November 25, 2003   Volume 9, Number 10
This issue of the BOMA San Francisco Advocate is brought to you by

ABM/Apmco System Parking

BOMA San Francisco Political Action Committee Endorsements for December 9th: PLEASE VOTE! BOMA's Political Action Committee has made several important endorsements for the December 9th city elections, and urges its members who live in San Francisco to support the following slate:

FOR MAYOR: GAVIN NEWSOM. There is no comparison between Gavin Newsom and Matt Gonzalez for Mayor of San Francisco. No person has been a firmer and more consistent supporter of the business community, and commercial property owners in particular than Mr. Newsom. No one has spoken out against new or increased taxes more forcefully than Newsom. Newsom has made the campaign one based on issues, rather than personalities and rhetoric. Newsom is a small business person who knows what it means to meet a payroll, and have to comply with the myriad of rules and regulations pumped out by City Hall. Gonzalez will do everything in his power if elected Mayor to raise taxes and place new restrictions on property owners. It's as simple as that. Gonzalez has never seen a "progressive" idea he didn't like, and boasts that progressive ideas are "better". For the business community of San Francisco , these ideas will mean more taxes, more regulations, and no real action to solve the vexing problems facing our city such as homelessness and city budget deficits. Gonzalez wants to be Mayor for the power trip it would bring. He has no plan to help make our city prosper. For more reasons to support Gavin Newsom, visit his website at www.newsomformayor.com.   There you can pull down one of nearly two dozen policy papers on a variety of critical city issues. Newsom has shown the desire, the ability, and the leadership skills necessary to be our next Mayor. He will take charge in leading our city's effort to upgrade our quality of life for everyone. Newsom will reduce the size of city government, while making it more efficient. Gavin Newsom as Mayor is the only acceptable choice on December 9th.

FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY: KAMALA HARRIS. BOMA's PAC was impressed with Kamala Harris' intelligence and desire to make the office of District Attorney more effective, but ultimately endorsed Bill Fazio, whom it had supported twice before for this office, in the general election on November 4th. As Bill Fazio did not make the run-off, our association's political action committee determined we should support Kamala Harris, currently an assistant city attorney to replace Terence Hallinan, the incumbent DA. The need to change District Attorneys is critical to turning San Francisco around, and returning it to what it once was: a beautiful and safe and civil city. Recent SF Chronicle investigations on Terence Hallinan have exposed his abysmal record of successful prosecutions for a variety of crimes, including quality of life crimes are not deemed important by his office. As a result, our city has become a haven for public drug use, public drunkenness, and indecent behavior. Kamala Harris will build a positive relationship between the police department and the District Attorney's office. She will not be lax in enforcing the laws of this city for political reasons. BOMA urges its members to support Kamala Harris on December 9th, and to help with her campaign in any way possible. You can help by going online and making a donation at www.kamalaharris.org.

San Francisco Business and Building Owners Get Hit with Disabled Access Lawsuits
Scott Hauge, the Treasurer with the San Francisco Small Business Network, reported recently that a new rash of lawsuits have been filed against small businesses, primarily retail and restaurant establishments, for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and California's disabled access codes under Title 24. The areas in town have included businesses along Union Street , Chestnut Street , in North Beach , Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Upper Market Street , on Haight Street , and in the Richmond District. The lawsuits have been brought by two people: Ted Omholt and George Louie. Ted Omholt's 140 lawsuits are using Title 24 and have been costing around $20,000 to settle. George Louie has filed his lawsuits under ADA (as civil rights violations) which have cost about $10,000 each. Because of this increased scrutiny, and potential liability, BOMA members are cautioned to not only do a survey of their buildings for accessibility, but to document it. BOMA also encourages its members to file for the new Disabled Access Compliance Status Program, which is a new "common areas" permit for accessibility, and should save owners and their tenants a lot of time and money when filing for future office tenant improvement permits. For details, contact Ron Tom at the Department of Building Inspection [415-558-6676] or our BOMA Codes Task Force Chair, Gordon L'Estrange [415-777-0768, ext 272]. Useful tools and ADA compliance checklist is available for review at the BOMA office or for sale from BOMA International at www.boma.org.

