Bluoz

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will be live on cyberspace next week to talk about the city's budget challenges.

On Wednesday, for two hours beginning at 5:00 p.m., Newsom will be taking questions live online about the city's $522 budget shortfall and discuss how he plans to solve it.

"We'll have the opportunity to hear from people that can't necessarily come down and visit me," Newsom said. "That can't necessarily wait in line or wish to wait in line, that can express their opinions."

Newsom said he welcomes all questions and ideas and not just from the usual suspects at City Hall.

"Many times, I feel like the city is run by 150 people. Good special interest, sometimes very bad special interest that represents a good deal of people, some that represent a very small number of people. But, you have to get out of City Hall," Newsom said.

Just this week, Samepoint, a search engine that tracks public opinion, named Newsom the nation's number one Internet-savvy mayor.

24 million dollars housing 1,500 homeless people = 16 thousand per homeless person, not counting the benefits each person receives (GA, care not cash, SSI)

"Thankfully, Prop 98 lost badly – despite a bad ballot for progressives. To defeat Prop 16 in June, we will have to do much of the same kind of work to marginalize PG&E." Paul Hogarth in BeyondChron, funded by Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a contractor with the City and County of San Francisco

San Francisco's standard provisons of all contractors with the city, in part

Article 18.10 of this legally binding agreement, entitled, Prohibition on Political Activity with City Funds states, "In accordance with San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 12.g, no funds appropriated by the City for this Agreement may be expended for organizing, creating, funding, participating in, supporting, or attempting to influence any political campaign for a candidate or for a ballot measure. Furthermore, this same article states, "In the event Grantee, or any staff member in association with Grant, engages in any Political Activity, then (i) Grantee shall keep and maintain appropriate records to evidence compliance with this section, and (ii) Grantee shall have the burden to prove that no funding from this Agreement has been used for such Political Activity. Grantee agrees to cooperate with any audit by City or designee in order to ensure compliance with this section

City Attorney, Dennis Herrera stated in BeyondChron, "...San Francisco expects its grant recipients to live up to their obligations..."

To that end, attached please find the grant agreement between the City and County of San Francisco and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic from the Mayor's Office of Community Investment or the Mayor's Office of Housing ("MOCI/MOH), entitled Counseling and legal services to prevent tenant displacement and eviction primarily for Spanish-speaking SRO renters" for the fiscal year 2008. Funding for this grant was provided by HUD and distributed by the MOH, apparently, as part of a Community Development Block Grant.

Article 18.10 of this legally binding agreement, entitled, Prohibition on Political Activity with City Funds states, "In accordance with San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 12.g, no funds appropriated by the City for this Agreement may be expended for organizing, creating, funding, participating in, supporting, or attempting to influence any political campaign for a candidate or for a ballot measure. Furthermore, this same article states, "In the event Grantee, or any staff member in association with Grant, engages in any Political Activity, then (i) Grantee shall keep and maintain appropriate records to evidence compliance with this section, and (ii) Grantee shall have the burden to prove that no funding from this Agreement has been used for such Political Activity. Grantee agrees to cooperate with any audit by City or designee in order to ensure compliance with this section."

As you are most likely aware, in 2004, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic formed an online website called BeyondChron, LLC. In its workplan for this grant (part of the attached Grant Agreement), the Tenderloin Housing Clinic describes this web site as one that "provides extensive coverage on housing and tenant issues in San Francisco". An examination of many of the articles presented by BeyondChron since 2004, however, raises questions regarding the Tenderloin Housing Clinic's compliance with the NO POLITICAL ACTIVITY clauses of their grant from MOCI/MOH. Examples of such publications include but are by no means limited to:

1.The Raid on San Francisco’s Public Financing Fund
by Joe Lynn‚ Jul. 01‚ 2008
"Were this proposal to move forward, the public financing program would be short $1.7 million - $4.3 million in the next mayoral election, according to spending projections by the Ethics Commission.

Rob Arnow is asking folks to communicate with the members of the Budget Committee, in particular, Chairman Jake McGoldrick, so that he understands that this is a very dangerous proposal. Word on the street has it that Supervisor McGoldrick does not understand that there is nothing the Board can do to make the Mayor’s promise to return the money enforceable. Polite, but firm, letters and emails should be directed to him, Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org"

2. Claudine Cheng Silent on Revenue Measures
by Paul Hogarth‚ Jul. 03‚ 2008
"But when it comes to basic bread-and-butter questions about our City’s future, supporting Peskin’s revenue measures is far more important down the road."

