As NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned, the designer of the problematic repairs to the sinking and tipping Millennium Tower recently informed city officials about a particularly unpleasant potential byproduct of subdivision development – sewage backups.

“Sewer lines must have a slope (at least 1/8 inch per foot) to allow for efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger said in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east — contrary to the current northwest slope — and said those lines “will experience a reduced gradient and potentially become a problem.”

The sewer alarm was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” as the building leaned an additional five inches during work on the so-called rehabilitation that began in May. This project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis, which triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts were assessing the stress on vertical pipes due to the tilt, while engineers had found no signs of a “malfunction” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilted 22 inches to the west, experts believe the sewage problem will worsen because the tilt has flattened the angle of some drain lines by up to 25 percent.

The drains in the owner’s third-floor eat-in kitchen have already experienced “some blockages,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and they now require “maintenance through regular chemical flushing.”

“This and other lines may need to be adjusted to restore the grade,” Hamburger noted in a presentation to city officials.

“There is the problem that the slope is not enough or is too great, in either case there can be problems,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades of experience analyzing building damage, such as the balcony collapse in Berkeley in 2015.

“A blockage or system backup is to be expected – so the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” says Savel.

Meanwhile, residents risk losing entire wooden floors and walls because of the health risks associated with massive traffic jams, Savel says. He adds that the risk is particularly high when people use the system at the same time.

“On those days when the house is full of people, you’re celebrating a holiday, or you have a special occasion,” he says, “you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because your system will be put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all plumbing to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final solution, which would involve adjusting the height of hundreds of pipes to allow proper flow, would have to wait for the sinking and tilting structure to fully stabilize, he says.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Downside – NBC Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, the only Republican district attorney seeking re-election in Massachusetts, is trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat Rahsaan Hall this week.

The contest marks an important challenge for the so-called progressive prosecutor movement, which hopes to overhaul the criminal justice system and suffered key losses in Massachusetts this fall.

Timothy Shugrue defeated fellow Andrea Harrington, the progressive district attorney in Berkshire County, in the Democratic primary. Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, a progressive Democrat, lost his bid for Suffolk County district attorney to the more moderate Kevin Hayden, a fellow Democrat who was appointed as interim district attorney in January.

Nationally, progressives have also faced challenges around the country with concerns rising about crime in some major cities. For instance, San Francisco residents overwhelmingly voted to recall a progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, in June.

But Democrats are hoping to beat two Republicans in the Bay State on Tuesday. Democratic attorney Robert Galibois is running against Republican Assistant District Attorney Daniel Higgins for the district that includes Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The seat is open because longtime District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, a Republican, is retiring.

And in Plymouth County, Hall is challenging Cruz, the longtime Republican incumbent. Despite the recent setbacks in Massachusetts and across the country, Hall says there is still a lot of interest in criminal justice reform.

“The voices that would normally push for the type of reforms within the system aren’t there,” said Hall, who worked as a prosecutor in Suffolk County and led the ACLU’s racial justice program.

Rev. Rahsaan Hall, of the St. Paul AME Church in Cambridge, speaks outside the State House on July 20, 2020 in Boston. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

Hall, also an ordained minister, vowed to find “another way to deal with harm and disruption in a community that doesn’t over-criminalize and overburden people and still find ways to keep people safe and healthy in their communities.”

Hall says his views are similar to former Suffolk County district attorney and now US Attorney Rachael Rollins. He supports her so-called “do not prosecute” list of low level crimes where prosecutors wouldn’t automatically prosecute, but would seek diversion instead. Hall said he would also support reducing cash bail with the goal of eliminating it entirely.

“This is a very significant moment in the life of progressive reform in the criminal legal system here in Massachusetts,” Hall said.

Much of his time on the campaign trail has been focused on educating voters about the role of the county prosecutor and outlining his proposals to improve transparency and collect data to measure outcomes and the effectiveness of reforms. He said he realizes he’s running in what’s considered a more conservative part of a blue state, but he said he’s encouraged.

“Because the public narrative around this system tends to default to law and order and public safety, a lot of people don’t push for or expect the types of reforms that are achievable,” Hall said.

Hall points to research showing that crime declined in Suffolk County under Rollins. But Cruz, who has been district attorney in Plymouth for more than two decades, questions that research and says progressive reforms have been ineffective.

