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Self-driving cars without safety drivers behind the wheel have flooded San Francisco streets. In August, General Motors-owned Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo were granted permission to expand operations, allowing people to hail a driverless car like they do for an Uber. But the launch has been plagued by problems. CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa tested out both company’s robotaxis and spoke with city officials and Cruise CEO, Kyle Vogt, to see how the launch is going for the city and what’s next.

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Illustration by Carl Burton

For the impacted homeowners of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, the August 2022 announcement that they were one step closer to being made whole — with relief coming in the form of a $20.5 million settlement — was long past due.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall 17 years earlier, devastating their neighborhood. But that was just the opening chapter of their misfortune. Their homes had been rebuilt, only to give way to rot, mold and structural defects. Their 2018 class-action lawsuit seeking damages against their original benefactors, the Make It Right Foundation and its leading man, Brad Pitt, languished in Orleans Parish court for years as their properties decayed.

“This has been one long nightmare,” says Albert Matthews, noting that his 91-year-old mother, Marion Bryan, paid the initial deposit on her new house in 2008. He says the residence became so badly compromised that Make It Right built a second one, which also had serious problems. So too, he claims, did a third, constructed by the organization in 2014. Unlike many residents, who were forced to live in substandard conditions, Bryan has stayed with her son. “It’s been very stressful for all of us,” he says. “My mother, she’s never seen the end of the tunnel from Katrina.”

In the summer of 2022, Global Green USA — another charity with Hollywood connections and a track record of helping rebuild in the region — had announced it would step up to pay and administer the $20.5 million, imminently disbursing the funds. “Hopefully this agreement will allow everyone to look ahead to other opportunities to continue to strengthen this proud community in the future,” Pitt told TMZ, as media outlets spread the welcome news.

But The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the deal has since imploded amid recrimination. History has repeated in the Lower Ninth Ward — and yet another well-intentioned and highly publicized plan for these residents has resulted in failure.

According to previously unreported case files, soon after the pact was announced, Global Green attempted to renege, revealing that despite signing on to the court-approved agreement that stipulated all funding would be provided within 10 days, it never had the money to cover its commitment. Furthermore, the nonprofit, which wasn’t required to show the court it was financially sound, asserted it could not effectively fundraise because Pitt’s ex-wife Angelina Jolie had, in unrelated court proceedings, then recently accused the actor of abusing her and their children.

“I’ve never seen a situation like this, where there was a settlement that fell through because it was an insolvent party that proposed it,” marvels Louisiana State University law professor William R. Corbett, an expert in civil procedure.

Pitt’s team rejects any notion that the actor or his reputation are at all to blame for what’s transpired, contending that Global Green is solely responsible for making a promise it didn’t keep. “Brad had supported Global Green many years ago, so when they approached his team stating ‘$20.5M in funding’ had been secured by their ‘generous donors,’ there was interest in considering their proposal,” a Pitt spokesperson at Hiltzik Strategies responded to THR in a written statement. “Global Green represented themselves as having already obtained these funds and planned to use them toward resolving all claims in the ongoing lawsuit for the benefit of the homeowners.” The representative added, “It was incredibly surprising for the plaintiffs, the defendants and their counsel to learn that the funds Global Green claimed multiple times were secured had not in fact been committed or raised. It was equally disappointing to discover payment was not made, though the settlement agreement was specifically negotiated to ensure that litigation would continue without prejudice to any parties if the settlement were to fail.”

For his part, Global Green CEO Bill Bridge, who agreed to reply to THR‘s inquiries by email, portrayed his nonprofit as a pure-of-heart entity having been brought into “the snake pit” by a high-stakes, even higher-pressure settlement process that’s left it with mounting legal fees, under a contempt order and scrambling to obtain a court-ordered surety bond to cover the $20.5 million. (A surety is a guarantee of one party’s debt by another.) “Global Green was willing to make every effort to raise the funds, but when it wasn’t fast enough or to the level those parties required, Global Green became the scapegoat for what essentially has been the failure of the parties to resolve the matter,” he explained.