3. Progressives Must Reject Prop 93
by Randy Shaw‚ Jan. 28‚ 2008
"But Prop 93 is a disaster for progressive interests. Its primary impact is twofold. First, it would keep the politically ineffective and non-progressive Democratic leadership team of Fabian Nunez and Don Perata in place for another four years. Second, Prop 93’s passage would enable Governor Schwarzenegger to continue to escape blame for the state’s "Perata hfiscal problems, as Nunez and Perata have proved incapable of rallying broad public support against the Governor. New leadership in Sacramento requires Prop 93’s defeat." "Why in the world would any progressive vote to give Nunez another six years as Speaker?
Unlike Nunez, Democratic Senate leader Don Perata never had progressive credentials. Perata’s entire political career has been designed to keep himself in power, and Prop 93 would give him four more years even though he was elected to the State Senate in 1998." "Perata has done nothing in the past decade to justify the voters giving him another four years in leadership"

4. Prop 92 Divides Education Advocates, But it’s a Good Idea
by Paul Hogarth‚ Jan. 24‚ 2008
"We must raise taxes for the rich, repeal Prop 13 (or at least exempt commercial and industrial property), and take other bold measures that would solve our state’s revenue problem. But all these proposals will be far more difficult to pass politically. In the meantime, making sure that community colleges get a piece of the – very small – pie of education funds is the right thing to do."

5. Defend ACORN Against Right-Wing Attacks
by Randy Shaw‚ Feb. 24‚ 2009

"It takes time and money to combat these right-wing attacks, and California ACORN is having a fundraiser featuring Congressmember Barbara Lee and other progressive leaders on March 12 to raise some badly needed funds. Here are the event details.

From the invite:

California ACORN is pleased to invite you to our 2009 Annual Reception, to be held the evening of Thursday, March 12 at the Downtown Oakland Marriot City Center, 1001 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94607. We come together with friends, allies, and co-workers to celebrate the work we have done, but also to share ideas and excitement about the plans and opportunities ahead of us! Join ACORN's community leaders in honoring some special friends, including Congresswoman Barbara Lee, actress/Comedienne/Activist Roseanne Barr, State Senator Loni Hancock, Director of Urban Strategies Council Junious Williams and California United Food and Commercial Workers.

Please register for this very important and worthwhile event."

6. Supervisor Candidates Find Ways to Skirt Around Limit
by Paul Hogarth‚ Feb. 03‚ 2010

EDITOR’S NOTE: Paul Hogarth considered a run for District 6 Supervisor this year, and has endorsed Jane Kim for that race (along with Eric Smith in District 10.)

Additionally, BeyondChron posts articles regarding State and or National issues from employees of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic who are "on the road" at the the time, most often without clearly stating whether these employees are on vacation or unpaid leave seems to be be required by the grant conditions.

Section 18.10 of the attached contract further states, "In the event Grantee violation the provisions of this section, City may, in addition to any other rights or remedies available hereunder, (i) terminate this Agreement and any other agreement between the Grantee and the City, (ii) prohibit Grantee from bidding on or receiving any new City contract for a period of two (2) years, and (iii) obtain reimbursement of all funds previously disbursed to Grantee under this agreement."

In their IRS Forms 990 for 2007 only, The Tenderloin Housing Clinic documents almost $15million in funding, much of it from the City and County of San Francisco. Given the City's billion dollar budget deficits, San Francisco must step up to the plate to make "grant recipients to live up to their obligations".

My intent is not to criticize the content of BeyonChron. Rather it is to support Dennis Herrera and MOH in their efforts to ensure that contracts with the City are being fully and compliantly conducted to the terms and conditions of each and every legally binding agreements. If non-compliance is determined, swift and effective action should be undertaken with any and all action undertaken applied fairly and consistently to all grantees.

Should this request be considered too trivial a financial matter for follow up by the City, I am also forwarding an e-mail regarding the "significant deficiencies" in financial management and other issues noted by independent auditors of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, that was previously provided to your office along with its associated attachements. Perhaps, with the preponderance of concerns raised to date, appropriate action will be undertaken by your office.

[Tenderloin Housing Clinic Contract Approval - $82,286,121]0912872.Resolution approving the contract between the City and County of San Francisco and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic to provide master-leased housing for formerly homeless single adults to the Human Services Agency for the period of January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2015, in the amount of $82,286,121. (Human Services Department)11/9/09; RECEIVED AND ASSIGNED to the Budget and Finance Committee.

Randy Shaw plunder continues?

boys and girls,

Y'all know that tomorrow the Board's Budget and Finance
Committee will likely give Randy Shaw and his THC (Tenderloin
Housing Corp.)an income stream for the next 5 years?

Yep, they wanna give him $82 million. The ... let's do
this right ...

