All SFAA members should be aware that a private, for-profit group based out of Southern California is sending out dues invoices and purporting to be an apartment association. This group is not affiliated with SFAA or CAA.“They are running a campaign to look like us, but they’re not us, and members will not get anything out of paying dues to them,” reported SFAA Executive Director Janan New. CAA and SFAA will always clearly state when membership renewal forms come from them. Look for the CAA and SFAA logos on any dues forms that you may receive. If you don’t see them, it’s likely that you have been targeted by this deceptive, corporate group. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the SFAA office at 415-255-2288.

Tax Form Due April 1
Every four to five years, the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder’s office requires apartment owners to account for the worth of their buildings’ furniture, appliances and equipment. All owners must file this form, even if you were doing annual direct billing in the past; it is simply additional paperwork that the state requires of all apartment owners and is not targeting your particular property.

The form is called an Apartment House Property Statement (Form 571-R). Members should have received this green form in the mail by now. If you haven’t yet returned the completed form, please fill it out as soon as possible and send it back to the Assessor-Recorder by April 1.

Key Boxes Invite Burglars Says SFFD
The San Francisco Fire Department has announced that several city buildings have been burglarized due to a security breach in the buildings’ exterior key box systems. Key box systems are designed to allow fire department personnel to obtain access to a building in the event of an emergency, without damaging the building to gain access. However, in light of the potential risk for burglary that these boxes allow, the department is advising property owners that they may want to remove the exterior keys to the building. Removing these keys and boxes eliminates an opportunity for burglary, but also heightens the chance that the department may have to damage the building in order to enter it in an emergency. The department is looking into alternative key box systems that will not lead to building damage or permit this type of security breach.

If you plan to remove your exterior keys, remember to remove the entire box from the building so there is no confusion when the department arrives on the scene. Also, call your district fire inspector at 415-558-3300 and let them know that your key box has been removed. Your district inspector should also be able to answer any questions that you may have.

New DBI Director Named
Isam Hasenin, the former chief building inspector for San Diego, has been named as the new permanent director of San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection. The Building Inspection Commission, which oversees DBI, announced the appointment in February and Hasenin officially took over for former Acting Director Amy Lee at the end of March. Both San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the city’s Board of Supervisors have said that they are looking forward to working with Hasenin and creating a more efficient DBI.

Hasenin holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from San Diego State. In addition to his position in San Diego, he also served as the vice chair for the California Building Standards Commission, which is responsible for adopting and implementing statewide building codes.

McGoldrick After 2-Unit Inclusionary Law
San Francisco Supervisor Jake McGoldrick is sponsoring an ordinance that would make new 2-4-unit buildings subject to inclusionary housing laws. Currently, the law states that only 5-plus buildings must meet the city’s affordability requirements. At the same time, McGoldrick is also sponsoring legislation that would reduce the affordability requirements for buildings with 100-plus units to 12%, rather than the 15% required as the law stands now. McGoldrick claims that these larger buildings have higher development costs, and therefore require a lower level of affordable units to be financially feasible.

Newsom Holds Himself Accountable for Missed Goals
Speaking at a rapid clip, and discussing topics as far ranging as housing, parks, roads and education, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom spoke to an audience for over two hours about which campaign promises he has kept and which he has not during his three years in office. The discussion was organized by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, which worked with the mayor’s office to create a new database that tracks all of Newsom’s 369 public policy pledges (starting with the 2003 campaign up until his most recent State of the City address). The accountability report resulting from the data shows that 71% of the mayor’s pledges are completed or ongoing (including 68% of those regarding housing and homelessness), 29% are in progress (meaning that a plan of action has been identified, but programmatic and financial resources are lacking) and 5% have been reconsidered and discarded in lieu of other policy decisions. Speaking candidly, Newsom said of the report: “This is a great document if you don’t like me. This is a great document if you are running against someone like me.”

In his address, Newsom spoke about how he did not deliver on promises to create better streets and sidewalks, and said that three graffiti-abatement programs have done little to solve the city’s vandalism problem. But he pointed to his office’s support of the Neighborhood Commercial Corridor Revitalization Program, which improves building facades and streetscapes on the city’s commercial corridors, as a highlight of his administration. He also believes that the private sector needs to do its part to revitalize neighborhoods by creating more Community Benefit Districts, wherein property owners pay an additional tax to fund beautification projects in their neighborhoods.

Newsom was most distressed when discussing the city’s homicide rate (“I have failed”) and the Department of Building Inspection, calling it an“outrage” and an“abomination.” But on the topic of housing development, he seemed to feel that great strides had been made during his tenure. Newsom spoke glowingly of new housing projects in Mission Bay and the Fillmore. He admitted that the redevelopment of Hunter’s Point was behind schedule, but still felt confident enough about the direction of that project and others to say that,“We’re going for the greatest housing expansion in our city since the reconstruction after 1906.” However, Newsom seemed frustrated over the lack of redevelopment activity in the Mid-Market district.“We did our part. Redevelopment did their part,” he commented.“It just sat there for a year or more. A lot of politics are being played, but we need to jumpstart that.”

Newsom also ran down his office’s list of achievements regarding homelessness. He claimed that almost 5,000 homeless people were off the streets since his Care Not Cash program was enacted and that nearly 1,800 have taken the city up on its offer for a free one-way bus pass back to willing friends and family elsewhere. He also said that he was working to increase security at shelters and public housing projects, but that the city had a lot of work to do to see that the poor, once safely housed, also received training and job skills to get out of poverty.

Free Lead Hazard Guide Available
A free, illustrated 16-page guide designed to prevent lead hazards was mailed to property owners recently, the result of a grant from the State Department of Health Services. The guide was designed and produced by the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Childhood Lead Prevention Program and contains information to help owners avoid code violations and lawsuits, and remind them of their obligations to rent housing free of lead hazards.

For the first time, the Childhood Lead Prevention Program is also hosting a low-cost, four-hour class, taught by a state-accredited lead training provider, to show San Francisco owners how to comply with local lead laws. Contact the program at 415-554-8930, x. 16 or 11 for more information.

New Location for Rental Info
For many years, SF Apartment Magazine has printed helpful information for SFAA members—rent increase charts, the rental forms order form, security deposit information, tenant screening services information and rent board fees, among others. This valuable information used to be sprinkled throughout each issue. But starting this month, members will be able to find all these forms, charts and data grouped together near the back of the magazine. In this issue,“membership” information can be found starting on the calendar page on 59 and continuing here, on page 64. Look to the right, see— easy.