure+Market+Report%29\">RealtyTrac\u003c/a>, the company that monitored and reported these numbers. He explains that all-cash buyers in the Bay Area are typically investors looking to flip houses for quick profits as home values spiral upward. In other areas of the country, where homes cost less, large investment funds also get into the action, buying houses for cash and aiming to rent them out for five years or so, then sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where does that leave a regular first-time homebuyer? \"Out in the cold, to a certain extent,\" says Blomquist. \"Given a situation where there’s multpile offers on the same property and one of them is an all-cash offer, that’s usually going to go to the top of the list.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a look at how all-cash buying spiked in the Bay Area over the course of the year:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?containerId=googft-gviz-canvas&q=select+col0%2C+col2+from+1OmifHyN8MftoSXG1ITBJteF_0LKTI1znryoWYck+order+by+col0+asc+limit+10&viz=GVIZ&t=COLUMN&uiversion=2&gco_forceIFrame=true&gco_hasLabelsColumn=true&att=true&width=640&height=285\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"640\" height=\"300\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blomquist says the spike clearly correlates to the moment last summer when interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages started ticking up. \"Some people who were relying on financing were priced out of the San Francisco market when interest rates went up, so that gave even more advantage to cash buyers in the market,\" he explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silver lining: At least California was spared from being one of the states where \u003cem>more than half\u003c/em> of home sales went to all-cash buyers in December. Those were: Florida (62.5 percent), Wisconsin (59.8 percent), Alabama (55.7 percent), South Carolina (51.3 percent) and Georgia (51.3 percent).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will it take for this trend to turn around? Frankly, Blomquist says, the market will have to calm down. When home prices stop surging so rapidly and start keeping more in sync with incomes -- as they're showing some early signs of doing -- then regular buyers can get back in the running.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124461\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS612_foreclosure20120511-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-124461\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS612_foreclosure20120511-lpr-640x418.jpg\" alt=\"Homes in Richmond, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"418\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes in Richmond, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Here's some quantifiable proof of how the Bay Area housing market is squeezing out the little guy: The percentage of homes going to all-cash buyers soared from 14 percent to 27 percent over the course of last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national numbers are even more dramatic. All-cash buyers were snapping up 18 percent of American homes at the end of 2012; by the end of 2013 they were buying more than 42 percent of them. (Note: All-cash buyers are those who can make the purchase without taking out any loans, not necessarily those who offer up a briefcase full of Benjamins.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daren Blomquist is a vice president at \u003ca href=\"http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/short-sales-and-foreclosure-sales-combined-accounted-for-16-percent-of-us-residential-sales-in-2013-7967?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreclosure-market-report-rss-feed+%28RealtyTrac+Foreclosure+Market+Report%29\">RealtyTrac\u003c/a>, the company that monitored and reported these numbers. He explains that all-cash buyers in the Bay Area are typically investors looking to flip houses for quick profits as home values spiral upward. In other areas of the country, where homes cost less, large investment funds also get into the action, buying houses for cash and aiming to rent them out for five years or so, then sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where does that leave a regular first-time homebuyer? \"Out in the cold, to a certain extent,\" says Blomquist. \"Given a situation where there’s multpile offers on the same property and one of them is an all-cash offer, that’s usually going to go to the top of the list.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a look at how all-cash buying spiked in the Bay Area over the course of the year:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?containerId=googft-gviz-canvas&q=select+col0%2C+col2+from+1OmifHyN8MftoSXG1ITBJteF_0LKTI1znryoWYck+order+by+col0+asc+limit+10&viz=GVIZ&t=COLUMN&uiversion=2&gco_forceIFrame=true&gco_hasLabelsColumn=true&att=true&width=640&height=285\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"640\" height=\"300\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blomquist says the spike clearly correlates to the moment last summer when interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages started ticking up. \"Some people who were relying on financing were priced out of the San Francisco market when interest rates went up, so that gave even more advantage to cash buyers in the market,\" he explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silver lining: At least California was spared from being one of the states where \u003cem>more than half\u003c/em> of home sales went to all-cash buyers in December. Those were: Florida (62.5 percent), Wisconsin (59.8 percent), Alabama (55.7 percent), South Carolina (51.3 percent) and Georgia (51.3 percent).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will it take for this trend to turn around? Frankly, Blomquist says, the market will have to calm down. When home prices stop surging so rapidly and start keeping more in sync with incomes -- as they're showing some early signs of doing -- then regular buyers can get back in the running.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "yet-another-protest-against-tech-buses-in-san-francisco",
"title": "Yet Another Protest Against Tech Buses as San Francisco Adopts Shuttle Plan",
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"headTitle": "Yet Another Protest Against Tech Buses as San Francisco Adopts Shuttle Plan | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120270\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/11293201603_070575a91a_o-e1386615496451.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-120270\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/11293201603_070575a91a_o-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"In a December protest, activists surround a Google bus at 24th and Valencia streets Monday in protest aimed at evictions and displacement in San Francisco's Mission District. (Steve Rhodes via Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a December protest, activists surround a Google bus at 24th and Valencia streets Monday in protest aimed at evictions and displacement in San Francisco’s Mission District. (Steve Rhodes via Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 4:25 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors has just approved \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\" target=\"_blank\">a pilot program\u003c/a> to begin regulating employee shuttles in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal was passed by a unanimous voice vote that came after two hours of sometimes angry public comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing took place after anti-displacement protesters held another in a series of protests against the buses, which are used by Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech firms to transport workers to the South Bay. In today’s action, marchers blocked buses reportedly headed for Google and Facebook at 8th and Market Streets for about 30 minutes during the morning rush hour. The activists, who are demanding the city take action to slow the pace of evictions and limit rent increases, then marched to the San Francisco Association of Realtors before holding a rally at City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA’s pilot program would cover shuttles for UCSF and other colleges in the city as well as bus services operated on behalf of large office buildings and the Silicon Valley technology companies. If approved, the SFMTA proposal would:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Require shuttle operators — both bus firms and companies that set up shuttles for workers — to get permits to operate in San Francisco.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Designate 200 stops for shuttle use, many of which are Muni bus stops.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impose rules to prevent shuttles from blocking Muni vehicles or other traffic.