Senator Dianne Feinstein Scolds City Leaders

At a May 27th SFSOS (San Francisco Save Our Streets) rally featuring Dianne Feinstein, California's senior U.S. Senator gave a very impassioned and moving speech about the need for change in San Francisco's governance. She cited her recent experiences of having seen mattresses that had been dumped on Bush Street remain there for days, of trash piled all along the median strips of numerous streets, and of the dismal shape she found most of our city's parks to be in. She called upon the SFSOS membership to demand action from City Hall and to insist our City Government provide its basic services (clean streets, clean parks, police and fire protection, homeless services, etc.) more efficiently. She cited that city government employment has grown significantly since her tenure as Mayor, as has the City's budget, but the quality of the city's services has gone down. Feinstein suggested one way to do correct this trend is to require every city department be held accountable for attaining certain pre-set annual performance goals. She said this had been her practice when she was San Francisco's Mayor. She urged the current Board of Supervisors to get serious about dealing with the city's homeless crisis, and to pass the Care Not Cash initiative as a first but important step to end the abuse of our resources by re-directing cash to real services and care. She added that surveys have shown over 50% of the current homeless population in San Francisco are suffering from mental illness or some form of addiction, and need care. That means getting them off the streets. She urged all San Francisco Save Our Street members to be the squeaky wheel that gets the grease of attention, and to form subgroups in each city Supervisorial district. To learn more about SFSOS, visit their website: www.sfsos.org.

Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group President Carl Guardino Addresses BOMA Luncheon

At the June 12^th BOMA luncheon in San Mateo, Carl Guardino, President of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (SVMG), gave members an overview of his group's mission and challenges. SVMG is a public policy advocacy association that represents 190 private sector employers, primarily in manufacturing and high technology. Collectively his members provide over 225,000 jobs (one out of four) in Silicon Valley.  The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group was founded 25 years ago by David Packard, of Hewlett-Packard. Guardino reported their key issues are: housing availability for employees, reducing traffic congestion, and maintaining a quality education system. He said government leaders must also change their attitudes about business, and understand the global market place American businesses find themselves today. Over regulation, high operational costs, and excessive taxation are creating huge competitive problems for California high tech firms on a worldwide basis. Legislators need to establish incentives for creating and expanding jobs in the state, and not continue to add more regulations and hurdles onto the state's businesses.

New Building Operator Certification Program Announced by PG & E

Want to have your building engineer up to date on all the latest energy saving programs, and possibilities for your building? Send him (or her!) to PG & E's Building Operator Certification Program. The next course is set to begin June 24^th, and lasts one day per month for eight months. Classes are held at the Pacific Energy Center, 851 Howard Street, and the cost is $950 per participant, which includes materials and meals. A second person from the same company attending the same course can register for $650. For more information, check out this website www.neec.net and follow the links to the Building Operator Certification program, and then to the BOC in California. To register or ask questions, contact Peter Turnbull at PG & E at 415-973-2164.

BOMA California Update

The state legislature is more focused on balancing the budget at the moment than anything else, but has had time to take action on several bills below that could spell trouble for commercial office building owners. Here are just a few samples:

SB 179 (Alarcon) - This bill would create joint and several liability for owners who contract out work to janitorial or security firms when state labor laws are violated under the "should know" premise. The bill exempts owners who contract with union firms. BOMA has pressed the author to amend the bill's language to take out "should know" as too vague, and only hold owners liable when they know a contract with vendors will not pay workers the legal minimum requirements under state labor laws, but the author declined to do so. This terrible precedent-setting legislation passed the State Senate on a vote of 21 - 14 with all local Bay Area Senators supporting it: Burton, Speier, Sher, and Perata. It is now before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

SB 17 (Escutia) - This bill will require all publicly traded corporations, by March 1 of each year starting in 2004, to file a real property statement with the State Board of Equalization, listing all real property by county the company owns or leases in California, identified by assessor parcel number. Subsequent statements would be limited to a listing of real property transfers made by the company over the previous 12 months. The bill would also increase the penalty for failure to file a change of ownership statement to the greater of $10,000 or 10 per cent of the current year's taxes on all property owned by the company in the state. This legislation could be disastrous for any publicly traded real estate investment trusts. It has passed the Senate 23 - 14, and is in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. All Bay Area Senators supported it: Burton, Sher, Speier, and Perata. Organizations pushing this legislation included: California Federation of Teachers, California Labor Federation, CA Association of Counties, and the Service Employees International Union. Organizations joining BOMA in opposition were: California Association of Realtors, IREM, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers Association and the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group.

