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"disqusTitle": "Richmond Public Housing Workers Reap Thousands in Dubious Overtime Pay",
"title": "Richmond Public Housing Workers Reap Thousands in Dubious Overtime Pay",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/12/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-on-verge-of-takeover/richmondproject_832_la-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126781\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126781\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle) \" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each Saturday morning, a handyman is supposed to unlock a recreation room at the Richmond public housing complex called Friendship Manor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one December day last year, Jeffery Likely said it was his job. He told his bosses he opened the rec room at 8 a.m. and closed it at 5 p.m. He charged \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155141-likelyopeningfriendship.html#document/p1/a156452\">six hours of overtime\u003c/a> for locking and unlocking one door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Allen Wheeler said he did the simple task of unlocking and locking that door \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155127-wheeler-opening-friendship.html#document/p1/a156450\">at nearly the same times\u003c/a> on the same day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t an isolated incident. The Richmond Housing Authority has paid tens of thousands of dollars in questionable overtime over the last four years to its two maintenance workers, a review of overtime records by The Center of Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They double-billed for the same job, charged overtime during normal work hours and regularly invoked a union clause to get paid triple for hours worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Likely billed the agency for hundreds of overtime hours for driving an agency vehicle despite not having a valid driver’s license. His license has been suspended on and off since September 2012, once for drunken driving after registering a blood alcohol level of 0.22, nearly three times the legal limit. It is still suspended. His aunt, Kathleen Jones, bailed him out of jail, records show. She’s the No. 2 official at the housing agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 30 percent of the 2,800 hours of overtime that Wheeler billed in the last four years occurred during his normal work hours. Wheeler and Likely both charged overtime for opening or closing the rec room at nearly the same time on 10 occasions in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top Richmond Housing Authority officials signed off on all the time sheets, some of which contain glaring problems. For example, nearly every day in March 2012, Wheeler \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155142-ot-during-normal-work-hours.html\">charged six hours of overtime\u003c/a> for six hours of work helping with maintenance work — his job description — from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. His regular shift runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last four years, the Housing Authority paid Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. Wheeler received more than $58,000. They each make a base annual salary of $23,000 a year and live in Housing Authority apartments rent-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The totals are a sliver of the agency’s $26 million annual budget, but they highlight the persistent management troubles that have led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to label Richmond as one of the worst-run housing agencies in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judy Nadler, a government ethics specialist, said that in the best-case scenario, the overtime problems are the result of messy record keeping. At worst, she said, they show a pattern of abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it is taxpayer money, every dollar, every penny counts,” Nadler said. “They can’t afford to have this lack of oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is about $7 million in debt and has \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/residents-live-filth-fear-mismanaged-bay-area-public-housing-5902\">failed to provide basic maintenance\u003c/a> to residents, who have lived among mice, mold and cockroaches. A lack of financial controls, meanwhile, allowed one top Housing Authority official to \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-verge-takeover-5904\">steer contracts to his brother\u003c/a> and others to abuse agency credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While city officials have said the authority is getting its act together, the overtime problems underscore that the agency remains susceptible to abuse. Time sheets and other agency records show the overtime problems persisted into this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Comment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wheeler and Likely declined to comment. The Housing Authority has forbidden its employees to talk to CIR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Lindsay, Richmond’s city manager, said the overtime was billed incorrectly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What it has shown is that they’re pretty sloppy with how they’re filling out their time sheets,” Lindsay said. “We’re having meetings to sort all this out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Housing Authority changed its overtime policy after CIR brought the billing problems to Lindsay's attention. In an April 23 memo, Executive Director Tim Jones banned Wheeler and Likely from receiving extra pay during their normal shifts and limited the amount of money they can charge for being called back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Expert: In the best-case scenario, the overtime problems are the result of messy record keeping. At worst, they show a pattern of abuse.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Likely clocked 27 hours of overtime \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155143-likely-driving-all-sites.html#document/p1/a156456\">specifically for driving\u003c/a> between the agency’s apartment complexes while his license was suspended. Most of the 500-plus hours of overtime he has billed since his license was revoked require driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A valid driver’s license is one of the few job requirements for a Housing Authority maintenance worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135407\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/likely.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-135407\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/likely-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"In the last four years, the Richmond Housing Authority paid maintenance worker Jeffery Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the last four years, the Richmond Housing Authority paid maintenance worker Jeffery Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From 5 to 6 p.m., Likely often finished the workday by sweeping and cleaning up around one of the five public housing complexes he maintains, according to his time sheets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time, he got paid for three hours of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, workers at the Richmond Housing Authority receive time and a half for each hour of overtime. But if they’re called back to work after going home, they get a minimum of three hours per call — a clause known as call-back pay.The rules apply even if workers live on-site, as Likely does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Stephenson, Richmond’s human resources director, used a street flood to illustrate why the benefit exists. “Call-back pay is when public works folks have gone home and then need to come back to respond to the flooding,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Likely and Wheeler frequently used this union rule to bill for routine maintenance. Lindsay said call-back pay should not apply to regular maintenance work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost every week in the last four years, Likely charged three hours of overtime for cleaning the agency office for one hour. He also regularly charged triple the time he put in for sweeping the housing project where he lives, emptying dumpsters and assisting the agency with routine housing inspections after his normal shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of Likely’s overtime was done at Nevin Plaza\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>the housing complex where he lives, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wheeler, who lives at Triangle Court, appeared to regularly invoke call-back pay when he continued working after his shift ended. He stayed at work an extra half-hour and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155154-ot-vs-call-out.html#document/p1/a156549\">charged three\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155154-ot-vs-call-out.html#document/p1/a156549\">hours\u003c/a> of call-back time for maintenance work. It should have been billed as regular overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there were other questionable charges, like billing overtime for performing maintenance at different places at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 17, 2012, Likely said he was inspecting an apartment while also responding to a call from 5 to 6 p.m. He \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155180-jeff-likely.html#document/p1/a156461\">charged three hours of overtime\u003c/a> for each job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 27, 2013, Likely double-billed the Housing Authority for cleaning the same apartment complex from 6 to 7 p.m., charging six hours of overtime for working one hour, according to agency records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his memo, Tim Jones said Wheeler and Likely now are limited to charging three hours of call-back pay when they receive multiple calls in the same three-hour window after hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overtime charges violate the city’s policies, but it’s unclear whether they break any laws. That would likely depend on whether the men knowingly deceived the Housing Authority or simply misunderstood union rules, current and former prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay said there could be an explanation for Wheeler billing during his regular work hours. It's possible, he said, that Wheeler could at times have been entitled to a 5 percent pay bump per day for doing work outside his normal job description. But Wheeler was instead billing the government for full extra hours and sometimes triple the time put in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one of the three top officials at the Housing Authority signed off on all the overtime: Tim Jones, Kathleen Jones or William Bounthon, a manager in the Section 8 department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/projects/subsidized-squalor\">a CIR investigation\u003c/a> revealed a history of leadership problems at the agency and squalid living conditions for residents of its two largest housing complexes. Since then, Kathleen Jones, who is not related to Tim Jones, has been on paid leave. Likely has been out on sick leave for several weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has asked HUD for permission to relocate the residents of its largest and worst complex, Hacienda. Private attorneys are working with residents to file claims for health problems and property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em> \u003cem>It was produced by an independent nonprofit, \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/02/12/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-on-verge-of-takeover/richmondproject_832_la-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126781\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126781\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle) \" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hacienda public housing complex in Richmond. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Each Saturday morning, a handyman is supposed to unlock a recreation room at the Richmond public housing complex called Friendship Manor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one December day last year, Jeffery Likely said it was his job. He told his bosses he opened the rec room at 8 a.m. and closed it at 5 p.m. He charged \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155141-likelyopeningfriendship.html#document/p1/a156452\">six hours of overtime\u003c/a> for locking and unlocking one door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Allen Wheeler said he did the simple task of unlocking and locking that door \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155127-wheeler-opening-friendship.html#document/p1/a156450\">at nearly the same times\u003c/a> on the same day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t an isolated incident. The Richmond Housing Authority has paid tens of thousands of dollars in questionable overtime over the last four years to its two maintenance workers, a review of overtime records by The Center of Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They double-billed for the same job, charged overtime during normal work hours and regularly invoked a union clause to get paid triple for hours worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Likely billed the agency for hundreds of overtime hours for driving an agency vehicle despite not having a valid driver’s license. His license has been suspended on and off since September 2012, once for drunken driving after registering a blood alcohol level of 0.22, nearly three times the legal limit. It is still suspended. His aunt, Kathleen Jones, bailed him out of jail, records show. She’s the No. 2 official at the housing agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 30 percent of the 2,800 hours of overtime that Wheeler billed in the last four years occurred during his normal work hours. Wheeler and Likely both charged overtime for opening or closing the rec room at nearly the same time on 10 occasions in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top Richmond Housing Authority officials signed off on all the time sheets, some of which contain glaring problems. For example, nearly every day in March 2012, Wheeler \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155142-ot-during-normal-work-hours.html\">charged six hours of overtime\u003c/a> for six hours of work helping with maintenance work — his job description — from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. His regular shift runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last four years, the Housing Authority paid Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. Wheeler received more than $58,000. They each make a base annual salary of $23,000 a year and live in Housing Authority apartments rent-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The totals are a sliver of the agency’s $26 million annual budget, but they highlight the persistent management troubles that have led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to label Richmond as one of the worst-run housing agencies in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judy Nadler, a government ethics specialist, said that in the best-case scenario, the overtime problems are the result of messy record keeping. At worst, she said, they show a pattern of abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it is taxpayer money, every dollar, every penny counts,” Nadler said. “They can’t afford to have this lack of oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is about $7 million in debt and has \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/residents-live-filth-fear-mismanaged-bay-area-public-housing-5902\">failed to provide basic maintenance\u003c/a> to residents, who have lived among mice, mold and cockroaches. A lack of financial controls, meanwhile, allowed one top Housing Authority official to \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/reports/financial-abuse-mismanagement-leave-housing-agency-verge-takeover-5904\">steer contracts to his brother\u003c/a> and others to abuse agency credit cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While city officials have said the authority is getting its act together, the overtime problems underscore that the agency remains susceptible to abuse. Time sheets and other agency records show the overtime problems persisted into this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Comment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wheeler and Likely declined to comment. The Housing Authority has forbidden its employees to talk to CIR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Lindsay, Richmond’s city manager, said the overtime was billed incorrectly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What it has shown is that they’re pretty sloppy with how they’re filling out their time sheets,” Lindsay said. “We’re having meetings to sort all this out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Housing Authority changed its overtime policy after CIR brought the billing problems to Lindsay's attention. In an April 23 memo, Executive Director Tim Jones banned Wheeler and Likely from receiving extra pay during their normal shifts and limited the amount of money they can charge for being called back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> Expert: In the best-case scenario, the overtime problems are the result of messy record keeping. At worst, they show a pattern of abuse.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Likely clocked 27 hours of overtime \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155143-likely-driving-all-sites.html#document/p1/a156456\">specifically for driving\u003c/a> between the agency’s apartment complexes while his license was suspended. Most of the 500-plus hours of overtime he has billed since his license was revoked require driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A valid driver’s license is one of the few job requirements for a Housing Authority maintenance worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_135407\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/likely.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-135407\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/likely-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"In the last four years, the Richmond Housing Authority paid maintenance worker Jeffery Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the last four years, the Richmond Housing Authority paid maintenance worker Jeffery Likely more than $67,000 in overtime. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From 5 to 6 p.m., Likely often finished the workday by sweeping and cleaning up around one of the five public housing complexes he maintains, according to his time sheets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time, he got paid for three hours of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, workers at the Richmond Housing Authority receive time and a half for each hour of overtime. But if they’re called back to work after going home, they get a minimum of three hours per call — a clause known as call-back pay.The rules apply even if workers live on-site, as Likely does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Stephenson, Richmond’s human resources director, used a street flood to illustrate why the benefit exists. “Call-back pay is when public works folks have gone home and then need to come back to respond to the flooding,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Likely and Wheeler frequently used this union rule to bill for routine maintenance. Lindsay said call-back pay should not apply to regular maintenance work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost every week in the last four years, Likely charged three hours of overtime for cleaning the agency office for one hour. He also regularly charged triple the time he put in for sweeping the housing project where he lives, emptying dumpsters and assisting the agency with routine housing inspections after his normal shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of Likely’s overtime was done at Nevin Plaza\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>the housing complex where he lives, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wheeler, who lives at Triangle Court, appeared to regularly invoke call-back pay when he continued working after his shift ended. He stayed at work an extra half-hour and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155154-ot-vs-call-out.html#document/p1/a156549\">charged three\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155154-ot-vs-call-out.html#document/p1/a156549\">hours\u003c/a> of call-back time for maintenance work. It should have been billed as regular overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there were other questionable charges, like billing overtime for performing maintenance at different places at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 17, 2012, Likely said he was inspecting an apartment while also responding to a call from 5 to 6 p.m. He \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1155180-jeff-likely.html#document/p1/a156461\">charged three hours of overtime\u003c/a> for each job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 27, 2013, Likely double-billed the Housing Authority for cleaning the same apartment complex from 6 to 7 p.m., charging six hours of overtime for working one hour, according to agency records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his memo, Tim Jones said Wheeler and Likely now are limited to charging three hours of call-back pay when they receive multiple calls in the same three-hour window after hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overtime charges violate the city’s policies, but it’s unclear whether they break any laws. That would likely depend on whether the men knowingly deceived the Housing Authority or simply misunderstood union rules, current and former prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay said there could be an explanation for Wheeler billing during his regular work hours. It's possible, he said, that Wheeler could at times have been entitled to a 5 percent pay bump per day for doing work outside his normal job description. But Wheeler was instead billing the government for full extra hours and sometimes triple the time put in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one of the three top officials at the Housing Authority signed off on all the overtime: Tim Jones, Kathleen Jones or William Bounthon, a manager in the Section 8 department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, \u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/projects/subsidized-squalor\">a CIR investigation\u003c/a> revealed a history of leadership problems at the agency and squalid living conditions for residents of its two largest housing complexes. Since then, Kathleen Jones, who is not related to Tim Jones, has been on paid leave. Likely has been out on sick leave for several weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city has asked HUD for permission to relocate the residents of its largest and worst complex, Hacienda. Private attorneys are working with residents to file claims for health problems and property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em> \u003cem>It was produced by an independent nonprofit, \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"http://cironline.org/\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>. Harris can be reached at aharris@cironline.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Richmond City Council Approves Increase in City's Minimum Wage ",
