Posts Tagged ‘violations’
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
[UPDATE: Senator Leland Yee is on the case this AM - he's doing a presser involving this latest allegation. (I guess it's too late to call this an October Surprise, and frankly, it's not all that surprising neither. Let's call it a November Expectation. Brace yourself for more.) Oh, and Leland is onto some Chinatown voting sting operation as well.
And there's this: "Statement from Chiu Campaign on Money Laundering Allegations - SAN FRANCISCO (November 2, 2011): Addisu Demissie, spokesman for the David Chiu for Mayor campaign, released the following statement about a San Francisco Chronicle report of potential money laundering by supporters of Mayor Ed Lee:
"This is now the fourth allegation of illegal conduct by Mayor Lee's supporters, and it should be investigated fully by the District Attorney and appropriate authorities,” Demissie said. “With six days to go before Election Day, it will be up to the voters to decide whether this kind of bullying, pay-to-play politics is what they want to see at City Hall for the next 4 years. David is going to spend the last 6 days of this race talking about why he represents a new generation of leadership for San Francisco that will stand tough against the special interests and shake things up at City Hall."
Paid for by David Chiu for Mayor 2011, P.O. Box 641541, San Francisco, CA 94164, FPPC##1337108]
Well, it looks like early-rising City Attorney Dennis Jose Herrera is the first one out of the gates to follow up on today’s piece from San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writers John Coté and Heather Knight.
Testify, DJH:
“Too many of Ed Lee’s supporters act as though they’re above the law — on money laundering, on ballot tampering, and more – and Ed Lee isn’t strong enough to stop it.
Amen.
Earlier this year, Ed Lee was picked unanimously to be an Interim Mayor. He wasn’t picked to be a Reformer. He’ll never be a Reformer.
In Ed Lee’s world, the notorious Willie Brown Administration deserves an A+, Rose Pak is not a cancer on Chinatown, and corner-cutting PG&E (“KABOOM!“) is simply “a great local corporation” and a “great company that gets it.”
Oh well.
Is Ed Lee Breaking Bad? Has the City Family corrupted him? Or has he corrupted the City Family? A little of both?
Click to expand
All the deets:
“Herrera calls on FPPC to join D.A. in investigating new Ed Lee campaign money laundering charge - CitiApartments’ former eviction goon led reimbursement-for-donation scheme, suggesting political payback for City Attorney’s 2006 tenant-protection lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 2, 2011) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera this morning called on the state Fair Political Practices Commission to join District Attorney George Gascón in reviewing new allegations reported in today’s San Francisco Chronicle that Ed Lee’s mayoral campaign received donations that appear to have been illegally laundered to skirt San Francisco $500 per donor contribution maximum.[1] Andrew Hawkins, a property services manager whose harrowing tenant intimidation tactics were central to Herrera’s lawsuit five years ago against the Lembi Group landlords’ once high-rolling CitiApartments empire, promised reimbursements to at least sixteen employees in exchange for maximum contributions to Ed Lee’s mayoral campaign at an Oct. 18, 2011 fundraiser, according to the Chronicle.
It is the second major allegation of campaign money laundering to benefit Ed Lee’s campaign. The first, involving GO Lorrie’s airport shuttle, is the subject of separate investigations by Gascón’s office and the FPPC, the state commission responsible to investigate and impose penalties for violations of the California Political Reform Act. Such schemes have been prosecuted as felonies in California for conspiring to evade campaign contribution limits, and for making campaign contributions under false names.
“I think San Franciscans have now seen enough,” said City Attorney Dennis Herrera. “Too many of Ed Lee’s supporters act as though they’re above the law — on money laundering, on ballot tampering, and more — and Ed Lee isn’t strong enough to stop it. If this is how they behave before an election, just imagine how they’ll behave after the election, if Ed Lee wins. This scheme is clearly a bid for political payback by CitiApartments henchmen for my litigation to protect tenants five years ago. It is patently illegal, and I call on the FPPC to join the District Attorney in investigating.”
