In advance of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC), San Francisco is putting up black fence barricades around a special security zone. As some believe, the wall is to prevent protesters from approaching Xi Jinping’s motorcade, but the real purpose is to hide the city’s out-of-control squalor.

In recent years, San Francisco has become an open-air latrine, with maps marking out areas with heavy accumulation. This took place on the watch of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who commissioned $400,000 for a study claiming the town was nearly spotless. Nuru, a crony of former Mayor Willie Brown, is now in prison on corruption charges, but the squalor carries on.

California’s Proposition 47 allows criminals to steal nearly $1,000 without facing felony charges. Since the measure passed in 2014, car break-ins have been on the rise. This year, they hit 15,000 by September, and, in most cases, police never make an arrest.

The city’s Tenderloin district has become an open-air drug market, with needles, feces, and bullet casings strewn about. On sale are meth and fentanyl, the synthetic opioid many times stronger than heroin. This goes on near Union Square and the shopping district.

“Downtown [San Francisco], once beautiful and thriving,” tweeted Elon Musk earlier this year, is “now a derelict zombie apocalypse.”

“[B]efore this APEC summit was even on the horizon, city officials essentially refused to lift a finger,” notes San Francisco resident and commentator Richie Greenberg.

With APEC in town, Gov. Gavin Newson and Mayor London Breed are deploying “high-powered spray guns to suds up the sidewalks, scrub down the BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] trains and make the APEC security zone shine,” explains Greenberg, who compares it to the Potemkin villages used to deceive Russian royalty. This time, it’s “clean for Xi, but not for thee,” and, when APEC wraps, it will be back to drugs, tents, and squalor.

San Franciscans have a right to wonder why the city can’t be cleaned up for the residents, businesses, and tourists. California’s strategy for the homeless is a big part of the problem.

The state’s “Housing First” policy aims “to construct or acquire a permanent home for every person experiencing homelessness, often at taxpayer expense,” explains Lawrence J. McQuillan. This sounds good but defies state realities.

The number of homeless is growing, and, for every person housed, “up to four more people become newly homeless.” California is also “the second most expensive state to build housing, behind only Hawaii,” and moving takes five years or more. In San Francisco, one “affordable” housing unit averages $750,000, but costs can rise to $1.2 million.

From 2018 through 2022, California spent $17.5 billion on programs compliant with Housing First, to no avail. Newsom and city officials willfully ignore different approaches already proven to work.

High-tech shelter tents, like those used by the military, can provide living for hundreds of people. The tents are “scalable to fit” local needs, “safer and more humane than street life,” and closer to providers who can deal with root causes of homelessness. (For further reading, see “Beyond Homeless: Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, Transformative Solutions.” Governors and mayors across the country can also check out the holistic, integrated approach that is working well in San Antonio.)

In San Francisco, meanwhile, people should not be fooled by the APEC emergency measures. “Clean for Xi” needs to become “clean for you and me” moving forward. If Newsom and Breed continue to shun proven, reality-based measures, San Francisco will remain a theme park for human misery.

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Yet, unlike nearly all other city builders, the negativity that permeates so many aspects of city life these days hasn’t stopped Sullivan from developing his signature brand of modern boutique condo buildings in historic neighborhoods around San Francisco. 

Since the pandemic began in 2020, Sullivan’s company, JS Sullivan Development, has completed seven projects throughout the city, all boutique condo buildings with between seven and 53 units. There are projects in the Mission, the Marina, Lower Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, the Tenderloin and SoMa.

The building at 1580 Pacific St. is among the housing developments completed by JS Sullivan during the pandemic.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Now, the company is opening one of only a handful of condo buildings to be completed in all of 2023: Maison Pacific, a 53-unit complex at the corner of Polk Street and Pacific Avenue.

For Sullivan, the project is especially significant because in the early 2000s he used to live across the street in one of the first buildings he constructed. This was back in his early 20s when he was starting out by putting up duplexes and small apartment buildings. From his bedroom, at the time, he looked across the street at the paint store and Blockbuster video shop, where Maison Pacific now stands. 

“I was a big fan of Blockbuster — except for the late fees,” he joked about the virtually extinct video rental chain. 