“People are talking about reimagining criminal justice,” Cruz said. “I don’t believe that our county is ready for the philosophies of a progressive district attorney who wants to turn a courthouse into a turnstile where people are coming in and out of there. I think that’s very dangerous and I think it doesn’t work.”

Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz holds a news conference in 2017. (Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Cruz opposes reducing bail and creating a list of crimes that would not be automatically prosecuted. He also supports mandatory minimum sentences and opposes raising the age by which a juvenile charged with a crime is treated as an adult.

To be sure, Cruz acknowledges that many crimes are related to poverty, addiction and mental health, but he said his office already has programs to address those issues. He also said crime rates in Plymouth County are down, showing he has been effective as the region’s top prosecutor.

“We’re in an era where cases are going down, the people that are being incarcerated are going down,” Cruz said. “That means what you’re doing is working and you can continue to help your community and keep it safe and at the same time help people with these terrible diseases like addiction and mental health problems.”

Cruz also noted he has beaten a string of Democratic challengers before.

“I’m the last standing Republican DA, which is why there’s a target on my back,” Cruz said. “This is my sixth election and it’s the fourth time I’ve been contested. I think I’ve had more contested elections than all the other DAs put together.”

In addition, incumbents traditionally have a big advantage at the polls, particularly for low-profile races.

Still, Cruz may be vulnerable, according to Nasser Eledroos, managing director for Northeastern University’s Center for Law Information and Creativity. Eledroos says some recent studies have found criminal justice reform efforts are effective.

“The body of research is there,” Eledroos said. “It’s now a big, long game of trying to communicate that effectively to voters.”

Eledroos also thought the demographics in Plymouth County have gradually shifted, increasing the odds for Democratic challengers. President Joe Biden got 57% of the votes, compared to Donald Trump’s 40% two years ago.

The results for this year’s contest should be in the near future. Polls close in Massachusetts at 8 pm on Tuesday.

correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Cruz was the only Republican district attorney in Mass. He is the only GOP district attorney seeking re-election. The post has been updated. We regret the error.

The post Solely Republican DA searching for re-election in Mass. faces progressive challenger in Plymouth appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The designer of the troubled fix for the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower recently briefed city officials about an especially unpleasant potential byproduct of the building’s settlement – sewer backups, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.

“Sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger stated in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east – going against the current northwest tilt – saying those lines “will experience decreased slope and may become a problem.”

The sewer system alert was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” since the building tilted another five inches during work that began in May on the so-called fix. That project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis of what triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts are assessing the strain on vertical pipes due to the tilting, while engineers have found no signs of “distress” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.

Already, drains in the third floor owner’s lounge kitchen are experiencing “some plugging,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and now must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

“It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope” Hamburger noted in a presentation he gave to city officials.

“There’s an issue of not having enough slope or too much slope, you can have problems either way,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades’ experience of analyzing building failures, like the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse.

“You can expect a clog or the system to back up — that’s why the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” Savel says.

In the meantime, residents risk losing entire wood floors and walls given the health hazard associated with any massive backups, Savel says. He adds, the risk is especially high when people use the system at once.

“Those days when you have the house full of people, celebrate a holiday or have a special occasion,” he says, “that’s the day you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because the system you have is being put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all the lines with an eye to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final fix, he says, which would mean adjusting the level of hundreds of pipes to allow for proper flow, should await a full stabilization of the sinking and tilting structure.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Downside – NBC Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The designer of the troubled fix for the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower recently briefed city officials about an especially unpleasant potential byproduct of the building’s settlement – sewer backups, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned.

“Sewer lines must slope (minimum of 1/8” per foot) to enable efficient flow of material,” Ron Hamburger stated in an email to city officials in late August. He identified at-risk drains that currently slope south and east – going against the current northwest tilt – saying those lines “will experience decreased slope and may become a problem.”

The sewer system alert was part of an assessment of the building’s “functionality” since the building tilted another five inches during work that began in May on the so-called fix. That project is currently on hold pending testing and analysis of what triggered the unexpected, accelerated settlement.

Hamburger told city officials that experts are assessing the strain on vertical pipes due to the tilting, while engineers have found no signs of “distress” in the elevator system.

With the building now tilting 22 inches to the west, experts predict the sewer problem will get worse, as the tilting has flattened the angle of some drain lines by as much as 25 percent.

Already, drains in the third floor owner’s lounge kitchen are experiencing “some plugging,” Hamburger said in his email summary to city officials, and now must be “maintained with periodic chemical flushing.”