Budget Committee 2-10-10 (11am)

Chair: D-11's John Avalos

Vice Chair: D-5's Ross Mirkarimi

Member: D-7's Sean Elsbernd

Item #2 Mayor pays off Randy Shaw for various returned favors

Randy induced Jane Kim to move into District 6 in order
to weaken Debra Walker in a Progressive field that is led by my
favored candidate, Jim (no drama) Meko. Shaw and the Mayor
both hate Walker because she stood up to Shaw and broke his
and Joe O'Donoghue's control of the DBI Commission. That's
Shaw. The Mayor's people hate her because they don't trust
her to be the rubber stamp for them that Theresa Sparks will
be (flash - Sparks is refusing to attend the first D-6 candidates'
forum hosted by a James Tracy group - reverse 'Willie Brown/
Ammiano strategy'? ... they know she'll play badly on the
stage with the likes of Walker and Meko and with h. brown having
a paid ticket too) ... thing is, Kim let it be known that she
was ready to ditch the SF scene and head for a job with a top
law firm in D.C. and Shaw cynically decided that Kim would be
a great candidate to suck votes off Walker) ...

I have it on good authority that Randy got called into the Mayor's
office a few years back where he was berated and threatened by
Chief of Staff, Steve Kawa. This goes back aways but the message
was ... drop your ties to Joe O'Donoghue or we drop you.

Well, that worked out well for both the Mayor and Shaw. Randy
may now actually be the number one poverty pimp in SF and there's
lotsa competition.

Shaw's sidekick, Paul Hogarth actually wrote an editorial in
Shaw's City supported news rag, Beyond Chron urging the Progressives
to not run any candidates against Newsom in 2007 and trust the
charity of the Mayor (it works great for Hogarth and Shaw).

This guy's got a political machine funded by the City is what I'm
saying and he should have a thorough audit and investigation before
he's given another dime. A 5 1/2 year contract? In the words of
a great statesman: "Fuck You!!!"

Go Giants!

h.

Subject: Request for follow up regarding findings of Independent Auditing and Fiscal & Compliance Monitoring of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic

Attached please find an independent audit report of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic from Daoro Zydel & Holland LLP dated 31 March 2009. This report had been provided to the Mayor’s Office of Housing by THC and was subsequently provided to me by MOH via a Sunshine Ordinance Request for Disclosure. As you will see, this report outlines areas of significant deficiencies regarding HUD funding whereby a significant deficiency is defined as "…a control deficiency or combination of control deficiencies, that adversely affects the entity’s ability to initiate, authorize, records, process, or report financial data reliably in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles such that there is more than a remote likelihood that a misstatement of the entity’s financial statements this is more than inconsequential will not be prevented or detected by the entity’s internal control."

The significant deficiencies detailed in the audit report are as follows:

* Finding No: 2008-01 Modified Payment Program ("MMP") Bank Reconciliation
* Finding No: 2008-02 Rent Rolls and Property Management

These findings apply to the the Federal Awards from Department of Housing and Urban Development:

* CFDA#14.218
* CFDA#14.238

The audit report attached indicates that these deficiencies are carry overs from previous years.

The audit report also outlines the following areas of concern:

1. In 1995, THC purchased 50% ownership interest at 126 Hyde Street but, but as of 30 June 2008 had not recorded the purchase with the City and County of San Francisco. They have subsequently recorded the purchase but at its original 1995 cost of $163,500.

2. In December 2007, THC received title to a vacant lot located in Bayview/Hunter’s Point. Although an appraisal obtained by the donor valued the property at $20 Million, as of 30 June 2008, THC did not record any value associated with the acquired land or site improvements. THC claims the parcel has no measurable basis to determine fair value because of a) the unique nature of the site (3.16 acres with direct and unfettered bay access) and b) they are uncertain as to how they will develop this property. The independent auditors report states, " Such lack of measurable value, and consequent omission in the financial statements of the Organization (THC) constitutes a departure from US generally accepted accounting principals (GAAP). …the effect of this departure on the financial statements cannot be determined at this time." Additionally, while not recording any value, THC rents this property to a company for parking of their heavy vehicles, thus making a profit on an asset that was not properly recorded.

To the best of my knowledge, MOH has not taken any action regarding this audit report and continues to fund THC.

Additionally, in April of 2008, HSA Fiscal and Compliance Monitoring of THC (also attached) noted several areas of concern including multiple instances of overbilling for legal services.

The City and County of San Francisco is currently experiencing budget deficits in the billions; it needs to use its limited resources wisely and ensure that the resources used are used in complete compliance with its requirements. From June of 2007 to June of 2008 alone, THC received almost $15 million in government grant,s a substantial portion of which was federal funding funneled to them via various City agencies such as DPH, DCFY, HSA, and MOH.

No organization should be allowed to continue to receive funding from the City and County of San Francisco if they are consistently unable to manage the funds provided to them as required by contractual agreement and law. At this time, I kindly request that the City and HUD conduct a thorough investigation of all its grant and loan programs with the THC to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the awards and to make the findings of such an investigation and any corrective action taken by the City available to the public.

I have additional information in support of my request and can be reached at your convenience at 415-260-7608.

With Kind Regards,

Rita O’Flynn