Bluoz

I think the tourists to San Francisco are trying to say something isn't quite right here

Two South African tourists get a free show at the ferry terminals at Fishermans Warf in San Francisco. One is heard saying 'even in South Africa we have cops walking around".

The original video on youtube is here and you can see it's one of those Iphone tilted ones until she corrects it

here's a more corrected version

Three acres of the last commercially zoned waterfront property in San Francisco for less than 200,00?. Was worth 20 million 3 years ago

900 Innes near the former Hunters Point Shipyard was donated to Randy Shaw and Tenderloin Housing Clinic in 2008 from developer Joe Cassidy. Shortly after, it was granted landmark status but has since fallen into disrepair, held up because of zoning issues

This is pretty normal for San Francisco and is pretty much why Joe Cassidy donated the property. What isn't normal is fishy accounting about the property

via email from Rita O'Flynn and sent to the controllers office, assessor and the board of supes, etc

Times are pretty tough for San Francisco Real Estate Market. But I doubt anyone in San Francisco has experienced a loss as great as that suffered by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic though. According to the audited financial statements for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, in 2007 land within the City and County of San Francisco (900 Innes) with an "assessed value" of $20million was donated to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. According to the SF Tax Assessor's office however, almost immediately upon the donation, the land lost significant value and was somehow assessed at ...$200K. That's right folks...a 100-fold loss in property value!!!

Its unfortunate that the tax records for the donor are not available to the public; it may never be known how much of a tax deduction the donor enjoyed with his bait and switch gift to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. We do know, however, that for some reason the Tenderloin Housing Clinic has yet to document the receipt of this land, at any value, on their IRS Form 990's even though their independent auditors feel it should be in order for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic to be in compliance with GAAP. One wonders what the reluctance is? One also wonders why this shortchanging of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic of valuable real estate assets is not front page news in BeyondChron?

Ball is in your court in case you think something is fishy with this situation. Please fee free to contact me if you have any questions.

this is the line item for 900 Innes from the most recent outside audit of Tenderloin Housing Clinic, from June 2010, the latest available




the assessors office has this



The Department of Building Inspection has no permits on file for 900 Innes, no construction, no plumbing, nothing. There was a complaint about the little historical shack last year

DATE TYPE DIV INSPECTOR STATUS COMMENT
09/20/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy INSPECTION OF PREMISES MADE site visit by Clancy, Building boarded up and appears vacant, inquires made to find property owner.
09/22/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy TELEPHONE CALLS spoke with Matt McFarlen from Tenderloin Housing clinic, the property owners.
09/22/10 CASE OPENED BID Clancy CASE RECEIVED
09/27/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy TELEPHONE CALLS spoke with Randy Shaw from the Tenderlion Housing Clinic and would like a site verification from a building inspector to verify that the property is being used for storage.
10/05/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy CASE UPDATE Inspector Clancy e-mailed to Matt Mcfarlen and Randy Shaw as to schedule site insepction to clarify building use.
10/13/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy TELEPHONE CALLS Confirmed site vist to meet Matt McFarlen at 900 Innes on Thursday Oct 14 @1pm.
10/14/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy FIRST NOV SENT site visit by Clancy. NOV issued for vacant building (194-09)
10/27/10 ABANDONED BUILDING BID Clancy CASE ABATED Building registered as vanct/abandoned. Abated.

and for those interested, here's the whole audit from last year

2010 Audited Financials1a

Randy Shaw makes a covert plea for help in this SPUR article today

Even worse, during the 1980s the neighborhood’s single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels were transformed into city-funded transient housing, driving out long-term residents and affirming the area’s status as a home for the downtrodden.

What Randy Shaw fails to mention is that the neighborhood SRO hotels are still being transformed into city funded transient housing in 2011, and that Randy Shaw himself, through Tenderloin Housing Clinic, is the largest landlord of this city funded transient housing. In other words, Randy Shaw is admitting that it's 'even worse' because of his own actions, and that he himself has driven out long term residents, while refusing to take responsibility for it. In fact, Randy Shaw has now displaced over 1500 long term residents through his own exclusive master lease contracts, which doesn't even include the other non profits involved

This is a 2008 interview with Art Bruzzone and Randy Shaw, with Randy Shaw basically admitting, or bragging, that he was instrumental in turning Tenderloin SRO's into permanent supportive/transient housing