“It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope” Hamburger noted in a presentation he gave to city officials.

“There’s an issue of not having enough slope or too much slope, you can have problems either way,” says Mark Savel, an architect and contractor with three decades’ experience of analyzing building failures, like the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse.

“You can expect a clog or the system to back up — that’s why the existing system should be inspected and monitored,” Savel says.

In the meantime, residents risk losing entire wood floors and walls given the health hazard associated with any massive backups, Savel says. He adds, the risk is especially high when people use the system at once.

“Those days when you have the house full of people, celebrate a holiday or have a special occasion,” he says, “that’s the day you end up calling Roto-Rooter. Because the system you have is being put to the ultimate test.”

Savel says building managers should first order a video inspection of all the lines with an eye to identify immediate risks and long-term problems.

Any final fix, he says, which would mean adjusting the level of hundreds of pipes to allow for proper flow, should await a full stabilization of the sinking and tilting structure.

The post Tilting Millennium Tower in San Francisco Faces New Plumbing Drawback – NBC Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco would need an additional $1.3 billion in order to meet the state-mandated affordable housing production requirements set to kick in next year, according to a report from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

That’s just the start: The number swells each year, topping out at $2.4 billion by 2029.

While San Francisco is still working on its “housing element” — a housing production plan every California city is required to complete every eight years — city planners face a daunting task: how to create 82,000 new homes in the eight years from 2023 to 2030, including 32,000 that are affordable to very-low-income and low-income families. The housing requirements assigned to every city are known as Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA.

The looming affordable housing funding gap was the topic of a hearing Thursday at the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee.

At the hearing, Committee Chairman Dean Preston questioned whether the city was doing enough to prioritize homes for working-class residents in a city where under 20% can afford market-rate rents — which reach into several thousand a month.

“What is clear is the existing strategies are not going to get us there,” he said. “In the best-case scenario, with traditional approaches, we chip away toward our goals but we certainly don’t get anywhere near them. New tools are needed.”

While San Francisco produces more affordable housing than any other city of comparable size — it currently has 11,000 units in its pipeline — its production of market-rate housing far outpaced its affordable-housing output in the current eight-year RHNA cycle. The city built 48% of its affordable goal and 151% of its market-rate goal.

The city is currently facing stern headwinds on both the creation of market-rate and low-income housing.

The Sister Lillian Murphy Community in San Francisco is an example of affordable housing coming online in San Francisco in 2022. The city says it does not have enough funding to push toward its affordable housing goals.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

On the market-rate side, development applications have slowed to a trickle as for-profit builders have postponed or canceled projects because they don’t work financially. Market-rate projects generated $208 million for affordable-housing fees in the last five years.

On the subsidized side, soaring construction costs have added millions of dollars in costs to many projects, which puts San Francisco at a disadvantage when competing against other California cities for affordable-housing tax credits and bonds.

Lydia Ely, deputy director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, said that the city has little or no money beyond the projects that are already in the planning or construction phase.

She said that San Francisco is “disadvantaged” by a 2020 change in the way that California divides tax credits and affordable-housing bonds, the two programs that pay for most low-income housing construction. Before 2020, San Francisco could count on receiving the OK for all of its bond and tax credit applications. Under the new system, the city is losing out to cities that have far cheaper construction costs and land value.

She called the changes “the biggest threat to our production.”

“Those sources used to come as a right, over the counter,” said Ely. “Right now they are highly competitive and oversubscribed.

“Even though we are robustly pursuing all the local sources, we cannot expect those sources to grow significantly; it’s just too volatile, and the unknowns are too unknown,” she said. “Beyond the fact that we need more, we can’t anticipate what those sources will be.”

Ely said construction costs have risen 25% in the past two years, and every project that “is starting construction is needing a couple of million more” from the city.

Preston used the hearing to advocate that the city earmark all of the money generated by Proposition I for affordable housing. Prop. I, which Preston sponsored and which voters approved in 2020, increased transfer tax on properties over $10 million.

Preston said that voters “went and created $170 million of annual revenue general fund for affordable housing, yet we seem to be in a fight every year.”

Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for Mayor London Breed, said Prop. I is a general fund tax “not dedicated to any specific purpose by the voters.”

“The mayor and the board of supervisors make decisions how to allocate the general fund during the budget process, which kicks off in two weeks when the mayor introduces her proposed budget,” he said.