"title": "Richmond City Council Approves Increase in City's Minimum Wage ",
"headTitle": "Priced Out | News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Dan Brekke and Wendi Jonassen\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_82906\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2012/12/13/nonprofits-wade-into-political-giving/money-piggy-bank-flickr-kenteegarden/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-82906\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-82906 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/12/money-piggy-bank-flickr-kenteegarden.jpg\" alt=\"Flicker/Kenteegarden\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flicker/Kenteegarden\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Wednesday, May 7:\u003c/strong> The Richmond City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve an ordinance that will lift the minimum wage for most workers to $12.30 an hour by 2017. The ordinance would not cover workers under age 18, those who receive tips or those who work in businesses with 10 or fewer employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current California minimum wage, $8 an hour, is scheduled to rise by a dollar an hour on July 1 under a law passed last year. The Richmond minimum would rise to $9.60 next Jan. 1, $11.52 on Jan. 1, 2016, and $12.30 starting Jan. 1, 2017. Beginning in 2018, Richmond’s minimum wage would incease annually, based on the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_25713188/richmond-takes-step-toward-higher-minimum-wage\" target=\"_blank\">As Robert Rogers of the Contra Costa Times reports\u003c/a>, the council approved the proposal despite opposition from some local businesses. For example:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nathan Trivers, who owns the Up & Under Pub in Point Richmond, said the ordinance imperils his business and if forced to pay higher wages to some of his 35 employees, he will either have to lay off workers or face closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't know what sword I will have to fall on,\" Trivers said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Richmond's move came the same evening that the Berkeley City Council backed away from a proposed ordinance to raise the minimum wage on June 30 to $10.74 an hour— a level that would match San Francisco's current minimum wage — then adjust the wage for inflation in subsequent years. A second proposal, withdrawn during last night's meeting, would have raised the minimum to $10 later this year, and then continued with adjustments that would reportedly bring it to $15.25 by 2020. Instead, the council passed a measure to raise the minimum to $10.75 by July 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judith Scherr of the Contra Costa Times says that proponents of the more aggressive increase, including members of the city's Labor Commission, criticized the revised proposal:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"They caved in to the business community,\" Labor Commission Chairman Sam Frankel said as he left the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a real slap on the face of the Labor Commission that worked on this an entire year,\" he told the council earlier. That proposal would have raised the minimum wage to $10.74 in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But business owners, while acknowledging the need for higher worker pay than the state minimum of $8 per hour ($9 per hour in July), said their businesses could fail with increases mandated in earlier iterations of the ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This town is made up of independent businesses,\" said Dandy Harris, owner of two Telegraph Avenue enterprises, addressing the council. \"We bring a lot to the community. I want to be here six years from now. I'm not so afraid of $10.75 an hour, but $15.25 an hour scares the crap out of me.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many restaurateurs who addressed the council pointed to costs they could not control, such as escalating food costs and rent. Several asked the council to lobby Sacramento for commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The ordinance, which will be up for a second reading on May 20, also calls for further study of the issues. Mayor Tom Bates has proposed that Berkeley get together with other East Bay cities to craft a regional minimum wage to ensure that no city suffers a competitive disadvantage from adopting a higher minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: \u003c/strong> Richmond and Berkeley are the latest Bay Area cities hoping to increase the minimum wage, adding momentum to an issue being debated through California and around the country. Both cities will be considering ordinances at City Council meetings Tuesday night, while San Francisco and Oakland are also floating ballot measures that will raise the minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Berkeley\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/04/23/berkeley-mayor-proposes-east-bay-regional-minimum-wage/\">pushing for a collaborative effort\u003c/a> to establish an East Bay regional minimum wage plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It is really important for us all to be on the same level playing field,\" Bates told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a uniform regional wage increase, Berkeley Councilman Laurie Capitelli said he worries that small businesses may relocate to cities with lower wage standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you have radically different proposals adopted, it is going to be confusing and might led to a real distortion of the marketplace,\" Capitelli said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two approaches to raising Berkeley's minimum wage, currently $8, will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Both would eventually tie the city's minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, drafted by the city's Commission on Labor, would raise the minimum wage to an estimated $12.25 an hour by June 30, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second proposal, made by Capitelli, would issue wage increases at a slightly slower rate, hitting $12.25 in January 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Richmond\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond's ordinance would set a minimum wage of $9 an hour effective July 1, in compliance with state law. The wage would rise to $9.60 next Jan. 1, $11.52 on Jan. 1, 2016, and $12.30 starting Jan. 1, 2017. Beginning in 2018, Richmond’s minimum wage would incease annually, based on the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Councilmember Jovanka Beckles initially campaigned to place the minimum wage increase on the November ballot. But shortly after the debate began, the City Council decided to take it off the ballot and make it a local ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Why do we have to wait for public election? Why can't the council just adopt it?” Beckles told KQED. “We don't want people to have to wait to have a wage that is sustainable to live on.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday night, the City Council will discuss a city manager's report that includes a survey of local businesses and their response to the wage proposal. The minimum wage in Richmond is currently $8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Statewide Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/09/12/californias-minimum-wage/\">Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation\u003c/a> in September 2013 that increases the state minimum wage to $9 per hour starting July 1, and then up to $10 by 2016. A new bill under consideration could increase wages further, to $13 per hour by 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everybody agrees the minimum wage needs to be raised,” Bates said. “It is just a question of how much and how fast.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Dan Brekke and Wendi Jonassen\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_82906\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2012/12/13/nonprofits-wade-into-political-giving/money-piggy-bank-flickr-kenteegarden/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-82906\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-82906 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/12/money-piggy-bank-flickr-kenteegarden.jpg\" alt=\"Flicker/Kenteegarden\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flicker/Kenteegarden\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Wednesday, May 7:\u003c/strong> The Richmond City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve an ordinance that will lift the minimum wage for most workers to $12.30 an hour by 2017. The ordinance would not cover workers under age 18, those who receive tips or those who work in businesses with 10 or fewer employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current California minimum wage, $8 an hour, is scheduled to rise by a dollar an hour on July 1 under a law passed last year. The Richmond minimum would rise to $9.60 next Jan. 1, $11.52 on Jan. 1, 2016, and $12.30 starting Jan. 1, 2017. Beginning in 2018, Richmond’s minimum wage would incease annually, based on the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_25713188/richmond-takes-step-toward-higher-minimum-wage\" target=\"_blank\">As Robert Rogers of the Contra Costa Times reports\u003c/a>, the council approved the proposal despite opposition from some local businesses. For example:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nathan Trivers, who owns the Up & Under Pub in Point Richmond, said the ordinance imperils his business and if forced to pay higher wages to some of his 35 employees, he will either have to lay off workers or face closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't know what sword I will have to fall on,\" Trivers said.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Richmond's move came the same evening that the Berkeley City Council backed away from a proposed ordinance to raise the minimum wage on June 30 to $10.74 an hour— a level that would match San Francisco's current minimum wage — then adjust the wage for inflation in subsequent years. A second proposal, withdrawn during last night's meeting, would have raised the minimum to $10 later this year, and then continued with adjustments that would reportedly bring it to $15.25 by 2020. Instead, the council passed a measure to raise the minimum to $10.75 by July 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judith Scherr of the Contra Costa Times says that proponents of the more aggressive increase, including members of the city's Labor Commission, criticized the revised proposal:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"They caved in to the business community,\" Labor Commission Chairman Sam Frankel said as he left the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a real slap on the face of the Labor Commission that worked on this an entire year,\" he told the council earlier. That proposal would have raised the minimum wage to $10.74 in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But business owners, while acknowledging the need for higher worker pay than the state minimum of $8 per hour ($9 per hour in July), said their businesses could fail with increases mandated in earlier iterations of the ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This town is made up of independent businesses,\" said Dandy Harris, owner of two Telegraph Avenue enterprises, addressing the council. \"We bring a lot to the community. I want to be here six years from now. I'm not so afraid of $10.75 an hour, but $15.25 an hour scares the crap out of me.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many restaurateurs who addressed the council pointed to costs they could not control, such as escalating food costs and rent. Several asked the council to lobby Sacramento for commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The ordinance, which will be up for a second reading on May 20, also calls for further study of the issues. Mayor Tom Bates has proposed that Berkeley get together with other East Bay cities to craft a regional minimum wage to ensure that no city suffers a competitive disadvantage from adopting a higher minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: \u003c/strong> Richmond and Berkeley are the latest Bay Area cities hoping to increase the minimum wage, adding momentum to an issue being debated through California and around the country. Both cities will be considering ordinances at City Council meetings Tuesday night, while San Francisco and Oakland are also floating ballot measures that will raise the minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Berkeley\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/04/23/berkeley-mayor-proposes-east-bay-regional-minimum-wage/\">pushing for a collaborative effort\u003c/a> to establish an East Bay regional minimum wage plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It is really important for us all to be on the same level playing field,\" Bates told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a uniform regional wage increase, Berkeley Councilman Laurie Capitelli said he worries that small businesses may relocate to cities with lower wage standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you have radically different proposals adopted, it is going to be confusing and might led to a real distortion of the marketplace,\" Capitelli said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two approaches to raising Berkeley's minimum wage, currently $8, will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Both would eventually tie the city's minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, drafted by the city's Commission on Labor, would raise the minimum wage to an estimated $12.25 an hour by June 30, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second proposal, made by Capitelli, would issue wage increases at a slightly slower rate, hitting $12.25 in January 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Richmond\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond's ordinance would set a minimum wage of $9 an hour effective July 1, in compliance with state law. The wage would rise to $9.60 next Jan. 1, $11.52 on Jan. 1, 2016, and $12.30 starting Jan. 1, 2017. Beginning in 2018, Richmond’s minimum wage would incease annually, based on the Consumer Price Index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Councilmember Jovanka Beckles initially campaigned to place the minimum wage increase on the November ballot. But shortly after the debate began, the City Council decided to take it off the ballot and make it a local ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Why do we have to wait for public election? Why can't the council just adopt it?” Beckles told KQED. “We don't want people to have to wait to have a wage that is sustainable to live on.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday night, the City Council will discuss a city manager's report that includes a survey of local businesses and their response to the wage proposal. The minimum wage in Richmond is currently $8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Statewide Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/09/12/californias-minimum-wage/\">Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation\u003c/a> in September 2013 that increases the state minimum wage to $9 per hour starting July 1, and then up to $10 by 2016. A new bill under consideration could increase wages further, to $13 per hour by 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Everybody agrees the minimum wage needs to be raised,” Bates said. “It is just a question of how much and how fast.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Berkeley Mayor Proposes East Bay Regional Minimum Wage",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Lance Knobel\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/22/berkeley-mayor-proposes-east-bay-minimum-wage/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/restaurant.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-133578\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/restaurant-640x421.png\" alt=\"The speed of adoption of an increased minimum wage has faced pushback from some restaurateurs in Berkeley. (Postcard PR/Berkeleyside)\" width=\"640\" height=\"421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The speed of adoption of an increased minimum wage has faced pushback from some restaurateurs in Berkeley. (Postcard PR/Berkeleyside)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates today proposed that a number of East Bay cities, including Berkeley, join together to enact a regional minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates’ proposal comes little more than a week before the Berkeley City Council holds a special meeting on a citywide minimum wage on May 1. Richmond has already had the first reading of a minimum wage ordinance, and a minimum wage initiative for the November ballot is being circulated in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"I don't want to put our businesses at a disadvantage with regard to neighboring communities.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“There were two major principles in putting this together,” Bates said. “I don’t want to put our businesses at a disadvantage with regard to neighboring communities. It makes sense for everyone to have the same wage. The second thing is that Oakland is the largest city and the city that determines the fate of what the rest of us have to go along with. People tell me that (the Oakland measure) is going to qualify and it’s going to pass. The rest of us ought to tee off that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Oakland measure, the minimum wage would rise to $12.25 in May next year, from the state minimum of $9, a 36 percent increase. That rate would then be adjusted annually to keep up with the local consumer price index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates’ proposed regional minimum wage would provide a more gradual path to Oakland’s goals. He proposes an 11.6 percent increase this November to $10.04, followed by another 11.6 percent increase in April, 2015 to $11.20, followed by an 11.9 percent increase in April, 2016 to reach $12.25. Following that, the rate would be adjusted annually with the CPI (consumer price index).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133580\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/bates.