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Charge buses $1 for every stop they make. SFMTA planners say that will raise $1.5 million over the life of the 18-month pilot and defray the program ‘s costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA board heard about two hours of public comment on the proposal. On the anti-side, residents and activists said the $1 per stop price was too low, that the buses are out of control on the streets, that they pose a danger to pedestrians and cyclists, and that they’re helping fuel the displacement of tenants unable to pay rents driven upward by the influx of highly paid tech workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nothing’s going to change until people rise up and do something, and stopping these buses would be a step in the right direction,” one speaker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other side, several tech company and bus service employees said they supported both the shuttles and the pilot program. They said the buses reduce car trips, cut pollution and provide economic benefits to the city both by fostering the current tech boom and by encouraging those who commute to Silicon Valley via bus to spend more in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A speaker who identified herself as Krista Jones, an employee of bus service Bauer’s Transportation, said activists were indulging in “misplaced hostility” by blaming the buses for the city’s housing and displacement issues. “Wake the hell up to what’s really going on,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Mina Kim talks with News Fix editor Dan Brekke about the details of the pilot program:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/130737142&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board meeting has started. On the agenda: \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\" target=\"_blank\">a pilot program under which shuttle operators would pay for using city-owned and -maintained stops\u003c/a>. (Before that item came up, the MTA board heard public comments calling on the agency to do something to respond to a rising number of pedestrians being struck and killed by cars in the city.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News reporter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter\">Alex Emslie\u003c/a> is at the meeting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFMTA&src=hash\">#SFMTA\u003c/a> Mtng on \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23techshuttle&src=hash\">#techshuttle\u003c/a> regulations getting underway … packed room. Just avoided getting kicked out. \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/Q0xscmFHUL\">pic.twitter.com/Q0xscmFHUL\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Alex Emslie (@SFNewsReporter) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter/statuses/425740190708006912\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>At least 27 speakers waiting to sound off to \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFMTA&src=hash\">#SFMTA\u003c/a> board abt \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23techshuttle&src=hash\">#techshuttle\u003c/a> regulation… next item after director’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Alex Emslie (@SFNewsReporter) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter/statuses/425743732051169280\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Noon\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bay City News\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Solnit, a local author and historian who has written extensively about the impact of tech workers moving into San Francisco, said today’s protest is about fighting for the “San Francisco dream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the dream that you can be idealistic, that you can lead a really meaningful life … that you can live in a city that has room for everyone,” she told the crowd gathered at City Hall this morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the reason a lot of us were out there blockading this morning is that we’re looking at a city that could become homogeneous, that could become a very dense suburb … as it becomes a bedroom community for the Silicon Valley,” Solnit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 10:30 a.m.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bay City News \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of several dozen protesters briefly blocked two tech buses at Market and Eighth streets in San Francisco this morning. As of 10 a.m., the buses had been allowed to leave and the protesters had marched up Market Street to the offices of the San Francisco Association of Realtors at Grove and Franklin streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is ground zero for the battle of renters in San Francisco,” a woman yelled through a bullhorn while gesturing at the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other protesters played musical instruments including drums, a saxophone, a trombone and a clarinet. The crowd chanted, “What do we want? Stop the evictions!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernal Heights resident Amanda Ream, 38, said she is participating in today’s protest because she wants San Francisco to “maintain the diversity and culture that I love about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protester Barry Hermanson, 62, a homeowner in the Sunset District, said, “The eviction crisis is out of hand…The gentrification in this city is incredible.” Hermanson said he is running for Congress, in part because he says he is concerned about a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group protested outside the Realtors’ office for about 10 minutes before heading back toward Civic Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>***\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Picking up with our original post:] \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nReports via Twitter showed dozens of protesters stopped two buses at 8th and Market streets. It’s unknown right now which tech companies are connected to the vehicles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>Protesters against the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/google\">@google\u003c/a> bus are at 8th and market. Lots of backed up traffic. Police just arrived \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23googlebus&src=hash\">#googlebus\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/tMHg6EMnTp\">pic.twitter.com/tMHg6EMnTp\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Kyle Wong (@kwong47) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kwong47/statuses/425683423215120385\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>RT \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kurtisalexander\">@kurtisalexander\u003c/a>: Exchange between police and tech protesters in downtown S.F. getting testy. \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GoogleBus&src=hash\">#GoogleBus\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/We5osJRUx1\">pic.twitter.com/We5osJRUx1\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— SFGate.com (@SFGate) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFGate/statuses/425682837258268673\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a press release from the anti-eviction/anti-displacement group that organized this morning’s protest:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Subject: Embargoed Press Release: Anti-Displacement Action Against the Relationship of Tech, Real Estate Speculation, and City Politics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Embargoed Press Release (keep embargo until 9am PST on 1/21/14).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Press Contacts:\u003cbr>\nRebecca Gourevitch (650)248-1295\u003cbr>\nRoberto Hernandez (415)206-0577\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What: \u003c/strong>Anti-Displacement Action Against the Impacts of the Tech Boom, Real Estate Speculation and City Politics\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where:\u003c/strong> Beginning at UN Plaza, marching to three locations\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When:\u003c/strong> 8:30am, Tuesday 1/21/14. We will conclude by 11am. Some of us will reconvene at City Hall at 1pm for the SFMTA Hearing on the Tech Bus Pilot Program\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday 1/21/14 at 8:30am, a group of activists, organizers, and community members will join together at UN Plaza to protest the augmenting levels of displacement shattering the heart of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three target locations will highlight what we see as the main causal relationship of displacement in San Francisco: real estate speculators and investors are capitalizing on the tech class that big tech corporations are inputting into the city. The city gives the tech industry major incentives to move in, be they tax breaks or practically free use of public bus stops and other infrastructure. Real estate speculators take advantage of this, abusing state laws such as the Ellis Act to displace longtime residents, disproportionately those who are elderly, disabled, and/or in other ways marginalized. This industry too has long had its hands in the pockets of politicians. The collusion between tech, real estate, and city/state politics is responsible for the unprecedented levels of displacement. Ellis Act evictions have gone up 170% over the last 12 months; no-fault evictions are up 83% over the last three years. Rents are up 20% along tech bus routes, and evictions have skyrocketed in SOMA directly correlating to Twitter settling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We will march to three locations and will have speakers at each one, including community leaders, writers, and tenants who are being displaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We will reconvene at City Hall at 1pm for the SFMTA Board meeting on the $1/bus stop proposal. We maintain that $1 doesn’t stop displacement.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n",