The plaintiffs’ attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment. Neither did counsel for Make It Right.

THR‘s further scrutiny of Global Green for this coverage points to additional overlooked red flags at the nonprofit, long a centerpiece of the entertainment industry’s philanthropic interest in environmentalism. These include declining financial contributions in recent years and questions concerning its governance protocols.

Matt Petersen, who led Global Green from 1994 to 2013, was a board member until 2017, and oversaw its New Orleans initiatives after Katrina, including work done in tandem with Pitt, is disappointed to hear of what’s occurred in the Make It Right matter. “I simply can’t understand why Global Green would make a hollow commitment to pay the settlement so Make It Right homeowners could repair their homes when Global Green didn’t have the resources to begin with,” says Petersen, who’s now president of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. “That is just reprehensible to leave those homeowners holding the bag and betrays the legacy of Global Green.”

New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in 2006, post-Hurricane Katrina. Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation was formed to build new homes for impacted residents.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Make It Right, whose initial funding included bequests from the likes of the late film financier Steve Bing ($5 million) as well as American Idol ($10 million), began as the feel-good story of the post-Katrina era. Halo-headlined articles (“Brad Pitt’s Gifts,” “Brad the Builder in New Orleans”) described how the star — who along with his then-wife Jolie had adopted the city as his hometown, purchasing a French Quarter mansion — was leading an ambitious effort to erect a planned 150 environmentally sensitive, design-conscious houses in the stormwater-devastated Lower Ninth Ward, a largely working-class African American neighborhood that was a focus of Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke.

“I just saw what needed to be done,” Pitt told Architectural Digest in 2009, two years after Make It Right began, “and I said, ‘Why not?’ ” Pitt, who broke ground on the project alongside former President Bill Clinton, enlisted a roster of Pritzker Prize-winning architects, including Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne.

The Make It Right initiative tapped star architects like Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne to design more than 100 modern and sustainable houses in the Lower Ninth. Many were later beset by problems including structural defects and mold.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

In time, though, Make It Right’s beneficence encountered stark reality, both for the new homeowners — these weren’t gifts; the residents had taken out mortgages — as well as for Pitt. “We went into it incredibly naive,” he explained to New Orleans paper The Times-Picayune in 2015. “Just thinking we can build homes — how hard is that? — and not understanding forgivable loan structures and family financial counseling and getting the rights to lots and HUD grants and so on and so forth. So it’s been a big learning curve.”

By 2018, a class-action lawsuit against Make It Right and its heads alleged that many of the houses (109 had been built) were shoddily constructed with substandard materials, prompting rot, mold and structural damage, along with other issues ranging from faulty ventilation and electrical malfunctions to plumbing issues. Pitt asked the judge to absolve him from personal liability — to no avail.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Ron Austin, observed at the time that the nonprofit leaders’ aura of good intentions may have shielded them from more expeditious scrutiny. “I think they were able to get away with it because of who they were, because the residents were very grateful with Make It Right stepping in and showing interest in their community,” he said.

Outside of court, Make It Right essentially no longer exists. Its headquarters have been abandoned, phone numbers disconnected, website gone. The Orleans Parish Sheriff in recent years has reportedly seized multiple Make It Right-owned properties because of unpaid city fees.

Global Green USA — an affiliate of Green Cross International, the charity founded by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 whose worldwide mission framework includes aiding people affected by environmental catastrophes — also actively participated in the area’s hurricane recovery alongside Make It Right. This included developing a small number of its own eco-friendly homes in another part of the Lower Ninth Ward (which have not faced complaints about the quality of their construction), as well as helping to shape the green-energy policy of Louisiana’s public school system, working primarily with the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans.

Pitt launched the Make It Right Foundation with the “150 Pink Houses” art project, which was meant to symbolize renewal, in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, on Dec. 3, 2007. The architecture firm GRAFT designed the art project, as well as two houses for Make It Right’s efforts.

Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Global Green itself has long cultivated Hollywood, leaning into the intersection of celebrity and sustainability. For years, it threw pre-Oscar fundraising bashes that were must-stops for the likes of Adrian Grenier, Ed Begley Jr. and Moby. The organization also assembled an A-list honorary board, which at various times included Leonardo DiCaprio, Norman Lear, Yoko Ono, Ted Turner and Robert Redford.

Recent years, though, have seen an apparent steady decline in the organization’s support and programming efforts. Gifts, grants and contributions dropped by more than 36 percent between 2017 and 2021, the latest available year of its IRS documentation. The nonprofit, which had previously outlined its accomplishments in detail, has by its own admission narrowed its services “significantly” during the same period. (It pointed to the pandemic’s government shutdowns and global travel restrictions as contributing to the drawdown. Bridge now adds that “there were changes in board leadership, funding, personnel, and a dramatic decrease in government funding during the Trump administration, which required the organization to narrow its work.”)

Three people familiar with Global Green’s operations at this time tell THR that the organization had trouble maintaining its existing donor base and difficulty securing new individual and institutional patrons. They also say that in two instances, private philanthropic foundations, Kresge and JPB, discontinued their relationships with the nonprofit when they discovered that restricted grants had been used for general operating expenses. The JPB Foundation didn’t return a request for comment. The Kresge Foundation said in a statement that its multiyear grant, awarded in 2017, “was terminated after the first year due to concerns about Global Green’s financial viability and governance practices at that time. Kresge awarded a new grant to The Greater New Orleans Foundation, which subsequently supported green-infrastructure education efforts formerly housed at Global Green.”

In 2020 and 2021, the most recent two years of Global Green’s IRS statements, the organization reported that its financials weren’t independently audited. (Its Louisiana-based tax preparer didn’t return a request for comment.) CharityWatch, a nonprofit monitor, considers this a red flag since an outside party hasn’t scrutinized whether its published numbers are accurate and internal controls are effective.

“The lack of an independent audit is not a minor detail,” explains CharityWatch executive director Laurie Styron. “Charities often omit a lot of unflattering information about themselves in their tax filings that can only be discovered by analyzing their audits,” she says. “For example, audits are required to include information about any legal issues a charity is having if they are likely to result in a material financial liability. If an audit doesn’t exist, then a lot of accountability and public disclosure is lost.”

The Make It Right initiative tapped star architects like Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and Thom Mayne to design more than 100 modern and sustainable houses in the Lower Ninth. Many were later beset by problems including structural defects and mold.

ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images

In August 2022, after a four-year legal battle, the judge in the class-action suit approved a settlement. The surprise was that Global Green had quietly swooped in to fund the $20.5 million bill. According to court papers, the nonprofit committed to resolving residents’ claims through its Community & Climate Action Center, based in Holy Cross, another hurricane-impacted neighborhood immediately adjoining the Lower Ninth Ward. “Global Green will promptly pay the funds,” Bridge wrote in April to Make It Right’s Board.

Pitt — who along with Make It Right and its insurers would be relieved by the settlement — told TMZ, “I am incredibly grateful for Global Green’s willingness to step up and provide this important support for the Lower Ninth families. We collaborated in the early days post-Katrina and we are very fortunate to have Global Green’s generous continuing commitment to help address the challenges around these homes and others in need.”

Yet the agreement quickly foundered when the judge’s appointed special masters (responsible for identifying potential claimants and discharging the terms of the settlement) observed that none of the promised funds had been transferred within the required 10-day deadline. Soon, Global Green’s attorney circulated a letter, taking issue with the special masters’ fees as well as the timeliness decree. “Given the long-term nature of this project, the reasonable approach would be for funds to be managed in tranches based on a schedule-as-needed,” the letter said, adding that “all concerned must account for reality.”