The new property at 1580 Pacific St. sits on a block that is unusual in that it feels untouched by the city’s post-pandemic decline. There are no vacancies on the block, which has a smoothie spot, a wine bar, a vintage clothing boutique, a nail spa, a florist, a residential hotel and on the corner sits the historic bar Shanghai Kelly’s. Longtime businesses like Cheese Plus, Bell Tower and Tai Chi have also survived nearby.

The Jug Shop, the legacy wine store which previously occupied the ground floor of the 1580 Pacific site, will be moving back into a 2,700-square-foot space in Maison Pacific next year.

The central space in a two-bedroom unit is at 1580 Pacific St., a new project by JS Sullivan in San Francisco.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

“Some of the small businesses have changed hands but the fabric of this neighborhood has not,” said Sullivan. “The vibrancy feels very much the same.”

Sullivan is reluctant to delve into the details of how he is able to keep building when so many others are not, but he said the vertical integration of his company requires that there always be projects lined up. Sullivan is a builder as well as developer, so all the trades work — concrete, electrical, plumbing, carpentry — are done by his crews. 

JS Sullivan has in-house marketing, its own sales team and staff interior designer Alan Tse. Even the stagers filling the model units with furniture ahead of the grand opening last week were Sullivan employees. 

“We are a local developer,” he said. “We are not an opportunistic investor. We are committed to building infill housing with our projects and that strategy continues.”

Having a self-sufficient operation saves money, but it also adds pressure to keep everyone busy. Sullivan’s goal is to complete two projects a year and break ground on two new ones. And while it doesn’t always work out, he tries to plan to have one concrete building and one wood-frame structure going simultaneously.

The clean and modern desings of JS Sullivan’s apartments and condos have become popular with young homeowners.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

In addition to Maison Pacific, since the pandemic began, Sullivan has completed the 55-unit Elevant at 555 Golden Gate, the 28-unit Maison a Soma at 230 Seventh St., the 43-unit Maison Au Pont at 2448 Lombard, the 29-unit 198 Valencia, the 40-unit 1433 Bush St. and the seven-unit Noir at 1525 Franklin. 

When the pandemic struck, Sullivan had just opened 42 condos at 719 Larkin.

Currently, he has two projects under construction: 90 units at 988 Harrison in SoMa and 35 units near Ghirardelli Square. Both will open next year. Sullivan also has about a dozen projects in the pipeline, including 120 units at 819 Ellis and 100 condos at 530 Turk.

Sullivan, still in his mid-40s, is as low-key and self-effacing a developer as you could find — he is uncomfortable posing for photos or talking about his accomplishments. He is of Korean descent, but learned the business from his stepfather, Irish-born builder John Sullivan, who built a business putting up flats and single-family homes around the city.

Sullivan caters to first time home-buyers. While the Russian Hill project features bigger units and higher price tags than most of Sullivan’s projects — one bedrooms will start around $850,000 and two bedrooms about $1.4 million — he said he tries to keep his prices as low as possible. 

The rooftop deck for residents at 1580 Pacific St. offers views of San Francisco’s skyline.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

His buildings tend not to have the full line of amenities that are common — no swimming pools or yoga rooms. That means lower homeowner association fees — at Maison Pacific the HOAs will be about $600 to $700 a month.

“Sean Sullivan is a beast,” said developer and broker Chris Foley, who has been in the development industry for three decades. “He gets up early and works and works late into the night. He is so focused on doing the right thing. I respect him so much.”

“Nobody else is building — even the RBA Irish guys aren’t building,” Foley added, referring to a group of immigrant builders from Ireland who are affiliated with the Residential Builders Association. “I think everyone else is trying to hold on through 2024 and build in 2025.”

Sotheby’s broker Alex Hachiya, who has represented clients who have bought in several Sullivan buildings, said the developer’s focus on clean, modern design appeals to younger buyers who currently dominate the market.

“It seems like with every project his finishes and designs get sharper and more attractive,” said Hachiya. “I think he is at the point where he has the formula down, he’s found a sweet spot, not super high end but modern and clean.”

The view from a large picture frame window in a penthouse three-bedroom unit at 1580 Pacific St. displays a typical San Francisco scene.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

While Sullivan is not a political person, he does feel the city is not in great shape and the open-air drug dealing and homeless encampments have adversely impacted his projects in SoMa, the Tenderloin, and lower Polk.

But he doesn’t plan to stop building.

“I’ve been a resident here in the city since elementary school and I’m here to stay,” he said “What else am I going to do? I don’t know how to do anything else.”

