The American Civil Liberties Union accused San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto on Thursday of violating the privacy rights of defendants who have been freed under electronic monitoring by requiring them to allow searches of their person or property and to share their location data with other law enforcement agencies.

Defendants who are released from jail before trial are often required to wear ankle monitors that allow officers to track their locations. But in a class-action suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, the ACLU and a private law firm said Miyamoto went beyond constitutional bounds by requiring them, as a condition of release, to consent to a search of their body, home, vehicle or possessions at any time. They must also agree to let the sheriff’s office inform other law enforcement agencies of their location at all times.

“Ankle cuffs are supposed to ensure that an individual remains in the Bay Area and shows up for court proceedings,” Shilpi Agarwal, legal director of the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement accompanying the suit. “They are not a license for law enforcement’s unlimited search and surveillance of vulnerable people who haven’t been convicted of a crime.”

“Stripping away privacy rights is illegal and only tolerated because of the disenfranchisement of those directly affected, who are indigenous and 70% Black and brown,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, who is not participating in the suit but helped the ACLU identify individual plaintiffs.

The three plaintiffs also objected to the searches but agreed to the conditions of release, the ACLU said, because they were able to go to work, care for a child and attend a high school graduation.

The suit accuses the sheriff and the city of violating rights against unreasonable searches, under the US and California constitutions, as well as the constitutional right of privacy approved by California voters in 1972. It seeks court orders halting the searches and erasing the shared location data .

Tara Moriarty, a spokesperson for Miyamoto, said inmates released under electronic monitoring have waived those rights, allowing the sheriff to “enforce the rules and regulations imposed by the court,” which she said included consent to future searches. “The sheriff details this information to assist the justice-involved individual to successfully complete the (electronic-monitoring) program,” Moriarty said in a statement.

More than 200 defendants are being electronically monitored in San Francisco, and that number is likely to grow as the city attempts to reduce its jail population, the ACLU said. As court backlogs have increased during the pandemic, the organization said, some people have been monitored for a year or more.

In addition to turning GPS location data over to San Francisco police and other agencies, the ACLU said, Miyamoto’s program allows Sentinel Offender Services, a private contractor that has run the program since 2019, to keep the data indefinitely.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko

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2021-2022 Civil Grand Jury Publishes “Shovel Ready: Best Practices and Collaboration to Improve San Francisco’s Capital Construction Program”

SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The 2021-2022 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury today released its report on best practices and collaboration to improve San Francisco’s capital construction program. The Jury’s interest in investigating this subject stemmed from its desire to follow up on recommendations made in prior Jury reports, including San Francisco’s City Construction Program: It Needs Work (2015) and Van Ness Avenue – What Lies Beneath (2021), which City leaders agreed to adopt, but have yet to implement.

san francisco relies on contractors for most of its capital construction projects, budgeted at $39 billion for the 2020-2029 period. To ensure the greatest chance of success, these projects require relevant experience, use of construction best practices, and close collaboration between the city and contractors.

One recommendation from the 2015 report focused on the need for City departments charged with managing capital construction projects to create and adopt a contractor performance evaluation database. The purpose was to find the best contractor for the job, by requiring these city departments and contractors to evaluate each other’s performance during and after a construction project, thus ensuring accountability, transparency and two-way communications. The Mayor, Board of Supervisors and head of each applicable department all agreed the database would have a meaningful and positive impact on project quality, budgets and timelines.

“Six years after the City decided to create this database, and two years after it was developed, the database remains unused,” said Michael Hofman, Jury Foreperson. “No department has entered data since February 2020. As a result, there is little contractor information in the database, and since the database isn’t being populated with evaluations, it’s unlikely to be used in selecting contractors. The City is failing to benefit from lessons learned on construction projects, and given the high stakes nature of the City’s capital construction projects, we want to see this change.”

The database, however, is only one example of a construction best practice. The Jury’s report finds that the City misses opportunities to benefit from other construction best practices too.

About the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury
The Superior Court selects 19 San Franciscans to serve year-long terms as Civil Grand Jurors. The Jury has the authority to investigate City and County government by reviewing documents and interviewing public officials and private individuals. At the end of its inquiries, the jury issues reports of its findings and recommendations. Agencies identified in the report must respond to these findings and recommendations within either 60 or 90 days, and the Board of Supervisors conducts a public hearing on each Civil Grand Jury report after those responses are submitted.

Civil Grand Jury reports may be viewed online at https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 2021-2022 CIVIL GRAND JURY
400 McAllister Stroom 008, San Francisco, CA 94102 • 415.551.3635 • civilgrandjury.sfgov.org

SOURCE San Francisco Civil Grand Jury

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Funded by federal funds, K-12 and higher education institutions across the country have overhauled heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems this year. However, to prove safer classroom environments to a federal examiner, schools likely need to do more than just provide a receipt. You must follow industry best practices to produce results backed by science and data-driven reporting.