As it turned out, Global Green didn’t have the money; instead, it revealed it was in the process of attempting to raise it. Furthermore, it cast doubt on that possibility due to what it claimed was the PR fallout from Jolie’s allegations against Pitt of abusive behavior during their marriage, which first became public in August 2022 and which Pitt denies. “Global Green USA’s ability to continue to raise funds from individual donors, the corporate community, and foundations has recently encountered significant limitations given current unfavorable press towards Brad Pitt,” the nonprofit’s lawyer wrote, without explicitly referencing Jolie’s claims. “That unfavorable press is causing some corporate donors and individual supporters to be reluctant to participate.”

Pitt attended a private Global Green dinner held in Beverly Hills with members of its board as well as its donors in September. “It’s sad that Global Green would blame others for their own inability to raise the funds that they had already claimed were obtained,” Pitt’s spokesperson responds to THR, adding: “Global Green’s eagerness to associate with Brad and try to utilize him for their fundraising purposes remained consistent throughout last year — including, an unauthorized auction using Brad’s name announced via THR in early September, and the organization securing over $200k in donations from board members meeting Brad at a non-fundraising dinner in late September.” (Bridge says the funds are being applied to various settlement-related costs.)

In the litigation, Global Green’s counsel wrote that, given the Pitt dilemma, its board was now “working towards bringing on additional ‘brand partners’ (e.g., celebrities/influencers/sports figures) to help balance the public relations and press needed for this endeavor until Brad Pitt is beyond this current negative press.” These outreach efforts included Serena Williams. Her representatives tell THR she passed on the opportunity.

Brad Pitt with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a 2007 press conference before a meeting about the Make It Right home-building initiative.

Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images

Bridge approached Pitt’s team in February 2022 with an offer to help. What transpired between that overture and the judge-approved settlement in August is in dispute.

“I’m sure we could get funding and it would allow Pitt to clean up his reputation,” Bridge earlier emailed Mary Rickard, then Global Green’s senior project manager for New Orleans, referring to the tainted legacy of Make It Right and its impact on the star. (Bridge also forwarded Rickard a recently published academic’s analysis of Make It Right’s failures.) “Or — do you think it’s too much of a wild card?” He thought Global Green could turn its building in adjacent Holy Cross into a base of operations. Bridge later circulated a “Project Narrative” document, which outlined a plan to take “a phased approach to rebuilding” in partnership with Pitt “via dedicated press push and media exclusive opportunity.”

Rickard, herself a satisfied owner of one of the sustainable neighborhood dwellings that Global Green built years earlier, tells THR she was skeptical of the complexity and ambition of Bridge’s initiative from the outset, since at the time the water and light bills weren’t paid for the Holy Cross building and its tax bill was in arrears. (Bridge ascribes these issues to, respectively, pandemic-era complications and a clerical mix-up.) “He’s not very disciplined — but he’s always got a good story,” says Rickard, who left her position that April, by her account in frustration, after several months’ tenure.

Pitt’s business associates welcomed the idea of assistance from Global Green, in part because the star had a history of working on New Orleans efforts in tandem with the nonprofit’s previous CEO. In documentation obtained by THR, Bridge also repeatedly stated that he’d lined up support from major corporate partners for philanthropic work in the Lower Ninth Ward, eventually naming Wells Fargo, BlackRock, UBS and the Walmart Foundation in writing as “funders who have committed.” When contacted, none of these institutions affirmed they’d ever pledged money; Wells Fargo noted it hadn’t donated to Global Green since 2018 and “there were no conversations in 2022.”

For his part, Bridge now contends that “at no time did we indicate there was any guarantee or financial commitment at that stage of the conversation and that further due diligence, discussions and actions requiring Mr. Pitt’s involvement would be needed.” He says his nonprofit approached the other parties “in good faith” to “raise funds (over time) in support, but in a realistic and collaborative manner.”