Also not mentioned, and even more important, is that none of the supportive housing contractors are able to cope with housing many of the people that the city itself pays to house. None of the contractors for supportive housing to the city are licensed to care for mentally unstable people and are no different than any other property management company. The 'supportive housing' part of the contract only refers to outside companies that are licensed in mental health and drug and alcohol issues. The only thing that the supportive housing contractors can do, is refer clients to outside licensed companies, like hospitals, on a voluntary basis, unless that person is an immediate threat

Because all of the supportive housing contractors are not specially licensed and no different than any other property management group, they are still beholden to the exact same laws as any other property management group, except that they house people that are often a nuisance to neighbors

The result of this is large scale evictions for many years, for all manner of nuisance

All of these hundreds (thousands now) of people are now back on the street, in the Tenderloin and Mid Market area, likely still causing nuisance, which is also likely costing more than if the city funded licensed homes in the first place, with greater care and control over it's mentally challenged and drug addicted populace. Randy Shaw has, in effect contributed to the destabilization of an entire neighborhood in San Francisco

this also includes Care not Cash hotels, and yet another more recent example of the same problem, that none of the supportive housing companies in San Francisco are equipped to handle . The only real difference between the Feinstein vouchers of the 80's and the Randy Shaw style of today with SRO 'transient housing' is extended for many people by only a few months

the filing is Tenderloin Housing Clinic, v Lyon at 66 Geary, a Care not Cash hotel. The attorney is Paul Hogarth, the main eviction attorney for Tenderloin Housing Clinic, who just wrote a tribute to, of all things, eviction defense

Ever feel like you're surrounded by cray cray?. It's not all in your mind, man

The complete list is in text here>

psychopathic.SF.2010-2768.txt

there were 2768 incidents involving 'psychopathic case' in San Francisco last year, one of the largest categories of them all. The list is also sorted by block so you can see if your suspicions are correct in your neighborhood

psychopathic.SF.2010-2768

Continuing from an earlier post about the most violent blocks in San Francisco, this post covers ALL categories.

The problem with many, if not all, of the crime maps using SFPD data, is that crime maps usually only add major crime categories, like assault, robbery, etc. There are over 40 categories of crime usually NOT included in any of the maps I've seen, like warrants, drunkenness, other offenses, disorderly conduct, petty theft, etc. By including all categories, it significantly changes which blocks have the overall highest crime rate

these text files are for the entire year of 2010, and are the top blocks in San Francisco for all categories, with the number of incidents. In San Francisco, there are not that many blocks with over 200 police incidents for the entire year of 2010, and there's only one block with over 1000

100 Block of Hyde, 196 incidents

hyde.100.block-2010-196

United nations Plaza, 230 incidents

united.nation.pl.0.block-2010-230

Turk and Leavenworth, 266 incidents

turk.leavenworth-2010-266

900 Block of Market street, between 5th and 6th, 294 incidents

market.st.900.block-2010-294

100 block of Eddy, 305 incidents

eddy.100.block-2010-305

1000 block of market, between 6th and 7th, 310 incidents

market.st.1000.block-2010-310

1st block of Powell, where the cable cars are, 316 incidents

powell.0.block.2010-316

100 block of O'Farrell, where Macy's department store is, 317 incidents

ofarrell.100.block-2010-317

1st block of Turk, 361 incidents

turk.st.0.block-2010-361

2000 block of Market Street, between Duboce and Church, where the Safeway is, 449 incidents

market.st.2000.block-2010-449

1000 block of Potrero, where SF general Hospital is, 488 incidents

potrero.1000.block-2010-488

200 block of Turk, 518 incidents

turk.st.200.block-2010-518

1st block of 6th street, 525 incidents

6th.st.0.block-2010-525a

However, if you include intersections for the 1st two blocks of 6th street, then it becomes well over 1000 incidents for 2 blocks

100 block of 6th street, 365

6th.st.100.block-2010-365

6th street intersections with alleys between Market and Howard, 447 incidents

6th-howard.alleys-2010-447

2000 block of Mission, between 16th and 17th, 898 incidents

mission.st.2000.block-898

But if you include the intersection of 16th and Mission, that also becomes over 1000

16th and Mission, 407 incidents

16th.mission.2010-407

The one single block with the highest crime is the 800 block of Market, where Nordstrom, Westfield Center and the Powell Street Cable Cars meet, 1122 incidents

market.st.800.block-2010-1122

Take all this together and it become quite clear that the Mid-Market area has the highest crime rate of all, followed by 16th and Mission, and then the Tenderloin


coming soon, one single category usually not included in crime maps, that is one of the biggest categories

