Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz’ Mark Rifkin and ABS Partners Real Estate’s James Caseley (right) with 270 Madison Avenue (Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, ABS Partners, Getty)

Many commercial tenants went to court for a pandemic rent break. A Murray Hill law firm can now count itself among the few to have won one.

New York’s Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in stocks and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner failed to complete renovations on the firm’s two floors of leased space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, produced 90-degree temperatures in the summer and failed to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has occupied 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to move temporarily from the ninth and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to revamp the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

The lease included four months of free rent once the firm moved back to the lower floors and a rent credit if renovations took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day that work continued after February 2020. The rate would jump to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein moved back to the ninth and 10th floors in December 2019, ahead of schedule. But the firm immediately questioned whether work had been completed.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC problems,” Mark Rifkin, managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein wrote in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some may have assumed substantial completion before it was done,” he continued. “Had this been summertime, when we need the AC, the space would be uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively loud.

Those problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began spreading in the city, ABS’ construction manager acknowledged in an email that “many ‘existing condition’ items … need to be figured out and resolved.”

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to describe the HVAC system as a “disaster” to the landlord’s construction manager in a memo.

The same month, the landlord started work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to relocate to a more hospitable floor.

The HVAC issues lasted through the pandemic, forcing partners, associates, staff and clients, once they returned to the office, to deal with a system that failed to adequately circulate fresh air, according to Scott Mollen of Herrick Feinstein, attorney for the tenant.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect had not declared the work complete, meaning the firm had no obligation to pay rent.

ABS answered a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-per-month lease.

That November, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling the work was incomplete and the firm had no need to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent credit, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700 .00 in attorney’s fees.

“Much of the unnecessary fees were incurred as a result of landlords’ litigation tactics,” the court noted.

Rosenberg & Estis attorney Alex Estis, who represented ABS, said his legal team appreciated the Appellate Division reduced Wolf Aldenstein’s rent credit award. A lower court had granted the firm an additional $647,869, plus interest.

“We are considering further options in light of the ruling,” Estis added.

The firm’s late co-founder Warren Estis had represented ABS for most of the suit, one of his last. Estis died in April.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

This article has been updated to include comments from Rosenberg & Estis, counsel for ABS Partners Real Estate.

The post Regulation Agency Wins $2M Lease Credit score for Dangerous HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz’ Mark Rifkin and ABS Partners Real Estate’s James Caseley (right) with 270 Madison Avenue (Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, ABS Partners, Getty)

Many commercial tenants went to court for a pandemic rent break. A Murray Hill law firm can now count itself among the few to have won one.

New York’s Appellate Division ruled that affiliates of landlord ABS Partners Real Estate must credit Wolf Haldenstein, a firm specializing in stocks and antitrust law, over $2 million in rent and legal fees after the office owner failed to complete renovations on the firm’s two floors of leased space.

The HVAC system roared like a “jet engine,” the landlord’s architect said, produced 90-degree temperatures in the summer and failed to circulate fresh air as Covid raged in New York.

The law firm, which has occupied 270 Madison Ave for nearly 100 years, agreed to move temporarily from the ninth and 10th floors to the 11th and 13th when it signed a 12-year lease in 2018.

ABS planned to revamp the heating and air conditioning systems on the two lower floors and agreed in the lease that its tenant would rent the upper floors until an architect deemed the work substantially complete.

The lease included four months of free rent once the firm moved back to the lower floors and a rent credit if renovations took too long. Wolf Haldenstein would receive a daily credit for each day that work continued after February 2020. The rate would jump to a day and a half after April.

Wolf Haldenstein moved back to the ninth and 10th floors in December 2019, ahead of schedule. But the firm immediately questioned whether work had been completed.

“We should have another construction meeting to discuss HVAC problems,” Mark Rifkin, managing partner at Wolf Haldenstein wrote in an email to the job’s contractor on Christmas Eve.

“I think some may have assumed substantial completion before it was done,” he continued. “Had this been summertime, when we need the AC, the space would be uninhabitable.”

In another email to ABS Partners, Rifkin described the floors as excessively hot and the HVAC system as excessively loud.

