Live-work lofts, public corruption, homelessness, and reform in SF

Live-work lofts, public corruption, homelessness, and reform in SF
- prepared for the Coalition On Homelessness by Gary W. Moody, 7/16/03

fraud 1 a : DECEIT, TRICKERY; specif : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK (Webster's)

When a person deliberately uses a misrepresentation or other deceitful means to obtain something to which he or she is not otherwise entitled, that person has committed fraud. (Kaiser Saurborn & Mair, PC)

Fraud is the intentional deception or misrepresentation that an individual knows to be false or does not believe to be true and makes, knowing that the deception could result in some unauthorized benefit to himself/herself or some other person. (DHHS)

In order to recover under a fraud theory, (one) must prove the necessary elements of fraud which are: "(1) misrepresentation (false representation, concealment, or nondisclosure); (2) knowledge of falsity (scienter); (3) intent to defraud (i.e., to induce reliance); (4) justifiable reliance; and (5) resulting damage." (Nemecek & Cole)

"Fraud" means conduct which involves an element of scienter, deceit, intent to mislead, or knowing failure to correct misrepresentations which can be reasonably expected to induce detrimental reliance by another person... (New York State Bar Association)

The Residential Builders Association (RBA) is an organization of primarily Irish contractors active in San Francisco and the Bay Area. According to its boss, Joe O'Donoghue, they are becoming active in other areas as well.

While the origin of the RBA may have been as a means to further the interests and solidarity of Irish contractors, it has in recent years become a racketeering organization (our local Irish Mafia in fact) dedicated to fraud, graft, and thuggery. This has been evident in the RBA's very lucrative use of the so-called "live-work loft" scam in order to evade planning and zoning laws and the payment of tens of millions of dollars in school facilities and affordable housing fees.

The RBA's activities are but one facet of a complicated structure of public corruption which has transformed San Francisco into the most corrupt city in America. Unfortunately, even though these activities impact two of the city's fundamental components, schools and housing, and impact the less-affluent (or poor) especially, reformers and other opponents of the Machine have been ineffective in combating this crime. The primary reason being that they have shunned the use of legal methods, which one would normally use to fight crime, and instead relied upon politics.

Which is fine with the racketeers, because their activities have been cast as political rather than criminal. Opponents settled for a half-assed solution, which was a ban on new construction permits. Which was fine with the RBA, as they already had permits for hundreds of units in their pockets. So construction continues to this day, and NONE of the money which was fraudulently obtained from the public has been recovered.

And what has this to do with homelessness, or any other current topic, you ask? In my view, as a person with a long background in politics, the "progressive" or reform forces in SF have made the mistake, throughout the Willie years, of not connecting the dots. That is, issues such as homelessness or live-work lofts are fought piecemeal, as isolated issues, with no relevance to each other, and not within the overall context of corruption. Therefore, racketeers live happily ever after, while the homeless and poor are oppressed and demonized.

Throughout the recent controversy over "Care Not Cash," I have not heard any discussion of corruption. People like Trent Rhorer, Gavin Newsom, and the Hotel Council frame the issue as one of trying to save the money of the good citizens from being ripped off by welfare cheats and drug-and-disease riddled street scum. San Francisco is cast as an "easy mark" for the unscrupulous underclass, who are out to "defraud the City" as Rhorer recently put it. Yet apparently, if the politically-connected defraud the City by means of kicking back to Willie and his associates, that's just the way things go in Frisco, for lack of contextual argument from the opposition.

To me, there is an obvious connection between Care Not Cash, housing the homeless, and live-work lofts. If we had those tens of millions of dollars, which were skimmed off by the RBA when they paid ZERO of what should have been assessed them in affordable housing funds, that money alone would pay for the housing we need! Probably with a lot left over! Because of the illegal sweetheart deal to build thousands of these absurd condos, the SUVs of housing, so that yuppies and the affluent can live their chic and trendy urban "lifestyles," WE, the homeless, shelterless, and their advocates, are left holding an empty bag!

Some may say that there are too many battles to fight, they have to pick and choose, their resources are limited, Globalization causes our problems too, bla bla bla. These arguments don't hold water. San Francisco is our environment. Seemingly different issues are CONNECTED in this environment. When you're talking about the NEED for housing, VS, why don't we have enough money in the affordable housing fund?, there is a DIRECT and dare I say CAUSAL relationship.

Fighting this War On The Poor doesn't mean that you have to run out and file a lawsuit to force the RBA to give the money back. But consider this: Care Not Cash is depicted as the "will of the voters." A lot of voters in San Fran aren't as savvy as they think they are. In fact, in my opinion, this is a city of rubes and suckers. BUT if we aren't able or willing or savvy enough to counter Machine and oligarchy propaganda with ALL of the facts, in context, then the voters sure aren't going to get any smarter. It may seem regressive to exhume what are deemed "yesterday's issues," but do we want justice and progress, or not?

The overclass have the time and the resources, and they're going to hit us with new issues every day. If we allow "old" issues to die, and don't use history to educate the public, then we'll constantly be behind and on the defensive.