Reach J.K. Dineen: jdineen@sfchronicle.com

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FRISCO — The first time Ravi Vanjani and his wife Harshika visited the model home of their new community, they were sold on one thing — that they were taken by surprise.

Ravi, 37, is a vice president of product management for JPMorgan Chase in Plano, and Harshika is a developer for Uber Freight in Frisco. The couple currently live in Carrollton and will soon move into a development like no other in North Texas.

The Vanjanis are building a 4,000-square-foot home for roughly $1.5 million in the 56-acre Tapestry community by Indian company Total Environment Homes along Little Bluestem Lane in east Frisco.

Ravi & Harshika Vanjani stand in front of their future home in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

The community will include 121 homes with unconventional roofs topped with grass designed to take the place of the greenery that existed before the homes were built.

The builder poured environmentally conscious features into its floor plans. Ravi pointed out that almost every room — on both levels — enters an outdoor space.

“You know what you’re walking into when you look at a house; a room here, a room there,” Vanjani said. “You don’t get things that catch you actually by surprise in houses anymore, so this house was very different in that regard.”

From India to Frisco

Total Environment Homes Founder Kamal Sagar in one of his model homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

The community is the work of Kamal Sagar, an architect who lives in Bangalore, India, but frequently travels to the states.

In 1996, when he was running an architectural practice, Sagar tried to buy a home for himself but found builders were focused more on marketing and fads than designing with homebuyers in mind.

Wanting something more thoughtfully done and meaningfully designed, he started Total Environment, which has since built both single-family homes and apartment towers in India.

In Frisco, Sagar is bringing his work to the U.S. for the first time.

“We just felt that the product that we have can work in other parts of the world as well, and we wanted to check that out and prove that for ourselves,” he said.

“The reason it works all the way on the other side of the planet, for a completely different lifestyle in different climates and everything, is because it is authentically designed around a family’s needs.”

The barrel ceiling is a distinct feature in the Total Environment homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

In 2016, Sagar was looking to build in the U.S. and found a piece of land in San Francisco, but realized it would be a complicated process to get the homes approved and that costs would be high.

Sagar said he ran into a customer in Bangalore who recommended he not build in California and instead build in Frisco, citing its rapid growth and corporate relocations.

A real estate agent found the property along Rowlett Creek with 900 trees — perfect for the environmentally savvy builder.

“I came here and saw it and really fell in love with it,” Sagar said.

Sawtooth windows are another unique feature in the Total Environment homes Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

Sagar said he bought it for a reason nobody else would — water and trees made parts of the property undevelopable. For Sagar, who aimed to connect people with nature, those elements were perfect.

“This property is really beautiful,” Sagar said. “These water bodies, they attract a lot of wildlife. There’s actually a set of birds that migrate I think from Canada, they stop here at this place, and then they continue from here.”

The city of Frisco approved the project in 2018. The project started sales in January 2021, but pandemic-related supply chain issues paused construction for about six months.

Total Environment homes are being built in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

The company has sold three homes to customers and is building five additional homes that will be available for sale. The company hasn’t yet started a big marketing push.

“Back in India, we are a very, very strong brand,” with “rocking” sales, Sagar said. “We will hit that here as well pretty soon.”

Natural focus

Total Environment homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

When driving past homes in Tapestry, the first thing that stands out is the grass-covered rooftops.

Sagar says they have many environmental perks. The thermal mass of the roof keeps the home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and it reduces rainwater runoff.

In addition to the greenery on the roof, homes have grass-covered courtyards on both floors that connect to most rooms that people can walk out on.

“It just gives you a very positive feeling and hopefully inspires you,” Sagar said.

The terrace is a unique feature of the Total Environment homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

The homes also have six geothermal wells below them that go about 300 feet into the ground, and the water is at a constant temperature that heats and cools, according to Sagar.

“When there was this massive freeze a couple of years back in January and everything was in bad shape, this place was nice and crisp and warm inside,” he said.

An automaker’s approach

Sagar aims to mimic the process and the reliability of automobile manufacturing rather than the typical techniques of large-scale homebuilders.

“You can get into a car and drive for miles, and maybe thunderstorm and lightning and hail stones and whatever, you’re never going to worry about water coming into the car,” he said. “But homes all over the world, they have leakages, they have sinks getting clogged, you have plumbing problems or electrical problems.”