Those problems continued into 2020. In February, as Covid began spreading in the city, ABS’ construction manager acknowledged in an email that “many ‘existing condition’ items … need to be figured out and resolved.”

James Caseley, an executive at ABS, went so far as to describe the HVAC system as a “disaster” to the landlord’s construction manager in a memo.

The same month, the landlord started work on the 11th and 13th floors, making it impossible for Wolf Haldenstein to relocate to a more hospitable floor.

The HVAC issues lasted through the pandemic, forcing partners, associates, staff and clients, once they returned to the office, to deal with a system that failed to adequately circulate fresh air, according to Scott Mollen of Herrick Feinstein, attorney for the tenant.

In April 2021, Wolf Haldenstein sued ABS Partners, alleging that the landlord’s architect had not declared the work complete, meaning the firm had no obligation to pay rent.

ABS answered a month later, arguing that the law firm had defaulted on rent and owed $1.2 million on its roughly $145,000-per-month lease.

That November, a Supreme Court judge sided with Wolf Haldesstein, ruling the work was incomplete and the firm had no need to pay rent. The Appellate Division upheld the ruling that the landlord should pay a $1.2 million rent credit, $100,000 in moving expenses and $700 .00 in attorney’s fees.

“Much of the unnecessary fees were incurred as a result of landlords’ litigation tactics,” the court noted.

Rosenberg & Estis attorney Alex Estis, who represented ABS, said his legal team appreciated the Appellate Division reduced Wolf Aldenstein’s rent credit award. A lower court had granted the firm an additional $647,869, plus interest.

“We are considering further options in light of the ruling,” Estis added.

The firm’s late co-founder Warren Estis had represented ABS for most of the suit, one of his last. Estis died in April.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

This article has been updated to include comments from Rosenberg & Estis, counsel for ABS Partners Real Estate.

The post Legislation Agency Wins $2M Lease Credit score for Unhealthy HVAC Throughout Covid appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The ‘Bad Axe’ documentary continues to earn awards as it makes the rounds at film festivals around the country.

Filmmaker David Siev’s chronicle of his hometown during the COVID-19 pandemic made its debut in March at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where it won special jury and audience awards.

Making its Michigan debut at the Freep Film Festival in late April, ‘Bad Axe’ won the festival’s Audience Choice Award. It also earned the Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival earlier this month, and last week Siev took home the Special Jury Honorable Mention Award at the Center for Asian American Media CAAMFest in San Francisco.

The film was also recently screened at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado.

Siev’s film is described in promotional materials as a “real-time portrait of 2020 (that) unfolds as an Asian-American family in Trump’s rural America fights to keep their restaurant and American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, Neo-Nazis, and generational scars from the Cambodian Killing Fields.”

In early April, IFC Films acquired worldwide rights to “Bad Axe.” IFC Films distributes mainly independent films under its name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sundance Selects label and genre films under its IFC Midnight label. It’s an offshoot of the Independent Film Channel, owned by AMC Networks.

The film is expected to debut in theaters and on video-on-demand services later this year.

One of the film’s executive producers is Jeff Tremaine, a director, screenwriter and producer best known for co-creating the MTV reality stunt show “Jackass” with Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville.

According to the film’s website, Siev, a graduate of the University of Michigan, left Bad Ax for Los Angeles and landed a home at Tremaine’s production company, Gorilla Flicks, where he spent several years “finessing the art of guerrilla filmmaking.”

“Bad Axe” made its hometown debut on May 1 before a packed house at the Bad Ax Theatre, where it was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

The post David Siev’s documentary ‘Dangerous Axe’ earns honors in LA, San Francisco, Detroit appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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In Bisbee, Arizona, the Copper Queen Library, founded in 1882, is 114 years old — and it shows.

The library, on the National Register of Historic Places, a hub for Brisbee families, has a leaky roof, and cracks in the facade. The ceiling in the young adult room collapsed recently, forcing the room to close for three weeks.

“You can follow the story of Bisbee through the story of our library, because we’ve been here all along,” said library manager Jason Macoviak.