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"title": "Yet Another Protest Against Tech Buses as San Francisco Adopts Shuttle Plan | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120270\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/11293201603_070575a91a_o-e1386615496451.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-120270\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/11293201603_070575a91a_o-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"In a December protest, activists surround a Google bus at 24th and Valencia streets Monday in protest aimed at evictions and displacement in San Francisco's Mission District. (Steve Rhodes via Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a December protest, activists surround a Google bus at 24th and Valencia streets Monday in protest aimed at evictions and displacement in San Francisco’s Mission District. (Steve Rhodes via Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 4:25 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors has just approved \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\" target=\"_blank\">a pilot program\u003c/a> to begin regulating employee shuttles in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal was passed by a unanimous voice vote that came after two hours of sometimes angry public comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing took place after anti-displacement protesters held another in a series of protests against the buses, which are used by Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech firms to transport workers to the South Bay. In today’s action, marchers blocked buses reportedly headed for Google and Facebook at 8th and Market Streets for about 30 minutes during the morning rush hour. The activists, who are demanding the city take action to slow the pace of evictions and limit rent increases, then marched to the San Francisco Association of Realtors before holding a rally at City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA’s pilot program would cover shuttles for UCSF and other colleges in the city as well as bus services operated on behalf of large office buildings and the Silicon Valley technology companies. If approved, the SFMTA proposal would:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Require shuttle operators — both bus firms and companies that set up shuttles for workers — to get permits to operate in San Francisco.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Designate 200 stops for shuttle use, many of which are Muni bus stops.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Impose rules to prevent shuttles from blocking Muni vehicles or other traffic.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Charge buses $1 for every stop they make. SFMTA planners say that will raise $1.5 million over the life of the 18-month pilot and defray the program ‘s costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA board heard about two hours of public comment on the proposal. On the anti-side, residents and activists said the $1 per stop price was too low, that the buses are out of control on the streets, that they pose a danger to pedestrians and cyclists, and that they’re helping fuel the displacement of tenants unable to pay rents driven upward by the influx of highly paid tech workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nothing’s going to change until people rise up and do something, and stopping these buses would be a step in the right direction,” one speaker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other side, several tech company and bus service employees said they supported both the shuttles and the pilot program. They said the buses reduce car trips, cut pollution and provide economic benefits to the city both by fostering the current tech boom and by encouraging those who commute to Silicon Valley via bus to spend more in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A speaker who identified herself as Krista Jones, an employee of bus service Bauer’s Transportation, said activists were indulging in “misplaced hostility” by blaming the buses for the city’s housing and displacement issues. “Wake the hell up to what’s really going on,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Mina Kim talks with News Fix editor Dan Brekke about the details of the pilot program:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/130737142&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2 p.m.:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board meeting has started. On the agenda: \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\" target=\"_blank\">a pilot program under which shuttle operators would pay for using city-owned and -maintained stops\u003c/a>. (Before that item came up, the MTA board heard public comments calling on the agency to do something to respond to a rising number of pedestrians being struck and killed by cars in the city.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News reporter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter\">Alex Emslie\u003c/a> is at the meeting:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFMTA&src=hash\">#SFMTA\u003c/a> Mtng on \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23techshuttle&src=hash\">#techshuttle\u003c/a> regulations getting underway … packed room. Just avoided getting kicked out. \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/Q0xscmFHUL\">pic.twitter.com/Q0xscmFHUL\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Alex Emslie (@SFNewsReporter) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter/statuses/425740190708006912\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>At least 27 speakers waiting to sound off to \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SFMTA&src=hash\">#SFMTA\u003c/a> board abt \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23techshuttle&src=hash\">#techshuttle\u003c/a> regulation… next item after director’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Alex Emslie (@SFNewsReporter) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFNewsReporter/statuses/425743732051169280\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Noon\u003c/strong>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bay City News\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Solnit, a local author and historian who has written extensively about the impact of tech workers moving into San Francisco, said today’s protest is about fighting for the “San Francisco dream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the dream that you can be idealistic, that you can lead a really meaningful life … that you can live in a city that has room for everyone,” she told the crowd gathered at City Hall this morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the reason a lot of us were out there blockading this morning is that we’re looking at a city that could become homogeneous, that could become a very dense suburb … as it becomes a bedroom community for the Silicon Valley,” Solnit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 10:30 a.m.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bay City News \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of several dozen protesters briefly blocked two tech buses at Market and Eighth streets in San Francisco this morning. As of 10 a.m., the buses had been allowed to leave and the protesters had marched up Market Street to the offices of the San Francisco Association of Realtors at Grove and Franklin streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is ground zero for the battle of renters in San Francisco,” a woman yelled through a bullhorn while gesturing at the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other protesters played musical instruments including drums, a saxophone, a trombone and a clarinet. The crowd chanted, “What do we want? Stop the evictions!