computer system? is it by and intake clark, were senior staff? if it is by senior staff, it does not happen. it is done by an intake clerk, that as part of their job. then you would not wait -- need to wait for senior staff. ok? let us have a process that is transparent. every complaint that comes in is treated similarly. the complaint was made on the larkin street. it went through two nov's, and the building is weathertight. it is not pretty, but it is vacant. 2514 23rd. that is in various states of disrepair, illegal construction without a permit. open to whether probably still. two buildings, same city, same

department, unequal treatment. commissioner hechanova: mr. butler, was there a tracking number when you filed the complaint? >> no, none are given. there is no process. complaints should be given numbers, just as permits are given numbers. then you can ask, what has happened to complaint number -- whatever the date may be. what happened? it is in the system, it is being sent to this person. as it is, no record. commissioner hechanova: thank you. mr. murphy? commissioner murphy: this ordinance, since it started, this one department has done a pretty good job, spearheaded by

john. looking at this, you did a great job. sure, there might be a few kinks that need to be worked out, but you are certainly on the right track. commissioner lee: with the department like to answer back on how the public can report these vacant buildings? >> first of all, starting this week, you can go online. i do not believe you will get a number. how it happens -- you can go on line and make a complaint starting this week. the process prior to this was either by mail, phone, or coming to the front counter. it is a vacant building, it

would be taken and put into a box. there is a senior building inspector that is assigned to that box and he prioritizes it. a complaint like that would go to the sixth floor. it would need to be transported up there. but by the end of the close of business or within a few hours, there is a number given. once the number is given, it is then routed to the district building inspector. if it has permits on it. if it has no permits, it is issued to a specific building inspector for investigation. if it is a vacant building, it is brought up to the sixth floor, and the process starts there. but a number is given. on 23rd avenue, there have been multiple notices of violation. the first time i knew about the

building, i was brought out there as a request for emergency demolition. i turned it down. since then, there has been a great deal of to permit activity, a great deal of complaints. we have been out there 15, 20 times. it is a typical relationship between the two neighbors. we are doing our best. in regards to 1601 larkin, i find it ironic. the owner of the property said he was not treated fairly. i believe there is a lawsuit against the city stating that. i guess it depends on which side of this question you will look on. any questions? commissioner lee: can the public report any abandoned buildings to 311?

when they take the call? >> yes, they would. it may slow you down because it is another step. i would suggest that they call directly. somebody can come to the front counter and aske for a number, but you may have to wait. a clerk has to enter it. it is possible that you stay and say, it is very important to me, i need a number. commissioner murphy: so essentially you have the system in place? >> no system is perfect. commissioner murphy: i understand, but it is there? >> yes, it is there. >> seeing no further comments. item 4. public comment: the bic will take public comment on matters within the commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.

>> good morning, commissioners. neighborhood san francisco coalition for responsible growth. i have a client who just had a building permit issued for changing their rules profile and some material reconfiguring. when he called to find out how much the permit was, he was told it would cost another $3,000 to get the permit issued. i said, go to dbi and see if you can get it revalued. i am sure they will be reasonable. i just want to read an e-mail that i got from him. he said it went down to $144,000 from $208,000. that was based on dbi numbers per square foot. renovating two bathrooms and one

kitchen. also, he could not have been nicer. everyone was great yesterday. total permits for the project came to about seven dozen $800. that is still at least two to three times more than any other city i have ever renovated in. new york, a minneapolis, boston, los angeles. so i just wanted to report back to you. i am pleased to hear that we have david at dbi who will reevaluate these projects. this is the second time this has come to my attention. once again, thank you. >> good morning, commissioners. president of san francisco.