Elevator Cab Call Button Code Changes Tabled for Now
The BOMA San Francisco Building Codes Task Force and a number of members recently scored a small victory, when the State Fire Marshal's disability access committee decided to table the recommendation that all elevator call buttons in high rise buildings be back-lit white lights. Several disabled activists had called for the code change as something the visually-impaired needed, but no real scientific evidence had been presented. Representatives of the elevator industry (including Rob McNeil of Otis Elevator) also supported BOMA in its position with the state agency stating they could see no reason to require this change.

Sprinkler Retrofit Survey Produces Little Concern
The recent survey requesting input from BOMA member buildings on the possible extension of the sprinkler retrofit law beyond February 15, 2006 , produced very few responses or concerns. A number of buildings have some portion of their edifice un-sprinkled because of existing tenant leases, and consequently were interested in some kind of extension, especially when asbestos may be present, but the potential problem does not seem extensive. Nevertheless, for those members for whom it is a concern, BOMA's Building Codes Task Force will continue to press for reasonable procedures for extension requests. Incidentally, qualified historical buildings are exempt from the sprinkler retrofit ordinance. For a list of these buildings as well as those for which it is required, contact the BOMA office.

SPUR/AIA Review City Planning and Building Departments for Possible Reorganization
A combination of planners from the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, and members of the local architects' society have teamed up to prepare a report on the city's planning and building departments with a view toward re-organizing and re-prioritizing the two departments. Their review covered several areas: governance, long range planning, funding, and compliance with the General Plan. Several of the more important recommendations will be: create standard formats for EIR requirements, establish standard timelines or benchmarks for project applications to make sure they are not unduly delayed, reduce the number of conditional use and environmental review appeals and reduce the number of projects subject to conditional use permits, reduce the amount of time spent on discretionary reviews, as well as the number of DRs, allow the Director to build a non-civil service management team, establish priorities (such as for housing) for permits, reviews, and other applications awaiting assignment to staff and for commission hearings. More controversial, the recommendations also included a proposal to establish a nexus between permit fees for specific projects and long range planning activities in general in the city. On the building side, recommendations included the need for more transparency of permits both in the tracking for design review compliance as well as in field inspections. The DBI was seen as too political, and needed to be "depoliticized". On a practical level, the recommendations included upgrading the department's computer system, better training for staff, and putting a system in place for regularly assessing the cost of service, and hence, the cost of permits.

DBI Issues Final Bulletin on Information Technology Room Requirements
After six drafts, the Department of Building Inspection has finalized its Information Technology (IT) room guidelines bulletin (Draft #6, dated November 18, 2003 ). Specifically dealing with fire/life safety issues, the purpose of the bulletin is to help owners determine when offices with servers and other computer or electrical equipment have become IT rooms and are thus subject to the SF Electrical Codes for such special purposes. When IT rooms are created, specific construction requirements become applicable, particularly regarding wiring methods, fire-restrictive construction, and HVAC controls.  For more details, contact the BOMA office, or DBI (Laurence Kornfield, 415-558-6244.)

DBI Launches Permit Coordination Program
The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection has announced a new permit coordination program to facilitate the simultaneous processing of interdepartmental reviews of building permit applications, in other words, parallel plan reviews, which is intended to save time. The requirements to qualify for this program include:

• The application must have a minimum of three (3) review stations excluding Central Permit
• The construction plans must be complete and/or an addendum to an active site permit
• All projects needing conditional use permits, variances, Sections 311 or 312 notifications must first secure approval on any such special condition and requirement before transferring to parallel plan check, and
• The applicant must submit at least five (5) sets of plans

For more information, contact the Permit Coordination Division (PCD) at 415-558-6649.

SF Ordinance Re-Introduced to Impose Registration and Disclosure Requirements on Permit Expediters
Supervisor Gavin Newsom has re-introduced legislation (originally sponsored by Chris Daly) to require registration and financial disclosures to the city's Ethics Commission for individuals employed as permit expediters. Permit expediters are defined as any person or entity receiving (or promised) a consideration equaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year. The term expediter does not include the permit applicant, his or her family, his employees, or the licensed contractor, engineer, architect or lawyer for the project. BOMA is troubled by the legislation, and has suggested certain sections be deleted including the names, addresses of clients, type of permits, and the amounts of compensation for such services. These facts are not necessary to create a permit expediter registration list, and are likely to add upwards of $1,000 per permit according to one source.