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernal Heights resident Amanda Ream, 38, said she is participating in today’s protest because she wants San Francisco to “maintain the diversity and culture that I love about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protester Barry Hermanson, 62, a homeowner in the Sunset District, said, “The eviction crisis is out of hand…The gentrification in this city is incredible.” Hermanson said he is running for Congress, in part because he says he is concerned about a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group protested outside the Realtors’ office for about 10 minutes before heading back toward Civic Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>***\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Picking up with our original post:] \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nReports via Twitter showed dozens of protesters stopped two buses at 8th and Market streets. It’s unknown right now which tech companies are connected to the vehicles:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>Protesters against the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/google\">@google\u003c/a> bus are at 8th and market. Lots of backed up traffic. Police just arrived \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23googlebus&src=hash\">#googlebus\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/tMHg6EMnTp\">pic.twitter.com/tMHg6EMnTp\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Kyle Wong (@kwong47) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kwong47/statuses/425683423215120385\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\u003cp>RT \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kurtisalexander\">@kurtisalexander\u003c/a>: Exchange between police and tech protesters in downtown S.F. getting testy. \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GoogleBus&src=hash\">#GoogleBus\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://t.co/We5osJRUx1\">pic.twitter.com/We5osJRUx1\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— SFGate.com (@SFGate) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SFGate/statuses/425682837258268673\">January 21, 2014\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a press release from the anti-eviction/anti-displacement group that organized this morning’s protest:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Subject: Embargoed Press Release: Anti-Displacement Action Against the Relationship of Tech, Real Estate Speculation, and City Politics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Embargoed Press Release (keep embargo until 9am PST on 1/21/14).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Press Contacts:\u003cbr>\nRebecca Gourevitch (650)248-1295\u003cbr>\nRoberto Hernandez (415)206-0577\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What: \u003c/strong>Anti-Displacement Action Against the Impacts of the Tech Boom, Real Estate Speculation and City Politics\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where:\u003c/strong> Beginning at UN Plaza, marching to three locations\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When:\u003c/strong> 8:30am, Tuesday 1/21/14. We will conclude by 11am. Some of us will reconvene at City Hall at 1pm for the SFMTA Hearing on the Tech Bus Pilot Program\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday 1/21/14 at 8:30am, a group of activists, organizers, and community members will join together at UN Plaza to protest the augmenting levels of displacement shattering the heart of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three target locations will highlight what we see as the main causal relationship of displacement in San Francisco: real estate speculators and investors are capitalizing on the tech class that big tech corporations are inputting into the city. The city gives the tech industry major incentives to move in, be they tax breaks or practically free use of public bus stops and other infrastructure. Real estate speculators take advantage of this, abusing state laws such as the Ellis Act to displace longtime residents, disproportionately those who are elderly, disabled, and/or in other ways marginalized. This industry too has long had its hands in the pockets of politicians. The collusion between tech, real estate, and city/state politics is responsible for the unprecedented levels of displacement. Ellis Act evictions have gone up 170% over the last 12 months; no-fault evictions are up 83% over the last three years. Rents are up 20% along tech bus routes, and evictions have skyrocketed in SOMA directly correlating to Twitter settling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We will march to three locations and will have speakers at each one, including community leaders, writers, and tenants who are being displaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We will reconvene at City Hall at 1pm for the SFMTA Board meeting on the $1/bus stop proposal. We maintain that $1 doesn’t stop displacement.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-twitters-neighbor-the-tenderloin-resists-an-upgrade",
"title": "How Twitter's Neighbor, the Tenderloin, Resists an Upgrade",
"publishDate": 1390316419,
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"headTitle": "How Twitter’s Neighbor, the Tenderloin, Resists an Upgrade | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/NE6PpolDjvQ?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Spencer Michels\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>an Francisco’s seamy underbelly, the Tenderloin, sits in the heart of the city, flanked by glitzy Union Square hotels and the gleaming, gold-ornamented dome of City Hall. Though just steps away from Twitter’s new headquarters on Market Street, its dirty, crime-ridden 40 square blocks can feel like a world away from affluent San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 28,000 people call the Tenderloin home. Many are homeless, and dealing with mental illness or drug addiction. Some have criminal records or work in prostitution. Others are new immigrants, working to find their place in a new country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To outsiders, it’s long been curious why such prime real estate is largely left alone in a city facing a massive housing shortage. Gary Kamiya, author of “Cool Gray City of Love,” has\u003cstrong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/arise-tenderloin\">written extensively\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> about why he believes the city and the nonprofits that serve the Tenderloin are not improving the neighborhood’s blighted state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123694\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/15/123502/san-francisco-tenderloin-resists-change/rs549_104161743-scr-3/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-123694\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-123694 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2078/01/RS549_104161743-scr-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Volunteers prepare meals at St. Anthony's dining hall in the Tenderloin. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers prepare about 2,500 meals a day at St. Anthony’s Dining Room in the Tenderloin. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What the nonprofits want to do is maintain their stake here,” Kamiya told me during a “KQED Newsroom” interview. “This is where they have their structures. They’re being part of the solution, but ironically they are also part of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocates argue that conditions are gradually improving in the Tenderloin, but that the neighborhood should continue to serve low-income residents. Redeveloping it would leave thousands of low-income families unable to afford to live in San Francisco, they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Buildings are in better condition than ever before,” says Randy Shaw, director of the \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thclinic.org/\">Tenderloin Housing Clinic\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a nonprofit that operates housing in the neighborhood. “It’s become San Francisco’s last working-class neighborhood, and the last it will ever have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City’s Role\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And why don’t lawmakers step in to clean up the place? This could be one reason:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1940s, the city decided to redevelop another “troubled” section of town – \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/kqed/fillmore/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Fillmore\u003c/a>. Thousands of businesses were forced to close as the city pushed through urban development plans. More than 800 Victorian homes were demolished to make way for new housing and retail – built quickly and cheaply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without access to goods, services or jobs, many African American families left the neighborhood, and never returned. It is an urban redevelopment horror story that still haunts the city’s psyche, leaving lawmakers reluctant to stir the pot in the Tenderloin. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Housing advocates say redeveloping it would leave thousands of low-income families unable to afford to live in the city. \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The city is very loath to step in and say, ‘Let’s sweep all this away. Let’s move it somewhere else,’” says Kamiya. “To simply take an undesirable population and go warehouse them someplace, it’s extremely problematic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>Is Change Inevitable?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While cities like London, New York and San Diego have been quick to redevelop similar neighborhoods, the Tenderloin has so far resisted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land-use protections, rent controls, zoning protections and a unique housing stock that has no single-family homes make it almost impossible to redevelop, says Shaw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhood has about 100 single-room-cccupancy hotels – known as SROs – that house many of the city’s poor and disabled residents. These units in particular are shielded from being replaced with upscale apartments, as has happened in other neighborhoods like the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the legal protections, longtime resident Judy Young eyes the new high-tech neighbors with suspicion. She wonders if a day might come when the Tenderloin becomes out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families do live here because it is one of the most affordable places in the city,” she says. “If you can find a studio or one bedroom here for $1,200, that’s pretty affordable compared to other places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is an understatement, as a recent city\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/12/03/247531636/as-rent-soars-longtime-san-francisco-tenants-fight-to-stay\"> report\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> found that the median rent in San Francisco has reached $3,400 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Spencer Michels reported on this story for “KQED Newsroom,” which is a weekly news magazine program on television, radio and online. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, listen on Sundays at 6 p.m. on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM and watch on demand \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Olivia Hubert-Allen contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/NE6PpolDjvQ?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Spencer Michels\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>an Francisco’s seamy underbelly, the Tenderloin, sits in the heart of the city, flanked by glitzy Union Square hotels and the gleaming, gold-ornamented dome of City Hall. Though just steps away from Twitter’s new headquarters on Market Street, its dirty, crime-ridden 40 square blocks can feel like a world away from affluent San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 28,000 people call the Tenderloin home. Many are homeless, and dealing with mental illness or drug addiction. Some have criminal records or work in prostitution. Others are new immigrants, working to find their place in a new country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To outsiders, it’s long been curious why such prime real estate is largely left alone in a city facing a massive housing shortage. Gary Kamiya, author of “Cool Gray City of Love,” has\u003cstrong> \u003ca href=\"http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/arise-tenderloin\">written extensively\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> about why he believes the city and the nonprofits that serve the Tenderloin are not improving the neighborhood’s blighted state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123694\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/15/123502/san-francisco-tenderloin-resists-change/rs549_104161743-scr-3/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-123694\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-123694 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2078/01/RS549_104161743-scr-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Volunteers prepare meals at St. Anthony's dining hall in the Tenderloin. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers prepare about 2,500 meals a day at St. Anthony’s Dining Room in the Tenderloin. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What the nonprofits want to do is maintain their stake here,” Kamiya told me during a “KQED Newsroom” interview. “This is where they have their structures. They’re being part of the solution, but ironically they are also part of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocates argue that conditions are gradually improving in the Tenderloin, but that the neighborhood should continue to serve low-income residents. Redeveloping it would leave thousands of low-income families unable to afford to live in San Francisco, they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Buildings are in better condition than ever before,” says Randy Shaw, director of the \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thclinic.org/\">Tenderloin Housing Clinic\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a nonprofit that operates housing in the neighborhood. “It’s become San Francisco’s last working-class neighborhood, and the last it will ever have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City’s Role\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And why don’t lawmakers step in to clean up the place? This could be one reason:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1940s, the city decided to redevelop another “troubled” section of town – \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/kqed/fillmore/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Fillmore\u003c/a>. Thousands of businesses were forced to close as the city pushed through urban development plans. More than 800 Victorian homes were demolished to make way for new housing and retail – built quickly and cheaply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without access to goods, services or jobs, many African American families left the neighborhood, and never returned. It is an urban redevelopment horror story that still haunts the city’s psyche, leaving lawmakers reluctant to stir the pot in the Tenderloin. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Housing advocates say redeveloping it would leave thousands of low-income families unable to afford to live in the city. \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The city is very loath to step in and say, ‘Let’s sweep all this away. Let’s move it somewhere else,’” says Kamiya. “To simply take an undesirable population and go warehouse them someplace, it’s extremely problematic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>Is Change Inevitable?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While cities like London, New York and San Diego have been quick to redevelop similar neighborhoods, the Tenderloin has so far resisted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land-use protections, rent controls, zoning protections and a unique housing stock that has no single-family homes make it almost impossible to redevelop, says Shaw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhood has about 100 single-room-cccupancy hotels – known as SROs – that house many of the city’s poor and disabled residents. These units in particular are shielded from being replaced with upscale apartments, as has happened in other neighborhoods like the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the legal protections, longtime resident Judy Young eyes the new high-tech neighbors with suspicion. She wonders if a day might come when the Tenderloin becomes out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families do live here because it is one of the most affordable places in the city,” she says. “If you can find a studio or one bedroom here for $1,200, that’s pretty affordable compared to other places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is an understatement, as a recent city\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/12/03/247531636/as-rent-soars-longtime-san-francisco-tenants-fight-to-stay\"> report\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> found that the median rent in San Francisco has reached $3,400 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Spencer Michels reported on this story for “KQED Newsroom,” which is a weekly news magazine program on television, radio and online. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, listen on Sundays at 6 p.m. on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM and watch on demand \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/newsroom/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Olivia Hubert-Allen contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8142_006-hpf.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-123595\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8142_006-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Protesters marched down Mission Street protesting a rise in evictions. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters marched down Mission Street protesting a rise in evictions. