[inaudible] we can cite them as well. we usually do it if there are other violations. it is a very big problem. after we finish with the report and recommendations, the next item is the security issue. we're hearing that is a big problem as well. supervisor wiener: i am trying to understand if there are statistics in terms of how frequent the infestations occur, what percentage of buildings at any given time have a bed bug infestation or have had -- when the building is invested. do we find they attempt to hit all the rooms or it is localized? we hear so much about bedbug infestations in sro's. i am trying to understand if there has been statistical work done. >> the department of public health have some statistics on this issue.

and has been realized there is a tremendous amount of under reporting. under the current rules, reporting by the licensed pest control operator is not something that is requested by the department of public health. we're not always at the -- as a city government getting the information as to that would help us authenticate the statistics. what we do hear from our collaborative and the people in the field is that the majority of residential hotels in the mission and the tenderloin are invested with bedbugs. obviously, if you treat one room, you have to treat the adjacent rooms and above and below and you have to do it properly. one of the issues that comes up very frequently is how to prepare the room especially if it is occupied by senior or person with a disability. because without prepping a room

properly, what ever eradication methods you use, he, pesticides, or whatever, it will not work unless the room is prepped properly. supervisor mar: next speaker? >> my name is alan. a little background. after sitting here and listening, i did some research before a move in to the building -- i moved in to the building. you can look at the conditions of other buildings and it is atrocious, it is frightening. i will give credit to tmdc. i am more into bashing them. physically they take immensely different care of their buildings. all the issues i saw, not an issue. something is broken, they fix it. there is another shamrao of issues that go on.

i come from a different background. the safety issues are immense. we have a desk clerk salal people to enter without signing in, that fosters people wander around. drug use is a man's. i have no position next -- if people want to make bad choices. when we have people who wander the hallways and knock on doors, it is a different issue. i got a huge room, i got a private bathroom, i look at some of these pictures and i realize how good i have got it in one respect. on the other hand there is a huge amount of issues that go on to deal with the mental and emotional abuse. i do not have my intimates nearly the time to go into that with you. i think the physical issues and the private sector are relatively easily addressed. the other issues i would love to have a chance to talk with you about, go way deeper and are

harder to address. for seniors like me, and i have a degenerative joint disease, i think it speaks to physical and mental well-being has an effect on our physical health. one last thing, real briefly and i know my time is up. i live in the -- and tmdc takes great care of the building. the election was over three weeks ago and there has been three robbery and stabbing in the block. supervisor mar: thank you. >> in afternoon. as a former tenant, to address one of the questions about the visitation policy, [inaudible] there is a requirement that the committee take recommendations that the committee came out with. the policy be placed in the

common area in large print. and be administered in each language. some of the hotels, their private hotels. it is behind the -- where the desk clerk is and residents do not have access. if you -- the policy is that it should be placed in the common areas. we do not have access. there is no excuse for that, either. it can go to 25. so that is some of the excuses. not to enforce the informed visitation policy. it is something we need to look into. the committee has reviewed and made their recommendations to amend the policy itself. we're looking at ways to improve conditions.

some of the things i am seeing, i know my time is getting short. conditions in the shelters. we have so many seniors that are stuck in the shelters and we need to look at ways to get them out of the shelters and into adequate service. time would not permit me to continue but this is the beginning and i will discontinue. supervisor mar: thank you. i will call in number of other names. -- a number of other names. [reading names] we whathave si -- have silas and dan russell. >> thank you for seeing me.

you can get the gist of what i am getting at. i made a few notes because i do not -- this has been going on for years. it is not the first time we have been here, in their last year the year before last. we were in a different court under the same program, complaining about the elevators for the laugh -- a lack of elevators working. i walk with a cane, i am disabled. it is terrible by in this beautiful, vibrant city to be able to go out one time it did because i cannot climb the stairs. once a day wears me out. this is for everybody, not just me. it is for everybody. i would like my right reduced by half at least four year for past and fairness -- at least a year

for past unfairness. give us an action, give us a meeting of what you say when you say it. and what it comes due. just be honest with us and tell us when these things will haping -- happen. thank you. >> first, i did not think my name was going to be called. and actually it was but it should not matter what my name is and should not matter what i look like. i am a human being. i pay my money to live in this sro, it is managed by a nonprofit. it shall go unnamed, tsa back --

thc. they staff often use the so- called right process to use it as a weapon rather than a tool. they often conspire with other tenants to do all sorts of things, including burglarize rooms and still property. i had a video camera, a digital camera, and an mp three device stolen from me, and i know there was a conspiracy with a desk clerk that made this happen. this organization is financed by the city and a grievance profits this -- process is a joke. you're right.