That April, Bridge signed a letter to representatives for Make It Right and Pitt that Global Green had “secured $20,500,000 in funding from its generous donors” and stood ready to “resolve all claims in the lawsuit.” He tells THR the reason he used such emphatic language is that he was told by Pitt’s team that his previous draft of the letter was not strong enough: “We were presented with a red-lined version of our original letter reflecting more of a ‘guarantee’ related to the funds. We agreed to the red-lined version in blind faith that all parties would support each other to get to the end game.” Bridge now acknowledges the money wasn’t yet in hand, but claims others involved in the incipient discussions knew it: “Global Green repeatedly told Mr. Pitt’s associates that it would be unable to raise those funds as quickly as was being demanded by the defendants and plaintiffs in the settlement agreement, and we were essentially told not to worry about that element, which was just a formality to get the agreement signed so that the fundraising project could move forward.”

As for the judge-approved settlement, Bridge paints himself and his organization again as having walked a plank. “On multiple occasions I was personally reassured, as was our then-board chair, ‘not to worry’ about the terms and conditions of the actual agreement we were signing with the parties involved, and to ‘just sign it’ so we could start the process of raising money,” he says. “We did so reluctantly, but again in good faith with the assurance by the parties involved that we would not have to meet the 10-day condition in the agreement, to which we had objected.”

Pitt’s team flatly denies this. His spokesperson insists, “Counsel for both the plaintiffs and defendants followed up with extensive diligence over several months. A written settlement was created, signed by Global Green and approved by all parties including the Court, which required Global Green to pay the full $20.5 million within 10 business days of the agreement’s execution or otherwise risk being held in contempt of court.”

It’s unclear even to seasoned legal observers why nobody involved in the case — not the plaintiffs’ attorney, nor the defendants’ respective counselors and advisers, nor the judge, Richard Perque — compelled Global Green to show it could uphold its end of the deal at the outset by furnishing proof of funds. (Perque, who holds a temporary position, is fresh to the bench; when the preliminary approval for the settlement was filed with the court clerk, it was his second day on the job.) “It does seem naive,” says professor David Levine, a class action expert at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. “You wouldn’t do it for a $10,000 auto settlement.”

Lower Ninth resident Robert Green and his family outside of their Make It Right home in 2009, soon after construction was completed.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

According to court papers, from the time that Global Green made its pledge, numerous homeowners had been holding off on continuing to fix their properties until they could be inspected under the terms of the agreement, and had also been taking time off work to have affidavits executed so they could be reimbursed for money they’d already spent on repairs over the years. (More than 100 people attended a late-August meeting at which Bridge spoke.) “If Global Green does not fund the settlement, as it is contractually bound to do, these homeowners will suffer immeasurable stress, anxiety and other emotions which will be physically harmful to them,” argued Austin, the plaintiffs’ counsel, in a November filing.

Bridge, in his own direct written plea to the court afterward, claimed Global Green had entered “in good faith” into the agreement — even if “in hindsight, regrettably” this led to the signing of a “very restrictive” 10-day funding provision that was “untenable.” Still, he insisted that his organization had “made it clear from the beginning of its discussions that raising this large sum of money would require adequate time to identify and secure individual and corporate donors.” He added that Global Green’s board chair, Vered Nisim — by his characterization, centrally involved in deal negotiations — had submitted her resignation. Given what he termed her function “as the principal lead in the effort” to secure the agreed funding, it was not possible for the nonprofit to raise it now — especially “in such a short period of time.” (Nisim tells THR her role in the Make It Right settlement process was minimal.)

“Global Green never saw itself as a third party that intended to inherit the entire burden and risks associated with what has been eight years of litigation between the plaintiffs and defendants, but rather to operate as a good faith vehicle using our name, brand, and history in New Orleans to help raise the funds to end the dispute in the best interests of those residents who live, or have lived, in the Make It Right Foundation homes in New Orleans,” Bridge wrote. “That has been our sole objective from the beginning, but sadly we believe we have become the scapegoat of others as a result of miscommunication, misunderstandings, and perhaps admittedly some naivete on our part with all parties involved in this unfortunate matter.” When the judge asked these other parties to propose a solution, Pitt, like his fellow defendants, backed away. “Mr. Pitt lacks sufficient information to suggest a modified funding structure and takes no position on what, if any, modification to the funding structure should be approved at this time,” his attorney responded in December.