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-133580\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/bates-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"Bates: “Berkeley needs to be with Oakland.” (Emilie Raguso/Berkeleyside)\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bates: “Berkeley needs to be with Oakland.” (Emilie Raguso/Berkeleyside)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The proposal from the Berkeley Commission on Labor, which forms the basis for the City Council’s meeting next week, calls for a $10.74 minimum wage this year for businesses with fewer than 50 employees and nonprofits (as well as a medical benefit requirement), and an annual CPI adjustment. From 2016, $0.55 is added to the CPI adjustment, until the rate reaches the Berkeley Living Wage, which is currently $13.34 per hour, according to the commission. For “corporate franchises” or businesses with over 50 employees, the commission recommends a minimum wage increase to the Berkeley Living Wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some restaurant owners in Berkeley have been vocal in opposing the labor commission plan, arguing that it raises the rate too rapidly for their businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The restaurant people will think the regional plan goes too fast, and the people that are supporting the labor commission will think it’s a sell out,” Bates said. “So maybe it’s the perfect position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates sent the proposal to all elected councilmembers in Oakland, Richmond, Emeryville, Albany and El Cerrito. He said he had discussed the proposal with three Oakland City Council members and one in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reception from all of them is that they liked the idea of a regional minimum wage,” Bates said. “They all agree that’s the ideal. The question is how do we achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Berkeley needs to be with Oakland,” Bates said. “I believe this $12.25 is going to happen. We’ve just done it in a smarter way. I think it’s a fair proposal, but if no one else joins us, at least we’ll be connected with Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates said there are other examples of East Bay cities working together. He pointed to the East Bay Public Safety Corridor, the East Bay Green Corridor, the East Bay Arts Corridor and a regional sports complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The logical thing is to work together with our neighbors,” he said. “All of those are things I started. So why not a regional minimum wage?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>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://eepurl.com/lh_3b\">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/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Lance Knobel\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/22/berkeley-mayor-proposes-east-bay-minimum-wage/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133578\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/restaurant.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-133578\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/restaurant-640x421.png\" alt=\"The speed of adoption of an increased minimum wage has faced pushback from some restaurateurs in Berkeley. (Postcard PR/Berkeleyside)\" width=\"640\" height=\"421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The speed of adoption of an increased minimum wage has faced pushback from some restaurateurs in Berkeley. (Postcard PR/Berkeleyside)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates today proposed that a number of East Bay cities, including Berkeley, join together to enact a regional minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates’ proposal comes little more than a week before the Berkeley City Council holds a special meeting on a citywide minimum wage on May 1. Richmond has already had the first reading of a minimum wage ordinance, and a minimum wage initiative for the November ballot is being circulated in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\"I don't want to put our businesses at a disadvantage with regard to neighboring communities.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“There were two major principles in putting this together,” Bates said. “I don’t want to put our businesses at a disadvantage with regard to neighboring communities. It makes sense for everyone to have the same wage. The second thing is that Oakland is the largest city and the city that determines the fate of what the rest of us have to go along with. People tell me that (the Oakland measure) is going to qualify and it’s going to pass. The rest of us ought to tee off that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Oakland measure, the minimum wage would rise to $12.25 in May next year, from the state minimum of $9, a 36 percent increase. That rate would then be adjusted annually to keep up with the local consumer price index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates’ proposed regional minimum wage would provide a more gradual path to Oakland’s goals. He proposes an 11.6 percent increase this November to $10.04, followed by another 11.6 percent increase in April, 2015 to $11.20, followed by an 11.9 percent increase in April, 2016 to reach $12.25. Following that, the rate would be adjusted annually with the CPI (consumer price index).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_133580\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/bates.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-133580\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/04/bates-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"Bates: “Berkeley needs to be with Oakland.” (Emilie Raguso/Berkeleyside)\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bates: “Berkeley needs to be with Oakland.” (Emilie Raguso/Berkeleyside)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The proposal from the Berkeley Commission on Labor, which forms the basis for the City Council’s meeting next week, calls for a $10.74 minimum wage this year for businesses with fewer than 50 employees and nonprofits (as well as a medical benefit requirement), and an annual CPI adjustment. From 2016, $0.55 is added to the CPI adjustment, until the rate reaches the Berkeley Living Wage, which is currently $13.34 per hour, according to the commission. For “corporate franchises” or businesses with over 50 employees, the commission recommends a minimum wage increase to the Berkeley Living Wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some restaurant owners in Berkeley have been vocal in opposing the labor commission plan, arguing that it raises the rate too rapidly for their businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The restaurant people will think the regional plan goes too fast, and the people that are supporting the labor commission will think it’s a sell out,” Bates said. “So maybe it’s the perfect position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates sent the proposal to all elected councilmembers in Oakland, Richmond, Emeryville, Albany and El Cerrito. He said he had discussed the proposal with three Oakland City Council members and one in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reception from all of them is that they liked the idea of a regional minimum wage,” Bates said. “They all agree that’s the ideal. The question is how do we achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Berkeley needs to be with Oakland,” Bates said. “I believe this $12.25 is going to happen. We’ve just done it in a smarter way. I think it’s a fair proposal, but if no one else joins us, at least we’ll be connected with Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates said there are other examples of East Bay cities working together. He pointed to the East Bay Public Safety Corridor, the East Bay Green Corridor, the East Bay Arts Corridor and a regional sports complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The logical thing is to work together with our neighbors,” he said. “All of those are things I started. So why not a regional minimum wage?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>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://eepurl.com/lh_3b\">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/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "News Pix: Quirky Berkeley, Physics of Skateboarding and Coding in Salinas",
"title": "News Pix: Quirky Berkeley, Physics of Skateboarding and Coding in Salinas",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/salinascoding.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130097\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/salinascoding-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"salinascoding\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAlonso Mendoza, 21, is one of 32 students enrolled in an \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/20/from-fields-to-computer-science/\" target=\"_blank\">accelerated computer science degree program\u003c/a> offered through Hartnell Community College and California State University, Monterey Bay. Mendoza stands outside his home on the east side of Salinas. He hopes a computer science degree will lift himself and his family away from a life of field work. (Ana Tintocalis/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Dinosaur.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130085\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Dinosaur-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Dinosaur\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nDinosaurs may be long extinct, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/20/how-quirky-is-berkeley-check-out-these-dinosaurs/\" target=\"_blank\">they survive in Berkeley front yards\u003c/a>, where small, medium or big, they stand as declarations of individualism in a city of individualists. (Tom Dalzell/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboarding-physics2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130088\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboarding-physics2-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"skateboarding-physics2\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nMichael Totten, an 18-year-old freshman at Contra Costa College, has been skateboarding since the age of 3. The Richmond Public Library hosted an event on Thursday, March 20, to \u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/2014/03/20/skateboarding-event-teaches-kids-about-physics-at-nicholl-park/\" target=\"_blank\">connect kids to the physics \u003c/a>of skateboarding. “Even though they don’t traditionally think of science as something that’s fun that they like to do, they’re all scientists when they skateboard,” said teen librarian and event organizer Angela Cox. A van on loan from the San Francisco Exploratorium explains concepts like center of gravity, wheel hardness and centrifugal force. (Sukey Lewis/\u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Richmond Confidential\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboards.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130089\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboards-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"skateboards\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\"All these kids are really into skateboarding, but they don't know all the intricacies, the engineering and mathematics, that go along with the thing they love to do,\" the van's creator, Eric Dimond, explained to ESPN last June.\"If we bring up these concepts like durometer, or friction, or momentum, those are, like, school terms. But if we can associate those things with something that they love, they're more engaged with it.\" (Sukey Lewis/\u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Richmond Confidential\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Telegraph-food-truck.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130091\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Telegraph-food-truck-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Telegraph-food-truck\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nMonday, March 17, saw the last \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/17/off-the-grid-pulls-plug-on-southside-berkeley-market/\" target=\"_blank\">Off The Grid Southside Berkeley food truck market\u003c/a>, which has been taking place once a week there since it launched in July 2012. This leaves Berkeley with just one Off The Grid market, at the North Berkeley BART station. (Nancy Rubin/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Wendy.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130090\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Wendy-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Wendy\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nSan Francisco illustrator Wendy MacNaughton has been sketching and observing Bay Area residents for years. Her new book, “Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words,” illustrates her wanderings through the city, getting to know its residents and neighborhoods. (Photo courtesy of Mark Ellinger)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/salinascoding.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130097\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/salinascoding-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"salinascoding\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAlonso Mendoza, 21, is one of 32 students enrolled in an \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/20/from-fields-to-computer-science/\" target=\"_blank\">accelerated computer science degree program\u003c/a> offered through Hartnell Community College and California State University, Monterey Bay. Mendoza stands outside his home on the east side of Salinas. He hopes a computer science degree will lift himself and his family away from a life of field work. (Ana Tintocalis/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Dinosaur.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130085\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Dinosaur-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Dinosaur\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nDinosaurs may be long extinct, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/20/how-quirky-is-berkeley-check-out-these-dinosaurs/\" target=\"_blank\">they survive in Berkeley front yards\u003c/a>, where small, medium or big, they stand as declarations of individualism in a city of individualists. (Tom Dalzell/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboarding-physics2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130088\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboarding-physics2-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"skateboarding-physics2\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nMichael Totten, an 18-year-old freshman at Contra Costa College, has been skateboarding since the age of 3. The Richmond Public Library hosted an event on Thursday, March 20, to \u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/2014/03/20/skateboarding-event-teaches-kids-about-physics-at-nicholl-park/\" target=\"_blank\">connect kids to the physics \u003c/a>of skateboarding. “Even though they don’t traditionally think of science as something that’s fun that they like to do, they’re all scientists when they skateboard,” said teen librarian and event organizer Angela Cox. A van on loan from the San Francisco Exploratorium explains concepts like center of gravity, wheel hardness and centrifugal force. (Sukey Lewis/\u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Richmond Confidential\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboards.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130089\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/skateboards-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"skateboards\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\"All these kids are really into skateboarding, but they don't know all the intricacies, the engineering and mathematics, that go along with the thing they love to do,\" the van's creator, Eric Dimond, explained to ESPN last June.\"If we bring up these concepts like durometer, or friction, or momentum, those are, like, school terms. But if we can associate those things with something that they love, they're more engaged with it.\" (Sukey Lewis/\u003ca href=\"http://richmondconfidential.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Richmond Confidential\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Telegraph-food-truck.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-130091\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/03/Telegraph-food-truck-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Telegraph-food-truck\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nMonday, March 17, saw the last \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/17/off-the-grid-pulls-plug-on-southside-berkeley-market/\" target=\"_blank\">Off The Grid Southside Berkeley food truck market\u003c/a>, which has been taking place once a week there since it launched in July 2012. This leaves Berkeley with just one Off The Grid market, at the North Berkeley BART station. (Nancy Rubin/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium 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=\"640\" height=\"426\">\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>Richmond city officials have voted to relocate about 130 residents of the troubled Hacienda housing project, a complex at the center of a recent probe by The Center for Investigative Reporting that uncovered a panoply of health and safety threats, including rampant vermin and mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond City Council, meeting Wednesday night as the city’s housing authority commission, started a marathon session hearing the results of recent inspections of the city’s public housing, with a special emphasis on Hacienda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”2bc9bad96313ea0f1b30cbbf5a2fba92″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Petragallo of Sterling Management, an inspection firm that the Richmond Housing Authority retained to assess conditions in its buildings, said he had several concerns about conditions there, especially considering that the project is designed to serve senior citizens. He noted the complex’s elevators are “non-operational” and that latches on security bars over windows on the ground floor are corroded and don’t function properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Petragallo also noted a host of other problems disclosed in CIR’s reporting, including serious roof leaks that have forced the housing authority to leave nearly all top-floor units vacant, unsecured trash chutes that pose a falling hazard, widespread evidence of excessive moisture, windows that don’t open, and a “serious and persistent” infestation of cockroaches and mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones, the principal target of residents’ criticism of conditions throughout the city’s public complexes, told the council that he had invited the Contra Costa County Vector Control District to assess pest infestations at Hacienda. He said a preliminary inspection involving 43 apartments had found 21 with live adult cockroaches, five with cockroaches in the nymph state, 11 with dead cockroaches, seven with mice and one with bedbugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones also reported on results of a citywide survey of public housing residents that found 83 percent of respondents had contacted the agency about maintenance issues in the past three years. Although 85 percent said the authority or contractors had responded to the requests, just 55 percent said the problems had been resolved. Jones conceded the low number of issues resolved indicated the agency has been ineffective at dealing with maintenance requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In all honesty, that number should be well above 95, 96, 97 percent,” Jones said. “Otherwise we’re not doing our job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the problems at Hacienda, the council voted to vacate the premises and relocate all 130 or so residents to federally subsidized Section 8 housing units. The Center for Investigative Reporting’s Amy Julia Harris was at the meeting and said many details of the relocation have yet to be settled:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>There’s still not an exact timeline for when (the relocation) will happen, but the city manager is coming up with a relocation plan in the next two weeks, and also with a plan for how to pay for all of this. The Housing Authority Executive Director, Tim Jones, has said that moving everyone out will cost about $489,000 and they don’t expect the federal government to pay for all this, and the Richmond Housing Authority is $7 million in debt, so the city would ultimately foot the bill for this relocation plan.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing hours of public testimony, the council also held a no-confidence vote in Tim Jones and another senior housing authority official, Kathleen Jones (the Joneses are not related). That motion needed a majority of the nine-member commission and failed with three yes votes, two no votes and two abstentions.