SF Ordinance Re-Introduced to Require Slip-resistant Covers on all Sidewalk Openings
Supervisor Aaron Peskin has re-introduced legislation to require the installation of slip resistant manhole, vaults, and sub sidewalk basement covers, grilles, grates, or other lids on the public sidewalk. The legislation, if passed, will grant the Director of Public Works the authority to enforce the requirements, using the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's slip resistant recommendations, or the California Title 24 Codes, whichever is more restrictive. As building owners are responsible for the safety on their sidewalks, any change in the requirements for such safety will necessarily have immediate consequences for owners. A first hearing on this legislation will be held at City Hall on December 10th, at 12:30 p.m. as part of the Supervisor's Finance Committee meeting.

SF Public Works Department Delays Decision on Underground Vault and Encroachment Permit Fees
At a November 19th hearing, the Public Works Department admitted they had not contacted each of the 157 current holders of underground vault permits in the city to inform them the permit fee was to be increased from a one time $200 to $714, or that an annual assessment would be imposed of $12 per square foot of underground vault space in the public right-of-way. BOMA objected to the lack of notice, the method of determining the $12 rental cost figure, and urged this "rental" assessment, if it is to be imposed,  to be based on unimproved dirt, rather than unimproved space, and that the fees be set in place for at least 5 years. Fees for sidewalk displays, tables and chairs were also planned for substantial increases. Another hearing will be scheduled on the matter. The intent, according to testimony at the hearing by the DPW, was to urge building owners to close up and abandon their underground vaults situated on public property. The original proposal called for the vault spaces to be "rented" at approximately $25 per square foot!

BOMA Members Requested for Graffiti Abatement Information
At the November 18th meeting of the City's Graffiti Abatement Advisory Board, it was requested that each Board member compile a list of efforts being done by his or her constituency to abate graffiti in the City. As the BOMA representative, Ken Cleaveland would like to compile a list of all the efforts our members have made just in the past year to repair the damage done by graffiti vandals. This would include glass etchings, graffiti tags on walls or sidewalks, or even damage to interiors such as elevators. The costs and time expensed by the private sector in cleaning up and/or repairing such acts of vandalism is important information for us to present to the city, so please email your comments on your anti-graffiti efforts to kenc@boma.com  as soon as possible.

Special Fundraising Event December 8th for SF Transportation Measure Debt Retirement
A special victory celebration will be held on December 8th, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum , 1201 Mason Street , to help retire the campaign debt incurred in gaining passage of Proposition K on November 4th. This vital measure will ensure a stable source of local funding for transportation improvements and operations, and has broad community and political support. To attend this fun event, contact Nichelle Lyons at 415-307-6421 or by email at nlyons8830@aol.com. Contributions are not tax deductible, but there is no limit. (FPPC #1256814)

Who's Responsible for Abandoned Cabling in Your Building?  BOMA International Audio Seminar to Address Cabling Issues Dec. 11
The abandoned wire and cable left behind by tenants and telecommunications firms in the raised floors, walls, and ceilings of commercial buildings may now render those properties out of code because of new modifications to the 2002 edition of the National Electric Code (NEC). Compliance with these updated code requirements is expected to be costly, as many commercial building owners and managers are expected to have to bear the costs for their removal. To address the code changes and compliance requirements, BOMA International will host an audio seminar, "The Big Disconnect: Who's Responsible for Abandoned Cabling in Your Building?"  on Thursday, December, 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Changes to the National Electric Code are often adopted in whole or into state and local building codes.  BOMA International expects that the changes to the National Electric Code will be adopted broadly throughout the United States .