Hawkins is listed in Ed Lee’s campaign disclosures as the owner of Archway Property Services. As the one-time head of CitiApartments’ “tenant relocation program,” the gun-carrying Hawkins is reported to have coerced more than 2,500 tenants out of their rent-controlled units, and once boasted in civil court testimony, “I run people out of their apartments for a living. It’s what I do.“
Several recipients of Hawkins’ email invitation to an Oct. 18 event on Russian Hill made contributions to Ed Lee’s campaign on the same date. All contributed the maximum $500.
Herrera sued the CitiApartments residential rental property behemoth in Aug. 2006 for an array of unlawful business and tenant harassment practices, which sought to dispossess long-term residents of their rent-controlled apartments. The coerced vacancies freed the company to make often-unpermitted renovations to units, and then re-rent them to new tenants at dramatically increased market rates. The illegal business model enabled CitiApartments, Skyline Realty and other entities under the sway of real estate family patriarch Frank Lembi to aggressively outbid competitors for residential properties throughout San Francisco for several years — before lawsuits and a sharp economic downturn forced the aspiring empire into bankruptcies, foreclosures and receiverships.
A 2009 San Francisco Magazine feature story on the Lembi real estate empire[2] described Andrew Hawkins as “a burly former nightclub bouncer who headed up CitiApartments’ relocation program.” Hawkins reportedly led teams as large as 14 full-time employees, according to the report, and the company estimated that “Hawkins relocated more than 2,500 tenants.” An earlier exposé in 2006 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian[3] cited civil court testimony in which Hawkins boasted to one tenant’s family member, “I run people out of their apartments for a living. It’s what I do.”
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SOURCES:
Tags: 2006, 2011, 500, Addisu Demissie, airport, Andrew Hawkins, apartments, aprtment, Archway, Archway Property Services, ballot, bankruptcies, bankruptcy, bay area, bay guardian, bouncer, breaking bad, building, california, campaign, chinatown, chronicle, Citi, CitiApartments, city apartments, city attorney, city family, commission, da', David Chiu, dennis herrera, Dennis Jose Herrera, District Attorney, donations, ed, ed lee, edwin, Employees, fair political practices commission, false, felonies, foreclosure, fppc, fundraiser, George Gascón, Go Lorrie's, group, gun, harassment, heather knight, henchmen, illegal, intimidation, John Coté, landlord, landlords, laundered, laundering, law, lawsuit, Lee, leland yee, lembi, Lembi Group, limits, long-term, maximum, Mayor, mayoral, names, nightclub, Oct. 18, pay-to-play, penalties, pg&e, political, promised, property, realty, receivership, reimbursements, reporters, Rose Pak, russian hill, San Francisco, schemes, services, shuttle, skyline, spokesman, Staff, state, tactics, tampering, tenant, utility, violations, willie brown, writer's
Posted in politics | 1 Comment »
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011
Here’s a look at some background and then find a fresh release below.
“Ed Lee backers said to fill in ballots for others“
“More Fraud Accusations for Lee Supporters“
“The Ed Lee Story: An Expected Ballot Tampering“
“Latest Ed Lee Voter Fraud Just the Tip of the Iceberg - Volunteers witness many instances of potential voter fraud and election violations by Ed Lee campaign
SAN FRANCISCO – Volunteers for Leland Yee’s campaign for mayor are hearing about and witnessing many instances of potential voter fraud and election violations conducted by Ed Lee’s campaign. Over the past several days, Yee’s volunteers have witnessed or heard from voters about at least six different incidents of voter fraud or intimidation.
“I am deeply concerned that the voting rights of individuals are being abused, seniors in subsidized housing are being taken advantage of, and laws that are meant to protect the integrity of the voting process are being ignored and circumvented,” said Yee.
Yesterday, the Bay Citizen and the San Francisco Chronicle reported on workers of an independent expenditure campaign for Ed Lee filling out ballots for voters and in some cases using a stencil which only allowed voters to cast their vote for Lee and no other candidate. The Ed Lee workers also collected dozens of vote-by-mail ballots from voters at the make-shift station.