The judge soon ordered Global Green to work to secure $10 million in two months toward the settlement, with the court then reevaluating funding for the remaining $10.5 million. The nonprofit was also ordered to report on its funding efforts every 30 days. Per IRS filings, Global Green’s biggest donors in recent years had only given a few hundred thousand dollars.

On March 29, the judge signaled he’d lost confidence in Global Green’s intervention, allowing the homeowners’ class-action litigation against Pitt and Make It Right to again move forward. He also scheduled an Oct. 2 contempt hearing against Global Green.

Austin, the class-action plaintiffs’ attorney, had sent Lower Ninth Ward homeowners a letter earlier in March updating them on the settlement’s status. He observed it was Pitt’s team that vouched for Global Green in the first place and explained that the actor himself testified under oath during a recent case status conference that “he was essentially too busy to participate in any fundraising efforts to help fund the settlement.”

Pitt’s spokesperson — asserting the actor has personally donated more than $6 million to the Make It Right cause since its inception — responds, “Brad was never under any obligation to donate his own money, attend fundraisers or solicit contributions from donors,” and adds, “Brad has dedicated significant time and resources over the past 15 years to supporting residents of the Lower Ninth as they recover from Hurricane Katrina. We are hopeful that Global Green will find a way to honor their commitment before the contempt hearing in October, and that these homeowners can receive the support they need.”

For Linda Santi, owner of a problem-plagued, Gehry-designed Make It Right house, word of this latest fiasco is par for the course: “Am I surprised that it all went south? No. Am I surprised that things got convoluted, like some confederacy-of-dunces sequel? No. Am I disappointed? Yes.”

At press time, Bridge maintains that “the settlement is funded,” insisting an unidentified benefactor with purported “deep family ties” to New Orleans recently pledged to back a surety bond for $20.5 million the court ordered of Global Green in December. “We are in the final underwriting process,” he explains. Bridge adds that his organization plans to launch a GoFundMe campaign on April 22, Earth Day, to support the overall project of repair efforts. “Global Green remains committed to bringing to the table” donors to alleviate the Make It Right homeowner problems, he says, “with or without Mr. Pitt’s involvement.”

As the litigation begins again, with no end in sight, the Make It Right homeowners wait, doing their best to maintain their properties. Says another affected resident, Byron Jackson, “I really am not optimistic. It’s pretty sad that a lot of people have to be on these mortgages and these fucked-up houses.” He pauses a beat, then adds mordantly: “The American Dream, ya know?”

This story first appeared in the April 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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In California overall, prices dropped year-over-year, as sales collapsed, supply more than doubled. No dear, this isn’t just a seasonal dip.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

San Francisco and Silicon Valley are now in the solid leadership role of the housing bust playing out in California with sales collapsing and prices heading south from the peak in April at an astonishing pace.

Just about everything that could come together came together. After a two-year outflux of workers due to working from anywhere, there came the collapse of the startup and crypto scenes, starting in 2021 and continuing unabated, leading to the early entries into my pantheon of Imploded Stocks. In early 2022 came the spike in mortgage rates. In mid-2022 came the downturn in employment at Big Tech. By that time, the Fed had been hiking its policy rates relentlessly, and Quantitative Tightening had kicked off. This was punctuated over the past two months by the chaotic dismantling of the workforce at Twitter and its ecosystem.

Local budgets have fallen into deep deficits – although most are still flush with cash from the pandemic funds received from the federal government and the state.

Vacant office space that is on the market for lease and sublease continues to balloon, while landlords have started to file for huge reductions in assessment values ​​to lower their property taxes, which is going to cut revenues further.

