. good morning. today is wednesday, may 18, 2011. this is a regular meeting of

building inspection commission. at this time, i would like to remind everybody to please turn off electronic devices. the first item on the agenda is roll call. president hechanov commissioner murphy? >> here. commissioner walker? >> here. the next item on the agenda. president's announcements. commissioner lee: there is no president's announcements today. >> an update on dbi. >> good morning, commissioners. good morning, vice president mar and commissioners. today we have a brief item. as requested last month by president hechanova, we're here

to provide you a tentative timetable for the plan. we will adjust it as needed. our primary focus right now is on our human resources. that is our dbi staff preparation, education, and training. the goal is to ensure the health and safety of our staff at work and ensure our ability to perform are a disaster response duties effectively integrated with other departments. i have the initial work plan that we have drafted. i put some time lines on that. i could go through that for you, or if you want to pick out anything that you notice, we can discuss that as well. we have tried to be realistic and reasonable in the timeframe given the amount of projects and objectives that we have ahead of us. through the prioritization process, we have made some good

improvements in the last 60 days. any questions? commissioner murphy: the disaster service -- what does that consist of -- what does the training consist of? >> all city workers are disaster service workers and would be required to respond eye anin an emergency or disast. it involves going over the charter that requires that as well as some personal prepared this information. through the department of emergency management and human resources, there's a video. it is essentially a protocol of what your responsibilities would be in the event of an emergency or disaster. commissioner murphy: a refresher course? >> yes, very much so.

that is part of the charter. depending on when the event happens, in terms of what actions you would take, the protocol, to call, and where to go. commissioner murphy: does it mean all employees of dbi would have to report somewhere? >> yes, with all departments, it staff would be designated as more essential personnel for pre-designated assignments. everybody will have a barrel and an assignment. commissioner lee: has there been a discussion about public information about these trainings or anything like that? when will we roll out public information? >> you mean in terms of public outrage? commissioner lee: right. >> we plan on doing more of that throughout the year as we would get our program further along.

i think the department of emergency management is coordinating a lot of when we do any kind of public outrage. we will provide handouts and some information. at this point, we are more focused on our own staff and our own response requirements under the strategic plan with public works. commissioner lee: for our information, where does this is centraessential staff need? >> 1616 mission street. we have our timetable. training is one of the primary focus is. we are, again, planning on regular meetings with the work groups and other city departments on a regular basis. i know different departments share in some tabletop exercises dealing with planning for all

types of events, whether it is a planned event, such as someone coming or arriving, or an unplanned event, whether it is simple or complex. in general, we try to be pretty aggressive on the sidelines. i do want to show some productivity and some accomplishments over the period of time. a lot of the information is in the process of being renewed and written in terms of the plans and protocols. that is really motivated by total coordination from all the city departments. commissioner lee: thank you. commissioners, any other questions? commissioner walker: great. commissioner lee: thank you. >> thank you. >> is there any public comment? item three. the next item on the agenda, item four, public comment.

>> good morning, commissioners. i'm a 30-year resident of san francisco. i would like to read a prepared statement. with the one interruption. i would like to begin by thanking president hechanova for stopping by the department, meeting some of the staff, and i've had the distinct pleasure of seeing commissioner walker and commissioner murphy. i first came before you two months ago and made two increase. one regarding an additional deputy director and how a additional deputy director was created. the other inquiry was a request to know have no homhow many directives have been issued. i appeared one month ago to hear the result of those inquiries. nothing had been done.

i used to the director of malfeasance for failure to provide written directive to staff. the director is not pulling the functions required by her position. i'm here today to first ask about my initial inquiries two months ago. do you have any results? vice president mar? vice president mar: do you want to finish reading. >> i have a question. maybe you have addressed some of these items. ok, i will proceed. of course, i would be curious to know why there is no response. topic eight is rega -- topic a is regarding miss levin 's appointment. she illegally obtained her office in violation.