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED) \u003ccite>((Deborah Svoboda/KQED))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Josh Wolf, \u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-01/new-responses-to-city-housing-crisis-include-eviction-protections-construction-incentives\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Eric Mar says he has a plan to help tenants by clamping down on real estate speculation in today’s hyperinflated housing market. But his idea might have an unintended consequence: raising the entry price for one of San Francisco’s least expensive home-ownership opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday Mar proposed preventing tenant evictions by property owners who sell multifamily buildings as separate units within a jointly owned building. This would apply only in some tenancies in common, in which home owners technically share a mortgage, though each receives a separate bill for a portion of the loan. This is distinct from traditional condominiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Greedy speculators are reaping millions of dollars,” Mar said. “The city does not even measure or track these types of conversions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/SFPubPress-logo.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-123589\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/SFPubPress-logo.jpg\" alt=\"SFPubPress-logo\" width=\"378\" height=\"146\">\u003c/a>Under Mar’s proposal, the sale of homes under these types of mortgages, which are known as “fractics,” would need to be approved by the city and be subject to other development fees. The houses would need to be brought up to current code before they can be sold, Mar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the added fees and regulations — intended to stifle speculation — would inevitably drive up the cost for such units, which tend to be among the more affordable options for prospective homeowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I support home ownership, and want to ensure that there will continue to be housing,” Mar said. “We think it will begin to bring a balance to this unregulated market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mar’s legislation is the latest in a series of attempts to reduce displacement and increase housing opportunities in San Francisco. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Supervisor David Campos called on Mayor Ed Lee to join him in writing legislation to regulate “buyouts” of tenants. The cash incentives are routinely offered by property owners as a way to get them to agree to leave without invoking the Ellis Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Scott Weiner unveiled a separate plan to encourage developers to build more affordable units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where Does Ed Lee Stand?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee, who decades ago worked as a tenant-rights lawyer, said he supported the idea of regulating tenant buyouts. But he pointed out that courts have struck down three previous attempts by the Board of Supervisors to limit them. “Tenants who accept buyouts often do so with the looming threat of an Ellis Act eviction,” Lee said. He added the city had a very limited supply of affordable housing. “Your buyout money will be gone before you know it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effects of displacement through the Ellis Act are aggravated by the lack of affordable housing being built, Weiner said, despite the accelerated growth of new construction. Weiner’s proposal could change that dynamic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers frequently choose to pay a fee to help finance affordable housing elsewhere, rather than set aside units on site for people who could not otherwise afford to live there. As a result, the city has more money allocated for affordable housing than is being built. Under Weiner’s plan, developers would be rewarded for building more affordable units than the 12 percent required to avoid the fees. He would allow developers to exceed normal housing density limits when at least 20 percent of units are affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that we can all agree on is that we have a housing crisis — and particularly a housing affordability crisis,” he said. “Creating more affordable housing is one of the key things we need to do to address this crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday at 1 p.m. Mar plans to participate in a “tenants’ convention” at the Park Branch Library, at 1833 Page St. A citywide convention will follow on Feb. 8 at 350 Rhode Island St., the headquarters of SEIU 1021. That event will also begin at 1 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See more at \u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-01/new-responses-to-city-housing-crisis-include-eviction-protections-construction-incentives#sthash.hIGzQB89.dpuf\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8142_006-hpf.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-123595\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8142_006-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Protesters marched down Mission Street protesting a rise in evictions. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters marched down Mission Street protesting a rise in evictions. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED) \u003ccite>((Deborah Svoboda/KQED))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Josh Wolf, \u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-01/new-responses-to-city-housing-crisis-include-eviction-protections-construction-incentives\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Eric Mar says he has a plan to help tenants by clamping down on real estate speculation in today’s hyperinflated housing market. But his idea might have an unintended consequence: raising the entry price for one of San Francisco’s least expensive home-ownership opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday Mar proposed preventing tenant evictions by property owners who sell multifamily buildings as separate units within a jointly owned building. This would apply only in some tenancies in common, in which home owners technically share a mortgage, though each receives a separate bill for a portion of the loan. This is distinct from traditional condominiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Greedy speculators are reaping millions of dollars,” Mar said. “The city does not even measure or track these types of conversions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/SFPubPress-logo.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-123589\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/SFPubPress-logo.jpg\" alt=\"SFPubPress-logo\" width=\"378\" height=\"146\">\u003c/a>Under Mar’s proposal, the sale of homes under these types of mortgages, which are known as “fractics,” would need to be approved by the city and be subject to other development fees. The houses would need to be brought up to current code before they can be sold, Mar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the added fees and regulations — intended to stifle speculation — would inevitably drive up the cost for such units, which tend to be among the more affordable options for prospective homeowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I support home ownership, and want to ensure that there will continue to be housing,” Mar said. “We think it will begin to bring a balance to this unregulated market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mar’s legislation is the latest in a series of attempts to reduce displacement and increase housing opportunities in San Francisco. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Supervisor David Campos called on Mayor Ed Lee to join him in writing legislation to regulate “buyouts” of tenants. The cash incentives are routinely offered by property owners as a way to get them to agree to leave without invoking the Ellis Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Scott Weiner unveiled a separate plan to encourage developers to build more affordable units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where Does Ed Lee Stand?