The Copper Queen is at the center of community life: From hosting an event every Halloween for the community to bringing fairytales to life; to create a separate room for teens — until the ceiling collapsed and the room had to be closed for a time.

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“That is the hardest demographic to reach,” said Macoviak. “We lost that engagement for a bit.”

The Copper Queen Library

Hundreds of library buildings in the US are more than 100 years old and are in dire condition, according to a recent report from the American Library Association which estimates many of the nation’s 17,000 libraries need $32 billion dollars for construction and renovation.

During the pandemic many libraries across the country became lifelines for residents, providing everything from Wi-Fi from parking lots, notary services and curbside crafts projects for kids.

Although the average age of a library building is more than 40 years old, there has not been dedicated federal infrastructure funding since 1997.

As a result the buildings are plagued with old wiring, plumbing, leaky roofs, malfunctioning fire alarms and sprinklers, the report found. Because of the old wiring, they often lack internet access. At current funding levels it would take 25 years for the work to get done, the report found.

The McAlester Library

Nine states — Alaska, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia — estimate their public libraries need more than $8 billion for construction and renovation.

American Library Association

The Build America’s Libraries Act, which was introduced back in January 2021, would fund upgrades to library infrastructure to recover from natural disasters, environmental hazards, and accessibility barriers. With Congress working on a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan, the Senate has until September 15th to finish allocating the funds. The ALA has lobbied to include the Build America’s Libraries Act in the new plan.

“We know that libraries are well loved by communities across the country,” said ALA President Patty Wong. “This legislation offers us an opportunity to reinvest in our libraries in a significant way to bring about a stronger equity throughout our community, and to make sure that we have libraries in our future.

“Libraries are not just bricks and mortar, but they are anchors within the community that need a little bit of structure in order to provide the service we deliver,” Wong said.

Throughout the pandemic, communities relied on libraries. And libraries found ways to deliver while other public facilities shut their doors.

A good example of how libraries got creative during COVID-19 is in the work of a consortium of 34 public libraries in rural upstate New York.

“During COVID-19 it was sometimes the only place in town to get things,” said consortium director Sara Dallas of the branches. Hamilton County libraries provided access to materials and Wi-Fi 24/7, so their parking lots were filled, even to the streets across the library.

“The Indian Lake Public Library provided takeaway crafts to kids curbside so families would have activities to do with their children,” said Dallas, “and often these libraries were the only places with notaries and access to printing documents curbside.”

The Whitehall Free Library

The Whitehall Free Library

California libraries distributed Chromebooks, laptops and hotspots to students during the pandemic, Wong said.

“We’ve seen firsthand that so many in our community were lined up or parked in (library) parking lots, using the Wi Fi because they didn’t have digital access at home,” said Wong of libraries in her state of California.

Some projects have had to be put on hold because California libraries need close to $5 billion in infrastructure funds, she added.

At the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona, Macoviak said last year’s Halloween party was called off because of the pandemic. This year he hopes the event will go on.

Teens have already started holding monthly planning meetings.

To Macoviak, the event and all the enthusiasm and planning surrounding it underscores the importance of libraries and the need to keep them functioning.

The Copper Queen Library

“They create their own program, and take ownership of their library,” said Macoviak. “It just shows the utter importance of having these spaces available.”

Libraries, he continued, “are safe. They’re open to everybody. No matter who you are, how much money you make, or what your status is.”

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The post Leaky Roofs, Dangerous Plumbing, No Web: Advocates Say America’s Libraries Want $32 Billion for Infrastructure Upgrades appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Sunday’s win over the Falcons was interesting for the 49ers when it came to who was good for San Francisco and who wasn’t. The final score of 31-13 doesn’t quite show how dominant the home team were at Levi’s Stadium.

Good performances in a romp like this are easy to find. The bad trips tend to be more difficult to analyze. However, a few things really stood out that didn’t go well for San Francisco on Sunday.

Here’s the good and the bad of week 15:

(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)

Garoppolo didn’t have his best statistic on Sunday with 18 completions in 23 tries for 235 yards and one touchdown. However, it was better than that line. There weren’t many, if any, really bad litters from Garoppolo and he didn’t turn over. This was mainly a high level game from the 49ers’ QB.