SB 888 (Dunn) - This bill will gut AB 1890, passed in 1996, which sought to re-structure the electrical industry in California. It will phase out any existing direct access power supply options and restore the incumbent utility's monopoly on all components of electric service. Unfortunately, the legislation also restores all the regulatory inefficiencies that had been a primary motivation for restructuring the state's energy markets in the first place. Worse, this legislation will restrict the imposition of time-differentiated rates on residential and small commercial customers, thus placing all peak period power costs increases squarely on large commercial and industrial customers. BOMA member Economic Sciences Corporation estimates that passage of this legislation could further increase California's commercial power costs by 40 - 60% over other regions in the country, thus putting a "severe and permanent constraint on economic growth in CA". The legislation has passed the Senate, 21 - 16, with support from Senator Burton, Speier, Sher, and Perata. It is before the Assembly Utilities Committee. Supporting organizations included: the California Labor Federation, the California Municipal Utilities Association, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Consumers Union, and the Coalition of California Utility Employees. Opponents included: California Business Roundtable, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers Association, the California Retailers Association, the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, and BOMA. 

AB 1690 (Leno) - This bill will grant any county, city, or city and county the ability to form a public safety financing agency which will be able to levy an additional new general income tax of up to 10% of an individual's annual state tax obligation to fund local public safety services. The local tax measure must first be approved by a majority of the voters in the affected jurisdictions. It will also shift a specified portion of the local property tax revenues to this new public safety financing agency. If passed, this bill will repeal the current state prohibition against local cities and counties imposing income taxes on their residents. The bill has passed the Assembly, 41 - 35, with all Bay Area members supporting it including the author, Mark Leno, Joe Nation, Gene Mullin, Joe Simitian, and Leland Yee. It is now before the Senate, and Senator Burton has agreed to co-author it there. The bill was supported by California Professional Firefighters and many local firefighter unions. It was opposed by BOMA, the California Chamber of Commerce and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. 

Market Street Study Update

At a recent meeting of the Chamber of Commerce's Transportation Committee, members were given an update on the progress of the study about the ways San Franciscans use its most important thoroughfare: Market Street. The preliminary findings showed that on a typical mid-morning work day, 200 bicyclists, 650 autos, 160 public transit vehicles, and 1000 pedestrians used Market Street at 5^th/Powell within a one hour timeframe. This translates into 62% of the Market Street traffic is private automobiles, 15% public transportation, 7% commercial vehicles, and 12% taxis. The study has already determined that no new loading bays are needed on Market, but better enforcement of time limits and vehicle types is. Another recommendation: Parking Control Officers need to have their own "beats". However, more study is needed on who comprises the auto traffic and where they are going. The impact on businesses located on Market Street of closing Market Street to autos has also not been determined. One suggestion being discussed is moving all buses off of Mission Street onto Market, and all car traffic onto Mission. (Van Ness to the Ferry Building) Another suggestion was to move a lot of car traffic off of Market Street with better signage.

San Francisco City Hall News to Use:

Underground Utility Vaults Set To Be Assessed New Fees

As part of the new budget for San Francisco's Department of Public Works, several new fees are going to be imposed which will impact building owners. Especially important is a new "annual occupancy assessment fee" for underground utility vaults dedicated to serve a singular client property (not subsidewalk basements). According to a report by Harvey Rose, the city's budget analyst, these fees (if approved) will generate almost $2.6 million a year, an increase of 500% over existing fees, based on 64 such underground utility vaults currently in service under public right-of-ways. The Department has set a date of FRIDAY, June 20^th, at 2 p.m., in City Hall Room 348, to establish the current market rate for the occupancy assessment fees. Affected members may wish to attend. The DPW initially used approximately $25 per square foot in its new budget submittal charging what they determined would be the going rate for underground garage space. 