In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which is worth more than $ 120 billion, with increasing scientific evidence that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted as an airborne virus, the ability of an HVAC system in schools to virus and Filtering out other pathogens has become critical.

As a 30+ year HVAC industry veteran, I warn schools not to rush to overhaul their HVAC systems or place expensive bets on unfamiliar technology. Instead, I recommend that they follow industry best practices supported by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and use an accredited and certified Indoor Air Quality Company (IAQ) to do a thorough assessment of their HVAC systems. Systems to carry out. A thorough assessment should answer the following questions:

When was the current system manufactured and installed?

According to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics, State of Our Schools, 2016, the median age of a public school building in the United States in the 2012/13 school year was 44 years. Older buildings often have mismatched systems and technologies. Only a certified and experienced civil engineer can determine whether they are working properly and efficiently. It is easy and lucrative for HVAC companies to recommend replacing everything, but it may not be necessary.

Is the current system clean and free of mold, legionella, or other dangerous microbes?

Visual inspection and testing of a system are required. If a system was recently shut down or powered off for any period of time, possibly during a COVID-19 lockdown, mold, legionella, or other dangerous microbes may be present. Environmental cleaning of the current system may be required. A certified technician can determine whether environmental cleaning is insufficient and the contaminated components need to be replaced.

Can the current system handle the increased outside airflow recommended by the CDC?

The current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend adding more outside air to indoor spaces. Of course, the outside air contains large amounts of particles and moisture that create maintenance problems for an HVAC system. A certified technician can advise or recommend modifications on the maximum addition of outside air that your current system can handle.

Can the current system maintain the minimum airflow required with the more restrictive HEPA filtration recommended by the CDC?

Current CDC recommendations call for increased, highly efficient particle air filtration (HEPA). This helps remove particulate matter and dangerous microbes like the COVID-19 virus. However, increased filtration can reduce airflow, which is also important in reducing the presence of the virus in the air. A certified HVAC technician can determine the maximum amount of filtration your system can handle while creating the desired airflow.

Does the existing system have to be supplemented with air purification devices?

Whether an HVAC system needs to be supplemented with air cleaning devices (APUs) depends on the system. After a thorough review, test, and evaluation of your system, if an accredited construction scientist recommends the use of APUs, look for those that use a combination of the following technologies that have been shown to be effective in controlling the IAQ: filter media, electrostatic separation, Ionizers, needlepoint bipolar ionization (NPBI), ultra-germicidal radiation (UVGI) and adsorbent media.

Does the current system offer IAQ monitoring to protect against potential threats?

An effective IAQ monitoring system monitors the building conditions around the clock with an all-in-one module. A remote team notifies facility managers of changes that could affect the IAQ.

Does the customer have an assessment of the operating and maintenance systems?

From my point of view, the HVAC system is a building’s most valuable asset and the biggest contributor to energy consumption and pollution. It is almost impossible to understand the effectiveness of its operation without knowing the history of an HVAC system. If you don’t have an O&M assessment, a certified HVAC technician can help you create one. It is an important tool to help a secondary or higher education institution develop best practices in the use of ARPA funds.

In conclusion, there is no magic pill to solve all HVAC problems and keep our students safe. However, by working with an accredited and certified IAQ company, school administrators can conduct a thorough assessment of their HVAC systems and learn what their specific needs are. Such a company will help you to use the ARPA funds sensibly and efficiently to finance the necessary renovation of your systems. Eventually, should audits become necessary, an accredited and certified IAQ company can provide the scientific and data-driven reporting that auditors require to justify a school’s HVAC spending.

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An important story continues to unfold in the state of Louisiana as Hurricane Ida approaches this weekend and the city of New Orleans is right in the crosshairs.

Crowds of people flee the city to join the mayor of New Orleans to take down the storm LaToya Cantrell On Saturday it is said bluntly that “now is the time to go”.

“Due to the expected loss of performance as a result of Hurricane Ida, volleyball and soccer will move to Tallahassee, Fla. And” Both teams will return to New Orleans once power is restored. ”

While the plan remains to play the game on time at Yulman Stadium on the Tulane campus as scheduled, other options will be considered if that is no longer possible. One of these options is playing the game in Norman. OU is set to host Tulane in 2024, so it is possible that the game will be relocated to New Orleans.

A source told SI Sooners that it is expected to have a clearer picture of which option makes the most sense after the storm has ended.

This is an understandably fluid situation that SI Sooners will continue to observe in the coming days.

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