(AP Photo / Tony Avelar)

A fumble from JaMycal Hasty at the opening kickoff set things in the wrong direction for the specialty teams of the 49ers. It didn’t get much better for her from then on. Hasty mistreated another kickoff and the coverage units gave up a couple of long kick returns and one long punt return. This problem has plagued the 49ers for the past few weeks and they have to hold their own against better clubs.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Falcon’s QB Matt Ryan was fired three times, but he was under duress for virtually the entire game. He had time to take a few deep punches, but otherwise he kept moving from his seat and spending time dodging a 49ers rush that had gotten really strong by the end of the year. DE Arden Key’s advent as a viable pass rusher was a revelation for the 49ers’ defensive front. He was very good again on Sunday, along with DE Nick Bosa, who was fired for season 15 and forced a fumble.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Thomas gave up a couple of big games, including a touchdown, which falls him into the “bad” category. However, he was significantly better than against the Bengals and he managed not to be flared for hands in the face. Thomas just missed making a couple of big pass breaks that instead aimed for long wins. It wasn’t a good game, but Thomas is going in the right direction.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Wilson got off to a sluggish start to 2021 when he returned from a meniscus tear, but he looked like his no-brainer on Sunday as he stormed 110 yards and a touchdown at 21 carries. His longest run was only 17 yards. Wilson put down the Falcons defenses with his tough running style, but he found some good cut marks and came to the edge a couple of times. Having another effective RB in the mix would be enormous for a 49ers team in need of help at this point on the track.

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

Admittedly, that’s a minor nitpick. Atlanta didn’t do much right on Sunday, but they did manage to convert on five of their 13 third downs. Not that 5 for 13 was anything special, but the 49ers allowed Atlanta to extend too many trips that went deep into the San Francisco Territory. Defense has stiffened in the red zone as Atlanta went 0v3 in that area, but getting better teams dancing in the red is a great way to lose a game.

(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)

Warner was supposed to be key to the 49ers’ defensive endeavors, and he came up with the team’s top nine tackles that came with a QB hit, pass resolution, and fumble recovery. Keeping Patterson at bay was the biggest key for Sunday’s 49ers, and Warner’s game was a big reason the star running back only got 23 yards in 13 touches after removing an average of nearly 90 yards per game.

The post Good and dangerous from San Francisco win appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The 49ers did not get to the start they wanted in 2021, now they are entering their Bye Week with 2-3 and are last in NFC West. While a lot went wrong in San Francisco, there are some reasons to be optimistic about going into the last 12 games.

Here are some of the things the 49ers did well in the first five weeks:

(AP photo / Jed Jacobsohn)

While the red zone rides need to be a bit more frequent, the 49ers did an excellent job turning their red zone rides into touchdowns. They were within the opponent’s 20-yard line 11 times and scored 10 touchdowns on those occasions. The only hiccups came in week 5 when Trey Lance was walled off with a stone wall at the goal line. This is an important trend that you should continue as its offense penetrates more consistently deeper into the drives.

Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports

While the 49ers’ defense was not as dominant as it was in 2019, they distinguished themselves in third place when they left the field. They allow opponents to convert only 32.8 percent of their third downs, which is the sixth best rate in the NFL. When they mix more sales with their third down stops, they are in great shape to get back to their 2019 shape.

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Deebo Samuel came on a mission in 2021 and the 49ers signed him with 52 goals at team level in just 158 ​​attempts. That means the San Francisco quarterbacks targeted Samuel on 32.9 percent of their throws. George Kittle is second with 17.7 percent after missing week 5. The 49ers have an elite playmaker in Samuel, and they have found creative ways to get him the soccer ball so far. This has to go on in order for San Francisco to get out of its current offensive funk.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Correctly! Punter Mitch Wishnowsky was outstanding and deserves some recognition. His 19 total punts put him in the middle of the field, but he dropped 12 of those punts within the 20 and only two opted for touchbacks. His hangtime of 4.41 seconds ranks sixth in the NFL and only 31.6 percent of his kicks are returned. With the 49ers playing free football on offense and defense again, Wishnowsky’s ability to give long fields to opposing offensives could be a key factor in a playoff run.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

While the 49ers’ defense wasn’t perfect, they still did a good job getting teams to deserve touchdowns. A 43-yard touchdown catch on an on-screen pass from Lions RB DeAndre Swift is the longest touchdown San Francisco has allowed this season, with no other score reaching more than 16 yards. The 49ers should give themselves the option to stay in games as long as they can go ahead without long touchdowns.