before the clock begins, i would like to clarify how much time is a lot for public comment. three minutes, unlike the two that i was allowed last time. thank you. ok, unfortunately, this format required that i avoid any noises. you gave her a $50,000 raise not including any bonuses your order for doing such a good job. unfortunately, she exhibited willful neglect to the department of building inspection. this is manifested itself in nearly completely lack of direction in staff as director. the magnitude of this bill is now reach a point where the department is beyond crisis. without direction, the department has devolved into a state of confusion that is truly monumental. this monumental confusion

creates huge cost for customers and the department itself. i must remind you this is a public agency in charge of public safety. public safety is clearly being compromised by allowing this day to be in her position. i have required directives before. i can only assume there are no directives for staff to be produced in her defense. ms. day is therefore charged with misconduct and should be taken away from her position. if you do not dismiss her, it will be a civic obligation failure. i believe there are additional improprieties that can be exposed. i must remind you that i informed you of this obvious malfeasance. any filly to act immediately on this threat to the health and safety of the people who live and work in san francisco will

unfortunately spread the taint of malfeasance. if you are willing to forgo your civic obligations, i cannot strongly recommended that you consider your legal exposure. on top of all else, i urge you to do the right thing. i would like to recommend to all commissioners and city attorneys represented to seek legal counsel regarding this matter. thank you. >> any other public comment? >> good morning. my name is sandra burnback. i am a tenant in an sro. the problems i have had are extensive. 34 violations of notice and the building in the three-year. period. just to talk about 3 recently. no heat for eight days.

no electricity for seven days. no hot water for five days. i have contacted dbi and i have to say the inspectors have been there promptly, they did their job. the issue a notice of violation, and the process stops. nothing happens. i have gone as far as going into ms. day's office after five days without electricity, and that had raised a stink. senior staff finally got out there. they said, a pg&e could not get out there. well, they were there within one hour once i got to ms. day's office. then they found out they did not have permits for the work. the process does not work. i met with mr. sweeney and his senior staff.

they tell me the only thing they can do is issue a notice of violation. they have no way to compel the landlord to make repairs. eventually, they go to a director's hearing and eventually they will be penalized. the penalty they have is nothing. in these three cases, they have not been penalized in any way. if they do not have the ability to force the landlord to make the repair, then we have to do something. we need to get legislation to do it. if you can do it, you have to direct them to do this. these are health and safety issues. these are not issues of [inaudible] this is health and safety. i aske you, how many days which you like to go without heat, when during that time the high

temperature was 54 degrees? i am asking the commission. what is a reasonable time to repair no heat, or no hot water or electricity? commissioner lee: why don't we do this. this topic seems to -- why don't you have a seat and sit in on the next item and see what is being discussed. how we handle the notice of violations. >>item 5. update on dbi's notice of violation (nov) procedures, including follow up. is there any additional public

comment on item 4? seeing none, public comment is closed. we are now on item five. >> good morning, commissioners. ed sweeney. director of inspection services. i will give you a brief overview of the complaints, what generally happens to them. if i can get it up on the screen. all the complaints, of course, start as a complaint. they can be landlord-tenant,

such as the heat issue. it can be neighbor versus neighbor. neighborhood organizations. some people actually self- report building code issues on themselves. there is an emergency call out from police and fire that we get once or twice a week. when a complaint comes in, it is put on a standard form. as i said earlier, the standard form goes to one senior building inspector, housing inspector that is responsible for prioritizing and insuring the correct person does the inspections in a timely manner. there is also systematic enforcement. that would be the routine housing inspections, the boiler program, condo conversion,

sprinkler ordinance, things of that nature. once we go out onto a site with a complaint that has a number, then we ascertain whether or not the complaint is valid. if it is valid, we need to prioritize it. if it is for no heat, they would be given 24 hours to comply. of course, we would have to send letters, phone calls to the owner, manager, if there is one. if the issue is not dealt with satisfactorily, we give a second notice of violation. a second notice of violation clears the way for a director's hearing. directors hearings are every thursday.

at 9:00, room 2001. that is probably where the breakdown occurs. getting them to a director's hearing takes about one week. of course, the building code allows us to go in and actually do the repairs. in my 12 years, that has been almost nonexistent. we are careful not to do that. it is hard to get reimbursed. it is going to take us probably a good deal longer than the property owner to go in there and do the work. we do not have anybody on call, the way the system works, so we would have to go out and find somebody. once you are in code enforcement and you have an

order of abatement against your building, you are given specific amount of time to do the repairs, get a permit, if one is required, and then get it signed off. if not, you get an order of abatement on your property. what an order of abatement will do, the lender is notified, it will be hard to get a loan. it will be harder to sell your property, especially these days. notice of violation, it can be times 9, work without a permit, times two, work without scope. vacant buildings, 1st 30 days,

there is no penalty if you comply. it just depends on the nature of the complaint and the inspector going out there. we try to get reasonable amount of time. people do have to obtain permits, coordinate the work, do the work, and finish it and get the necessary sign-ons and coordinate the necessary inspections. it all takes time. the assessment of cost, penalties. the assessment of cost now goes from the time of inspection. when you are clearing your violations, one of the things you must do is we ensure you have been the penalties and compensated us for staff time. that is done when you have your permit abated.