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee, who decades ago worked as a tenant-rights lawyer, said he supported the idea of regulating tenant buyouts. But he pointed out that courts have struck down three previous attempts by the Board of Supervisors to limit them. “Tenants who accept buyouts often do so with the looming threat of an Ellis Act eviction,” Lee said. He added the city had a very limited supply of affordable housing. “Your buyout money will be gone before you know it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effects of displacement through the Ellis Act are aggravated by the lack of affordable housing being built, Weiner said, despite the accelerated growth of new construction. Weiner’s proposal could change that dynamic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers frequently choose to pay a fee to help finance affordable housing elsewhere, rather than set aside units on site for people who could not otherwise afford to live there. As a result, the city has more money allocated for affordable housing than is being built. Under Weiner’s plan, developers would be rewarded for building more affordable units than the 12 percent required to avoid the fees. He would allow developers to exceed normal housing density limits when at least 20 percent of units are affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that we can all agree on is that we have a housing crisis — and particularly a housing affordability crisis,” he said. “Creating more affordable housing is one of the key things we need to do to address this crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday at 1 p.m. Mar plans to participate in a “tenants’ convention” at the Park Branch Library, at 1833 Page St. A citywide convention will follow on Feb. 8 at 350 Rhode Island St., the headquarters of SEIU 1021. That event will also begin at 1 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See more at \u003ca href=\"http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2014-01/new-responses-to-city-housing-crisis-include-eviction-protections-construction-incentives#sthash.hIGzQB89.dpuf\">San Francisco Public Press\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/DURANT-VIEW-3.1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-123561\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/DURANT-VIEW-3.1-640x552.jpg\" alt=\"The Durant, as it would be viewed from Durant Avenue. (Johnson Lyman Architects)\" width=\"640\" height=\"552\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Durant, as it would be viewed from Durant Avenue. (Johnson Lyman Architects)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Emilie Raguso, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,400 housing units are currently in development in downtown Berkeley, with demolition preparations on one of the first big projects getting under way this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are eight projects, including a hotel, planned in the downtown core. Two more are planned just south of downtown, on Dwight Way, with another proposal on University Avenue just west of downtown that’s set to have its first public city review next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-demolition work on a former church-turned-office-space started this week, according to the Downtown Berkeley Association. CEO John Caner said that construction work on a new apartment complex at the site, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/tag/the-durant/\">The Durant\u003c/a>, with frontage on both Durant Avenue and Channing Way, should start several weeks from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123563\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/berk-dev-map.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-123563\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/berk-dev-map-300x300.png\" alt=\"More than 1,400 units are in the works for downtown. (Downtown Berkeley Association)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More than 1,400 units are in the works for downtown. (Downtown Berkeley Association)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Downtown Berkeley Association calculations, the new projects will bring at least 1,414 new units and more than 88,000 square feet of new retail space to the downtown area. Not included in those calculations is the project just beginning city review, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/11/19/the-overture-apartments-planned-on-university-ave/\">The Overture\u003c/a>, which would bring an additional 44 units and 4,151 square feet of retail and restaurant space to the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recently published association brochure described the growth as “explosive,” and described the population gains expected in the city as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Downtown Berkeley has nearly doubled in population since 2000 and now counts some 3,000 residents in its thirty block footprint,” according to the pamphlet. “The number of residents will nearly double again to 5,000 with over 1,400 new housing units slated for completion by 2018.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the boom signals a rebounding economy. The city has also taken steps to incentivize construction by \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/02/21/berkeley-aims-to-bolster-housing-fund-with-fee-discount/\">reducing associated fees\u003c/a> related to development within the city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics of the boom say Berkeley may face problems as a result of increased density, whether from greater traffic and parking headaches to more issues with noise. Some criticize projects aimed to house students, noting that the university itself should be taking steps to shelter its students, rather than placing the burden on the city and private developers. Many say the city needs more family-oriented housing, as well. The specter of steeper rents and a lack of affordable housing are also causing public concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year at about this time, Berkeleyside provided an overview of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/02/07/1000-apartments-planned-for-downtown-berkeley/\">1,000 units in development at that time\u003c/a>. Projections have grown since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/14/explosive-downtown-berkeley-housing-boom-underway/\" target=\"_blank\">details of the specific building projects\u003c/a> under way in Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News Associate \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a> is an independently owned news website based in Berkeley, Calif. \u003ca href=\"http://berkeleyside.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4851428a10883a05193b1dd6c&id=aad4b5ee64\">Click here\u003c/a> if you would you like to receive the latest Berkeley news in your inbox once a day for free with Berkeleyside's Daily Briefing email.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/DURANT-VIEW-3.1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-123561\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/DURANT-VIEW-3.1-640x552.jpg\" alt=\"The Durant, as it would be viewed from Durant Avenue. (Johnson Lyman Architects)\" width=\"640\" height=\"552\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Durant, as it would be viewed from Durant Avenue. (Johnson Lyman Architects)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Emilie Raguso, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,400 housing units are currently in development in downtown Berkeley, with demolition preparations on one of the first big projects getting under way this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are eight projects, including a hotel, planned in the downtown core. Two more are planned just south of downtown, on Dwight Way, with another proposal on University Avenue just west of downtown that’s set to have its first public city review next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-demolition work on a former church-turned-office-space started this week, according to the Downtown Berkeley Association. CEO John Caner said that construction work on a new apartment complex at the site, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/tag/the-durant/\">The Durant\u003c/a>, with frontage on both Durant Avenue and Channing Way, should start several weeks from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123563\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/berk-dev-map.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-123563\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/berk-dev-map-300x300.png\" alt=\"More than 1,400 units are in the works for downtown. (Downtown Berkeley Association)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More than 1,400 units are in the works for downtown. (Downtown Berkeley Association)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Downtown Berkeley Association calculations, the new projects will bring at least 1,414 new units and more than 88,000 square feet of new retail space to the downtown area. Not included in those calculations is the project just beginning city review, \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/11/19/the-overture-apartments-planned-on-university-ave/\">The Overture\u003c/a>, which would bring an additional 44 units and 4,151 square feet of retail and restaurant space to the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recently published association brochure described the growth as “explosive,” and described the population gains expected in the city as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Downtown Berkeley has nearly doubled in population since 2000 and now counts some 3,000 residents in its thirty block footprint,” according to the pamphlet. “The number of residents will nearly double again to 5,000 with over 1,400 new housing units slated for completion by 2018.