This comes garnished by stories in the New York Times that Twitter stopped paying rent on its leased office spaces, and that it was instructed not to pay vendors. At least one of those unpaid vendors – a Silicon Valley company whose software Twitter had licensed – filed a lawsuit last week in the San Francisco Superior Court for nonpayment. It stated, “shortly after Musk’s purchase of Twitter closed, Twitter refused to pay the outstanding quarterly invoice, which was due on November 30, 2022, and Twitter disclaimed any obligation to pay any future invoices…”

These are all signs that the housing market is going to get a lot messier. Prices have plunged the most in San Francisco, followed by the Silicon Valley counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara.

In San Francisco.

The median price of single-family houses sold in November in San Francisco plunged by 11.4% from October to $1.50 million, and by 27% from the peak in April, according to the California Association of Realtors. A nasty-looking chart:

Condo prices plunged by 4.3% from the prior month to $1.15 million, and by 9.5% year-over-year. Since the peak in April, the median condo price is down by 15.5%. Condo sales in November have collapsed by 49%.

Seasonally, the lowest months are December and January. So that’s still to come.

But who is going to buy in the spring selling season? Prices normally rise as demand picks up in the spring; but who will be the exuberant tech workers that will want to overpay for a house by borrowing against the collapsed value of their stock options? Those lucky ones that still have jobs and stock options?

The housing markets in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are tied to the boom-and-bust cycles of the startup scene – now combined with the crypto scene and cryptos – and they’re tied to the stocks of startups and big tech and social media companies in the area, to the jobs that have to be done locally, and to the value of the stock options. All of them are puking.

Year-over-year, the median price of single-family houses in San Francisco plunged by 21%, the sixth month in a row of year-over-year declines. It was the biggest year-over-year plunge since the peak of Housing Bust 1:

Silicon Valley, San Mateo County.

The median price of single-family houses in San Mateo County, which forms the northern part of Silicon Valley, plunged by 6.2% from October to $1.78 million, and by 26% from the peak in April.

Year-over-year, the median house price plunged by 20%.

Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County.

Santa Clara County, which forms the southern part of Silicon Valley and includes the Bay Area’s largest city, San Jose, is lagging behind but is moving right along. The median price of single-family houses dropped by 1.5% in November from October to $1.60 million, and by 19% from the peak in April:

Year-over-year, the median house price dropped by 5.5%, the first significant year-over-year decline in this cycle. Prices had already undergone significant year-over-year declines in 2018 and 2019, and were on a downward path until the trillions in money-printing, the surge in the stock market, and the interest rate repression began to boost prices again.

Currently, Santa Clara County lags San Francisco and San Mateo by a few months, it seems.

In all of California.

Sales of single-family houses in California collapsed by 47.7% in November, compared to a year ago, the biggest decline since 1980, according to the California Association of Realtors. Condo sales collapsed by 46%.

Unsold inventory more than doubled year-over-year to a supply of 3.3 months, and days on the market also more than doubled – before sellers pulled the unsold homes off the market again.

For all of California, the median price of single-family houses plunged another 3.0% in November from October, which pushed the price down year-over-year (-0.6%). The median condo price fell 2.1% in November from October, which whittled down the year-over-year gain to just 2.7%.

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By now, you know all about the supply chain mess wreaking havoc on the global economy. The onset of the pandemic was the last straw on the camel’s back that broke the global supply chain, and it may be a while until it’s fixed.

Building owners are undoubtedly feeling the ill effects of product shortages. But we’re here to say the supply-shortage consequence you should be most worried about is in regards to your building’s HVAC system.

HVAC contractors nationwide have been hampered by rising costs, a labor shortage, and the inability to get their hands on needed materials like microchips. All this is leading to delays in getting repairs done. And with winter coming soon, now’s the time building owners need to get started on what could be a lengthy HVAC procurement process.

The supply chain nightmare has given all of us a lesson in logistics and globalization we probably didn’t want. It’s essential for property owners to prioritize HVAC repairs now, be flexible with contractors, and build resilience into their supply chains.

The supply chain chaos

You may remember the supply chain problems all began right after the virus struck and caused a shortage in vital medical supplies and personal protection equipment (PPE). As lockdowns began, tremendous demand for N95 masks and other PPE outstripped supply. Consumer panic buying also caused some strange situations (toilet paper shortage).