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_832_la1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium 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=\"640\" height=\"426\">\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>Richmond city officials have voted to relocate about 130 residents of the troubled Hacienda housing project, a complex at the center of a recent probe by The Center for Investigative Reporting that uncovered a panoply of health and safety threats, including rampant vermin and mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond City Council, meeting Wednesday night as the city’s housing authority commission, started a marathon session hearing the results of recent inspections of the city’s public housing, with a special emphasis on Hacienda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Petragallo of Sterling Management, an inspection firm that the Richmond Housing Authority retained to assess conditions in its buildings, said he had several concerns about conditions there, especially considering that the project is designed to serve senior citizens. He noted the complex’s elevators are “non-operational” and that latches on security bars over windows on the ground floor are corroded and don’t function properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Petragallo also noted a host of other problems disclosed in CIR’s reporting, including serious roof leaks that have forced the housing authority to leave nearly all top-floor units vacant, unsecured trash chutes that pose a falling hazard, widespread evidence of excessive moisture, windows that don’t open, and a “serious and persistent” infestation of cockroaches and mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond Housing Authority Executive Director Tim Jones, the principal target of residents’ criticism of conditions throughout the city’s public complexes, told the council that he had invited the Contra Costa County Vector Control District to assess pest infestations at Hacienda. He said a preliminary inspection involving 43 apartments had found 21 with live adult cockroaches, five with cockroaches in the nymph state, 11 with dead cockroaches, seven with mice and one with bedbugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones also reported on results of a citywide survey of public housing residents that found 83 percent of respondents had contacted the agency about maintenance issues in the past three years. Although 85 percent said the authority or contractors had responded to the requests, just 55 percent said the problems had been resolved. Jones conceded the low number of issues resolved indicated the agency has been ineffective at dealing with maintenance requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In all honesty, that number should be well above 95, 96, 97 percent,” Jones said. “Otherwise we’re not doing our job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the problems at Hacienda, the council voted to vacate the premises and relocate all 130 or so residents to federally subsidized Section 8 housing units. The Center for Investigative Reporting’s Amy Julia Harris was at the meeting and said many details of the relocation have yet to be settled:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>There’s still not an exact timeline for when (the relocation) will happen, but the city manager is coming up with a relocation plan in the next two weeks, and also with a plan for how to pay for all of this. The Housing Authority Executive Director, Tim Jones, has said that moving everyone out will cost about $489,000 and they don’t expect the federal government to pay for all this, and the Richmond Housing Authority is $7 million in debt, so the city would ultimately foot the bill for this relocation plan.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing hours of public testimony, the council also held a no-confidence vote in Tim Jones and another senior housing authority official, Kathleen Jones (the Joneses are not related). That motion needed a majority of the nine-member commission and failed with three yes votes, two no votes and two abstentions.\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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"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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"disqusTitle": "Richmond Public Housing Residents Say They're Plagued With Filth, Vermin, Mold and Raw Sewage",
"title": "Richmond Public Housing Residents Say They're Plagued With Filth, Vermin, Mold and Raw Sewage",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">\u003ciframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/6Ye6jkqsnCU?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris, The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RICHMOND, Calif. –\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Geneva Eaton has learned to deal with life in Hacienda: the stench of mold from the stairwell in front of her door, the winter she spent huddled at her stove for heat, the broken security gate that allows drug dealers and squatters to walk past the paid security guards and urinate on her doorstep. But the mice were too much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For eight months, the 73-year-old woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in the glue traps lining the floors and cupboard of her apartment. In the space of a few hours, she caught 12. She put her nicest family belongings into storage. She went to bed with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she heard chewing through her walls would bite her in her sleep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Richmond Housing Authority know the Hacienda high-rise, one of its five public housing projects, is infested with mice and roaches. Residents have filed more than 80 complaints about it in the past year, according to agency records. But maintenance workers had done little\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to fix the problem. So for months, Eaton lived a daily routine: She threw out food she could barely afford. She called a maintenance line for help. She bathed her walls in bleach in the hopes of scaring away the insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126440\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126440 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1635_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"For months, Geneva Eaton woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in her glue traps. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For months, Geneva Eaton woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in her glue traps. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eaton lives in one of the worst apartment buildings managed by one of the worst public housing agencies in the country. Here in Richmond, some of the poorest, oldest and most vulnerable people in the Bay Area live in squalor and fear due to the housing agency’s mismanagement and neglect, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015486-life-threatening-health-and-safety-violations.html\" target=\"_blank\">16 life-threatening health and safety violations\u003c/a> at the five public housing projects managed by the housing authority, according to the two most recent years of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports. Seniors and disabled residents lived amid exposed wiring and missing smoke detectors and fire alarms. Most well-kempt housing projects don’t have these major health and safety violations, HUD says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority’s executive director, Tim Jones, said he’s “running an operation on life support.” He blamed years of budget cuts from the federal government for the problems plaguing the housing authority and insisted that the agency is on the road to recovery. He said the problems come down to money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly one in five apartments in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015471-hacienda-2012-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">Hacienda\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015470-nevin-plaza-2012-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">Nevin Plaza\u003c/a> complexes are infested with insects and cockroaches, inspection records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are the indignities that don’t show up in formal government reports: A woman with no legs giving herself sponge baths from her bathroom sink because maintenance workers didn’t install a simple safety bar in her shower. The fire department rescuing a paralyzed veteran from his third-floor apartment because the elevators didn’t work for three days. A disabled man who watched in horror for nearly a month as raw sewage slowly dripped from the neighbor’s bathroom upstairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"0312c09089c41dea6b45b637d1913024\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CIR also found a number of cases in which housing authority workers claimed in official documents to have fixed problems. But they hadn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just continual chaos here,” said Everett Dennis Lewis, a disabled resident of Hacienda. “The housing authority doesn’t give a crap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are 4,055 public housing agencies in the United States, all overseen by HUD. Last year, the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\">labeled 44 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\" target=\"_blank\">as “t\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\">roubled”\u003c/a> -- housing authorities that had such severe problems with their finances, management or living\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>conditions that the government was on the brink of shutting them down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond was one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the most recent federal assessment reports, released in 2013, Richmond received a score of \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015477-richmonds-federal-scorecard.html\">47 out of 100\u003c/a>, one of the lowest rankings in the country. It received failing marks for running up debt and failing to track its finances. Its executive director was deemed ineffective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond managed to receive a passing grade for the condition of most of its apartments. For the most part, the projects in Richmond aren’t as dilapidated as those in Detroit and New Orleans. But the breakdown in finances and leadership manifests itself daily at Richmond’s two largest\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>– and worst – complexes as residents struggle with rodents, filth and security problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are a dysfunctional organization,” said Gerard Windt, division director of the HUD office that oversees Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority got $26 million in 2013 from the federal government to provide safe and decent housing for the needy. Richmond has 715 units of public housing for the poor, elderly and disabled. It also gives out Section 8 vouchers to subsidize rent for an additional\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>1,750 residents on the private market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126444\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg 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=\"384\" height=\"256\">\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>Residents who end up in Richmond’s public housing are predominantly old or disabled African Americans.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>More than three-quarters of them make less than 30 percent of Contra Costa County’s median income, or $18,750 a year, according to HUD. Many of them used to have jobs as grocery baggers, janitors and food service workers until they got old or sick. Some lived on the streets, and others struggle with addiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents don’t get their apartments for free. Almost 90 percent pay between $200 and $500 a month in rent, according to HUD. Eaton pays $262 a month to the housing authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All 4,000-plus housing authorities across America face these same slashed budgets. About 1 percent of those agencies find themselves on HUD’s troubled list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Maintenance complaints neglected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Juanita Hasnat moved into Nevin Plaza in 2011, the housing authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>knew she was disabled. But her apartment didn’t have a simple disabled access fixture: a safety bar in the bathtub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat told the housing authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>about the oversight, thinking it would be a quick fix. But it took the agency nine months to install the safety bar, a fixture that costs less than $40 at The Home Depot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-left: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/iwIxrJNgdtI\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 47-year-old gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because she couldn’t maneuver out of her wheelchair and into her bathtub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat said she repeatedly called the housing authority, and Jones directly, to ask for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They all said, ‘We’re gonna get it taken care of,’ ” she said. “But I didn’t believe them. These people say one thing and do the opposite.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not too long ago, it was Hasnat who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>was taking care of the sick and elderly. She worked as a certified nursing assistant at hospitals in Richmond and El Cerrito, cleaning patients’ wounds and giving them sponge baths. She didn’t expect\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to be in the same position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA while on the job. It wormed its way through her body and destroyed the life she had known. Her left leg was\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>amputated in 2010,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and she lost her right leg three years later. Her doctor told her that she would never walk again. Her nursing career was over\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to die,” Hasnat said. “That was my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With no job, Hasnat found herself on disability and in need of a cheap apartment. That’s how she ended up in Richmond’s seven-story\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nevin Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its 142 units are\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>down the street from Richmond City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three years, Hasnat has lived in a fifth-floor\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>apartment\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that has no disability access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her hands bear scars from grating between the door frame and her wheelchair each time she comes and goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Records provided by the housing authority say that it has responded in a timely manner to resident complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority’s\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>version stands in stark contrast to that of its tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126457\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126457 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_161_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Eddie Williams, 62, glues items such as video cassettes to his walls to stop mice from getting into his Nevin Plaza apartment. Williams, whose rent is $251 a month, asked the Richmond Housing Authority to fix the problem, but he says nothing happened.(Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eddie Williams, 62, glues items such as videocassettes to his walls to stop mice from getting into his Nevin Plaza apartment. Williams, whose rent is $251 a month, asked the Richmond Housing Authority to fix the problem, but he says nothing happened.(Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most residents don’t keep track of when they file a complaint; they get no receipt. Some verbally tell staff about their maintenance problems, but those reports don’t always make it into written records. To tell this story, CIR focused on the recent complaints of three residents who kept track of when they first notified housing authority officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It appears the agency is marking resident complaints as being addressed when they’re not. In all three cases,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the authority’s records indicate that problems in their apartments were fixed. Residents say the issues were not resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wardell Jones is a blind Air Force veteran. He’s 83 years old.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>His Nevin Plaza apartment is covered in canvases he has learned to paint at the local blind center. They are full of brightly colored landscapes. His daughter comes by almost every day to fill his palette with paint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His heater has been broken for more than a year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority said it\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>fixed his heat in October, paying $140 for new parts, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015478-work-orders-from-july-to-december-2013.html#document/p2/a144025\" target=\"_blank\">according to records\u003c/a>. But Jones says his heat hasn’t worked since he first complained more than a year ago. As the temperature dipped near freezing, he would feel\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>his way to his kitchen and\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>use\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>his open oven to combat the cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones lives about 10 feet from the apartment of the housing authority’s live-in maintenance worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Eaton, the housing authority said it eliminated the swarms of cockroaches in her\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>apartment on Oct. 8. However, a CIR reporter visited Eaton that day and saw the housing authority contractor enter her apartment. He walked around and acknowledged the problem. He left and didn’t come back. That maintenance visit was marked as a completed work order, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015478-work-orders-from-july-to-december-2013.html#document/p8/a144023\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority records\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Everett Dennis\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Lewis had mice infesting his apartment in January last year, the housing authority’s records say it sent an exterminator within two weeks of his complaint. But Lewis said exterminators never came, and he ended up buying traps himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-right: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/nRvnzau8gTM\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lewis, who is 61, said he has had nothing but problems since moving into Hacienda almost two years ago. Last year, the toilet in the room above him leaked raw sewage\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>through the ceiling into his bathroom. It dripped on him from above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called the housing authority’s emergency maintenance line, and a worker told Lewis that they would fix it. But when nothing had happened after a week, Lewis called the same maintenance hotline five or six times a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really annoyed them,” he said. “I just got tired of the poop falling on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the leak finally was repaired after almost a month of multiple daily complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885634-hacienda-work-order-completion-report-2013.html#document/p21/a144022\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority’s records\u003c/a>, Lewis’ complaint shows up once, and it says the agency fixed the problem the day after he complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tim Jones, the agency’s executive director, declined to answer questions about the resident complaints and many other specifics about conditions at Hacienda and Nevin Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other residents tell similar stories. A caregiver for a 68-year-old man said water dripped for months in his living room from a corroded exposed pipe in the ceiling. The lock on one woman’s front door hasn’t worked for four years. Another resident tried to get his leaky shower handle fixed. He ended up with a hole in his wall, no water in his shower for two months and a $50 bill for asbestos removal that he had to pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Failed promises, fading hopes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hacienda complex is a tan, six-story\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>high-rise in central Richmond, off Roosevelt and Barrett avenues. Public housing residents in Richmond call it the most problematic of the city’s five complexes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feral cats mill around the ivy that surrounds Hacienda, feasting on the mice that infest the building. Drug dealers glide through a perpetually broken security gate at the front of the complex and roam around with impunity. Squatters break locks and occupy the abandoned apartments on the sixth floor.