JK Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

The post San Francisco faces $1.3 billion shortfall in quest to fulfill state housing targets appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO — For 40 frenzied minutes, JD Notae, Jaylin Williams and Arkansas played a maddening, muscular style on both ends that took Gonzaga out of its game — and right out of the NCAA Tournament far earlier than these Zags expected.

Notae scored 21 points despite missing 20 shots and the determined, fourth-seeded Razorbacks dashed the No. 1 overall seed Bulldogs’ title hopes with a 74-68 win in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.

“We’ve been disrespected the whole year, so it’s just another thing for us,” Williams said. “We saw everything they were saying, we felt like they were dancing before the game. That was disrespect for us. We just came into the game playing hard and we had a chip on our shoulder. Every game we do.”

When the final buzzer sounded, Notae tossed the game ball into the air in triumph, while Williams flexed and roared near midcourt. Coach Eric Musselman made his way into the stands to find his mother, Kris, for a celebratory embrace after she watched her son in person for the first time coaching the Razorbacks.

After a throwback performance from the program that once promised “40 Minutes of Hell,” these Hogs relished in pure bliss.

• Gonzaga forward Drew Timme attempts to score in the first half during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Arkansas guard Au’Diese Toney, left, and JD Notae attempt to block a shot from Gonzaga’s Andrew Nembhard during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Arkansas forward Trey Wade, left, and Jaylin Williams fight for control of the ball during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Arkansas Razorbacks guard Stanley Umude, middle, battles for the ball during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Arkansas forward Jaylin Williams and Trey Wade react after the Razorbacks’ win over Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Arkansas guard Au’Diese Toney dunks against Gonzaga during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  (March Madness 2022 at Chase Center in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke forward AJ Griffin drives against Texas Tech during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Texas Tech forward Bryson Williams is defended by Duke center Mark Williams during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Bryson Williams attempts a 3-point shot as he is defended by Duke’s Mark Williams during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski looks over a play chart during a timeout in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 round on Thursday at Chase Center. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke Blue Devils forward Paolo Banchero attempts a layup during the first half in their NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach drives against Texas Tech during in the teams’ Sweet 16 game of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski instructs his team during a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at Chase Center in San Francisco. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach attempts a layup during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach, left, Mark Williams react after their win over Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 game of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at Chase Center. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke center Mark Williams dunks the ball over Texas Tech forward Marcus Santos-Silva during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

• 

  Duke’s bench reacts to a play during his Sweet 16 game in the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Notae finished with six rebounds, six assists, three steals and even swatted a pair of shots for the Razorbacks (28-8), who reached the Elite Eight for a second straight year and will face second-seeded Duke on Saturday, hoping to deny retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski one last trip to the Final Four.

Drew Timme scored 25 points but couldn’t rally the normally high-scoring Bulldogs (28-4), who for the second straight season were favored to win that elusive national title but couldn’t keep up with Arkansas’ athleticism and fight. Gonzaga had been undefeated last year before losing to Baylor in the national title game.

Duke center Mark Williams dunks the ball over Texas Tech forward Marcus Santos-Silva during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in San Francisco on Thursday. (Brandon Vallance-Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Duke 78, Texas Tech 73

SAN FRANCISCO— Mike Krzyzewski has spent more than four decades at Duke telling his players what to do, with championship-level results.

With his Hall of Fame career in danger of coming to an end, Krzyzewski let his players dictate the game-closing defensive strategy of switching from an uncharacteristic zone defense into Duke’s famous man-to-man.

The key defensive stops and two late baskets by Jeremy Roach Krzyzewski moved within one win of his record-setting 13th trip to the Final Four in his farewell season with a win over Texas Tech.

Krzyzewski said the players came to him during a late timeout like a “Catholic boys’ choir,” asking in unison for the switch to man that led to three straight stops and turned the game in Duke’s favor.

“With this team they’re so young and they’re still growing,” Krzyzewski said. “Whenever they can own something, they’re going to do it better than if we just run it. When they said that, I felt they’re going to own it. They’ll make it work, and that’s probably more important than strategy during that time. So that’s the way I looked at it.”

Roach did the rest with two jumpers during a 7-0 run as the steady sophomore came through in the clutch for a second straight game to send second-seeded Duke (31-6) into an Elite Eight matchup against fourth-seeded Arkansas.

Paolo Banchero led Duke with 22 points, Mark Williams scored 16 and Roach added 15 as the Blue Devils made their final eight shots from the field to hold off third-seeded Texas Tech (27-10) and give Coach K his record 100th NCAA Tournament win.