if it keeps going and there is no action after the order of abatement, we can refer to the city attorney, and we do on a regular basis. we have committee hearings meeting bimonthly. is there a list of repeated violators, given certain categories, there are owners of buildings looking to selling their buildings. there is a continued maintenance and care and the district inspectors would be aware of that. >> this particular case has an antiquated boilers system. when it was brought to my attention, we have one person who specializes in boilers.

he brought back some pictures and issued a notice of violation. there was a lot of asbestos and we told him to clear that out. he identified certain things that had to be updated on the system and we expect they will probably get a new system in there. >> can i talk about responding to these complaints and how the owners fix them quickly? you talked about having outside contractors go in there and fix -- >> of the code allows us to do it. >> is there anyway we can implement that?

>> there are very few that they would not step forward and fix the heat. this particular property owner, it seems to be problematic and we have sent down a boiler specialist and there is a notice of violation on that particular boiler and we are following through with it. >> if the process for the property owner is to appeal -- it sounds as if they are -- it sounds like they know the process and they're dragging it out to the last possible moment to fix something. is there any way to push them all little more and say don't drag this out. threaten them that we are going to go in and do this work. >> that is always the threat.

>> is a long process to go out and look for a contractor to do the work. >> for things like heat and hot water, anything that is dangerous, we shorten the process as much as we can. >> how do we shorten that? >> by only giving them 24 hours. >> if you give them 24 hours and they do not do it, do we go find a contractor? >> we have not done that in the 12 years i have been year. i take that back. i know of one case and we still have not got our money back. >> is there a list of contractors available that can do that for the department? >> the city has emergency contractors. >> there is?

>> but they would still have to get access and they would still have to mobilize. >> i agree that there is a very small percentage of those who are not doing this stuff. i agree that -- do we have any money in the fund for this sort of thing? >> yes. but it was depleted until six months ago. the director put a lot of effort into getting funds available for that. >> i agree that this really small% should be paid, step up

to the plate, whatever means necessary, have a list of 10 small renovation contractors, you can get a bit off of each one of them and get the work done and then go to the assessor's office or whenever you have to do to collect. if this small percentage of landlords know the program is there, i think they are going to get results much faster. >> probably -- a big job that we did on would street depleted the program's funds and certainly the last three or four years, we did not have the funds to do that. we are -- we have some large

projects coming in and they have made it a priority to get funds for the program. >> we can talk about that later in the next item of the budget. this could maybe be something we want to implement. >> this might be good for everybody, especially if we can charged the owner two times or three times the cost. it gives them an incentive to do it on their own and do it quickly instead of waiting for a city contractor and a city contractor would probably appreciate that type of work and maybe we can get some revenue out of it also. >> we will have to form some kind of criteria. to say we will do that would be putting false hope out there. >> is there a point where the

60,000 that had been expended is now a loss or is there continued collection? >> the city attorney is on it. you cannot sell or transfer the property without us being reimbursed. but it is now a vacant lot. >> we heard the speaker of the minutes ago. it's mostly heat and light. it's not a big item. a new boiler and heater. >> it would be a huge boiler. >> large buildings are supposed to be managed properly. 99.9% of the market managed properly.

>> maybe it's something we should put on the agenda for another meeting. >> i would like to request the director to come back to where there might be a solution to that least progress from where what has been done in the past that has not yielded the results in a progressive way so we could continue putting money into the dark cold here that will accumulate over time, something that takes more time from the city attorney and staff. there is a solution or a recommendation, something that might be good. >> maybe we could get some numbers and get a perspective on

how prevalent the problem is. we are only talking about 1% of property owners. >> it may be instead of the category being so broad, there are going to be those property owners who are not incentivized to do the upgrades or corrections because they will never sell their buildings. whether through deferred maintenance they would rather continue with a blind eye and deaf ears at the expense of the tenants. maybe there is an interdepartmental communications by which -- if those public housing or other locations are