“What we are hearing from the field is deeply concerning, not just for our campaign but for the integrity of this election and our democracy,” said Jim Stearns, Yee’s campaign manager. “We are encouraging individuals to report potential violations to the Department of Elections; unfortunately, our volunteers are witnessing that many voters are reluctant to speak out, because they are afraid of potential retaliation such as losing their housing.”
These incidents appear to be just the tip of the iceberg as Yee’s campaign volunteers and workers have also witnessed the following voter and election fraud:
At a number of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) run housing complexes, residents told Yee workers that they turned their ballots over to their apartment managers. Volunteer Tommy Lin said, “Many residents told me they didn’t even know who they voted for, because their ballots were turned over before they were filled out.”
According to Yee worker Andy Li, at the federally-funded Senior Housing Complex on 441 Ellis St, residents were invited to the common room for help on how to fill out their absentee ballots, but were first treated to a projector video of commercials and videos of Ed Lee. Residents then were “assisted” by Ed Lee volunteers in filling out their absentee ballots.
In clear violation of election law, Bayview volunteers told Yee’s Field Director Anthony Thomas that they were paid $150 cash to walk precincts and do other voter contact in the neighborhood.
In a number of Filipino housing complexes, absentee ballots still have not arrived at residents’ homes, raising concerns that they may have been removed by apartment management. Yee is widely considered to be heavily favored in the Filipino American community.
A number of Ed Lee volunteers have attested that they were assigned to work on both Ed Lee’s official mayoral campaign as well as his various independent expenditure campaigns, raising serious issues of illegal coordination between the campaigns.
“It is imperative that the Elections Office, Ethics Commission, Secretary of State, District Attorney, Attorney General, and the US Attorney immediately investigate these various illegalities,” said Stearns. “Ed Lee and his comrades are already under investigation by the DA and US Attorney; it is now time for him to come clean for the good of San Francisco.”
–
Leland Yee is endorsed by the United Educators of San Francisco, California Nurses Association, Sierra Club, San Francisco Firefighters, AFSCME, SEIU, San Francisco Labor Council, and the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council. Yee immigrated to San Francisco at the age of 3. His father, a veteran, served in the US Army and the Merchant Marine, and his mother was a local seamstress. Yee graduated from the University of California – Berkeley, then earned a Ph.D. in Child Psychology, and later served in various mental health and school settings. He and his wife, Maxine, have raised four children who all attended San Francisco public schools. Yee has served in the State Legislature, Board of Supervisors and Board of Education.”
Tags: 2011, absentee, Anthony Thomas, apartment, ballots, bay area, bay citizen, Bayview, california, campaign, ccdc, chinatown, Chinatown Community Development Center, chronicle, Department of Elections, ed lee, edwin lee, EXPENDITURE, Filipino, filling, fraud, Independent, intimidation, leland yee, Mayor, out, paid, San Francisco, Senator, seniors, stencil, violations, volunteers, voters
Posted in politics | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Rebecca Bowe has the story of the coming end of San Francisco’s 362 MW Potrero Power Plant early next year.
Perhaps we should rename the PPP’s iconic red tower “Coit Tower South” and charge tourists admission to take rides to the top?
It’s a landmark now, right?
Click to expand
Cutout, 2 levels:
Cutout, 3 levels:
Cutout, 4 levels:
Cutout, 5 levels:
Cutout, 6 levels:
Cutout, 6 levels, version 2:
Cutout, 7 levels:
Tags: 2009, 27, against, april, Atlanta, building code, cal, Cal-ISO, california, California Independent System Operato, citizenship, city attorney, Coit Tower South, corporate, Corporation, denni, dennis herrera, deplorable, earthquake, electricity, energy, filed, health, herrera, human, Independent System Operato, iso, MIR, Mirant, NYSE, potrero, power plant, Reliability Must-Run, RMR, safety, San Francisco, suit, violations
Posted in architecture, art, buildings, environment | No Comments »
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Our three-term San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis J. Herrera, can’t abide landlords who exhibit “an egregious pattern of housing, building, health and safety code violations.” As proof of that, let’s take a look at today’s news regarding the owners of the building at 850 Geary in the Tenderloin / Trenderloin / TenderNob / Lower Nob Hill / Theatre District:
City Attorney Dennis Herrera has filed suit against the property owners of 850 Geary Street, an apartment building whose tenants have been forced to endure an egregious pattern of housing, building, health and safety code violations for nearly five years. According to the complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court, more than a dozen Notices of Violation and Orders of Abatement have been filed against the building owners by the San Francisco Building Inspection and Health Departments since 2005 — and all have gone virtually unheeded.