Parking Revenue Control Equipment Issue

Finally, with the assistance of District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, some semblance of logic may return to the implementation of the city's Revenue Control Equipment (RCE) ordinance, passed two years ago by the Board of Supervisors. Dave Collins, current President of the San Francisco Parking Association, and a member of BOMA's Government and Public Affairs Committee, has reported that his group is gratified Peskin's legislation is moving forward, which will move responsibility for writing the rules on the revenue control equipment ordinance from the Treasurer's office to the DPT, and will empower the Department with the ability to create a more workable definition of acceptable devices (no new equipment has been approved by the Department of Consumer Assurance in over a year) and to possibly propose clean up legislation in the future that would exempt small lots, monthlies, and valet parking. The DPT has also added a new Director, attorney Jerry Norman, who took over last month from Fred Hamdun, who has since gone to work for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.

Graffiti Abatement Legislation

The City's Graffiti Advisory Committee soundly rejected BOMA's suggestions for improvements in the forthcoming revisions to the city's graffiti abatement laws, including giving owners 30 days to clean off graffiti before minimum fines of $500 are imposed. The Advisory Committee has recommended legislation that gives owners seven business days to clean off graffiti or be cited. Owners can appeal the citation to the DPW Director, who may give the owner an additional 7 days. The new laws will not apply to vandalized glass windows and doors that are scratched or burned with acid. A separate ordinance will be drafted later in the year for this type of graffiti vandalism.

November City Ballot Measures

The number of possible ballot measures to be voted on November 4^th by city residents keeps growing and growing. These may include combining the Planning and Building Commissions (abolishing the Building Inspection Commission), creating a chartered (more powerful) Small Business Commission and Commission on the Environment, combining the Police and Sheriff's Departments, establishing an elected residential rent board, requiring that all ballot measures submitted by Board members hold public hearings first, establishing a charter requirement that performance standards be established for park and street maintenance, mandating a "Rainy Day" fund be established for city surpluses in good economic times to be used in leaner times, and a ban on aggressive solicitation (panhandling). BOMA San Francisco's Political Action Committee will review each one for its impact on commercial property.

City Poised to Adopt "Precautionary Principle" Policy Statement

The Board of Supervisors is poised to adopt a new "Precautionary Principle" as part of a re-write of several city environmental laws. This environmental policy will govern the development and implementation of laws protecting the health of San Franciscans and will provide a model for sustainability. It will require all city departments and city contractors to do an assessment of all available alternatives using the best available science when dealing with products or services that could be potentially regarded as a health hazard. Examples include cleaning substances, pesticides, paints, electronic equipment, and coating materials. The intent is to be proactive and to avoid the situations where regulatory action was taken only after huge health problems were discovered, as in the case of PCBs, DDT, lead and asbestos. BOMA and the Chamber testified at the hearing, and urged a balanced approach be adopted when promulgating future regulations on the environment, and, in particular, to include an evaluation of the significant adverse impacts on local commerce and jobs of any new environmental ordinances being considered in the future. BOMA spokesperson Ken Cleaveland suggested his organization's members would prefer to see environmental regulations passed at the federal, state, or regional level, and not locally, as local environmental laws may create a higher standard for the city's businesses, thereby placing them in an unfair competitive position with firms outside San Francisco.

Serious Budget Reform Needed for San Francisco Government

A recent report from the Committee on Jobs criticized the annual budgeting process at City Hall, and pointed out that even with the city's employees agreeing to pay for more of their pension contribution this year, their compensation has outpaced inflation over the last eight years. More importantly, the study pointed out that San Francisco pays more for its services on a per unit basis such as police and fire protection. The City also does not have a "rainy day fund" for down economies. The Committee on Jobs is recommending that the City adopt uniform benchmarks and performance standards for city services, similar to those adopted in many other cities, and to explore competitive contracting out of certain city services. The city's budget has grown by 70% over the last 8 years, with the number of city employees growing by 30%. The city's population has only grown by 7% during that same eight year period. While the city was adding new positions, the private sector lost 60,000 taxpaying jobs.