The audio seminar will be facilitated by Frank Bisbee, president, Communication Planning Corporation, Jacksonville, Fla.,and Nelson Migdal, Esq., Holland & Knight Law Firm, Washington, D.C. who is the principal author of the "Model Agreement" developed by the Real Access Alliance as a template for access negotiations between owners and telecommunications service providers. This audio seminar will also address:

• Which wires are covered by the code's mandate;
• What the code mandate requires in terms of wire removal and tagging;
• What are the potential electrical fire hazards;
• How to determine whether or not your building is in compliance;
• Who pays for the removal of abandoned cabling;
• Implications for existing tenant leases;
• Structuring new leases to assure tenant responsibility for wiring in their suites; and
• Licensing agreements with telecommunications providers.

Registration fees for the program are $175 U.S. per site for BOMA members and $225 U.S. for non-members. This fee includes a complimentary CD-ROM program recording and a downloadable resource packet. Complete instructions will be sent with your seminar confirmation. If there is enough interest, BOMA San Francisco will host a site for the teleconference. Please call Mary Anne Bogue if interested. (415-362-2662, ext 16). (We will make it a "brown bag event, as it will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. PST .) To register individually for this program, call (800) 775-7654 or visit the website  www.krm.com/regonline/bomvcregs.nsf/bom8216-0. To learn more about BOMA International's other audio seminars and education programs, visit their Web site at www.boma.org/TrainingAndEducation.

Christmas Trees and Christmas Thieves
'Tis the season to be merry, but there are certain holiday security and safety concerns every building manager must remember. The San Francisco Fire Department requires the following regulations be followed when erecting Christmas trees in areas of public assemblage, schools, institutions, retail stores, public areas in hotels, office buildings, and apartment buildings:

• The trees must be treated and maintained with a fire retardant and tagged to certify that this has been done.
• The application of a fire retardant must be done by a certified applicator registered with the State Fire Marshal.
• Candles are prohibited on Christmas trees and wreaths.
• Wreaths must also be maintained in a flame retardant condition and also tagged. Garlands of vegetation are prohibited.
• All live Christmas trees shall be kept and maintained in such a manner that the butt or bottom of the trunk is immersed in at least 2" of water at all times. Prior to immersion, the trunk shall be cut-off at least 1" above the original cut.
• No readily combustible materials shall be placed on or within 4' of the maximum horizontal projection of the tree.
• No Christmas trees shall be displayed in such a manner as to impede a pedestrian exit, even if they tip over.
• No Christmas tree shall be displayed for more than 30 days after the date of the fire retardant application.

Section 27.10 of the city electrical code requires all electrical decorations and their wiring to be installed and maintained on Christmas trees by a licensed electrical contractor, and certified as safe. The certification must contain the date, license number of the contractor, business address of the contractor, statement on type and amount of materials certified, the designated use of the materials, and the contractor's signature. Questions regarding proper placement of trees should be addressed by calling the SFFD Fire Prevention Division at 415-558-3300.

The Holiday Season also brings out Christmas Thieves, so building managers are warned to be extra vigilant. Here's a few tips:

• Never leave the building or office reception area unattended.
• All visitors including messengers, delivery and maintenance personnel should be monitored while on the premises.
• Do not be reluctant to question maintenance personnel.
• Be alert during the "30 minute danger zone", the 30 minutes just after opening and before closing, when there is the maximum movement from work areas and offices.
• Valuables such as purses should never be left unattended, even in inner offices. Put them in a locked file drawer.
• Extra care should be taken with small items like laptop computers, radios, palm pilots, and other valuables. These kinds of items get special attention by thieves!
• Checkbooks and other valuables should always be secured when not in use.
• If you work late, take an escort to your car. Contact building security or arrange to exit with a co-worker.
• If you shop for holiday gifts during lunch, be sure and lock your packages securely away in your car trunk, or office. Nothing should ever be visible.
• Strangers and solicitors loitering in a building lobby or elevator area should be reported immediately to building security.
• Be aware of pickpockets in crowded elevators and on the street. Fasten your pockets, and turn purse flaps toward your body with your hand covering it.
• Should a theft occur, report it immediately to building security and building management.
• Be aware that some people may use holiday parties to help themselves to more than food and beverages. Know who is in your offices at all times.