November 2005
miniFESTIVA '05 was a big hit with vendors and attendees. With the help of Elizabeth Miller and Michelle Horneff-Cohen of Property Management Systems, the planning and festival set-up was a great success. Realtor Erika Burke of Zephyr Real Estate was the inspiration for promoting a vendor give-away that included Attorney James Millar's boxing gloves, Wiegel & Fried's iPodnano, and free management consulting from Property Management Systems. Erika Burke reported she received over 50 entries for her drawings and gave away 16 prizes to SFAA members, including Quicken software, gift cards and gift baskets. The lucky winners all exclaimed, "I can't believe I won."
Metro Locksmith, Andre Ferrigno of Washington Mutual and A Mobile Blind Cleaner provided extra coolers and tables that were filled with goodies. Jason Swanson did an excellent job dishing out the La Tapatia tamales. Mary Whitton of Credit Bureau Associates iced down all the drinks. The indefatigable Ted Tallase of SFAA deserves thanks for keeping the drinks moving and maintaining the Tamale Room.
Next year we'll be rolling out even more surprises and fun at the
next Fest. See you then!
– Jennifer Finlay
Daly Targeting Condo Conversions Again
Not retreating from his continuing attacks against homeownership
and property rights in San Francisco, Supervisor Chris Daly has
introduced legislation to force all applications for 2-4-unit condominium
conversions to undergo an exhaustive review process by the city's
planning commission. The application procedure—already besieged
by bureaucratic delays that can stretch out the process over several
years—would be expanded under the legislation to include a mandatory
public hearing (already required for 5-6-unit conversions). The
policy would toss every condo application into the political arena,
enabling tenant activists an opportunity to fight each and every
conversion. Stay tuned for updates in the months to come.
Rent Board's
Annual Statistical Report
This past September, the San Francisco Rent Board issued its annual
report on petition filings received over the course of the previous
fiscal calendar year (July 2004-June 2005). Overall, the number
of petitions filed with the board declined 10% from 1,098 in fiscal
year 2004 to 990 in fiscal year 2005, with the number of landlord
and tenant petitions each declining by about 10%.
Total eviction notices declined slightly by 3%. Ellis-Act petitions rose 22%, with the number of units withdrawn from the rental market under the Ellis Act increasing by 36% to 480 units, the second highest annual number recorded. Tenant appeals increased from 126 in 2004 to 179 in 2005, due primarily to the filing of 56 individual tenant appeals of a single capital-improvement decision for a large residential project. The full report is available online at www.sfgov.org/rentboard. The year-over-year changes include the following:
Tenant appeals:
+ 42%
Master tenant overcharge: + 40%
1.21 (principal place of residence) petitions: + 23%
Ellis Act filings: + 22%
Eviction notices: - 3%
Landlord appeals: - 4%
Tenant petitions: - 6%
Allegations of wrongful evictions: - 12%
Capital-improvement petitions: - 16%
Tenant-summary petitions: - 30%
Operating and maintenance petitions: - 55%
Commercial Toilet Rebates
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is offering cash
rebates to commercial customers when they replace their high-flow
toilets with new efficient models. Toilets with a flush volume
of 3.5 gallons or greater are considered a high-flow model. Effective
from August 1, 2005, SFPUC rebates vary from $25 for an approved
Ultra-Low Flush toilet up to $125 for an approved High-Efficiency
Toilet. Download the SFPUC Water Conservation toilet-rebate application
(www.sfwater.org) and return the completed application with original
receipts to the mailing address listed on the form. An on-site
inspection may be required to receive approval.
This program applies to purchases made between June 1, 2005, and May 31, 2006. Funding is limited, and rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Toilets must be installed, and rebate applications must be postmarked within 90 days of the purchase date. The SFPUC reserves the right to inspect the installations.
Only SFPUC Water Conservation Program-approved toilets qualify for rebates. To obtain a current list of qualifying models and their rebate amounts, please review the SFPUC's program-approved toilet list online.You can also request a toilet-rebate application by contacting the SFPUC Water Conservation Section at (415) 551-4730.