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the boom signals a rebounding economy. The city has also taken steps to incentivize construction by \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/02/21/berkeley-aims-to-bolster-housing-fund-with-fee-discount/\">reducing associated fees\u003c/a> related to development within the city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics of the boom say Berkeley may face problems as a result of increased density, whether from greater traffic and parking headaches to more issues with noise. Some criticize projects aimed to house students, noting that the university itself should be taking steps to shelter its students, rather than placing the burden on the city and private developers. Many say the city needs more family-oriented housing, as well. The specter of steeper rents and a lack of affordable housing are also causing public concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year at about this time, Berkeleyside provided an overview of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/02/07/1000-apartments-planned-for-downtown-berkeley/\">1,000 units in development at that time\u003c/a>. Projections have grown since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/14/explosive-downtown-berkeley-housing-boom-underway/\" target=\"_blank\">details of the specific building projects\u003c/a> under way in Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News Associate \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a> is an independently owned news website based in Berkeley, Calif. \u003ca href=\"http://berkeleyside.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4851428a10883a05193b1dd6c&id=aad4b5ee64\">Click here\u003c/a> if you would you like to receive the latest Berkeley news in your inbox once a day for free with Berkeleyside's Daily Briefing email.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_118012\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/12/despite-citys-help-sf-tenants-still-fighting-mid-market-eviction/rs7539_1049_market_0330_web/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-118012\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/RS7539_1049_market_0330_web-e1384365558484.jpg\" alt=\"1049 Market St. tenant Melissa Bracero said in November she would probably have to leave the city if she's evicted. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-118012\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">1049 Market St. tenant Melissa Bracero said in November she would probably have to leave the city if she's evicted. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eleven San Francisco tenants have sued to head off eviction from their live-work loft units in an 83-unit mid-Market Street building. (The suit is embedded at the end of this post.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit filed earlier this week in San Francisco Superior Court is the the latest round in a high-profile battle between the tenants — mainly artists and residents living on fixed incomes — and the landlords of 1049 Market St. The specific allegations in the suit include breach of implied warranty of habitability, tenant harassment, wrongful attempt to recover possession of a rental unit, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond those technical charges, the lawsuit contends that the landlords, including Stanford alum and former professional baseball player John Gall, want the tenants out to take advantage of rising property values in the mid-Market area. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gall has disputed those charges as well as allegations that the landlords have let the building fall into disrepair to get tenants out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a slice of the conflict's history from a report by KQED's Bryan Goebel in November: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The seven-story building, built in 1907 as a furniture store, is zoned for commercial use. The owners had been trying to bring the units up to code for residential use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Landlords say city rules have forced them to evict tenants. The city and housing activists insist that’s not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has long been our belief that this was achievable and we would be able to keep this unique and affordable community,” stated a Sept. 13 memo to tenants from the landlord. But it went on to inform them that “we were not able to overcome the city of San Francisco’s overly restrictive building code requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Per these city orders, the building must currently be vacated,” the memo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners obtained permits to convert the building into offices and began issuing eviction orders in late September. Tenants quickly organized, and got housing activists involved. They persuaded Mayor Lee, Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the neighborhood, and the Department of Building Inspection to intervene. The city subsequently withdrew the permits and offered to work with Gall and his partners to grandfather in residential code violations, namely units that don’t have windows.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/198641485/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"doc_32977\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_118012\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/11/12/despite-citys-help-sf-tenants-still-fighting-mid-market-eviction/rs7539_1049_market_0330_web/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-118012\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/RS7539_1049_market_0330_web-e1384365558484.jpg\" alt=\"1049 Market St. tenant Melissa Bracero said in November she would probably have to leave the city if she's evicted. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED). \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-118012\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">1049 Market St. tenant Melissa Bracero said in November she would probably have to leave the city if she's evicted. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eleven San Francisco tenants have sued to head off eviction from their live-work loft units in an 83-unit mid-Market Street building. (The suit is embedded at the end of this post.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit filed earlier this week in San Francisco Superior Court is the the latest round in a high-profile battle between the tenants — mainly artists and residents living on fixed incomes — and the landlords of 1049 Market St. The specific allegations in the suit include breach of implied warranty of habitability, tenant harassment, wrongful attempt to recover possession of a rental unit, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond those technical charges, the lawsuit contends that the landlords, including Stanford alum and former professional baseball player John Gall, want the tenants out to take advantage of rising property values in the mid-Market area. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gall has disputed those charges as well as allegations that the landlords have let the building fall into disrepair to get tenants out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's a slice of the conflict's history from a report by KQED's Bryan Goebel in November: \u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The seven-story building, built in 1907 as a furniture store, is zoned for commercial use. The owners had been trying to bring the units up to code for residential use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Landlords say city rules have forced them to evict tenants. The city and housing activists insist that’s not the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has long been our belief that this was achievable and we would be able to keep this unique and affordable community,” stated a Sept. 13 memo to tenants from the landlord. But it went on to inform them that “we were not able to overcome the city of San Francisco’s overly restrictive building code requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Per these city orders, the building must currently be vacated,” the memo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners obtained permits to convert the building into offices and began issuing eviction orders in late September. Tenants quickly organized, and got housing activists involved. They persuaded Mayor Lee, Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the neighborhood, and the Department of Building Inspection to intervene. The city subsequently withdrew the permits and offered to work with Gall and his partners to grandfather in residential code violations, namely units that don’t have windows.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/198641485/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"doc_32977\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"filters": [
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]
}
},
"restaurantDataById": {},
"restaurantIdsSorted": [],
"error": null
},
"userAgentReducer": {
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)",
"isBot": true
}
}