Said Herrera: “These landlords have been given every opportunity to address their code violations, but have instead chosen to flout the law, to ignore city enforcement agencies, and to allow substandard housing conditions to persist. Their continued defiance has left the City with no choice but to seek a court order to force the owners to fix the problems, to protect tenants and neighbors.”
The City Attorney’s complaint details numerous housing code violations that establish the property as public nuisance, including:
1) lack of certification for boiler room repairs;
2) unmaintained fire escapes;
3) severe cockroach infestation;
4) lack of hot water;
5) unilluminated exit passage ways;
6) lacking heat;
7) a malfunctioning passenger elevator;
water intrusion damage in several apartments;
9) a broken window frame;
10) a damaged main entry door;
11) leaking radiator
12) a fire damaged electrical outlet in one of the unit’s bedrooms.
Health Department inspectors additionally issued Notice of Violations for bed bugs, cockroaches, and mice.
SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 21, 2010) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera today filed suit against the property owners of 850 Geary Street, an apartment building whose tenants have been forced to endure an egregious pattern of housing, building, health and safety code violations for nearly five years. According to the complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court this morning, more than a dozen Notices of Violation and Orders of Abatement have been filed against the building owners by the San Francisco Building Inspection and Health Departments since 2005 — and all have gone virtually unheeded.
“The owners of 850 Geary Street are engaged in unlawful business practices that threaten the health and safety of their tenants and their surrounding neighbors,” said Herrera. “These landlords have been given every opportunity to address their code violations, but have instead chosen to flout the law, to ignore city enforcement agencies, and to allow substandard housing conditions to persist. Their continued defiance has left the City with no choice but to seek a court order to force the owners to fix the problems, to protect tenants and neighbors.”
Named as defendant in Herrera’s lawsuit are James P. Quinn and Patricia D. Quinn, who also the own and manage the building. The City Attorney’s complaint details numerous housing code violations that establish the property as public nuisance, including: 1) lack of certification for boiler room repairs; 2) unmaintained fire escapes; 3) severe cockroach infestation; 4) lack of hot water; 5) unilluminated exit passage ways; 6) lacking heat; 7) a malfunctioning passenger elevator; water intrusion damage in several apartments; 9) a broken window frame; 10) a damaged main entry door; 11) leaking radiator 12) a fire damaged electrical outlet in one of the unit’s bedrooms. Health Department inspectors additionally issued Notice of Violations for bed bugs, cockroaches, and mice.
The case is City and County of San Francisco and the People of California v. James P. Quinn, Patricia D. Quinn et al., San Francisco Superior Court, Filed Jan. 20, 2010. A copy of the complaint is available for download as a PDF on the City Attorney’s Web site at http://www.sfcityattorney.org/ .
Tags: 850 Geary, 850 Geary Street, bed bugs, building, city attorney, cockroach, cockroaches, code, code violations, dennis herrera, dennis j herrera, health, housing, James P. Quinn, James Quinn, landlords, Lower Nob Hill, mice, Notices of Violation, Orders of Abatement, Owners, Patricia D. quinn, Patricia quinn, safety, San Francisco City, tenderloin, TenderNob, theatre district, Trenderloin, violations
Posted in buildings, government, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
See the tower of the Potrero Generating Plant down Seventh Street on a recent rainy day?
Will it be here a year from now?