(AP Photo / Rich Schultz)

While the offensive line game of the 49ers got under a small microscope due to a few bad moves. However, according to Pro Football Focus, they occupy eighth place in blocking pass and fifth in blocking run. 22 combined prints allowed by Right Tackle Mike McGlinchey and Right Guard Daniel Brunskill are definitely worrying, but 11 prints are not a disastrous number either. It only stands out for the superb play by Alex Mack in the middle and on the left with Laken Tomlinson and Trent Williams. All in all, the offensive line play was very well mixed with some bad ones. If the bad plays can be filtered out, this has a chance to be a really strong group by the end of the year.

The post It’s not all unhealthy for San Francisco 49ers, and these stats present it appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Lisa Qiu Li was the only person working on the ground a few weeks ago.

As a housekeeper at the Hotel InterContinental San Francisco, she has lived in San Francisco for more than 25 years – and has worked in hotels for 20 of them.

But on that August day she was confronted with a hotel guest. He was furious about the lack of new towels in his room and asked her to give him some immediately.

She had already given the last set to another customer who had just asked about it.

He broke out.

“He gets really mad at me and yells at me, ‘Is that a new towel? Give it to me! ‘”Recalls Li.

His harassment became so aggressive, Li said, that she feared he would physically beat her. She was hiding in the room she was cleaning up.

“I was really, really scared, and then I called the manager,” she said.

Li peered through the peephole, and when she saw that the customer had left, she ran to the elevators and asked to be moved to another floor – where hopefully she would not be bothered again.

Service employees of all stripes have dealt with bad people, especially during the pandemic. Poor dump trucks, unruly passengers, annoying customers; Rudeness and a lack of tact on the part of some members of the general public are a feature of working in any service industry.

But incidents like Li’s are becoming more common (and arguably less well known) for a variety of reasons.

The accommodations travelers were used to before the pandemic – think the daily cleaning of hotel rooms, fast room service, nightly bar service – have been all but eliminated by the coronavirus.

After all, the hotel industry – like other minor facets of the travel industry – was hammered hard.

Statistics from the San Francisco Travel Association estimate that hotel room demand was down 68% year over year in 2020 – the largest decline in at least 11 years and perhaps one of the largest declines in the country.

And while other service industries are on their way to recovering from the pandemic, as first reported by SF Weekly, the San Francisco travel industry has recovered more slowly than other industries.

But hotel workers and the unions they represent are especially angry that hotels continue to fall short with their workers even as the tide begins to stabilize for the travel industry as a whole. Li told SFGATE that there are at least 30 to 40 other cleaners who are still on leave and are still waiting in the wings to get back to work.

This, coupled with the “vengeance” phenomenon – the influx of jet-set tourists following a catastrophic event such as a pandemic – has created a confluence of problems for hotel workers.

Blanca Reyes coordinates housekeeping in the Hilton Financial District. She has worked for hotels for 31 years and says the work in the past few months has not been comparable to any experience in her three decades in the industry.

“It’s not like it used to be, it used to be very different from now.”

Hotel workers report that they were verbally abused.

Ralf Geithe / Getty Images / iStockphoto

Reyes told SFGATE that Hilton hotels have stopped cleaning all rooms on a daily basis (unless otherwise requested), which means that she has had to take angry calls from visitors for most of her shifts.

“The real stress we have is that the hotel, the company, didn’t assign the occupied rooms to be cleaned every day,” she said.

And, as Li noted, hotel guests who visit tend to stay much longer, which means that already strained housekeepers are forced to clean thoroughly after more guests. It is an added burden for workers who are already suffering from staff shortages.