Link sent from a friend of mine in Oslo, Norway (the friend didn't take the video, only sent the link). It's now on Oslo TV

What really happened in downtown Oslo yesterday. Before, during, and after, from somebody who was there



and a scene from tonights vigil in Oslo

Amy Winehouse joined the 27 Club today after a suspected overdose

That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors 1977
Songwriters: Vanzant, Ronnie; Collins, Allen;

Whiskey bottles and brand new cars
Oak tree, you're in my way
There's too much coke and too much smoke
Look what's going on inside you

Ooh, that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell
The smell of death surrounds you, yeah

Angel of darkness is upon you
Stuck a needle in your arm
(You, fool, you)
So take another toke, have a blow for your nose
One more drink, fool, would drown you
(Hell, yeah)

Ooh, that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Now, they call you prince charming
Can't speak a word when you're full of 'ludes
Say you'll be alright come tomorrow
But tomorrow might not be here for you
(Yeah, you)

Ooh, that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Aw, you, fool, you
You stick them needles
In your arm
I know, I've been there before

One little problem that confronts you
Got a monkey on your back
Just one more fix, Lord, might do the trick
One hell of a price for you to get your kicks
(Hell, yeah)

Ooh, that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Ooh, that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Oh, you, fool, you
Don't stick those needles
In your arm
You're just a fool
Just a fool, just a fool

[Incomprehensible]
For my love
For my love, yeah


© GET LOOSE MUSIC INC; DUCHESS MUSIC CORPORATION;

This seems to be a fairly recent development and is also been reported in the Tenderloin/Tendernob area via Everyblock and a long discussion about it

http://sf.everyblock.com/announcements/jun28-mysterious-explosions-5375442/

via the new Soma Community Safety Group

The Rose (on 6th Street) was rocked by two explosions last night that I believe came from M1000 fireworks. This is a youtube video so you can see what it sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIthc77KW8w

The desk clerk believes that the fireworks were thrown from a car.

Earlier in the week a fellow was out in front of the DA Arts gallery shooting off bottle rockets in broad daylight onto a crowed 6th St. When I pulled out my cell phone, someone shouted "He's calling the Cops!" He then started shooting the bottle rockets directly at me. Later I saw him get into a car with lic plate 4MTL799. Couldn't get the make and model. But it was a small dark blue sedan with duck tape over the rear side windows.

I believe this is a deliberate attempt by the drug dealers to intimidate decent people into leaving the area so they can go back to doing business as usual on that street corner.

No telling if the same individual was responsible for both fireworks incidents but it wouldn't surprise me.

these two videos are from last night and a block away from the Rose hotel on 6th street. The video doesn't show the explosion, only the audio, so you can hear what it sounds like. If you live near Mid market/Tenderloin/SOMA, and wonder what the loud bangs are late at night, you're not just hearing things

10PM last night



2:40am this morning..explosion occurs at 2:10min


Watch live video from 6th and Stevenson, San Francisco on Justin.tv

This is security cam footage of an explosion last week at Leavenworth and O'farrell, video but no sound

By sheer coincidence on a related note, KALW radio interviewed people at Tenderloin Housing Clinic about supportive housing in SRO's in the Tenderloin and Turk Street and actually ties in crack cocaine with the SRO's. This comes just a week after another Tenderloin Housing Clinic employee posted this article with the headline "San Francisco Police Omit Drug Arrests"



Also on a related note, MJ of San francisco produced another video 6 days ago that puts a face on the stats you're about to see. It appears Turk street is # 1 for crack cocaine, not violence



the list posted on this page is incomplete because it's so large, it won't fit into a single post. The sale of drugs on the streets of San Francisco is so big, it nearly broke this blog. This post is now the longest maxing out at over 68,000 characters.

The full list is here

http://www.bluoz.com/sale.of.drugs.2011.sample.txt

and here

sale.of.drugs.jan-jul.2011.san francisco



stats after the jump



Continue reading "Crack Cocaine is Number One in San francisco in..." »

just a few clips from tonight's protest at the Powell Street cable cars. The protest was mostly about the recent police shootings. MLagos via Twitter is on the scene. Also the Tenderblog seems to have gotten caught up in it and SF Appeal has a rundown

Passion Cafe has apparently decided to stay open on 6th Street under the same ownership after all


photo from LiveSoma

Via the indubitable SF Citizen, from an earlier post

Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth:

“Thank you, all.