in and you either get lies, half truths, or they leave it out conveniently. i am trying to be a better person but they are pushing me not to be. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker? >> i live in tndc housing, the vassar hotel. i have been having a problem with social workers in the building. i asked for help with writing a letter for money to move in. the manager told me to talk to the social worker and i did. she said we do not do that here, who sent you back here at, i said the manager. i have been having problems with herber says. she has a person making illegal alcohol for her. i have been insulted, harassed by the tenants who live there. and reported it to the

management and they do not do anything about it. i have seen tenants get asselta there and a lot of drugs. i see her going down the street and see someone on the street give her something, she stuffs it in her purse or goes back to the building. it goes on every day. i can sell the alcohol cooking, it makes me sick. i've been sick from the illegal alcohol they are making. i have called the police and it still goes on and i am still getting sick and i get harassed. i get insulted -- assaulted. the social worker. i was told if she loses her job, i lose my apartment and that is when -- tndc.

supervisor mar: my hope is we could focus on seniors and people with disabilities living in sro hotels. my hope is there is an ombudsperson or staff person who could address the individual issues you are bringing up. regarding individuals, we should not be mentioning people by name but broadly speak about the problem you're having with the department. is there someone who could point him in the right direction to try to get some sense of where he can go? >> they overcharge you for rent and if paid twice for rent. supervisor mar: different rent issues that people have brought a. next speaker. >> i lived in an sro down the street. i would like to say that back in mid-june, the managers were excused from duty.

the company was brought in to operate the place. since then, a manager on duty says -- this is almost nonexistent and as far as the living conditions, they have gone from an sro five-star 2 a no-star. the sanitation is appalling. the places i've been clean since mid-june and there are people in my building with compromised systems -- immune system. i have two terminal illnesses that concerned the immune system and this is unacceptable as far as living conditions. when i was leaving this morning, a bridge was piled clear to my chest by the backstairs which is also a fire exit. and it is unlivable. thank you.

supervisor mar: thank you. >> i am ryan adams and i am here on behalf of my neighbor. where reside in a private apartment but there 8 sro's in the building. he is also disabled and has vascular necrosis, he cannot raise his left leg. he is -- the fourth floor, he is the furthest from the front door. our elevator has -- he wanted to be here but could not. the elevator and i lived there for two years, he's been there since 2006. maybe seven months out of the year there is no elevator on average. i have watched him dying coming

up the stairs. he cannot lift his left leg. the bathtub is 22 inches from the floor and there is no sure head or bars. there is no management to maintain either. there is also the safety issues of having strangers come in. the plumbing in this building and the lighting for him to walk down the hall. his biggest challenge is having an elevator. it would significantly be improved. if there were an elevator. supervisor mar: thank you for having compassionate anthony --

empathy for your neighbor. supervisor cohen: i have a couple of questions for you. if you could, point out clarification. you live in the same building, do you live in the same conditions? >> i have the same -- the overall condition is deplorable. recently we got building management. i do not know that of was to unnecessary -- sro guidelines. as just a tenant, there is no cleanliness, the hallways are filled with dirt. this morning he found a mouse in his room. i do live in the same building. supervisor cohen: you have the fourth floor and he is in the back and you are somewhere on the fourth floor. i am -- does your ceiling like

-- leak and as the plumbing work? >> i have a bathroom in my apartment and i have a new bath. ," is there a double standard in the quality of living because he is in a designated sro unit? >> i believe bill landlord -- there is. she puts -- i pay on my own. i do not have any assistance. she tends to put people that pay in the nicer parts of the building. and people who have less ability to advocate for themselves and to the more deplorable where they can be

ignored. sro's are in the back of the building. she has not been around. supervisor cohen: have you been in other units in the building? >> i work with the central city collaborative. i am familiar with going to the private hotels and the nonprofits. i live in the neighborhood. i am familiar with that. supervisor cohen: thank you for your testimony. >> good afternoon. i am richard chavez. i work for central city collaborative and myself several hours a week and after seeing these photos and the people that come to see as with their problems, i am lucky. i stay at the london in and it is the same period in has everything like john was saying.

this place has everything for seniors and it is really good. elevator works all the time. they have case managers. tomorrow it will have the thanksgiving dinner for everyone which is great. i wish everybody could come by and see how it is run. it is run really good. the manager is really great. the case managers do with everybody single-a-3 they do not have no pets or anything like that. their friends or anything like that. there is no danger, it is clean, it is everything. it is in the tenderloin and i am damned if they do not take care of it. it is the london and -- inn. like i was saying it is a place you could get the ideas from. they even have a nurse. it is great. elevators and people and is

subsidized housing, 55 and over. there is a large waiting list. i wanted to give them their props, also. supervisor mar: thank you. thank you for waiting. >> would like to say about corruption. [unintelligible] the real name is the [unintelligible] the manager. who and where i may pass my evidence? supervisor mar: my hope is you could address one of the staff that is here. >> yes. limited time.