SF Building Department News:

Grand Jury Report Slams Building Department Performance

A newly-released report by a Grand Jury in San Francisco roundly condemns the performance of the city's building department, and cites management for poor supervision, training, and favoritism. The report also criticizes the Department for maintaining large surpluses. BOMA submitted a letter to the Chronicle after the report was released defending the Building Department and crediting it with giving its members greater direction with the issuance of Administrative Bulletins, and holding regular public advisory committee meetings at which issues and problems can be ironed out. BOMA also defended the department's maintaining a healthy reserve, and suggested the City's General Fund should be so well-managed. The Building Department saw the economic downturn years ago, and began planning overhead cutbacks in anticipation of reduced revenues. For a copy of the report, contact the BOMA Office.

Building Department Brown Bag July 17^th

The next Brown Bag Lunch Talk of relevance to commercial building managers will be held July 17^th, from 12 noon - 1:30 p.m., on the topic of seismic hazards and when seismic upgrades are required. Free. Bring your own lunch. For additional information, contact Laurence Kornfield, Chief Building Inspector, at 415-558-6244.

Disabled Access Compliance Status Documentation Permit Worksheet Released

After many meetings of a task force created to draft a departmental bulletin granting a generalized "path of travel" compliance permit for common areas, a worksheet has been released which will be used by owners wishing to get their common areas "permitted" for disabled access compliance for a period of three years. Ron Tom, Senior Inspector at the Department of Building Inspection, is in charge of finalizing this worksheet/application for the permit. A number of buildings have already submitted, and more BOMA members are encouraged to do so. For more information, contact Ken Cleaveland at BOMA (415-362-2662, ext. 11), or Ron Tom at DBI (415-558-6676).

Oz Erickson on Building Housing in San Francisco

Oz Erickson, of the Emerald Fund, gave BOMA members an ear full on the perils of developing housing in San Francisco at the association's May general membership meeting. Over the last five years, the Emerald Fund has overseen some impressive projects in the City including Pacific Place on Van Ness Avenue, Bridgeview (Rincon Hill), Petrini Place on Masonic Avenue, and Oceanview Village on Alemany Boulevard near the Daly City border. Oz stated that where the city had a blanket EIR in place for multi-unit housing, there were few problems with obtaining the necessary permits, and the projects went forward on schedule. However, where there weren't such prior approvals, moving forward became a political game with risks too difficult to ever calculate. He lamented that it only takes four members of the Board of Supervisors to pull a project up from Planning to their level for review. When this happens, Oz said, the timeline to develop the project is greatly extended and the costs escalate dramatically. As a consequence, according to Erickson, lenders have become skittish about lending on San Francisco projects that haven't already received their full EIR approvals. Oz's suggestion was simple: the City needs to create numerous "blanket EIR areas" for new housing, thus giving potential developers the right to build housing within those areas according to some pre-adopted master plan and without the fear of organized opposition from no-growth activists, many of whom don't even live in the affected areas. Oz suggested the Geary Boulevard corridor would be a great area for the next "blanket EIR". He also suggested more housing be built downtown, and criticized the Planning Department's recent master plan for only 1500 units of new housing on the central waterfront, stating that the area could (and should) accommodate 12,000 units of new housing. He stated, however, that it was unrealistic of the Planning Department to propose 5,000 units of new housing on the Westside of San Francisco. Oz urged the Planning Department to establish real deadlines for decisions, and stick by them. He said the department needed to create an expedited process for housing that included limiting the number of appeals that can stop such projects. More certainty for developers is vital to getting more affordable housing built in San Francisco. 

Upcoming Events of Note for BOMA Members

June 25^th - A Taste of Italy reception at Fior D'Italia Restaurant in North Beach. This will be a very tasty fundraiser for Gavin Newsom for Mayor, Tickets are $100 and up. Time: 5 - 7 p.m., 601 Union Street. RSVP 415-359-0230, ext. 150. Valet parking will be available.

June 30^th - A "From Mint to Museum" fundraising event at the Old Mint (5^th and Mission Streets). The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society is planning to turn the Old Mint into a dazzling new city history museum, and needs your help! Come enjoy a tour of the facility (in its un-renovated state), see exhibits of what it can become, and enjoy some good wine, food and music. Cost: $75 per person. RSVP: 415-775-1111.