Total Environment homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

To aim for better quality, Sagar decided to handle many elements of the homes in-house. The company produces some materials such as doors and windows itself and offers its own furniture as an option for buyers.

Like an automaker, Total Environment adopted a fixed-product approach in 2008, with labeled products that it iterates on.

The Frisco community will offer three models: the 3,233-square-foot V30, the 4,394-square-foot V40 and the 5,472-square-foot V50.

Total Environment homes in the Tapestry neighborhood in Frisco, Texas on Friday August 18, 2023. (Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)

The starting prices for models range from $1.3 million to $1.9 million before customization. Three- and four-bedroom floor plans come standard, but a fifth bedroom can be added.

“It’s a home product that evolves with time, so you do version one, version two, version three, version four,” Sagar said. “That’s what happened in the automobile industry. Every model keeps improving, you keep learning from the previous model and making it better and better and better.”

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Hogan Lovells hired consumer products trial attorney Trenton Norris in Northern California on Thursday.

Norris, a partner at Arnold & Porter for more than a decade, joined Hogan Lovells in San Francisco to continue to build a bank serving clients’ technology, intellectual property, environmental and commercial litigation needs.

“California is one of the country’s most important consumer litigation markets, and Trent has emerged as one of the premier litigators in this highly competitive space,” said Patrick Michael, managing partner of Hogan Lovells’ San Francisco office in a statement.

“He and his team are following in the footsteps of partners Megan Nishikawa and Amber Trincado who joined us last fall,” added Michael. “Together, this group has significantly strengthened our capacity to conduct trade disputes in Northern California.”

Norris declined to comment on whether other members of Arnold & Porter will join him at Hogan Lovells. However, he quipped, “You can’t do this kind of work without an experienced team.”

Norris, who has advised McDonald’s and PepsiCo, among others, focuses on representing companies in consumer or activist lawsuits alleging violations of regulatory standards. He has defended hundreds of companies in disputes related to Proposition 65 and California consumer protection laws.

“Hogan Lovells’ regulatory depth in consumer products was a draw,” said Norris, noting the strength of its food regulatory practice.

Norris declined to comment on clients, but said he will continue to work with several he has in common with Hogan Lovells.

Demand is “booming,” he said, noting that he’s observed more plaintiff attorneys in the consumer goods space in recent years. Advanced analytical techniques that can detect levels of chemicals in different products have also fueled more controversy, he said.

“There’s always something going on in the area of ​​consumer product regulation,” added Norris.

Norris cited the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing review of green marketing claims, as well as proposed changes regarding the federal government’s assessment of auto-renewable subscription programs, as two areas to keep an eye on.

Norris joined Arnold & Porter in 2008 as a founding partner of Arnold & Porter’s San Francisco office and has served on the firm’s policy, compensation and lateral committees over the years.

Previously, he worked for the now defunct Bingham McCutchen and its predecessor McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen for around 15 years before it merged with Bingham Dana in 2002.

Norris maintains an active pro bono practice with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community and is a registered lobbyist with the California Environmental Protection Agency.

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A pint-sized Edmonton Oilers fan from Sarnia, Ont. might just have the coolest Halloween costume around.

5-year-old Easton Oetting, who has special needs, is dressed up as an Oilers’ Zamboni. That’s right, the youngster is actually dressed up as an Edmonton Oilers-themed ice-resurfacing machine, thanks to his handyman father, DJ Oetting.

“We were just trying to figure out how we could incorporate the Oilers into his costume and we wanted to still do the stroller, so obviously a vehicle,” explains Oetting. “The only thing we could think of was a Zamboni.”

Easton has a rare genetic disorder which affects his development, including his heart, speech and mobility.

But his dad wasn’t about to let that stop the wee Oilers fanatic from enjoying Halloween.

He put the Zamboni together in a few hours using foam insulation, glue and screws.

“I have it set up so that it goes over the top of his stroller, and it actually sits perfectly on his stroller, and then we just wheel the stroller with him in it,” says Oetting.

Easton and his Zamboni’s ride to fame came quickly after his mom posted a video to social media of him in the Zamboni on Friday.

It caught the attention of Oilers’ Nation, then the NHL and TSN, who reposted adorable video, with the NHL even calling it the “costume of the year.”

“Everybody seems to love it,” says Oetting. “Even people that aren’t Oilers’ fans, I think they just, they see Easton in it and how happy he is, and they love it.”

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