“I would say all year in the biggest moments we’ve always stepped up, and there’s no bigger moment than this,” Banchero said. “I don’t know about these guys, but I’ve never played in a basketball game like that.”

As compelling as the action on the court was in this taut West Region semifinal, the story of this Blue Devils run has surrounded the farewell tour of their Hall of Fame coach.

Krzyzewski announced last June he would retire after this season. After missing the tournament last year, Duke was back with a roster filled with NBA prospects and capable of delivering Krzyzewski his sixth title.

Duke played from behind for much of the first half but was much sharper offensively in the second half. Williams got free for three easy baskets early in the half to get the Blue Devils rolling.

Then the vocal Duke contingent on hand for the first NCAA Tournament games in San Francisco since 1939 made its presence known midway through the half when AJ Griffin tied the game at 47 with his third 3-pointer and Banchero followed with a jumper that gave Duke the lead.

But a Red Raiders team featuring four super seniors and five players with more than 120 career games didn’t go away and the game stayed tight as Duke used the zone to negate Texas Tech’s strength advantage.

THE SCORES

West Regional
At Chase Center, San Francisco
Thursday’s semifinals
Arkansas 74, Gonzaga 68
Duke 78, Texas Tech 73
Saturday’s Championship
Duke vs. Arkansas, 5:49 p.m

The post Arkansas stuns Gonzaga, faces Duke in Elite 8 in San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Federal regulators have threatened to pull critical funding from San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital after two patients overdosed at the facility last year, a dramatic measure that could force the hospital to shut down.

Officials with San Francisco’s health department, which runs Laguna Honda, said Wednesday that the hospital had fallen out of regulatory compliance, putting its funding from Medicare and Medicaid in jeopardy. Laguna Honda, one of the largest skilled nursing facilities in the country, is run by the city and cares for more than 700 patients, including people with dementia, drug addiction and other complex medical needs, who live on the hospital’s campus.

The hospital has until April 14 to remedy a number of issues identified by state health officials — including the presence of contraband found on Laguna Honda’s campus — in order to stave off a potential financial calamity that could displace hundreds of medically fragile patients.

State officials said they were working with Laguna Honda to bring the hospital into compliance and avoid closure.

“There’s a commitment from (Department of Public Health) and the city to keep Laguna Honda open,” Roland Pickens, director of the San Francisco Health Network, told The Chronicle. “But it would be very difficult financially to remain open without the reimbursement” payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Laguna Honda began a correction plan with the California Department of Public Health in October, after state officials found the hospital “in a state of substandard quality of care,” according to a statement from the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

The finding came after staff at Laguna Honda reported two overdoses at the hospital in July, neither of them fatal. Hospital officials disclosed these incidents to the state, adhering to a self-reporting requirement that Laguna Honda implemented in 2019, after a state investigation turned up evidence of patient abuse.

By documenting the overdoses, Laguna Honda triggered an extended survey by the state, which led to the state’s conclusion in October that the hospital had fallen out of compliance. With the correction plan in place, hospital staff had six months to fix deficiencies and enhance safety measures, including steps to eliminate drug paraphernalia or illicit substances from the campus.

Although Pickens and Laguna Honda CEO Michael Phillips said in an interview that the hospital worked diligently to retrain its staff and remind workers to be on the lookout for banned items, state regulators witnessed violations when they inspected the site. In January, state regulators concluded that one hospital worker was not following protocols. This month, inspectors discovered a patient was smoking in a communal bathroom, while another patient on oxygen had a lighter.

On March 22, the state put Laguna Honda in immediate jeopardy for noncompliance with federal regulations and standards, a severe designation that officials lifted five days later after the hospital quickly responded with restrictions on visitors bringing in items and increased safety searches, among other reforms. Laguna Honda officials are contemplating new security infrastructure, such as scanning machines at entrances to screen visitor packages for prohibited materials.

Still, the six-month window is closing for the hospital to substantially finish its corrective plan, while also resolving the problems uncovered at the subsequent site visits.

The looming deadline puts strain on an institution that managed to avert a deadly coronavirus surge in 2020, but is still grappling with the abuse scandal of 2019, which Pickens and Phillips said had no bearing on the current remedial plan. Last year the city agreed to pay $800,000 to settle one of three lawsuits filed by patients alleging they were abused by staff. One of the cases is a class action, involving multiple plaintiffs.

Phillips, the CEO, pointed to the challenges that plague Laguna Honda.

