Johnny Ironic

John Diaz, the current Op-Ed page editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, was anything less than a glimpse into a future that I won't have.

His accomplishments already seem daunting to me in ways I couldn't even possibly begin to imagine. Becoming the page editor for the opinion section of a widely-circulated news publication - in the bay area. Kudos John.

However, from his speech to my opinion writing class at SF State, I couldn't help but feel displaced.

John comes from a world that doesn't exist anymore, or that is rapidly dying. It's no secret that the spider legs of the printed news industry have coiled into its body, awaiting a hopefully painless death and that a new wave of journalists are spawning - each with their own agendas and numerous masterful skills to better equip them in a cut-throat media world. However, John spoke from this old world, a world where being a successful journalist was attainable.

Even John would admit to the change in the news industry, but I feel as if when he was describing his editorial meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom, positions like his will cease to exist or more egregiously, be cut out.

It's nice to see successful journalists doing and living the way we young reporters would like to envision the watchdog world to be, but what we really need to see is what is to come. I want to see a journalists who is freelance, working for nothing, starving, who does photography, headlining, artwork, and production all on his own - I want to see something real and believable.

I personally have ambitions of writing for a large syndicated news publication like the NY Times or the LA Times, or even the Washington Post, but the reality is I will only be able to see the aging souls who worked for these publications back during the golden days of journalism, before the internet, before all knowledge, legitimate or not, was sprayed like a blanket for which the world's secular population was cuddled under.

There is no questions, John Diaz knows what he's talking about, he knows how to talk to aspiring journalists and give them traditional knowledge on how to be successful in the news industry - a gift that should be shared, and that I am grateful for having access to.

However, the irony of the situation is the John Diaz's of the news world in the future won't be working for a printed publication, they will be working independently, and fighting the competition for accuracy and strength in their work.

Golden Gate [X]press : DeAvila reopens with Cantonese program

Golden Gate [X]press : DeAvila reopens with Cantonese program

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Large Housing Landlord can't Refund Security Deposits

One of the largest residential landlords in San Francisco allegedly "hid" millions in rental security deposits - potentially affecting thousands of tenants, according to lawsuits.

Tenants, claiming security deposits were not returned, filed a class action lawsuit this past month against CitiApartments and their related companies.

"They've blatantly violated the law," Brian Devine, an attorney who is representing former tenants, said of CitiApartments. "They really don't have a defense."

Last Friday, CitiApartments and 78 individual defendants failed to formally answer questions posed by the class action suit, which Devine says he hoped would provide answers for his clients.

The average security deposit is between $1,800 and $2,500. About 5,500 units remain in control of CitiApartments and their companies spread throughout San Francisco says Devine, which means more than $10 million in deposits owed to San Francisco tenants have disappeared.

Joy Anderson went into the offices of CitiApartments with her 8-year-old son and demanded her rental deposit back after weeks of unanswered calls - she and her son were escorted out of the building, according to the complaint filed on her behalf.

"I was counting on that money," Anderson said of her $1,800 deposit that was not returned to her until months after she moved out of her San Francisco apartment at 300 Buchanan Street. "To a single mother, that amount of money is very significant."

Anderson picketed CitiApartments' headquarters on Market Street last month directly after she received her deposit check to warn other tenants of the company's capriciousness.

CitiApartments and their partnered companies, comprising of the Lembi Group, Skyline Reality, Trophy Properties, and Ritz Apartments, have a combined mass of properties in San Francisco that was estimated of last year to include 307 buildings, according to Devine.

"We're not sure how widespread this practice has been and what the inner-relationship of these companies is like," Devine says of what he calls CitiApartments' "limited liability companies" that each have an ownership over a housing property in San Francisco.

"It appears to be a shell scheme to hide money," he said. "The money could be swaying back to the Lembi family, who owns CitiApartments, or to buy more buildings."

CitiApartments and the Lembi Group refused to comment after numerous calls and emails for this story. However, they formally filed their denial of the initial complaint of unreturned rental deposits last Friday, according to Devine.

"We're trying to have the complaint dismissed," Daniel Stern, an attorney representing Trophy Properties, said.

Stern says his clients were not involved in non-refunded security deposits. However, Trophy Properties was named in the class action suit filed on behalf of the tenants who haven't received their deposits.

In all, 51 properties were foreclosed by the Union Bank of Switzerland and more than 60 extra buildings are currently under foreclosure proceedings, according to filings from the San Francisco Superior Court.