Who knows. But, on it goes, day in and day out:
Click to expand
Tags: 2009, 27, against, april, Atlanta, building code, california, citizenship, city attorney, corporate, Corporation, denni, dennis herrera, deplorable, earthquake, electricity, energy, filed, health, herrera, human, MIR, Mirant, NYSE, potrero, power plant, safety, San Francisco, suit, violations
Posted in buildings, environment | Comments Off
Monday, April 27th, 2009
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera today sued Mirant Corporation for potentially life-threatening building code violations at the Potrero Generating Plant. Says Mr. Herrera:
“To the list of corporate lawlessness that includes polluting our air, ground and water, we can now add Mirant’s defiant refusal to address safety risks to its own employees.”
Read all about it, below.
Code violations at controversial Potrero plant mark the latest in list of threats to public health, safety and the environment
City Attorney Dennis Herrera today filed suit against Mirant (NYSE: MIR) for potentially life-threatening building code violations at its controversial Potrero power plant, blistering the Atlanta-based energy giant’s “deplorable corporate citizenship” for long disregarding human health and safety in San Francisco. The 17-page complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court charges the company with persistent violations of a City ordinance that requires seismic safety upgrades to unreinforced masonry buildings, whose structural failures in major earthquakes can cause significant loss of life and injuries. The aging diesel-fueled plant has been a flashpoint for neighborhood and environmental justice advocates for decades because of the facility’s longstanding air, ground and water contamination problems, and their suspected link to atypically high rates of asthma and cancer in neighboring communities. Today’s lawsuit comes after years of failed negotiations between Mirant and City leaders to address environmental, public health and safety issues — including seismic retrofits — and a series of letters over the past few months from Herrera and other City officials threatening to challenge the extension of Mirant’s water permit for the plant because it continues to pollute San Francisco Bay.
“To the list of corporate lawlessness that includes polluting our air, ground and water, we can now add Mirant’s defiant refusal to address safety risks to its own employees,” said Herrera. “City leaders have worked for years to shutter this filthy and dangerous facility — which has no business operating in the 21st Century, let alone in a major population center. But it increasingly appears that our good faith efforts to work with Mirant have been exploited and mocked. The imperatives of public health and safety in San Francisco prevent us from continuing to tolerate this deplorable corporate citizenship. I intend to pursue a court order to force Mirant to live up to responsibilities it has too long ignored. Mirant is at the end of its rope.”
Unreinforced masonry buildings, or UMBs, are masonry or concrete buildings constructed without the benefit of reinforcements. UMBs can be gravely hazardous in earthquakes, with a strong likelihood of failure in serious seismic events, including collapsing walls or the “pancaking” of entire buildings. In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted the UMB Ordinance to require: (1) all owners of UMBs to be notified of potential hazards; (2) all owners to retain a licensed civil, structural engineer or architect to identify the hazard class of UMB buildings; and (3) all owners to seismically upgrade the buildings within specified requirements and time frames.
While the ordinance established Feb. 15, 2006 as the deadline for most building owners to complete structural seismic alterations, the City, like other regulatory agencies, extended numerous accommodations to Mirant in the expectation that the closure of its environmentally injurious power plant was imminent. Today’s civil action details the history of the City’s enforcement efforts at the Potrero facility, and alleges that Mirant is operating a public nuisance in violation of the California Civil Code (Sections 3479 and 3480) and San Francisco Building Code (Sections 102 and 103). Herrera’s lawsuit additionally charges Mirant with unlawful and unfair business practices, in violation of California Business and Professions Code Section 17200.
If successful, Herrera’s case on behalf of the City and People of the State of California could result in sweeping injunctive relief, disgorgement of all profits derived from the company’s unlawful conduct, civil penalties, and costs and fees associated with the action.
The case is: City and County of San Francisco and People of the State of California v. Mirant Potrero, LLC, San Francisco Superior Court, filed April 27, 2009.
Tags: 2009, 27, against, april, Atlanta, building code, california, citizenship, city attorney, corporate, Corporation, denni, dennis herrera, deplorable, earthquake, electricity, energy, filed, health, herrera, human, MIR, Mirant, NYSE, potrero, power plant, safety, San Francisco, suit, violations
Posted in law | Comments Off