This leads to incidents like the one she saw recently when a customer called her one evening and asked why his room was dirty.

“I said: ‘We don’t have any housekeeping on duty at the moment, everyone has gone home’. [he said], ‘You have to explain to me why my room isn’t ready,’ “she said.

“So I just tell him what the situation is like, why we don’t clean [his] Room. And he starts telling me, ‘Bitch, you have to tell me why my room isn’t ready.’ “

She endured worse verbal abuse, but refused to utter the words used to hit her. And with this harassment comes the fear of physical harm to workers. A 2015 study found that eight out of ten female hotel workers have experienced verbal harassment and incidents of assault and assault on workers have surfaced across the country.

Hotel workers in San Francisco won a strike in 2018 that guaranteed them “panic buttons” in dire situations.

A Hilton spokesman told SFGATE that workers are receiving “de-escalation training” with guests and that their hotels are actively looking for more workers.

“These hotels are working to ensure that they continue to provide a safe environment for both guests and team members,” the Hilton spokesman said in a statement to SFGATE.

(IHG, which manages the InterContinental, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.)

Sure, one could argue that given the challenges of the pandemic, hotels need to keep costs down – be it by reducing hours for workers or by reducing amenities for visitors. But now that travel is rushing again, the challenge of dealing with angry guests rests right on the shoulders of cleaners, cashiers and other hotel service staff.

May Lee works at the in-house Grab and Go at the Hilton in Union Square. And almost every other restaurant and food service in the hotel, she said, is closed for much of the week – even as hundreds of rooms fill up. This has resulted in long lines in front of their store, disgruntled customers and increased stress for guests and workers.

She remembered a guest waiting in line who was “so loud and angry that I could feel everyone in the cafe watching”.

And she knows that the guests won’t want to visit the hotel again because of a lack of staff.

“I’m so frustrated that we want to provide … good service to our guests so that they will come back,” she said. “Why do guests come back when they expect our hotel to be so tight that everything is closed and we can’t even do the basic things?”

As it stands, Lee’s fears are not entirely unfounded. At least four prominent hotel operators have announced plans to cut staff costs, the largest operational cost of running a hotel.

A Guardian report confirmed that at least three different hotel chain executives have pledged to cut full-time employees on investor calls.

The latest report on hotel cuts is from Hilton, which has two employees who spoke to SFGATE.

“The work we are currently doing with each of our brands is aimed at bringing them higher margin business and greater work efficiency, especially in the home, food and beverage and other sectors,” said Christopher Nassetta, CEO of Hilton during a February call with investors, several outlets reported.

Li, Reyes, Lee, and other San Francisco workers know they will be the ones to take the outrage over the cost reduction.

“Sometimes we’re the only ones working on the floor all day,” said Li. “The guests only see us, the guest doesn’t see the manager, they don’t see the boss on the floor, right, they only see the housekeeping see the ground so the hotel infuriates them and the guests [get] mad at us. “

None of the hotel employees really blamed the guests for being so angry. It just hurts that their anger is out of place.

“I’m not blaming them for having reasons, but it’s not because we created this problem,” Reyes said.

More California travel stories

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The celebrated June 15 reopening date was intended to mark the return of normal city life: cultural events, social gatherings, and the revitalization of office buildings and tourist attractions.

This rosy forecast has not yet come true. Instead, the advent of the Delta variant has slowed San Francisco’s economic recovery.

Office visits are on the decline, according to the Office of the Comptroller’s latest report, released Aug. 25. People also spend more time at home – 16 percent less time away than in January 2020. That means they spend less time using public transport, spending money in small businesses or investing in art and cultural experiences.

That could mean trouble for the local economy.

Local traders could face another difficult year, an uncertainty echoed in the report. It found that small business owners were expecting a longer recovery time than in July, and found that new business registrations in July had dropped from nearly 800 in June to around 500. Both are below the pre-COVID-19 average of nearly 1,200.

Staying close to home could also disrupt economic recovery on a broader scale. Spending less means reducing San Francisco’s sales tax base, a major source of funding for city government budgets, and threatens to further disrupt the labor and housing markets.