“We care for some of the most vulnerable residents in the city of San Francisco,” he said, many of whom have histories of substance abuse, which may persist as they undergo treatment. Since the hospital is not a locked facility, people can come and go as they please, opening the possibility that they may procure drugs outside and then return to campus, Phillips said.

“Despite our best efforts, illicit substances will eventually find their way onto our campus,” Phillips said. “We’re continuously looking for ways to improve our protocols so that we can find more innovative ways to identify these substances and keep them away from our residents.”

Staff at the hospital struggle to balance patients’ privacy and freedom of movement with the need to sustain a safe environment and take a hard line on illicit substances or materials. Phillips and Pickens said their discussions with regulators have been amicable and collaborative, but that the state is still obliged to follow a process that puts the hospital at risk of shutting down.

“It’s a perfunctory process that was triggered by the October incident,” Pickens said, suggesting that if the state had been quicker to validate all of the hospital’s reforms, “perhaps we wouldn’t be so close to the April 14 deadline.”

Laguna Honda relies on payments from Medi-Cal and Medicaid to fund most of its services, since most patients are low- or extremely-low-income and burdened with complicated medical needs. It was unclear where patients would go if the hospital is unable to stay afloat.

“As you can imagine, there’s a shortage of skilled nursing beds throughout the country,” Pickens said. “California and San Francisco are no exception. It would take quite a while, if it ever came to trying to find new placements for those 700 patients at Laguna.”

He hopes for what he says is a more likely scenario: All agencies collaborate to bring Laguna into compliance by April 14.

In a statement, California Department of Public Health officials said, “Resident and worker safety remains our highest priority, and we continue to coordinate closely with Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and our local and federal partners to help ensure the facility meets the regulatory requirements to provide safe and appropriate care to all residents and patients,” the statement read.

Phillips contended that, in spite of past missteps, Laguna Honda has done everything it can to earn the public’s trust.

“As you can imagine, there are thousands of interactions with caregivers and patients throughout any given day,” he said. “There are multiple opportunities for bad outcomes. And yet, in the vast majority of cases, there are no bad outcomes. There are just a small handful of these things that happen, and we report them, as we are required to do.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

The post San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital faces potential closure after affected person overdoses set off state overview appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

It’s a bit like playing Whack-a-Mole.

When schools opened in late August, many Guilford County students were exposed to searing heat both outside and in the classrooms. Three schools – Smith High School, Ragsdale High School, and Jamestown Middle School – had to temporarily close their buildings because class temperatures rose to uncomfortable levels. The schools have all been reopened since then. The problem is not new, according to school district officials. Chronic underfunding, delayed maintenance, and now a shortage of manpower and materials have caused HVAC systems in the school district to fail for another year. And this at a time when students are finally returning to the classroom after having been mostly virtual for the last two school years.

“The average age in our schools is 55,” said Winston McGregor, vice chairman of Guilford County Schools. “Of course it’s the older buildings that have problems because we didn’t have the means to fix them.”

According to school authorities, 109 of the 126 schools in the district have submitted work orders to repair HVAC systems.

If the temperatures in a classroom exceed 85 degrees, according to the guidelines of the district “students must be moved to a cooler environment on campus” and “if at least half of the school building … has no air conditioning or temperatures above 85 degrees and the students” can not reasonably be relocated to cooler areas, then the school should be closed to all students. “

At a press conference last week, McGregor was joined by COO Michelle Reed and CFO Angie Henry to answer questions about the health of HVAC systems across the school district. According to Reed, the district saw total work orders increase 39 percent; In August alone, they received around 1,000 work orders. By August 31, the district had reduced this number to around 700. But as officials explained at the press conference, the situation in the district cannot be solved with simple solutions.

“We’re paying the Piper for the decisions we made 10 years ago,” McGregor said in an interview. “We’re digging out of the hole, but it’s not a hole the education committee dug.”

Much of the mistake, according to McGregor, lies in how previous district officers have allocated funds to the school council in recent years. She explained how North Carolina state funding for schools comes direct from the state and the county. And in recent years, the majority Republican Guilford County Commission has prioritized tax cuts over school funding, McGregor said. Last fall, three seats were colored blue, making the board a democratic majority for the first time in years. McGregor said she hopes the new makeup will bring more money to schools to avoid this problem in a decade.

“We can see that the current district commissioner is taking this really seriously,” she said. “So if we get the second loan in 10 years, we can say, ‘Boy, we’ve made choices that made a difference in this community.'”