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Chronic roof leaks have allowed blue and green mold to spread on the outer walls, covering the ceilings of Hacienda’s sixth-floor walkways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>dealers and prostitutes routinely sneak into the building from three different entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hacienda has paid security guards, but they admit that the place intimidates them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m scared to do my patrols,” said Arielle Jackson, a security guard for Cypress Private Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority pays Cypress $300,000 a year to secure both Nevin Plaza and Hacienda. Richmond police Officer Giulia Colbacchini said, “The security guards here are a joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cypress declined to comment for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126464\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126464 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1019_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Rhonda Marshall, 58, waves to visitors outside the Hacienda public housing complex. She’s been living on the high-rise’s first floor for years and has watched the building deteriorate. She says sees cracks in the walls running from the sixth floor to the ground and smells mold in the hallways and stairwells. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rhonda Marshall, 58, waves to visitors outside the Hacienda public housing complex. She’s been living on the high-rise’s first floor for years and has watched the building deteriorate. She says she sees cracks in the walls running from the sixth floor to the ground and smells mold in the hallways and stairwells. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are a dozen light posts in Hacienda’s courtyard, but for more than two years, none worked. At night, Rhonda Marshall stumbled in her wheelchair getting from her apartment to a back gate across the courtyard, rolling off uneven paths in the darkness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so dark you can’t see your hands in front of you,” the 58-year-old said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority paid $1,850 to a contractor to install new light fixtures in Hacienda’s courtyard in August 2011. But residents say the lights worked for only two or three days, and after that, they tolerated the pitch black. The housing authority finally fixed the lights in the courtyard in December. Residents say they have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>complained since 2011. CIR has records going back one year, which verify the complaints stretch back at least that far.\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the sixth floor, exposed wires dangle from an abandoned electrical closet, a few feet from an inhabited unit. The wires are within reach of children who visit their grandparents in the complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents call Hacienda the “Haci-hellhole”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>or “Bedbug City.” Nearly everyone has a story of bedbugs, and residents collect them in mason jars to show to housing authority maintenance workers, in an attempt to prove they aren’t making up the source of their pockmarked arms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost one-fifth of the apartments in Hacienda were infested with bedbugs, according to the most recent federal inspection in 2012. Exterminators have been called at least nine times in the last year, but residents say the place still is overrun with the blood-sucking pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents used to have more hope. In 2009, the bedbug situation became so dire at Hacienda that residents signed a petition, stormed the City Council chamber and “raised so much hell” that the housing authority was forced to fumigate the entire building, said Eaton, the Hacienda resident who struggled with mice and cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one wants to do that now. Walk around Hacienda and Nevin Plaza, and almost every resident will tell you a personal anecdote about the housing authority’s failed promises to provide the basics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eaton has lost any hope that the agency will help. After months of complaints, contractors gave\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>her a few sticky pads for the mice in her apartment. She bought her own mouse poison, and the infestation has improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who even wants to try anymore?” she said. “I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. They treat us like animals here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a feeling shared by many residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m afraid that the building’s going to come down on me,” Marshall said. “I want out of here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Structural dangers noted\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal inspectors worried about the building’s foundation, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cracks snake their way along the seams of Hacienda. In early January, reporters\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>saw the walkway on Hacienda’s sixth floor separating from the main building by almost 2 inches. The cracks are so large that you can see down to the fifth floor. These were some of the same problems inspectors warned of years earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126462\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126462 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1083_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Many residents of the Hacienda housing complex call it “Haci-hellhole”or “Bedbug City.” One-fifth of the building’s apartments were infested with bedbugs, according to a 2012 federal inspection. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many residents of the Hacienda housing complex call it “Haci-hellhole”or “Bedbug City.” One-fifth of the building’s apartments were infested with bedbugs, according to a 2012 federal inspection. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2009, HUD noted\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that Hacienda’s foundation was separating from the walls.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>One- to 4-inch\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>gaps were cited on all six floors, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/805482-hacienda-inspection-2009.html#document/p3/a144026\" target=\"_blank\">federal reports\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD officials gave the separated foundation its most extreme rating on the books. Major foundation problems can lead to the instability of an entire building. It’s unclear whether Richmond has a plan to make repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal inspectors in 2009 and then again in 2011 also\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>warned of severe problems with the roof. In 2009, an entire electrical closet’s walls were “saturated with water mold and mildew” due to the leaking roof, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/805482-hacienda-inspection-2009.html#document/p3/a144027\" target=\"_blank\">they said\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority has hired contractors to stop the roof from leaking since 2006, but it hasn’t gotten\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>fixed. Even after the housing authority paid the most recent contractor $8,000 a few months ago, the roof still was leaking, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015483-all-seasons-invoice.html\" target=\"_blank\">a housing authority receipt\u003c/a>. One contractor didn’t even finish the job years before, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885398-all-seasons-contract-hacienda-roof-repair-copy.html#document/p38/a144029\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority records\u003c/a>.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The damage proved to be a blessing for squatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-right: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/w3t-Bktr7R4\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"left\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, the housing authority had cleared out residents on the sixth floor. Security is almost nonexistent, so squatters have a practically guaranteed place to crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A squatter named Steve Muccular recently took reporters through the building, showing them how to break into Hacienda through a busted security gate in the front of the building. Security guards don’t\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>bother to venture up to the sixth floor, he said, so he camped in the laundry room for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one was supposed to be up here,” Muccular said. “But they don’t check. This is a fucked-up building for sure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An abandoned unit on the sixth floor had clear signs of squatting in January – a broken security door and an apartment full of old birthday cake, beer bottles and tattered clothes. Months earlier, workers said they had secured that very unit to prevent squatting, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unable to get basic help from the housing authority, residents often turn to prayer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent Tuesday, about 15 Nevin Plaza residents gathered in the first-floor common room for their afternoon prayer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of things going on in here that people’s unhappy with but they don’t want to say because they don’t want to get kicked out,” said Eddie Williams, the resident pastor who lives on the second floor. “But since we started praying, people’s not as scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents go around in a circle giving testimonials and recounting their challenges during the week. One woman thanks God for helping her overcome a painkiller addiction. Another is grateful for a successful hip surgery. Then it’s 81-year-old Helen “Mama” Hall’s turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thank God for giving me discernments and opening my eyes to see more stuff going on in here,” Hall said. She is a self-appointed volunteer security guard who has taken it upon herself to police Nevin Plaza against criminals sneaking into the building. “I thank God for giving me strength to look out for this place every day, because no one else is going to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a chorus of amens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all gotta look up to God for help,” Williams said. “Because when you look down, it ain’t good where we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The piece was edited by Andrew Donohue and Mark Katches and copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee. Reporter Amy Julia Harris can be reached at \u003ca href=\"mailto:aharris@cironline.org\">aharris@cironline.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This 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\">Learn more about CIR's work.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Mice, mold, bedbugs, cockroaches, squatters and prostitutes are just a few of the problems in some units.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cdiv class=\"single-video\">\u003ciframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/6Ye6jkqsnCU?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Amy Julia Harris, The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RICHMOND, Calif. –\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Geneva Eaton has learned to deal with life in Hacienda: the stench of mold from the stairwell in front of her door, the winter she spent huddled at her stove for heat, the broken security gate that allows drug dealers and squatters to walk past the paid security guards and urinate on her doorstep. But the mice were too much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For eight months, the 73-year-old woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in the glue traps lining the floors and cupboard of her apartment. In the space of a few hours, she caught 12. She put her nicest family belongings into storage. She went to bed with the lights on, afraid that the vermin she heard chewing through her walls would bite her in her sleep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Richmond Housing Authority know the Hacienda high-rise, one of its five public housing projects, is infested with mice and roaches. Residents have filed more than 80 complaints about it in the past year, according to agency records. But maintenance workers had done little\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to fix the problem. So for months, Eaton lived a daily routine: She threw out food she could barely afford. She called a maintenance line for help. She bathed her walls in bleach in the hopes of scaring away the insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126440\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126440 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1635_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"For months, Geneva Eaton woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in her glue traps. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For months, Geneva Eaton woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in her glue traps. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eaton lives in one of the worst apartment buildings managed by one of the worst public housing agencies in the country. Here in Richmond, some of the poorest, oldest and most vulnerable people in the Bay Area live in squalor and fear due to the housing agency’s mismanagement and neglect, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015486-life-threatening-health-and-safety-violations.html\" target=\"_blank\">16 life-threatening health and safety violations\u003c/a> at the five public housing projects managed by the housing authority, according to the two most recent years of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports. Seniors and disabled residents lived amid exposed wiring and missing smoke detectors and fire alarms. Most well-kempt housing projects don’t have these major health and safety violations, HUD says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority’s executive director, Tim Jones, said he’s “running an operation on life support.” He blamed years of budget cuts from the federal government for the problems plaguing the housing authority and insisted that the agency is on the road to recovery. He said the problems come down to money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly one in five apartments in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015471-hacienda-2012-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">Hacienda\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015470-nevin-plaza-2012-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">Nevin Plaza\u003c/a> complexes are infested with insects and cockroaches, inspection records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are the indignities that don’t show up in formal government reports: A woman with no legs giving herself sponge baths from her bathroom sink because maintenance workers didn’t install a simple safety bar in her shower. The fire department rescuing a paralyzed veteran from his third-floor apartment because the elevators didn’t work for three days. A disabled man who watched in horror for nearly a month as raw sewage slowly dripped from the neighbor’s bathroom upstairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CIR also found a number of cases in which housing authority workers claimed in official documents to have fixed problems. But they hadn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just continual chaos here,” said Everett Dennis Lewis, a disabled resident of Hacienda. “The housing authority doesn’t give a crap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are 4,055 public housing agencies in the United States, all overseen by HUD. Last year, the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\">labeled 44 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\" target=\"_blank\">as “t\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885507-operational-troubled-list-2013-06-05-3.html\">roubled”\u003c/a> -- housing authorities that had such severe problems with their finances, management or living\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>conditions that the government was on the brink of shutting them down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond was one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the most recent federal assessment reports, released in 2013, Richmond received a score of \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015477-richmonds-federal-scorecard.html\">47 out of 100\u003c/a>, one of the lowest rankings in the country. It received failing marks for running up debt and failing to track its finances. Its executive director was deemed ineffective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond managed to receive a passing grade for the condition of most of its apartments. For the most part, the projects in Richmond aren’t as dilapidated as those in Detroit and New Orleans. But the breakdown in finances and leadership manifests itself daily at Richmond’s two largest\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>– and worst – complexes as residents struggle with rodents, filth and security problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are a dysfunctional organization,” said Gerard Windt, division director of the HUD office that oversees Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Richmond Housing Authority got $26 million in 2013 from the federal government to provide safe and decent housing for the needy. Richmond has 715 units of public housing for the poor, elderly and disabled. It also gives out Section 8 vouchers to subsidize rent for an additional\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>1,750 residents on the private market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126444\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg 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=\"384\" height=\"256\">\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>Residents who end up in Richmond’s public housing are predominantly old or disabled African Americans.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>More than three-quarters of them make less than 30 percent of Contra Costa County’s median income, or $18,750 a year, according to HUD. Many of them used to have jobs as grocery baggers, janitors and food service workers until they got old or sick. Some lived on the streets, and others struggle with addiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents don’t get their apartments for free. Almost 90 percent pay between $200 and $500 a month in rent, according to HUD. Eaton pays $262 a month to the housing authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All 4,000-plus housing authorities across America face these same slashed budgets. About 1 percent of those agencies find themselves on HUD’s troubled list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Maintenance complaints neglected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Juanita Hasnat moved into Nevin Plaza in 2011, the housing authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>knew she was disabled. But her apartment didn’t have a simple disabled access fixture: a safety bar in the bathtub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat told the housing authority\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>about the oversight, thinking it would be a quick fix. But it took the agency nine months to install the safety bar, a fixture that costs less than $40 at The Home Depot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-left: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/iwIxrJNgdtI\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 47-year-old gave herself sponge baths out of her bathroom sink for months because she couldn’t maneuver out of her wheelchair and into her bathtub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat said she repeatedly called the housing authority, and Jones directly, to ask for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They all said, ‘We’re gonna get it taken care of,’ ” she said. “But I didn’t believe them. These people say one thing and do the opposite.