After the wonderful altruistic support we’ve had since and before the incident at Passion Cafe, we’ve decided against selling the restaurant.

Our initial goal was to create a change for the betterment of the residents in the Sixth Street corridor. After 35 years of building South of Market there had been one continuing desire and that was to bring change to Sixth Street which was festering throughout the SOMA neighborhood; as contractors, we took the most blighted building on the Street and we accomplished our goal and have encouraged many new businesses to use us as a model to bring their ideas to the Mid-Market, Sixth Street corridor.

No one could have predicted the economy, consequently we decided to operate Passion Cafe and we’ve had much success and have been lauded from State Senator Mark Leno and have received awards from City, State and Federal entities, too many to mention (except, thank you Supervisor Kim, S.F. Travel, CVE, Mayors Gavin Newsom and Ed Lee, Urban Solutions). The show of gratitude has been humbling.

It’s ironic that on the morning of the incident, I had come early to have someone hang a for sale sign early in the day as to be safe not to injure anyone below, if not for that I would never have been the recipient of a sad, deranged attacker. We had come to that decision feeling very proud of our accomplishment. We’ve survived, in large part, because of our supporters.

After a confusing period, I would like to put all speculation to rest and again, thank everyone for their continued support and encouragement. Passion Cafe will remain, amongst our new neighbors, from Burning Man to Twitter to the International Museum of American Art to all the other eateries we’ve encouraged to move to the new, vibrant Sixth Street and Mid-Market.

Please continue your patience, big things are on their way.”

In honor of this significant announcement, here's a link to some rare photos from when they were still building it

The San Francisco press has made some pretty serious journalistic blunders recently by publishing unsubstantiated reports by people who never actually looked at the SFPD crime database itself. This was recently published by Chronicle, SFist, and Huffington Post...and KRON-TV



The report came from Beyondchron and was published by Jonathan Nathan of the CCSRO, which is funded by Randy Shaw and Tenderloin Housing Clinic. The main claim that the first block of Turk Street has 35 times more violent crime than the rest of the city is blatantly false and misleading. 35 times compared to what? Geary and 35th Avenue?. The only reason why this report was made is because the Central City SRO Collaborative recently moved to Former McDonalds bookstore and now Randy Shaw's organization is suddenly aware of crime, because now they have to actually see it with their own eyes

The fact, is, the CCSRO has been actively campaigning against the police and development for a very long time, so it's extremely hypocritical for them to be suddenly aware of crime now in 2011. Furthermore, the claims that dealers come from across the bay on BART is also misleading, when many of the criminals come from within their own SRO housing, which has also been ignored by the same CCSRO for a very long time. The fact is that while some dealers come from Bayview, Potrero Hill, Fillmore, many dealers are based in the Tenderloin itself, and are housed there, for example, Hospitality House at 290 Turk

Nobody noticed that the report was never published, and no links posted. Instead, the press simply copied a summary without checking any facts and took Jonathan Nathan's word for it

Well, folks you're in for a a shock, because Turk street is not the most violent block in the city, nor does it have the highest overall crime rate. This post only deals with the 'assault' category and more posts will be made soon. Here's a teaser, if anybody thinks they can answer it. The one single block with the highest reported crimes, over 1000, in 2010, is not in the tenderloin, nor is it South of market or the Mission. I bet you'll never guess where it is (The first block of Turk isn't even in the top ten for all crimes)

So here are the actual highest violent crime blocks in San Francisco, starting off with the same first block of Turk street (0 block), which is high, but not compared to the blocks that follow

complete stats after the jump Continue reading "San Francisco's most violent city blocks" »

In response to Randy Shaw's crusade against nuisance and crime in the Tenderloin, here's some arrest records of tenants from Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which is run by the same Randy Shaw. These are all Tenderloin Housing Clinic addresses, and all are subsidized SRO housing funded by the City and County of San Francisco, with some being Care not Cash

example of how this was done

stats after the jump

Continue reading "Tenderloin Housing Clinic Arrest Records" »

finally posted in full, because it's not that easy to find online, and because SRO (single room occupancy hotel) is such a focus these days

This is San Francisco Administrative Code, Section 41, originally passed in 1980. This was essentially written by Randy Shaw

for history's sake, this ordinance was largely prompted by demolitions for the Moscone Center and more famously the International Hotel riots of 1977

Includes all of the updates throughout the years (this is now on Docstoc because it wouldn't fit on this blog)

http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/California/administrative/administrativecode?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:sanfrancisco_ca$sync=1

san francisco hotel conversion and demolition ordinance



the exemption that Randy Shaw granted to himself and other non profits in 1990, long after this was voted into law

(Added by Ord. 121-90, App. 4/12/90)
BookmarkSEC. 41.5. APPLICABILITY OF THIS CHAPTER.