“This report continues to show that we must continue to work hard to support our local business that is the backbone of our economy,” said Daniel Herzstein, director of policy for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “As the pandemic drags on, we need guidelines such as vaccination regulations to ensure the safety of customers and employees and to keep our businesses open.”

Ted Egan, the city’s chief economist, says these trends are likely to be mirrored across the country, but remains confident that indicators should improve again once the surge in delta cases subsides.

The picture is a little less clear for tourism, a foundation of San Francisco’s economy. Before the pandemic, the industry generated more than $ 10 billion in annual sales tax revenue and supported over 86,000 jobs.

While tourism took a hit everywhere when COVID-19 hit, things were particularly slow to recover here in the city. According to the report, local hotel occupancy remains relatively constant at around 50 percent, far from the 80 percent of the days before the pandemic.

Regional comparison cities outperform San Francisco by a considerable margin in terms of hotel-generated revenue. Phoenix makes more money every night than it did the same period in 2019, while San Diego and Los Angeles bring in over 80 percent. San Francisco barely reached 40 percent of its nightly earnings before the pandemic.

Egan attributes this sharp decline to a tourism industry that is particularly dependent on international visitors, who were largely denied access, and the convention business. More than a third of the hotel business and 20 percent of San Francisco’s travel and tourism hub comes from conventions, according to a city report published in October 2020.

The Moscone Center alone would host an average of 40 to 60 conventions a year prior to the pandemic, but there was already growing concern that companies were moving their events to other cities, citing high costs, road conditions and safety concerns. Looking ahead, the number of future bookings at the Moscone Center remains uncertain, the report said.

One ray of hope in the Controllers Office results is the continued on-site job creation, led by growth in the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 5,400 in July and 39,800 since January.

Despite the growth, employment in San Francisco is still about eight percent lower than before the pandemic and, according to Egan, ranks 35th of the 40 largest US metropolises. He noted that this doesn’t include office workers whose jobs are technically still based in San Francisco but who now work from a different location.

Egan warns anyone not to read too much into the recent slowdown. “Growth should resume once we have passed the peak of delta infections,” he said. “I don’t think everything we’ve seen should ruin the recovery.”

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

San Francisco news tourism

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© PBS Credit: Joe Sarah 2016

It turns out it’s even less glamorous to be a 19th century London chimney sweep, costermonger, or street kid than Charles Dickens made it appear.

When London’s economic boom in the Victorian era brought prosperity to the upper and middle classes, many others suffered from unimaginable living and working conditions in the slums of the East End. The new five-part stationery series Victorian Slum House (premiere Tuesday) transports participants to a replica slum to experience the desperation of the urban poor up close. In their place as shopkeepers, tailors, rent collectors, destitute immigrants or wage workers who assemble matchboxes, the slum dwellers scrape every day for food and rents.

The Victorian Slum House will air Tuesdays starting May 2 at 8 p.m. ET (see local listings).

Talk slum

Know your basic language in East End London:
Doss House: Cheap accommodation for the poor or the homeless.
Two penny tomcat: For two pfennigs a lodger could sleep the night sitting on a bench and support himself on a taut rope.
Four penny coffin: A lodger could sleep in a wooden box on the floor for four pfennigs a night.
Black Monday: Day of rent.
Shoddy: A cheap material made from recycled rags.
Tick: A credit system that customers have agreed with shopkeepers.
Trample: Walking the streets in search of work.
Slumber: Wealthy Londoners treat the slums as a tourist attraction.
Eel in aspic: Dinner. Mmmm.

What will happen when modern people reshape life in the slums of late 19th century London? #VictorianSlumPBS https://t.co/wunyozdLjU

– THIRTEEN (@ThirteenWNET) May 2, 2017

Some things I like (in no particular order): sports, Star Wars, LEGO, beer, ‘The Simpsons’ seasons 1-13, my family, and the few friends who aren’t embarrassed to be seen with me. Why yes, I care very much how much you like ‘Alaskan Bush People’. #LynxForLife

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SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) – California lawmakers on Wednesday tabled three criminal justice reform bills, including one that could end the careers of police officers with bad apples. That idea failed last year despite the public killing George Floyd in public in Minneapolis.