there is evidence about corruption. supervisor mar: there is a whistleblower program for the city as well. i'm not sure how we can give you the information on the program for corruption and issues. i think you should state it for the record and someone can address your as you sit in the audience. >> it was corrupt two weeks ago -- [unintelligible] corrupt is nothing. who is making stop, stop it here? supervisor mar: please make your statement and we can address and figure out how to focus on this. thank you. next speaker? >> did afternoon, supervisors. i am seth katzman.

i am also an appointed member of the sro health and safety task force. today i am speaking for our clients which #850. their average age is over 50. all of them have disabilities. most of the vast majority live in private sro's. we have managed to get a good fraction into subsidized and other supportive housing, but it is difficult. i have been doing this for 17 years and i have been involved in the process of trying to get habitable and safe conditions for our representative clients for 17 years. i get the same complaints and i see the same conditions. only we have fewer resources to work with. our old contracts used to specify that our case managers

-- we were required to visit people in their units to report back to the department of human services about conditions. we have not been able to afford to do that for 10 years. i should tell you connard house and the other non profits will affiliate with, we do not have the problems that the privates do. you cannot take pictures like the kind we saw. you will not find them in our buildings. the house has no bedbugs. that will not last forever. i challenge any single private sro in san francisco to come up with no bedbugs at any time. it is because they're too busy making money to spend money on taking care of these buildings, that is the disgrace her, supervisors. i am on the sro task force. they're making too much money.

they deny it, but anyway, i am out of time. i am sick of this and you should be sick of it, too. these are your constituents and their mind. we need you to toughen the ordinances, we need you to toughen enforcement, we need you to support dvi and help them have more inspectors. supervisor mar: thank you. supervisor wiener has a question. supervisor wiener: it is impressive you do not have any bedbugs. >> right now. supervisor wiener: do you find it is -- it is about prevention and responding. what are the most effective strategies? we have operators wanted to do the right thing. >> operators are not willing to do the right thing. >> prevention is education. but it is -- most of it is response. we're lucky to have case

managers and they can work with people who are afraid to let people in, to prepare their rooms, to clean. we can work with them and some people have to move. we are moving into other units in the building. it is good to have case managers there to help do that and we focus a lot on that. case managers work closely with our property managers and with the outside organization that comes in to do more serious craft and spring. we spent a lot of money on it. when i mention that in the sro task force, at two of the landlord said, you have case managers and i said, you could get case managers, too. you could hire among your association, you could hire two case managers and you would save money. i was met with a stony silence. tavissupervisor mar: next speak.

>> for a lot of us we appreciate the opportunity even if it is only to event for a couple of hours. it is a good opportunity for us. overall, we talk about enforcement. we have the policy and everything is in place, it is a matter of good will. but there is not any enforcement. that is actually followed upon. what i wanted to mention is the best way to hear from you -- is a client from meals on wheels. we serve 2600 people a day and many are in the tenderloin. none of our clients -- the been feared me mentioning i am from mills on wheels. they fear they will not have the terrible places they are living in. the next thing would be the street for them. they really were very fearful and i assured them we would do everything in our power if we -- the end up -- they ended up fearing -- having retaliation.

my experience has allowed me to visit hundreds of seniors in their homes, many of which are the sro's in the market district and 10 . i have become of the various living options available, some good, some bad. imagine having one option of where to live in the last stage of life. the answer is -- sro is interested and has criminal activity. as a senior with chronic conditions, you're forced to live in the midst of it all all day after day. you are advocating for yourself and worried it may affect your living situation. all of your left is fear and anxiety. having had the opportunity to discuss these matters and see the internment first hand, i am reminded of one of the private

hotels. i made my way down the infested hallway lined with filthy, tattered carpet and the stench of sale -- staled cigarettes. the client's room had a terrible infestation of cockroaches, water damage, and stains. supervisor mar: please wrap up. >> seniors deserve to live in a safe and sanitary living and vermin like some of the nonprofits that have been listed. hallways provide adequate lighting and the sanitation codes are being met. supervisor mar: i will call couple more cards but please come forward. thomas jenkins, vivian wong, and thomas picarello, and those of the speaker cards i have. go ahead. >> i would like to the cost the

city to propose -- like this city to propose like ozone. one came down with parkinson's and the other of a heart attack. this is from kim. pesticides cause behavioral and saw -- affects. brain damage, fetal death, a malformation, miscarriages, higher cancer rates among children, brain damage during pregnancy, breast cancer, parkinson's disease, prostate cancer, hyperactivity,