The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to:

(a) The change in use of a residential unit where the unit has been found to be unfit for human habitation prior to November 23, 1979 and ordered to be vacated by the Department of Public Health; or

(b) A hotel wherein 95 percent of the guest rooms were tourist units on September 23, 1979; or

(c) A unit which rented for over $1,000 per month on September 23, 1979; or

(d) A hotel in which 95 percent of the total number of guest rooms rented for more than $1,000 per month on September 23, 1979; or

(e) A building which was unlawfully converted to a rooming house or hotel in violation of the provisions of the City Planning Code; or

(f) A building which meets the requirements of Section 41.7(c) below for a claim of exemption for partially-completed conversions; or

(g) A building which meets the requirements of Section 41.7(b) below for a claim of exemption for low-income housing; or

(h) A building which is lawfully approved by the City after September 23, 1979, and is not a replacement unit pursuant to Section 41.13 herein, so long as it is operated by a public entity or a nonprofit organization as a jail, health facilities as defined by Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, asylum, sanitarium, orphanage, prison, convent, rectory, residential care facility for the elderly as defined in Section 1569.2 of the Health and Safety Code, residential facilities as defined in Section 1502 of Health and Safety Code, or other institution in which human beings are housed or detained under legal restraint.

and

(Added by Ord. 121-90, App. 4/12/90; amended by Ord. 134-01, File No. 001926, App. 7/6/2001)
BookmarkSEC. 41.8. REQUIREMENTS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.

(a) Initial Unit Usage Report. Within 90 days of the adoption of this amended Chapter, the Department of Building Inspection shall notify all nonprofit organizations operating hotels that the nonprofit organization must comply with the Initial Status Determination provisions of Section 41.6 herein.

(b) Annual Unit Usage Report. All nonprofit organizations operating hotels with residential units shall comply with the provisions of Section 41.10 herein in the event that the status of the units in the hotel changes from the designation contained in the Initial Unit Usage Report.

(c) One-for-One Replacement. If a nonprofit organization seeks to demolish residential units or remove residential units from housing use, or sells or otherwise transfers the building containing residential use, it shall comply with the provisions of Section 41.13 of this Chapter.

(d) Applicability of this Chapter. This chapter shall not apply to a hotel which has a certificate of use for all residential units but contained no permanent residents on September 23, 1979, provided that the hotel is owned, leased or operated by a nonprofit organization at the time this exemption is sought. The owner, operator or lessee of such a hotel must file with the Director of the Department of Building Inspection evidence to support such exemption. If the exemption is approved, the Director shall issue a certificate of use designating all the hotel's units as tourist units; provided, however, that the certificate shall not be issued until the hotel owner, operator or lessee has paid any penalties imposed under Section 41.6(e) or Section 41.10(f) or (g), or released any liens imposed under Section 41.20(d).

The San Francisco public library historical photo collection has one single photo of the Mars hotel at 192 4th street at the corner of 4th and Howard, where the Moscone Center is today. 3rd and 4th streets near Mission and Howard was a low income area in the 60's and 70's similar to 6th street today and was demolished to make way for the Moscone Center in the 80's

This photo is dated November 14, 1963, at the corner of 4th and Howard - S. F. News-Call Bulletin photo by Eddie Murphy.



The Mars Hotel was immortalized in the 1974 Grateful Dead album of the same name.

.

this is 4th and Howard today, now called Moscone West



these photos provided by people at The Jerry Site with some from the original album












The album itself was recorded only one block away at the CBS/Automatt at 829 Folsom. David Rubinson, who owned the Automatt, was the second manager for Moby Grape and produced a ton of bands. More history of the Automatt. History of 827 Folsom - CBS studios and a another blog with history

this is the original Coast recorders at 827 Folsom in 1968, later to become Columbia/CBS/Automatt. The building was torn down long ago and is now condos

from the book, If These Halls Could Talk, A Journey through San Francisco recording studios ((Amazon)



Coast recorders is still around, but now located in the Mission