But even some proponents made it clear that the Senate-approved bill needed more work in the congregation to clear what language they termed vague and rebalance a disciplinary committee that they said could be biased against law enforcement be.

CONTINUE READING: UPDATE: 9th victim dies in mass shooting at VTA Light Rail Yard in San Jose; Family and friends pay tribute

Senators separately brought the bills forward to lower bail bail for lower-level misdemeanors and crimes to $ 0 and limit the use of criminal enhancements that can add many years to offenders’ sentences.

The disciplinary measure for police officers would add the nation’s most populous state to the 46 that already have options for decertifying officers. Hawaii, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have no such law.

Los Angeles Democratic Senator Steven Bradford’s bill is designed to prevent officers convicted of serious crimes or dismissed for misconduct, including violating civil rights, from moving to another police station. It would create a mandatory new state license or certification that could then be revoked.

“It’s easier to lose a license for getting a bad perm than it is for killing an unarmed man,” Bradford said, noting that the state already licenses many other professions from doctors to hairdressers.

The same bill puts new limits on police immunity when sued for civil rights violations, though Bradford had to cut that portion of his move when it almost failed to clear a Senate committee.

The measure was passed with a 26-9 vote against the Republicans, although no one spoke against it.

“That is the right thing. And a no to this measure means that I’m fine keeping my knee on the Californians’ neck. I can keep a knee on the neck of Americans, especially blacks, ”said Bradford, the black being an indication of Floyd’s death.

In the Senate, he shared his own experiences when he was wrongly stopped by the police and named many who had died in such confrontations.

Several Democratic fellow Senators reiterated the law enforcement organizations’ objections that Bradford’s proposed nine-member disciplinary committee would include only two police officers and seven members with professional or personal backgrounds speaking out against police misconduct.

“There certainly seems to be a tendency towards people who will be quite skeptical of the police,” Senator Ben Allen said during the 75-minute debate.

CONTINUE READING: Mass shooting in San Jose: 10 dead, including shooter at VTA Rail Yard; Victim identities released

Senator Sydney Kamlager countered that the board would not necessarily be biased if it included people of color.

“Have some confidence in people,” she said. “Short Messages: Black, brown people are pretty conservative when it comes to law enforcement. We want to be sure too. “

Senator Henry Stern was one of those who said the legal definitions in the bill were too ambiguous and needed tightening in the congregation.

Stern also said there is tension against white senators like him who support the bill but want improvements – “that it’s kind of racist to ask questions, especially when you’re white.”

“It is unfair and inappropriate for this body to flagellate or demonize colleagues because of their race,” said Stern, whose district includes Thousand Oaks and other suburbs north of Los Angeles.

He later added, “We need to make sure that on the way to the worst – the people who dishonor the profession – we don’t also prevent young people from becoming good officials because we still need law enforcement officers in the state of California, the honor and who wants to serve. “

Senators pushed the bail reform bill after voters rejected a bill in November that ended bail in favor of risk assessment.

Opponents have said this will legally bind the legislature as voters have spoken, but Democratic Senator Robert Hertzberg argued that his law reforms the existing system without ending it. He said it implemented a California Supreme Court ruling in April requiring judges to consider suspects’ solvency when setting bail.

It also provides that bail must be returned if the criminal complaint is eventually dropped or dismissed, or if the defendant shows up for any necessary court appearances.

Along with the third measure, a party line was passed to implement a recommendation by Governor Gavin Newsom’s committee to revise the penal code that judges should restrict the use of more than 150 penal amendments.

It is said that judges should generally not impose improvements if the offense is not violent. related to mental health problems, childhood trauma or previous victimization; or is triggered by an old belief, especially if someone was a teenager. They should also consider whether the improvement would have “different racial effects”, whether a weapon used in the crime was unloaded, and whether the improvement could result in a prison sentence of more than 20 years.

MORE NEWS: UPDATE: The investigation into the bomb squadron at the home of the San Jose VTA mass rifleman extends into the night

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