additionally, i reviewed the minutes of the commission meeting on december 16, 2009. the minutes state that the commissioners all agreed to make appointment for a deputy director of administration. the language states that subject to the approval of the commission in the budgetary and fiscal conditions of the charter, the director shall have the power to appoint or removed at his or her pleasure of 21 deputy superintendent and no more than two assistants. you have a legally appointed mr. levis. levin. quite frankly, the department does not need a deputy director for administration. the director is in charge of administration and should not need another deputy director on top of the other three that are provided. additional requests as to why the specific language of proposition g was not codified

in the charter. i believe that does not change the legality of the language. i'm curious to know. commissioner lee: i wanted to give you as much time as needed, but i'd like you to finish up comments. >> thank you, sir. i will talk fast. commissioner lee: you had a total of two minutes. >> i thought it was three minutes. commissioner lee: yes, but you have used three. >> again, it is only a page and a half. let me see where i am. ok, we will move on to the director's malfeasance, which is of course the more important topic. i think the problem goes further. i think she --

commissioner lee: can you get to the chase? can i make a suggestion? maybe we have that printed out and we will read it on our time. commissioner walker: the time for public comment is exceeded. maybe in the future, i would like to agendize a city and the attorney response. >> i feel you are trying to muscle my complaints about the department. i feel that is inappropriate. i would like to state that right here. i will put the statement in writing and forward it for your review. i hope you take it all too hard. there is a really good language in here. i would like to let everyone else know about this. thank you for that. vice president mar: thank you.

>> good morning. my name is nancy. i understand that the building inspection commission will change its name to the department of building safety. i support this change in name. if the name change means anything substantive, there must be a serious commitment to the enforcement of the building code. i requested you also create procedures to respond quickly to urgent complaints from the public, which will keep people safe. case in point is the a permitted excavation and demolition job begun friday morning by my next- door neighbor, a licensed contractor, who repeatedly performs work without permits. i immediately reported this by phone to the dbi complaint line, to the district inspector, and finally an e-mail to inspector lowry and a director.

no one got back to me or ask about the jack hammering i referred to. on monday, there were still no response from dbi, so i called cal-osha and they came right out and examined the exhibitio . he told me he allowed concrete to be poured yesterday. they have not yet ruled on a violation. after my third call to dbi, i did see a building inspector at the site, but i do not know what transpired other than the work continued yesterday. now, 17 hours after the cement was poured, this project has moved at warp speed. there's no job card completed for this work because there's no permit, no plans, no inspection. dbi has no system of checks and balances to identify and then to

stop rogue contractors who routinely work without permits. how can a concerned citizen get the attention of the building inspection senior staff to put safety first? what word must i say in a completcomplete to staff to geto respond immediately? a change of the name is worthless. it includes treating the concerned citizens with the respect we deserve by requiring staff to acknowledge and to respond to our serious complaints. what will you do as commissioners to change this issue in the department beyond just changing the department's name? i was just speaking to the deputy director and he informs me that the department will be out there today and will act. i'm very pleased to have the update for you. i am now going to provide you with copies of the e-mail that i

sent on friday to initiate the investigation by the department. vice president mar: thank you. >> thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is joseph butler. i have been a registered architect in california since 1983. i am currently being renewed. i would like to bring your attention today to the rear of 2514 23rd ave. this is the excavation for the stair in question that she just addressed. when we go down into that garage, you can see that these two by 12's, which were delivered for shoring -- this is

a vertical face and these are horizontal shoring. there's no permit for this estivation -- estivation. suspend, canceled. page two, expired, complete. we have not had a completed permits since 1989. prior to that, in illegal addition was made to the back of the house. notice that the violation had been served. abatement hearings never quite happened. i'm thinking that the complaints are going into a round file. i made one last year and have never been called to a hearing. here we have a contractor who is working with impunity without permits. if cal-osha cannot stop him and dbi cannot stop him, why do we even need permits? i think it is easier to require him to get one than to figure

out a way to make the city safe if no one has to get one. can we spend a little time so we do not have to come back in a month and tell the same story? i have been working with nancy for more than one year. i've never seen such a bad set of plans as what was submitted in 2010 by this building owner/ contractor. the drawings were inconsistent from sheet to sheet. they were signed by an engineer who may or may not have ever seen the plans. some of the plans were photocopied from an earlier set. there's a problem at 23rd ave. the deeper you dig -- he digs -- the more we might find out. it's too late for a slap on the wrist. this has been going on for nine years. the property was bought in 2002 and he immediately began structural work in the house. they did kitchen work without permits. there have been new gas lines without permits.