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not too long ago, it was Hasnat who\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>was taking care of the sick and elderly. She worked as a certified nursing assistant at hospitals in Richmond and El Cerrito, cleaning patients’ wounds and giving them sponge baths. She didn’t expect\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to be in the same position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hasnat was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria MRSA while on the job. It wormed its way through her body and destroyed the life she had known. Her left leg was\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>amputated in 2010,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and she lost her right leg three years later. Her doctor told her that she would never walk again. Her nursing career was over\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to die,” Hasnat said. “That was my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With no job, Hasnat found herself on disability and in need of a cheap apartment. That’s how she ended up in Richmond’s seven-story\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nevin Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its 142 units are\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>down the street from Richmond City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three years, Hasnat has lived in a fifth-floor\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>apartment\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that has no disability access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her hands bear scars from grating between the door frame and her wheelchair each time she comes and goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Records provided by the housing authority say that it has responded in a timely manner to resident complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authority’s\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>version stands in stark contrast to that of its tenants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126457\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126457 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_161_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Eddie Williams, 62, glues items such as video cassettes to his walls to stop mice from getting into his Nevin Plaza apartment. Williams, whose rent is $251 a month, asked the Richmond Housing Authority to fix the problem, but he says nothing happened.(Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eddie Williams, 62, glues items such as videocassettes to his walls to stop mice from getting into his Nevin Plaza apartment. Williams, whose rent is $251 a month, asked the Richmond Housing Authority to fix the problem, but he says nothing happened.(Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most residents don’t keep track of when they file a complaint; they get no receipt. Some verbally tell staff about their maintenance problems, but those reports don’t always make it into written records. To tell this story, CIR focused on the recent complaints of three residents who kept track of when they first notified housing authority officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It appears the agency is marking resident complaints as being addressed when they’re not. In all three cases,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the authority’s records indicate that problems in their apartments were fixed. Residents say the issues were not resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wardell Jones is a blind Air Force veteran. He’s 83 years old.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>His Nevin Plaza apartment is covered in canvases he has learned to paint at the local blind center. They are full of brightly colored landscapes. His daughter comes by almost every day to fill his palette with paint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His heater has been broken for more than a year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority said it\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>fixed his heat in October, paying $140 for new parts, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015478-work-orders-from-july-to-december-2013.html#document/p2/a144025\" target=\"_blank\">according to records\u003c/a>. But Jones says his heat hasn’t worked since he first complained more than a year ago. As the temperature dipped near freezing, he would feel\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>his way to his kitchen and\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>use\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>his open oven to combat the cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones lives about 10 feet from the apartment of the housing authority’s live-in maintenance worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Eaton, the housing authority said it eliminated the swarms of cockroaches in her\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>apartment on Oct. 8. However, a CIR reporter visited Eaton that day and saw the housing authority contractor enter her apartment. He walked around and acknowledged the problem. He left and didn’t come back. That maintenance visit was marked as a completed work order, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015478-work-orders-from-july-to-december-2013.html#document/p8/a144023\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority records\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Everett Dennis\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Lewis had mice infesting his apartment in January last year, the housing authority’s records say it sent an exterminator within two weeks of his complaint. But Lewis said exterminators never came, and he ended up buying traps himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-right: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/nRvnzau8gTM\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lewis, who is 61, said he has had nothing but problems since moving into Hacienda almost two years ago. Last year, the toilet in the room above him leaked raw sewage\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>through the ceiling into his bathroom. It dripped on him from above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called the housing authority’s emergency maintenance line, and a worker told Lewis that they would fix it. But when nothing had happened after a week, Lewis called the same maintenance hotline five or six times a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really annoyed them,” he said. “I just got tired of the poop falling on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the leak finally was repaired after almost a month of multiple daily complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885634-hacienda-work-order-completion-report-2013.html#document/p21/a144022\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority’s records\u003c/a>, Lewis’ complaint shows up once, and it says the agency fixed the problem the day after he complained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tim Jones, the agency’s executive director, declined to answer questions about the resident complaints and many other specifics about conditions at Hacienda and Nevin Plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other residents tell similar stories. A caregiver for a 68-year-old man said water dripped for months in his living room from a corroded exposed pipe in the ceiling. The lock on one woman’s front door hasn’t worked for four years. Another resident tried to get his leaky shower handle fixed. He ended up with a hole in his wall, no water in his shower for two months and a $50 bill for asbestos removal that he had to pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Failed promises, fading hopes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hacienda complex is a tan, six-story\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>high-rise in central Richmond, off Roosevelt and Barrett avenues. Public housing residents in Richmond call it the most problematic of the city’s five complexes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feral cats mill around the ivy that surrounds Hacienda, feasting on the mice that infest the building. Drug dealers glide through a perpetually broken security gate at the front of the complex and roam around with impunity. Squatters break locks and occupy the abandoned apartments on the sixth floor.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Chronic roof leaks have allowed blue and green mold to spread on the outer walls, covering the ceilings of Hacienda’s sixth-floor walkways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>dealers and prostitutes routinely sneak into the building from three different entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hacienda has paid security guards, but they admit that the place intimidates them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m scared to do my patrols,” said Arielle Jackson, a security guard for Cypress Private Security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority pays Cypress $300,000 a year to secure both Nevin Plaza and Hacienda. Richmond police Officer Giulia Colbacchini said, “The security guards here are a joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cypress declined to comment for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126464\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126464 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1019_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Rhonda Marshall, 58, waves to visitors outside the Hacienda public housing complex. She’s been living on the high-rise’s first floor for years and has watched the building deteriorate. She says sees cracks in the walls running from the sixth floor to the ground and smells mold in the hallways and stairwells. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rhonda Marshall, 58, waves to visitors outside the Hacienda public housing complex. She’s been living on the high-rise’s first floor for years and has watched the building deteriorate. She says she sees cracks in the walls running from the sixth floor to the ground and smells mold in the hallways and stairwells. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are a dozen light posts in Hacienda’s courtyard, but for more than two years, none worked. At night, Rhonda Marshall stumbled in her wheelchair getting from her apartment to a back gate across the courtyard, rolling off uneven paths in the darkness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so dark you can’t see your hands in front of you,” the 58-year-old said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority paid $1,850 to a contractor to install new light fixtures in Hacienda’s courtyard in August 2011. But residents say the lights worked for only two or three days, and after that, they tolerated the pitch black. The housing authority finally fixed the lights in the courtyard in December. Residents say they have\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>complained since 2011. CIR has records going back one year, which verify the complaints stretch back at least that far.\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the sixth floor, exposed wires dangle from an abandoned electrical closet, a few feet from an inhabited unit. The wires are within reach of children who visit their grandparents in the complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents call Hacienda the “Haci-hellhole”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>or “Bedbug City.” Nearly everyone has a story of bedbugs, and residents collect them in mason jars to show to housing authority maintenance workers, in an attempt to prove they aren’t making up the source of their pockmarked arms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost one-fifth of the apartments in Hacienda were infested with bedbugs, according to the most recent federal inspection in 2012. Exterminators have been called at least nine times in the last year, but residents say the place still is overrun with the blood-sucking pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents used to have more hope. In 2009, the bedbug situation became so dire at Hacienda that residents signed a petition, stormed the City Council chamber and “raised so much hell” that the housing authority was forced to fumigate the entire building, said Eaton, the Hacienda resident who struggled with mice and cockroaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one wants to do that now. Walk around Hacienda and Nevin Plaza, and almost every resident will tell you a personal anecdote about the housing authority’s failed promises to provide the basics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eaton has lost any hope that the agency will help. After months of complaints, contractors gave\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>her a few sticky pads for the mice in her apartment. She bought her own mouse poison, and the infestation has improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who even wants to try anymore?” she said. “I wanna go someplace else, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. They treat us like animals here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a feeling shared by many residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m afraid that the building’s going to come down on me,” Marshall said. “I want out of here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Structural dangers noted\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal inspectors worried about the building’s foundation, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cracks snake their way along the seams of Hacienda. In early January, reporters\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>saw the walkway on Hacienda’s sixth floor separating from the main building by almost 2 inches. The cracks are so large that you can see down to the fifth floor. These were some of the same problems inspectors warned of years earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126462\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 384px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-126462 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/richmondproject_1083_la-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Many residents of the Hacienda housing complex call it “Haci-hellhole”or “Bedbug City.” One-fifth of the building’s apartments were infested with bedbugs, according to a 2012 federal inspection. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many residents of the Hacienda housing complex call it “Haci-hellhole”or “Bedbug City.” One-fifth of the building’s apartments were infested with bedbugs, according to a 2012 federal inspection. (Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2009, HUD noted\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>that Hacienda’s foundation was separating from the walls.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>One- to 4-inch\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>gaps were cited on all six floors, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/805482-hacienda-inspection-2009.html#document/p3/a144026\" target=\"_blank\">federal reports\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD officials gave the separated foundation its most extreme rating on the books. Major foundation problems can lead to the instability of an entire building. It’s unclear whether Richmond has a plan to make repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal inspectors in 2009 and then again in 2011 also\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>warned of severe problems with the roof. In 2009, an entire electrical closet’s walls were “saturated with water mold and mildew” due to the leaking roof, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/805482-hacienda-inspection-2009.html#document/p3/a144027\" target=\"_blank\">they said\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The housing authority has hired contractors to stop the roof from leaking since 2006, but it hasn’t gotten\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>fixed. Even after the housing authority paid the most recent contractor $8,000 a few months ago, the roof still was leaking, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1015483-all-seasons-invoice.html\" target=\"_blank\">a housing authority receipt\u003c/a>. One contractor didn’t even finish the job years before, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/885398-all-seasons-contract-hacienda-roof-repair-copy.html#document/p38/a144029\" target=\"_blank\">housing authority records\u003c/a>.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The damage proved to be a blessing for squatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"margin-right: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/w3t-Bktr7R4\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"left\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, the housing authority had cleared out residents on the sixth floor. Security is almost nonexistent, so squatters have a practically guaranteed place to crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A squatter named Steve Muccular recently took reporters through the building, showing them how to break into Hacienda through a busted security gate in the front of the building. Security guards don’t\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>bother to venture up to the sixth floor, he said, so he camped in the laundry room for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one was supposed to be up here,” Muccular said. “But they don’t check. This is a fucked-up building for sure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An abandoned unit on the sixth floor had clear signs of squatting in January – a broken security door and an apartment full of old birthday cake, beer bottles and tattered clothes. Months earlier, workers said they had secured that very unit to prevent squatting, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unable to get basic help from the housing authority, residents often turn to prayer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent Tuesday, about 15 Nevin Plaza residents gathered in the first-floor common room for their afternoon prayer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of things going on in here that people’s unhappy with but they don’t want to say because they don’t want to get kicked out,” said Eddie Williams, the resident pastor who lives on the second floor. “But since we started praying, people’s not as scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents go around in a circle giving testimonials and recounting their challenges during the week. One woman thanks God for helping her overcome a painkiller addiction. Another is grateful for a successful hip surgery. Then it’s 81-year-old Helen “Mama” Hall’s turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thank God for giving me discernments and opening my eyes to see more stuff going on in here,” Hall said. She is a self-appointed volunteer security guard who has taken it upon herself to police Nevin Plaza against criminals sneaking into the building. “I thank God for giving me strength to look out for this place every day, because no one else is going to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a chorus of amens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all gotta look up to God for help,” Williams said. “Because when you look down, it ain’t good where we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The piece was edited by Andrew Donohue and Mark Katches and copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee. Reporter Amy Julia Harris can be reached at \u003ca href=\"mailto:aharris@cironline.org\">aharris@cironline.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This 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\">Learn more about CIR's work.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "News Pix: MLK Day, Berkeley Time Capsule, and Dusty Old Dust",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/MLKdayRichmond.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-124219\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/MLKdayRichmond.jpg\" alt=\"Barry Dugar, from Richmond, helped distribute fruit tree saplings at the Richmond Greenway as part of Richmond's Martin Luther King Jr Day celebration. The non-profit Self-Sustaining Communities, which operates an urban farm in Richmond, handed out 500 fruit trees, including plum, peach, apricot, and cherry varieties. (Mark Andrew Boyer / KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"900\">\u003c/a>Barry Dugar of Richmond helped distribute fruit tree saplings at the Richmond Greenway as part of Richmond's \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/20/bay-area-turns-out-to-honor-mlk-day/\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration\u003c/a>. The nonprofit Self-Sustaining Communities, which operates an urban farm in Richmond, gave away 500 trees, including plum, peach, apricot and cherry varieties. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8311_photo-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-124328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8311_photo-1-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. House Speaker John Boehner joined a trio of Central Valley Republican Congressmen in a dusty cotton field near Bakersfield on Wednesday to throw his support behind emergency legislation to ease the impact of the state's drought on farmers. But the proposed bill is not without its critics, since it would roll back environmental measures that have been years in the making. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>House Speaker John Boehner joined a trio of Central Valley Republican congressmen in a cotton field near Bakersfield on Wednesday to throw his support behind a proposed bill to ease the drought's impact on farmers. But the plan is not without its critics, since it would roll back environmental measures that have been years in the making. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/PhotoWeek140124bible.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-124220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/PhotoWeek140124bible.jpg\" alt=\"A time capsule discovered last week during the demolition of a Berkeley community church included a carefully wrapped 1875 family bible from one of the church's founding members, as well as pro-temperance fliers written by the pastor. (Leonard Nielson / Berkeleyside)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"900\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/21/time-capsule-discovered-during-berkeley-church-demolition/\" target=\"_blank\">time capsule discovered last week \u003c/a>during the demolition of a Berkeley community church included a \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/22/berkeley-time-capsule-contents-unveiled-historic-bible-anti-liquor-pamphlets-more/\" target=\"_blank\">carefully wrapped 1875 family bible\u003c/a> from one of the church's founding members, as well as temperance fliers written by the pastor. (Leonard Nielson/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/nail-art.jpeg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter wp-image-124329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/nail-art-767x1028.jpeg\" alt=\"Nail artist Britney Tokyo gives friend and client Roxy Ferrari a manicure using a few Cha Cha Cover decals, paint and charms. (Caitlin Esch/KQED)\" width=\"614\" height=\"822\">\u003c/a>In California, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/arts/popculture/article.jsp?essid=133035\" target=\"_blank\">manicures are big business\u003c/a>. Nail shops and other manicure services bring in billions of dollars nationwide. Nail artist Britney Tokyo gives friend and client Roxy Ferrari a manicure using a few decals, paint and charms. (Caitlin Esch/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/MLKdayRichmond.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-124219\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/MLKdayRichmond.jpg\" alt=\"Barry Dugar, from Richmond, helped distribute fruit tree saplings at the Richmond Greenway as part of Richmond's Martin Luther King Jr Day celebration. The non-profit Self-Sustaining Communities, which operates an urban farm in Richmond, handed out 500 fruit trees, including plum, peach, apricot, and cherry varieties. (Mark Andrew Boyer / KQED)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"900\">\u003c/a>Barry Dugar of Richmond helped distribute fruit tree saplings at the Richmond Greenway as part of Richmond's \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/20/bay-area-turns-out-to-honor-mlk-day/\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration\u003c/a>. The nonprofit Self-Sustaining Communities, which operates an urban farm in Richmond, gave away 500 trees, including plum, peach, apricot and cherry varieties. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8311_photo-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-124328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/RS8311_photo-1-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. House Speaker John Boehner joined a trio of Central Valley Republican Congressmen in a dusty cotton field near Bakersfield on Wednesday to throw his support behind emergency legislation to ease the impact of the state's drought on farmers. But the proposed bill is not without its critics, since it would roll back environmental measures that have been years in the making. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>House Speaker John Boehner joined a trio of Central Valley Republican congressmen in a cotton field near Bakersfield on Wednesday to throw his support behind a proposed bill to ease the drought's impact on farmers. But the plan is not without its critics, since it would roll back environmental measures that have been years in the making. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/PhotoWeek140124bible.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-124220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/PhotoWeek140124bible.jpg\" alt=\"A time capsule discovered last week during the demolition of a Berkeley community church included a carefully wrapped 1875 family bible from one of the church's founding members, as well as pro-temperance fliers written by the pastor. (Leonard Nielson / Berkeleyside)\" width=\"1280\" height=\"900\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/21/time-capsule-discovered-during-berkeley-church-demolition/\" target=\"_blank\">time capsule discovered last week \u003c/a>during the demolition of a Berkeley community church included a \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/01/22/berkeley-time-capsule-contents-unveiled-historic-bible-anti-liquor-pamphlets-more/\" target=\"_blank\">carefully wrapped 1875 family bible\u003c/a> from one of the church's founding members, as well as temperance fliers written by the pastor. (Leonard Nielson/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/nail-art.jpeg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter wp-image-124329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/01/nail-art-767x1028.jpeg\" alt=\"Nail artist Britney Tokyo gives friend and client Roxy Ferrari a manicure using a few Cha Cha Cover decals, paint and charms. (Caitlin Esch/KQED)\" width=\"614\" height=\"822\">\u003c/a>In California, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/arts/popculture/article.jsp?essid=133035\" target=\"_blank\">manicures are big business\u003c/a>. Nail shops and other manicure services bring in billions of dollars nationwide. Nail artist Britney Tokyo gives friend and client Roxy Ferrari a manicure using a few decals, paint and charms. (Caitlin Esch/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "In Wake of Chevron Richmond Fire, Regulators Delay Vote on Refinery Safety Rules",
"title": "In Wake of Chevron Richmond Fire, Regulators Delay Vote on Refinery Safety Rules",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-120958\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810-640x455.jpg\" alt=\"The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across much of the East Bay. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"455\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across much of the East Bay. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr) \u003ccite>(Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federal chemical regulators investigating the 2012 Chevron Richmond fire are putting off action on refinery safety after an apparent split on how strict new regulations should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a packed meeting Wednesday night in Richmond, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.csb.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Chemical Safety Board\u003c/a> voted to defer for 120 days action on a staff report on the August 2012 Chevron fire. The report calls on California regulators to adopt a stricter, more proactive approach to regulating oil refineries similar to the system used in many European countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That approach is known as a \"safety case\" regime, in which technically competent regulatory personnel would evaluate refinery safety plans, then audit and inspect facilities to make sure operators were implementing the plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also recommends requiring refineries to bring regulators in to oversee work that's deemed hazardous and to take steps to ensure that refinery workers can report unsafe practices without fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, CSB investigators said, a \"safety case\" model requires oil refineries to use inherently safer materials and equipment — one of Chevron's major failures leading up to the 2012 blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'We have a refinery safety problem in the U.S. The current regulatory system is clearly not working.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Rafael Moure-Eraso\u003cbr>\nChemical Safety Board chair\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>About 100 community residents attended the meeting in the Richmond City Council chambers, along with members of environmental groups and oil industry representatives. A handful of people carried signs calling on the board to adopt the staff report with its strict safety recommendations, and some community members told the board that it's time for action to make Chevron's Richmond operation safer and cleaner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sylvia Gray White told the board she was among the 15,000 East Bay residents who sought hospital treatment after the refinery fire sent a thick plume of black smoke across much of western and northern Contra Costa County. \"Breathing air full of toxic chemicals has drastically reduced our quality of life,\" White told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-hour meeting heard a summary of the staff report. It echoes the board's preliminary findings, which blamed the fire on Chevron's repeated failure to follow advice from its own safety experts and install a safer type of steel in key parts of the refinery. High sulphur content in crude oil processed at the refinery caused older pipes to thin, then rupture, sparking the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24922078/richmond-federal-board-at-odds-over-recommendations-stemming\" target=\"_blank\">As the Contra Costa Times' Robert Rogers reports\u003c/a>, sign before the meeting suggested the board would adopt the report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Prior to Wednesday's meeting, Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso was firm in his belief that the safety case regime was the right approach. He was the lone vote in favor of adopting the staff report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have a refinery safety problem in the U.S.,\" Moure-Eraso said. \"The current regulatory system is clearly not working.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moure-Eraso's sentiments were echoed by Dan Tillema, a lead investigator for CSB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't see any downside to the safety case regime,\" Tillema said. \"But there will be industry resistance.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And, Rogers adds, the industry did express opposition to the new safety regime in written comments:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"Adopting the safety case regime would add complexity and uncertainty\" without guaranteed benefits, said Ron Chittim, a senior policy adviser for the American Petroleum Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written statement released earlier Wednesday, Western States Petroleum Association President Catherine Reheis-Boyd urged California and Contra Costa officials to take \"a thoughtful and cautious approach.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reheis-Boyd wrote that moving too quickly to adopt some of the programs recommended by the CSB could inject a high level of complexity and confusion into long-standing and successful safety programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We must be very careful in how we introduce change, especially into programs that have a long record of acceptance and success,\" she wrote.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>When it came time to vote on adopting the staff report and the \"safety case\" recommendations, the board members split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemical Safety Board member Mark Griffon moved to put off voting on the report, saying that the agency needs more time to iron out transitional issues and address unanswered questions raised by the public, including whether the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety, Cal-OSHA, is authorized to require refineries to correct safety hazards in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Griffon suggested postponing a decision for 120 days to allow a panel to amend the report by addressing how to address potential obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Beth Rosenberg also voted to delay a decision Wednesday night, saying, \"I am 90 percent sure that I want regime change in the United States. I want to do it from a position of strength.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moure-Eraso voted to adopt the report and new safety regime; Griffon and Rosenberg voted for the 120-day delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post contains material from Grace Rubenstein of KQED News and Bay City News. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-120958\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810-640x455.jpg\" alt=\"The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across much of the East Bay. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"455\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across much of the East Bay. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr) \u003ccite>(Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federal chemical regulators investigating the 2012 Chevron Richmond fire are putting off action on refinery safety after an apparent split on how strict new regulations should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a packed meeting Wednesday night in Richmond, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.csb.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Chemical Safety Board\u003c/a> voted to defer for 120 days action on a staff report on the August 2012 Chevron fire. The report calls on California regulators to adopt a stricter, more proactive approach to regulating oil refineries similar to the system used in many European countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That approach is known as a \"safety case\" regime, in which technically competent regulatory personnel would evaluate refinery safety plans, then audit and inspect facilities to make sure operators were implementing the plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also recommends requiring refineries to bring regulators in to oversee work that's deemed hazardous and to take steps to ensure that refinery workers can report unsafe practices without fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, CSB investigators said, a \"safety case\" model requires oil refineries to use inherently safer materials and equipment — one of Chevron's major failures leading up to the 2012 blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'We have a refinery safety problem in the U.S. The current regulatory system is clearly not working.'\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>— Rafael Moure-Eraso\u003cbr>\nChemical Safety Board chair\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>About 100 community residents attended the meeting in the Richmond City Council chambers, along with members of environmental groups and oil industry representatives. A handful of people carried signs calling on the board to adopt the staff report with its strict safety recommendations, and some community members told the board that it's time for action to make Chevron's Richmond operation safer and cleaner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sylvia Gray White told the board she was among the 15,000 East Bay residents who sought hospital treatment after the refinery fire sent a thick plume of black smoke across much of western and northern Contra Costa County. \"Breathing air full of toxic chemicals has drastically reduced our quality of life,\" White told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-hour meeting heard a summary of the staff report. It echoes the board's preliminary findings, which blamed the fire on Chevron's repeated failure to follow advice from its own safety experts and install a safer type of steel in key parts of the refinery. High sulphur content in crude oil processed at the refinery caused older pipes to thin, then rupture, sparking the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24922078/richmond-federal-board-at-odds-over-recommendations-stemming\" target=\"_blank\">As the Contra Costa Times' Robert Rogers reports\u003c/a>, sign before the meeting suggested the board would adopt the report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Prior to Wednesday's meeting, Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso was firm in his belief that the safety case regime was the right approach. He was the lone vote in favor of adopting the staff report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We have a refinery safety problem in the U.S.,\" Moure-Eraso said. \"The current regulatory system is clearly not working.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moure-Eraso's sentiments were echoed by Dan Tillema, a lead investigator for CSB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't see any downside to the safety case regime,\" Tillema said. \"But there will be industry resistance.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And, Rogers adds, the industry did express opposition to the new safety regime in written comments:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"Adopting the safety case regime would add complexity and uncertainty\" without guaranteed benefits, said Ron Chittim, a senior policy adviser for the American Petroleum Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written statement released earlier Wednesday, Western States Petroleum Association President Catherine Reheis-Boyd urged California and Contra Costa officials to take \"a thoughtful and cautious approach.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reheis-Boyd wrote that moving too quickly to adopt some of the programs recommended by the CSB could inject a high level of complexity and confusion into long-standing and successful safety programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We must be very careful in how we introduce change, especially into programs that have a long record of acceptance and success,\" she wrote.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>When it came time to vote on adopting the staff report and the \"safety case\" recommendations, the board members split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemical Safety Board member Mark Griffon moved to put off voting on the report, saying that the agency needs more time to iron out transitional issues and address unanswered questions raised by the public, including whether the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety, Cal-OSHA, is authorized to require refineries to correct safety hazards in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Griffon suggested postponing a decision for 120 days to allow a panel to amend the report by addressing how to address potential obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Beth Rosenberg also voted to delay a decision Wednesday night, saying, \"I am 90 percent sure that I want regime change in the United States. I want to do it from a position of strength.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moure-Eraso voted to adopt the report and new safety regime; Griffon and Rosenberg voted for the 120-day delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post contains material from Grace Rubenstein of KQED News and Bay City News. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-120958\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810-640x455.jpg\" alt=\"The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across the Bay Area. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"455\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across the Bay Area. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr) \u003ccite>(Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the \u003ca title=\"On Anniversary of Richmond Fire, Activists to Remember; Chevron Pays\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/06/105779/\" target=\"_blank\">Chevron refinery fire in Richmond last year,\u003c/a> which sent thousands of local residents to the hospital, a federal report today recommended big changes to how California oversees its oil refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.csb.gov/in-wake-of-chevron-2012-pipe-rupture-and-fire-in-bay-area-csb-draft-report-proposes-overhaul-of-refinery-industry-regulatory-system-in-california-and-urges-adoption-of-the-safety-case-regime-to-prevent-major-chemical-accidents/\" target=\"_blank\">The U.S. Chemical Safety Board report\u003c/a> calls for a replacement of “the current patchwork of largely reactive and activity-based regulations” with a more rigorous safety case system that regulates based on performance. Similar systems have been adopted in the U.K., Norway and Australia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft report, which can be read in its entirety below, will be available for public comment until Jan. 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Cy Musiker spoke with State Senator Loni Hancock, who represents Richmond and has followed the issue since the 2012 fire. Hancock said the report was an important step in the right direction, because it, in no uncertain terms, laid out the problems with the current regulatory system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/125194027&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It confirms what previous reports have told us that California safety requirements and inspections are not adequate,” said Hancock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also criticized the state for allowing Chevron to ignore its own workers’ recommendations, run the refinery “to failure” until there was an explosion and then pay “a meaningless small fine that is just really the cost of doing business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musiker also spoke with refinery and pipeline safety expert Richard Kuprewicz, who said the changes recommended could work. But, for them to it’s important that state regulators have “real clout,” he said – something they have not had to date. There are only about 13 regulators in the whole state right now, Hancock noted\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron did respond to the report, noting the number of steps they’ve already taken to address the failing machinery at the Richmond refinery. “For more than 100 years, safety has been at the core of everything we do,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Chevron Regulatory Report Draft for Public Comment on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/191944959/Chevron-Regulatory-Report-Draft-for-Public-Comment\">Chevron Regulatory Report Draft for Public Comment\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe id=\"doc_41500\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/191944959/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-120958\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RS268_chevron20120810-640x455.jpg\" alt=\"The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across the Bay Area. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"455\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chevron refinery fire in Richmond in August 2012 sent smoke across the Bay Area. (Stephen Schiller/Flickr) \u003ccite>(Stephen Schiller/Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the \u003ca title=\"On Anniversary of Richmond Fire, Activists to Remember; Chevron Pays\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/08/06/105779/\" target=\"_blank\">Chevron refinery fire in Richmond last year,\u003c/a> which sent thousands of local residents to the hospital, a federal report today recommended big changes to how California oversees its oil refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.csb.gov/in-wake-of-chevron-2012-pipe-rupture-and-fire-in-bay-area-csb-draft-report-proposes-overhaul-of-refinery-industry-regulatory-system-in-california-and-urges-adoption-of-the-safety-case-regime-to-prevent-major-chemical-accidents/\" target=\"_blank\">The U.S. Chemical Safety Board report\u003c/a> calls for a replacement of “the current patchwork of largely reactive and activity-based regulations” with a more rigorous safety case system that regulates based on performance. Similar systems have been adopted in the U.K., Norway and Australia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft report, which can be read in its entirety below, will be available for public comment until Jan. 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Cy Musiker spoke with State Senator Loni Hancock, who represents Richmond and has followed the issue since the 2012 fire. Hancock said the report was an important step in the right direction, because it, in no uncertain terms, laid out the problems with the current regulatory system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/125194027&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It confirms what previous reports have told us that California safety requirements and inspections are not adequate,” said Hancock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also criticized the state for allowing Chevron to ignore its own workers’ recommendations, run the refinery “to failure” until there was an explosion and then pay “a meaningless small fine that is just really the cost of doing business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musiker also spoke with refinery and pipeline safety expert Richard Kuprewicz, who said the changes recommended could work. But, for them to it’s important that state regulators have “real clout,” he said – something they have not had to date. There are only about 13 regulators in the whole state right now, Hancock noted\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron did respond to the report, noting the number of steps they’ve already taken to address the failing machinery at the Richmond refinery. “For more than 100 years, safety has been at the core of everything we do,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Chevron Regulatory Report Draft for Public Comment on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/191944959/Chevron-Regulatory-Report-Draft-for-Public-Comment\">Chevron Regulatory Report Draft for Public Comment\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe id=\"doc_41500\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/191944959/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Tawanda Kanhema\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120891\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_7_RICHMOND_Kanhema.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120891\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_7_RICHMOND_Kanhema-1028x596.jpg\" alt=\"Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. nonprofit flew over the Bay Area Saturday in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"596\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. nonprofit flew over the Bay Area Saturday in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ten days after the death of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95, five pilots from \u003ca href=\"http://www.tai-billcampbell.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">the San Francisco Bay Area chapter \u003c/a>of the \u003ca href=\"http://tuskegeeairmen.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Tuskegee Airmen Inc.\u003c/a> took to the skies to pay tribute to the late South African president. (The group is a nonprofit dedicated to community service and honoring the \u003ca href=\"http://www.history.com/news/the-tuskegee-airmen-5-fascinating-facts\" target=\"_blank\">Tuskegee Airmen\u003c/a>, the all-black Army Air Force units that gained fame in World War II aerial combat.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local pilots flew over the Oakland Coliseum, where Mandela addressed a capacity crowd in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120895\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RedTails_4_TUSKEGEE_Nankin1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120895\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RedTails_4_TUSKEGEE_Nankin1-1028x685.jpg\" alt=\"Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Bay Area chapter, LeRobb Lee , Dave Cunningham, Quincey Carr (in wheelchair) and Sam Gaadi discuss flight plans at the Hayward Airport before the Mandela memorial flight. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"685\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Bay Area chapter, LeRobb Lee , Dave Cunningham, Quincey Carr (in wheelchair) and Sam Gaadi discuss flight plans at the Hayward Airport before the Mandela memorial flight. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Air traffic control at the Hayward Executive Airport altered regular call signs for the five planes that participated in the memorial flight from Mandela 001 through Mandela 005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120896\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Tuskegee_10_AIRMEN_Nankin1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120896\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Tuskegee_10_AIRMEN_Nankin1-1028x577.jpg\" alt=\"Tuskegee Airmen Inc. pilot John Favors flies over the Oakland Coliseum during a memorial flight to honor late South African President Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"577\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tuskegee Airmen Inc. pilot John Favors flies over the Oakland Coliseum during a memorial flight to honor late South African president Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are flying over a highly populated African-American community to let them know that we do honor and respect the people who have put their lives out there for us,” Ben Henderson, a former U.S. Air Force engineer and pilot said. “It is very important for young people to understand the sacrifices that have been made and to reflect on the life of Nelson Mandela.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120894\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_18_ALCATRAZ_Kanhema1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120894\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_18_ALCATRAZ_Kanhema1-1028x771.jpg\" alt=\"The memorial flight flew over landmarks like Alcatraz Island. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"771\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The memorial flight flew over landmarks like Alcatraz Island. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first plane, flown by Capt. Sam Gaadi of Aerial Beacon, an aerial advertising operation, took off shortly after 2 p.m. from Hayward and headed north toward the Coliseum, where Mandela addressed his largest audience in the United States following his release from 27 years in South African prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gaadi, who flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years, said the event was a way of honoring Mandela for his fight for equality and acknowledging the San Francisco Bay Area community’s support of Mandela in the years leading to his release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_10_SF_Kanhema1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120892\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_10_SF_Kanhema1-1028x771.jpg\" alt=\"After the Coliseum, the planes broke formation and flew over different parts of the Bay Area. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"771\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After the Coliseum, the planes broke formation and flew over different parts of the Bay Area. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We decided to combine our forces as pilots and businesses in the Bay Area and honor the legacy of President Mandela,” Gaadi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flight coincided with other events to honor Mandela in San Francisco and in Oakland, which were among the first U.S. cities to introduce ordinances calling for the disinvestment of funds from U.S. companies that were doing business with South Africa’s apartheid regime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120893\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_13_GOLDEN_GATE_Kanhema.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120893\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_13_GOLDEN_GATE_Kanhema-1028x561.jpg\" alt=\"Gaadi flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"561\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaadi flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I never thought that I’d be able to honor someone through my flying,” said Dave Cunningham, president of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tai-billcampbell.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">William \"Bill\" Campbell Chapter\u003c/a> of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., who flew a Cherokee Warrior in the memorial flight. Cunningham, whose father was a pilot during World War II, joined the group as a commercial pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the Coliseum the pilots broke formation and conducted coordinated passes over the UC Berkeley campus and the Mandela Parkway, the West Oakland boulevard named for Mandela after the collapse of Cypress Freeway during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pass over the UC Berkeley campus, Gaadi said, was an acknowledgement of UC students' anti-apartheid campaign. That effort eventually led the university to pull billions of dollars out of companies doing business with South Africa.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Tawanda Kanhema\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120891\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_7_RICHMOND_Kanhema.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120891\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_7_RICHMOND_Kanhema-1028x596.jpg\" alt=\"Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. nonprofit flew over the Bay Area Saturday in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"596\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. nonprofit flew over the Bay Area Saturday in a tribute to Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ten days after the death of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95, five pilots from \u003ca href=\"http://www.tai-billcampbell.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">the San Francisco Bay Area chapter \u003c/a>of the \u003ca href=\"http://tuskegeeairmen.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Tuskegee Airmen Inc.\u003c/a> took to the skies to pay tribute to the late South African president. (The group is a nonprofit dedicated to community service and honoring the \u003ca href=\"http://www.history.com/news/the-tuskegee-airmen-5-fascinating-facts\" target=\"_blank\">Tuskegee Airmen\u003c/a>, the all-black Army Air Force units that gained fame in World War II aerial combat.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local pilots flew over the Oakland Coliseum, where Mandela addressed a capacity crowd in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120895\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RedTails_4_TUSKEGEE_Nankin1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120895\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/RedTails_4_TUSKEGEE_Nankin1-1028x685.jpg\" alt=\"Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Bay Area chapter, LeRobb Lee , Dave Cunningham, Quincey Carr (in wheelchair) and Sam Gaadi discuss flight plans at the Hayward Airport before the Mandela memorial flight. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"685\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pilots from the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Bay Area chapter, LeRobb Lee , Dave Cunningham, Quincey Carr (in wheelchair) and Sam Gaadi discuss flight plans at the Hayward Airport before the Mandela memorial flight. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Air traffic control at the Hayward Executive Airport altered regular call signs for the five planes that participated in the memorial flight from Mandela 001 through Mandela 005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120896\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Tuskegee_10_AIRMEN_Nankin1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120896\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Tuskegee_10_AIRMEN_Nankin1-1028x577.jpg\" alt=\"Tuskegee Airmen Inc. pilot John Favors flies over the Oakland Coliseum during a memorial flight to honor late South African President Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"577\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tuskegee Airmen Inc. pilot John Favors flies over the Oakland Coliseum during a memorial flight to honor late South African president Nelson Mandela. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are flying over a highly populated African-American community to let them know that we do honor and respect the people who have put their lives out there for us,” Ben Henderson, a former U.S. Air Force engineer and pilot said. “It is very important for young people to understand the sacrifices that have been made and to reflect on the life of Nelson Mandela.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120894\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_18_ALCATRAZ_Kanhema1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120894\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_18_ALCATRAZ_Kanhema1-1028x771.jpg\" alt=\"The memorial flight flew over landmarks like Alcatraz Island. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"771\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The memorial flight flew over landmarks like Alcatraz Island. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first plane, flown by Capt. Sam Gaadi of Aerial Beacon, an aerial advertising operation, took off shortly after 2 p.m. from Hayward and headed north toward the Coliseum, where Mandela addressed his largest audience in the United States following his release from 27 years in South African prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gaadi, who flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years, said the event was a way of honoring Mandela for his fight for equality and acknowledging the San Francisco Bay Area community’s support of Mandela in the years leading to his release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_10_SF_Kanhema1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120892\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_10_SF_Kanhema1-1028x771.jpg\" alt=\"After the Coliseum, the planes broke formation and flew over different parts of the Bay Area. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"771\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After the Coliseum, the planes broke formation and flew over different parts of the Bay Area. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We decided to combine our forces as pilots and businesses in the Bay Area and honor the legacy of President Mandela,” Gaadi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flight coincided with other events to honor Mandela in San Francisco and in Oakland, which were among the first U.S. cities to introduce ordinances calling for the disinvestment of funds from U.S. companies that were doing business with South Africa’s apartheid regime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_120893\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1028px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_13_GOLDEN_GATE_Kanhema.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-120893\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/12/Mandela_13_GOLDEN_GATE_Kanhema-1028x561.jpg\" alt=\"Gaadi flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years. (Tawanda Kanhema)\" width=\"1028\" height=\"561\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaadi flew a Cessna with a banner reading #Mandela27Years. (Tawanda Kanhema)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I never thought that I’d be able to honor someone through my flying,” said Dave Cunningham, president of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tai-billcampbell.org/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">William \"Bill\" Campbell Chapter\u003c/a> of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., who flew a Cherokee Warrior in the memorial flight. Cunningham, whose father was a pilot during World War II, joined the group as a commercial pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the Coliseum the pilots broke formation and conducted coordinated passes over the UC Berkeley campus and the Mandela Parkway, the West Oakland boulevard named for Mandela after the collapse of Cypress Freeway during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pass over the UC Berkeley campus, Gaadi said, was an acknowledgement of UC students' anti-apartheid campaign. That effort eventually led the university to pull billions of dollars out of companies doing business with South Africa.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcram/feed/podcast"
}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrmag/feed/podcast"
}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAT_2_Tile-scaled.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-Our-Watch-p1436229/",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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