Three Bat Thursday: Out of the frying pan into the fire for Mayor Breed; 'progressive' supervisors shocked to discover it's illegal to open a drug den

Welcome to the third edition of Gotham by the Bay’s Three Bat Thursday. To start off this week, San Francisco City Hall officials are on vacation. The summer recess happens every year (six figure job with the summer off? Pretty sweet gig). My dad was a high school teacher — no six figure salary (he topped out at $50K a year after 30 years) but he did get summers off. Unlike the mayor and the Board of Supervisors, though, when his kids were struggling, he taught summer school to make sure they came back feeling confident in the fall. Clearly, the supervisors and Mayor London Breed don’t feel the urgency to put extra time into a city that needs their undivided attention. Breed actually jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. "The Mayor was on Maui for a personal trip when the wildfires started," read the statement from her press office. "The Governor of Hawaii issued an order encouraging all visitors to depart the island. She has left the island and is now on Oahu. The Mayor was never in danger…” So she continues to fiddle while Maui and San Francisco burn. Don’t worry, nothing to see here.

'Progressive' supervisors like Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen were shocked to discover it's illegal to open a drug den. San Francisco leaders have lauded New York City’s so-called “safe consumption sites” (or as I call them, places where drug addicts can die a slower death with supervision) as a model they could emulate, but the New York Times reported this week that the Biden administration is scrutinizing the program. Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and an appointee of President Joe Biden, told the Times that the sites violate federal law. “My office is prepared to exercise all options—including enforcement—if this situation does not change in short order,” he said. 

Ronen, one of the leading advocates for safe-consumption sites in the city, told The Standard she was “concerned over what Williams’ comments could mean for nonprofits hoping to open safe-consumption sites.” That’s what it’s really all about — San Francisco’s homeless and drug industrial complexes need their cut. As I pointed out in a column earlier this week, around 60 “nonprofits” vie for nearly a billion bucks in funding to essentially keep things the same. Why cut off the hand that feeds your executives? Case in point: Lydia Bransten, executive director of the Gubbio Project, had high hopes (no pun intended) to open a safe-consumption site in the Mission. Just four days ago, Bransten made a plea on ABC7 News for donations to help keep her doors open. "Those are people that are not sitting on the street. These are people who are able to rest, and we're providing them with that connection to other services. But being able to translate that into funding has been really challenging," Bransten told reporter Tara Campbell, saying, of course, she's hoping city funding will come through. "What we really need is... we need the San Franciscans who think that this organization is a value and that we're doing work that matters and makes a difference for the people living on the street and the community we live in to support us."

This wasn’t the Gubbio Project’s first media tour. In May of 2021, former San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight wrote a story titled, “Beloved S.F. homeless nonprofit was booted from its Tenderloin space. Will S.F. residents step up to save it?” St. Boniface Catholic Church in the Tenderloin told the Gubbio Project it was “looking for other avenues to minister to the homeless population” and “would not host the nonprofit after the pandemic.” Brian Trawick, the parish manager at St. Boniface Church, told Knight the Gubbio Project “seemed to go kaput during the pandemic” so the church opted to partner with St. Anthony’s. Asked whether the Gubbio Project could move back in, Trawick said “We wish them all the best.”

That’s when Bransten, a previous member of the Gubbio Project’s board, agreed to become its new director, stating she had “enough money in the nonprofit’s coffers to survive six months.” For their latest 990, filed August 10, 2022, Bransten lists a salary for herself of $80,398 and total salaries and other compensation as $427,528 — but total revenue was just $339,326, for revenue less expenses of negative $152,785. Being put in charge of running a “safe consumption site” could probably do a lot to fill up those coffers.

Speaking of the Chronicle and Heather Knight (who recently left to become the New York Times San Francisco Bureau Chief), she recently touted a story by reporter St. John Barned-Smith about a San Francisco man who repeatedly had his suddenly trendy VW Vanagon stolen by the “same alleged culprit” (the author refers to him as “Donald”), leading him to approach the thief with a crowbar and wrestle with him. Knight, who was often critical of the San Francisco Police Department for what she perceived as laziness, ended her tweet stating, “As is often the case, the cops have done little.” However, a quick public search of the suspect’s records not only refutes Knight’s off-the-cuff tweet but Barned-Smith’s entire article: Police have arrested “Donald” at least 38 times over the past decade — 16 of those times because he ignored a court order.

That reminds me of my godfather Ward O’Connell when he was the head diving coach at Arizona State University. He would come home and complain about the students, other faculty, and administrators until finally my godmother, Joel, said, “Maybe it’s the coach.” In the case of “Donald,” maybe it’s the lenient judges who insist on releasing repeat offenders over and over again.

According to a source inside SFPD, the homicide unit has had major turnover, with only two of 14 veteran inspectors remaining. The source says the inspectors have “all transferred out” and not a single exit interview has been done to stop the bleeding. Historically, inspectors achieved the assignment at homicide and either retired out or are promoted out — rarely did anybody transfer out of what is considered a prestigious unit. So why is it happening now? Multiple sources say low morale and weak leadership, particularly at the very top with Chief Bill Scott, is a major factor. According to those same sources, historically high rates of clearance have also dipped.

In the August issue of the Marina Times, I detailed the many conflicts of interest surrounding controversial San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach. After that article ran, a twenty-year colleague of Friedenbach’s reached out to tell me about a program he ran that fell apart after Friedenbach got involved and decided she wanted a cut of the money meant to cover costs so that taxpayer’s wouldn’t be on the hook. I detailed that story in another GBTB earlier this week, which you can read here. Friedenbach and COH have always been thin-skinned about criticism, so I wasn’t surprised to see both the newspaper and my personal Twitter accounts blocked by the organization.