i'm sorry, but the director in this room stood on the deck, -- of the one permit that was completed. now they're trying to reach satisfy the needs with a new arrangement, but they do not have a permit. vice president mar: thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. my name is robert witt. i have something i would like to distribute. good morning, commissioners. i'm a resident of district 10. i wanted to talk about something that often gets very good lip

service in media outlets, but does not get much action. the disparity is very large. it is residential blight. last week, i attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for a model block on the newton ave. two blocks away from that is a property that has had multiple complaints since 2007 -- all of which have gone through re- inspection, but they never seem to go any further than that. the packet i give you is photographs i took from around a febay view. it contains complaints. these complaints have never been model blocks and going through and improving quality of life, then it has to be more than an inspector coming out and re-

inspecting time and time again, or director's hearings or notices and never any action that follows that. it is not something that is new. it is clearly something that has been going on for years and years and years. i have sent e-mails out. i have spoken with commissioner walker. i sent e-mails to all the commissioners. it needed to be brought to your attention that this blight continues. homeowners get away with it. property values of neighboring homes drop. there is an issue here and it starts with the commissioners. it starts with the inspectors. something has to happen. i wanted to make sure it was said. that is simply what i wanted to do today. hopefully, if you have any questions, the information is there.

i was able to access it. i was able to walk to these properties and see that things were not happening. for the most part, you can look at the pictures and see that nothing has happened. homeowners, they do not care. people have to live with this. they invite drug use. they invite alcohol abuse. there's a photo of some squatters that moved into an empty lot. on a daily basis, you can see dpw street cleaning trucks drive by to clean up the debris that people assume they can just leave. no one is there. thank you for your time. vice president mar: excuse me, ? >> no, i am just a community

resident. vice president mar: ok. >> hi. good morning, commissioners. my name is jose morayou have rer complaint. i have complained for several years that the commissioners -- the department of building inspection -- you do not seem to care. i have requested justice and i have had justice delayed and justice denied. thank you to the new people.

i have been complaining for more than two and a half years. nothing is happening. i want a hearing. i want them to do an investigation, a complete investigation. the commissioners, as far as i know, there's been no investigation. i have done [inaudible] asking questions, why can't you do the same to find the truth? i'm here today to keep complaining that dbi, bic, et cetera, are unfair to me.

i have said many times, as i have said today, justice delayed is justice denied. anyone of you, including the deputy city attorney here -- have you done any research or any investigation? vivian day has given new her information and it is not complete. i want an investigation by the city attorney, i repeat, and the report of the commissioners. i have just 30 seconds to show you that this was the problem. there were two units, 572 and

572 a. the plan in 2002 was to have an additional units on the third floor , 674. this unit was never built. this is already a violation. how can we have this recognized as a real number? thank you. vice president mar: any other public comment? i just wanted to thank all the people that appeared for public comment. you should know that sometimes we cannot fully discussed these issues because they're not on the agenda. that does not mean they will not be and dicgendized in the futur. that is kind of the process the commission is run.

they may be under our jurisdiction, but they may not be. i wanted to thank the people that appeared. i know it takes a lot of time. i want to a dog to everybody who spoke today -- i want to acknowledge everybody that spoke today. >> concession and possible actions to approve the director of building inspections professional committee memberships. >> good morning, vice president mar and commissioners. i have to request approval to serve on any committees that are outside the purview of the city and county of san francisco. i have been asked to serve on the state code committee, the access committee, which is the disable access committee, and the emergency preparedness committee. i have been asked to be vice chairman of that committee for the california building association. i've also been asked to be

a board member for the county building officials for california. i'm asking for your permission or approval to do this under the charter requirements. most of the committee meetings are held via teleconference. there's a general meeting held once a year were all the committees meet in conference and that is a one day to two-day conference in business meeting. vice president mar: any other questions or comments from the commissioners? >> is this an annual request? >> the appointments are annual appointments, yes. commissioner lee: who requests these appointments for you?

is it a state official that invites you to these committees? >> usually at the conference is you are asked by various members of the committee if you would be willing to serve on the committee. vice president mar: an action item. commissioner walker: i think we need public comment. vice president mar: is there any public comment on this agenda item? >> the woman is guilty of malfeasance in her director position. how could you allow her to do other work? this is completely preposterous. i recommend you do not allow her, allowing her to pay more attention to her current job duties. thank you. vice president mar: commissioner walker? commissioner walker: i move we approved the participation of our director in the state why discussion about