A separate lawsuit made by the Laramar Group, who acquisitioned the 51 buildings from the Lembi Group, alleges as to why CitiApartments and their associated companies didn't pay up, according Steve Boyack, vice president of asset management for the Laramar Group.

"The Lembi Group did not have any money left," Boyack said.

"The prior management apparently commingled security deposits with other funds in their operating accounts," the lawsuit says. "[The Lembi Group] used those security deposit funds to pay monies owed."

Boyack says the Lembi Group, when it transferred properties to Laramar, failed to give security deposits for the 1,100 housing units spread over those 51 buildings.

Devine says many tenants have received rental deposit checks from CitiApartments that have bounced.

"It looks like a messy situation," he says describing CitiApartments' lack of responsibility. "It's just the tip of the iceberg."

Devine's law firm, Seeger Salvas LLP, is currently representing only two tenants. However, he says dozens of people, ranging from college students to the elderly, have contacted him regarding unreturned deposits.

The outcome of this situation might not appear as bleak as it sounds. Some tenants have already gotten their deposits back.

"Residents should not be concerned about receiving their security deposits," Boyack declares of those tenants who are worrying.

UBS whom reclaimed the foreclosed properties from CitiApartments have set aside a fund for its residents who did not receive their deposits, he said.

The people who kept calling CitiApartments asking for their deposits back and those who knocked on doors eventually received their money, but Devine attests that this is a very small percentage of the potentially thousands of tenants who are possibly affected.

California civil code section 1950.5 states tenants are entitled to damages and refunds worth three times the amount of the original deposit if it's withheld for more that 21 days by a landlord acting in bad faith.

The law mandates [CitiApartments] to pay back the tenants before it can pay back its creditors says Devine on the legal priority the rental company is facing.

San Francisco Tenants Union Director Ted Gullickson says some current tenants might want to think about not paying their last month's rent in lieu of not receiving their deposit money.

Current tenants can look at the list of all 138 properties under CitiApartments' control at the Seeger Salvas LLP class action lawsuit website: http://apartmentlawsuit.com/properties.

Devine says he is not sure how long the litigation will take, but that the case is strong against CitiApartments and their companies.

"They've still got rent money coming in - it's going somewhere," he says.

City Declares War on Grime with Eco-Blitz Cleaning

The grimier streets of San Francisco are getting a major scrub down as part of a city-wide cleaning blitz that hopes to draw awareness to cleanliness.

The Department of Public Works, in an effort to raise awareness on waste issues throughout the city, has commenced cleanups for the most heavily used corridors in town, reaching from the Richmond to the Mission, according to DPW spokeswoman Christine Falvey.

The cleanups are being called "Super Eco-Blitzes," which consist of intense three-day concentrated efforts on specific streets where crews steam sidewalks, remove graffiti, pick up debris, repaint curbs, fill potholes, and change street signs that have been damaged, Falvey said.

"Crews removed 1,000 pounds of debris," Falvey said of an 8-block stretch of Mission Street during a cleanup earlier this month. "We'll probably do it again."

Since property owners are responsible for the sidewalks directly in front of their property, they must pay for everything city crews do, from repaving to sidewalk steaming or they must properly maintain those areas themselves -- which Falvey said leaves them bitter, hoping people will help them out by leaving their sidewalks and streets clean.

"We're trying to improve the neighborhood," said Andy Thompson, owner of Marian's, a clothing store, as he took a break from scrubbing the sidewalk outside his business.

"Hopefully we can get more people down into the Mission district."

After three days scrubbing Mission Street, the Eco-Blitz crews reported and cited 63 businesses and residential properties that did not have garbage service and in turn were overusing city trash cans -- an act that encourages people to toss their litter on the sidewalk and street, according to Falvey.

The fines could be up to $300 per incident, she said.

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said the issue is behavioral, since people can use trash cans to throw away their uneaten burritos instead of littering. If this consciousness is used, Falvey said, property owners will have less of a problem.

"The purpose is to educate merchants and property owners," Falvey said. "We want to show them how to fix the neighborhoods."

The next "Super Eco-Blitz" is happening Aug. 25 - 27 on Stockton Street from Sacramento Street to Columbus Avenue, according to the DPW.

The complete 2009 "Eco-Blitzing" schedule may be found at http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=108821.