Last year, during the same election that made district officials blue, voters overwhelmingly voted for a $ 300 million loan to be used to build and replace nine schools in the district. These nine schools will have new HVAC systems that will hopefully last for years. But that’s just a drop in the ocean from a total of 126 schools in the district. As reported by TCB, a 2019 facility study conducted by the school district found it would take $ 2 billion to repair more than 100 schools in the district. However, last May, former district officials voted to approve only $ 300 million – less than 20 percent of the school board’s original request for $ 1.6 billion – to repair the schools. What the district needs now, says McGregor, is another school loan.

“We asked for $ 1.6 billion last time and they raised $ 300 million,” said McGregor. “I think the process requires us to make another request.”

In addition to the school loans that have already been applied for, the school district receives annual capital maintenance funds to help repair schools. Last year, the school district applied for $ 20 million for its investment fund, of which $ 9 million was for HVAC projects and $ 5 million for rooftop projects. In the end, however, the former district officials voted to pass only $ 4 million. Earlier this year, the district commissioners voted unanimously to allocate $ 229 million to Guilford County Schools. Approximately $ 10 million of this will be used for deferred maintenance projects outside of school bond-related projects.

Due to the pandemic, the school district has also received funding from the federal government in the form of ESSER funds, or primary and secondary school emergency aid for short. According to a presentation by the district, Guilford County Schools have received $ 286.8 million in ESSER funds that are slated to be used through 2023-24. And while some of that funding is being used to fix HVAC issues, McGregor noted that if the systems had been properly maintained for the past decade, they could have used those funds on other issues caused by the pandemic.

“This money will be used for learning losses,” said McGregor. “And there are a lot of rules about what that money can be spent on.”

McGregor made it clear both during the August 31 press conference and in an interview with TCB that just because the school district appears to have certain excess funds, such as open bus driver positions, that funds cannot be used for HVAC repairs.

“There is false and misleading information about what kind of funding can actually be used to repair schools.” “The law restricts the use of our funds. The state doesn’t allow us to use transportation to repair HVAC even if we have open bus driver positions. The state does not allow us to use funds on apprenticeships that we did not fill to repair an HVAC system; That’s not how the law works. We are restricted by these regulations, which are enacted by the legislature of the federal states. “

For the future, McGregor said, the best thing is for voters to vote for another school bond next year.

“We have to pass another $ 1.7 billion,” said McGregor. “None of this will happen overnight.”

Although funding is important and has been an issue in the past, veteran chairman of Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston told TCB that he doesn’t think funding is the main issue now.

“I really don’t think it’s a question of money right now,” he said. “The schools didn’t come to us for additional funding.”

Alston, who reiterated some of McGregor’s views about district commissioners’ underfunding in the past, said he believed the supply chain and labor shortage were the main problem.

“The problem is their labor shortage,” he said. “The school district has contacted air conditioning companies within a 50-mile radius. I think that’s the main problem and getting people to fix the units and parts. I think it’s more than just a question of money. “

The HVACR industry reported record sales in 2020 and the first half of 2021, but is suffering from a parts and supply chain problem, according to reports from ACHR News, a company specializing in air conditioning, heating and cooling. One of the biggest problems is that manufacturers continue to struggle to find enough workers for the factories. The article also suggests that transportation logistics such as a shortage of shipping containers and lack of truck drivers also contribute to a supply bottleneck.

“I’ve spoken to the superintendent about this several times,” Alston said. “She said, ‘I can’t find someone to fix it.’ … I know it’s a work problem and you don’t have enough HVAC contractors to meet the demand. The demand is so high right now and a lot of people cannot get the parts for their air conditioners. “

Janson Silvers, a school district spokesman, echoed these concerns in an email to TCB.

“We actively troubleshoot problems and actively work to identify new problems every day,” he wrote. “A maintenance program runs all year round to meet the needs of our buildings. Many work orders require parts / equipment to complete the job. And we are currently experiencing significant effects on our lead times due to national delivery bottlenecks. As soon as the parts are received, we send technicians to the installation because we want to make sure that all locations are functioning at an optimal level. “

Alston said that as a county commissioner, he is committed to helping schools fix repairs so students can study in a safe environment. And when the warmer months turn into autumn and winter, he knows that the same systems that don’t cool won’t heat even in colder temperatures. Right now the only thing he has to do is be patient, he said.