COH is known mostly for publicity stunts to keep the city from solving homelessness, which is their bread and butter (are you seeing a pattern here with these “nonprofits”?) In September 2022, COH helped seven homeless individuals file a lawsuit alleging San Francisco violated their rights by “punishing residents who have nowhere to go” when removing tents and belongings from public spaces, with the goal of forcing the city to spend billions more on “affordable housing and other resources.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu later agreed, granting an emergency order based on “evidence” presented by COH that the city regularly violated its own policies when clearing people from encampments without offering adequate access to shelter, which, in California, is illegal.

In July, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu fired back with a motion in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California refuting allegations made by COH. “Instead of working through minor issues with the city, Plaintiffs have spent months unjustifiably painting San Francisco as a violator of people’s rights. Despite the superficial heft of Plaintiffs’ nearly 400-page filing, their factual assertions fall apart.” Chiu wrote. “Since the injunction was issued, the Plaintiffs have not identified a single instance of San Francisco citing or arresting someone under any of the enjoined laws. Unhoused people regularly refuse the city’s offers of shelter. For example, one plaintiff has been offered shelter multiple times, including an offer to live in an individual ‘tiny home’ cabin, which is typically considered a preferable shelter placement. But the plaintiff said he would have to check with his lawyers and then eventually refused the shelter space.”

The same week my two articles came out, COH has decided they’re willing to “settle.” In a nine-page letter sent on this very Three Bat Thursday, the ACLU of Northern California invited Chiu to the negotiating table. The ACLU’s potential terms include “prioritizing affordable housing, expanding access to temporary shelters, responding better to the needs of unsheltered residents, and implementing court supervision and public oversight measures.” They also proposed leaving law enforcement out of encampment sweeps — no shocker there.

According to the Chronicle, a spokesperson for Chiu said she was “very surprised”  to learn about COH’s invitation to settlement talks, but this time I’m not the only one calling out the Robin Hood of Homelessness and her merry band of activists: Chiu himself referred to the settlement proposal as a “political stunt” and said it was counterproductive to their stated goals. “Legal parties do not engage in settlement negotiations via the press, particularly when confidential settlement discussions are required,” Chiu said. “Despite the plaintiffs' antics, the city will continue to advance its arguments in court and fight for our city’s ability to maintain a healthy and safe San Francisco for all.” I’m not always a fan of Chiu’s, but in this case I agree with him 100 percent.

Today SPUR hosted a webinar about “the disproportionate impact of pretext stops and the successful effort to end the practice in San Francisco.” In January 2023, San Francisco “followed in the footsteps of Berkeley, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the State of Virginia by deprioritizing minor traffic stops that are often used as an excuse for searching cars — stops that disproportionately impact Black and Latinx drivers and strip wealth from lower-income communities across the city while having no effect on road safety and little effect on public safety,” the invite read. Of course the anti-police San Francisco Police Commission pushed for this legislation. As it is, I see drivers blowing through stop signs and red lights in San Francisco with little to no enforcement, and let’s not forget “minor traffic stops” have led to arrests, including some infamous criminals.

Joel Rifkin, also known as "Joel the Ripper," murdered at least 17 people between 1989 and 1993, mostly sex workers and the drug-addicted. His murder spree came to an end on June 28, 1993, when he was pulled over for not having a license plate on his vehicle. After a high-speed chase, Rifkin crashing into a utility pole and when police inspected his vehicle, they found the corpse of his final victim. Rifkin was sentenced to over 200 years in jail.

Serial killer Ted Bundy was caught due to traffic violations on three separate occasions. Bundy, linked to the murders of at least 30 women, escaped two times during his incarceration. He was captured again after each escape due to a traffic violation. He was put to death in Florida in 1989.

In 1995, a truck bomb detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killing 168 people. Police pulled Timothy McVeigh over for driving a car without a license plate. McVeigh was convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing and sentenced to death. He was killed by lethal injection in 2001.

Along with the occasional serial killer and bomber, minor traffic stops also lead to repeat violent felons. On Dec. 20, 2020 at approximately 9:36 p.m., officers conducted a computer query of a car being driven on Eddy and Jones streets. the license plate came back as a reported stolen vehicle. Officers stopped the car and instructed the male driver to exit, which he did. A search turned up drug paraphernalia and other items. They arrested the suspect for possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of possession of stolen property, possession of suspected methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. On Dec. 31 at approximately 4 p.m., officers responded to a vehicle collision that struck two pedestrians, 60-year-old Elizabeth Platt and 27-year-old Hanako Abe, at 2nd and Mission Streets. The suspect, Troy McAlister, was the same man pulled over in the Tenderloin just 11 days prior.

Our Picture of the Week is worth a thousand words — a little boy looking through the shattered window of his parents’ rental car at San Francisco’s infamous smash-and-grab capital, the Palace of Fine Arts. The family was visiting from Venezuela.

Our #TweetOfTheWeek goes to homeless activist Christin Evans, who said District 6 supervisor Matt Dorsey and Mayor London Breed were “literally killing people for political gain.” First, Evans needs to look up the meaning of the word “literally,” but if we’re going there, Evans was literally the spokesperson for the 2018 Prop. C campaign, a plan to raise $300 million a year for “homeless services” by increasing gross receipts taxes 0.5 percent on San Francisco businesses making more than $50 million annually. Evans literally used a mean tweet to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to guilt him out of millions to fund the campaign, and a ton of that money has literally gone into the coffers of Friedenbach’s COH. I’d say Evans is literally an expert on using the homeless and drug addicted for political gain.