“We’ll end this together; we want to work with the school system, ”he said. “We want to try to deal with it as quickly as possible because time is short, but at the same time we are at the mercy of the workforce.”

The post Guilford County Faculties faces HVAC issues attributable to underfunding, labor and elements scarcity appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco attorney Chesa Boudin is due to be removed from office next year after a backlash in one of America’s most liberal cities against its policies to reduce the number of people in prisons and prisons.

Election officials in San Francisco confirmed this week that supporters of the memorial had gathered enough signatures to force a June election when Californians vote in a statewide area code for gubernatorial and congressional seats. The prosecution competition will serve as a test of how far liberal prosecutors can go in changing the judicial system in a time of growing crime concerns.

Mr Boudin, a former public defender whose story as the son of imprisoned parents was the focus of his campaign two years ago, is one of a number of liberal prosecutors recently elected with promises to reduce incarceration and tackle racial prejudice within the EU Criminal justice system.

But Mr Boudin, like other liberal prosecutors in places like Philadelphia and Los Angeles, has faced stiff resistance from conservative activists, as well as other residents concerned for public safety, who say he is not cracking down on crime and that his policies are Made San Francisco less safe.

Mr Boudin also faced opposition in his own office, which had high turnover rates, with some prosecutors stepping down in protest of the ministry’s policies.

A homicide prosecutor in the office, Brooke Jenkins, said she supported Boudin’s efforts to reduce prison sentences and tackle racial prejudice, saying she identified as progressive, recently stepped down and did the recall efforts citing mismanagement and low morals supports.

“In my opinion, Chesa lacks a desire to actually and effectively prosecute crimes in any way,” said Ms. Jenkins. “Although he ran on a platform of progress and reform, his methodology for doing this is simply to release individuals early or offer very lenient plea offers.”

During his tenure, Mr. Boudin has become a polarizing figure in San Francisco, a place where many voters have embraced the idea of ​​reshaping the criminal justice system by locking fewer people away while getting tired of petty crime and scenes of desperation City streets.

Fears of growing crime have divided the city, despite not facing the kind of murder and gun violence that other major cities have seen since the coronavirus pandemic began. Unlike Oakland across the bay, which is facing a sharp rise in homicides, the top concerns in San Francisco are property crimes such as theft and break-ins, and quality of life issues such as drug trafficking in the open air and the proliferation of homeless camps.

“Everyone is saying why don’t the prosecution just pick these people up and throw them in jail so I won’t have to look at them again,” said Lara Bazelon, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, who is a supporter of Mr. Boudin . “That’s not how the law works. It is not a crime to be homeless. “

Mr Boudin described the recall efforts as being driven by traditional law-and-order conservatives who want to back off efforts such as not taking judges to cash bail, asking for lighter sentences and sending fewer juveniles to jail.

“This is clearly about reform of the criminal justice system,” he said. “This is a question of whether we will go ahead and continue to implement data-driven policies that put crime victims first, invest in crime-hit communities, and use empirical evidence to address the root causes of crime in our communities. if we go back to the failed policies of Reagan and Trump. “

While crime fears have fueled recall efforts, the data tells a more nuanced story: Overall, serious crimes fell 23 percent over the past year, although burglaries and car thefts increased, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

Part of the problem, Boudin said, is that police arrested fewer people – a problem he attributes in part to the pandemic because many perpetrators who wear masks to protect them from the virus are difficult to identify.

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Boudin was leaving an event at a local university when a man came up to him and said, “When are you going to start arrests?”

“I told him I wasn’t going to start making arrests,” he said. “The public prosecutor’s office doesn’t do that. We’re not making any arrests. “

While some of the big money behind the recalls came from Conservative funders – the biggest funder for a previous action was David Sacks, a Conservative venture capitalist and former PayPal executive – the coalition opposing Mr Boudin also includes Democrats and others like Ms Jenkins, who describe themselves as progressive but consider Mr Boudin’s policy to be too radical.

These recall efforts follow a failed attempt to overthrow Governor Gavin Newsom, fueled primarily by conservative anger over the policies and business closings the governor used to contain the virus.

George Gascón, Mr Boudin’s predecessor as District Attorney for San Francisco, has faced similar efforts to remove him from office since he was elected Los Angeles Chief Prosecutor, who made a similar promise to reduce prison sentences. An initial signature-collection campaign has failed, but a new attempt to recall him is underway.

The post Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s High Prosecutor, Faces Recall appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.