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. Factories in parts of the world with much of the global manufacturing capacity were hammered by the pandemic, leading to shutdowns. Shipping companies thought consumer demand would drop because of lockdowns, but they were terribly mistaken. With stay-at-home orders in place, consumers went on online buying sprees for everything from personal computers to home gym equipment. The increased demand overwhelmed supply chains and slowed down the transportation of goods.

All told, it was a perfect storm. And now, more than 18 months since this all started, just about anything that’s produced or manufactured is in short supply. As a result, almost every industry has been hit hard. In particular, the automotive industry has been significantly impacted, as a shortage of microchips has led to considerable decreases in car production and increased costs for consumers.

The microchip shortage is one problem that’s affecting HVAC contractors. Semiconductors are essential components of HVAC systems and they’re in very short global supply. Shortages for all sorts of other HVAC parts have also been reported, including compressors, motors, and raw materials like copper, steel, aluminum, and plastic.

Labor away

Shortages of HVAC components have caused significant price increases. Raiven HVAC supply chain research reveals that specialized equipment including semiconductors will likely see 10-30 percent price increases soon. Copper prices reached an all-time high in May 2021, jumping more than 130 percent from March 2020. The steel price nearly doubled in August 2021 compared to last year, according to a US government index tracking the price.

The US Pacific Northwest and Southwest just went through a historically hot summer, increasing demand for HVAC services. The HVAC industry is also no stranger to labor shortages, but the pandemic has made it worse. All these factors have combined to cause the highest HVAC distributor lead times since 1987, according to Raiven research.

Karl Pomeroy, GM and President of Motili, a nationwide HVAC service provider, said many of the HVAC industry’s supply-chain problems have also been caused by very close to “all-time highs in terms of business growth” for the industry.

The HVAC industry’s labor shortage has had a significant impact, too, Pomeroy said. “As our industry gets more technically advanced, I think the labor shortage is more pronounced,” Pomeroy told us. “It takes a higher level of skill to service some of these pieces of equipment. The industry is also feeling a rising inflationary cost for labor because so many of these companies have to attract and retain top employees, and they’re paying more. So, not only are we paying more for finished goods and parts and pieces, but we’re also feeling the pinch of more expensive labor.”

Pomeroy added that for the typical building owner, they’ve seen fairly dramatic rising costs throughout the past 18 months, and “there’s really no end in sight.”

Stay ahead of the seasons

So, yes, it’s all rather messy right now. But while it seems like an apocalyptic scenario, it’s not all doom and gloom. By taking the proper steps, building owners can do many things to alleviate the pain. Undoubtedly, you’ve already been dealing with increased HVAC service prices and lead times for more than the past year, so you’ve probably come up with some solutions. But as this supply chain mess drags on, it’s imperative to keep a laser-like focus on your HVAC system—especially as winter approaches.

HVAC systems are one of the most expensive and vital pieces of equipment in commercial buildings, and breakdowns can be catastrophic. Get a fall inspection on your HVAC now, especially if it’s acting up. If there are needed fixes that require parts, lead times may be longer. Be proactive and patient with contractors, and get repairs done before the cold weather sets in.

Preventive maintenance of HVAC systems is more critical than ever right now. Check and change air filters on a monthly basis, keep the unit clean, and check heating-specific parts like gas/oil connections, burner combustion, and heat exchangers. This type of maintenance extends the unit’s lifespan and helps avoid significant problems during the heating season.

So see

“Tenant satisfaction is a huge factor affected by HVAC systems,” Pomeroy said. “A lot of our clients are moving into a model where they’re looking at their total portfolio of (HVAC) products, looking at the age of those products, and doing preventive maintenance to keep them in peak operating condition. Our clients are also more proactive when their systems starts to approach its age of replacement and putting it on a planned replacement strategy.”

Back up a system

A second and equally important thing building owners can do right now is build resilience into their supply chains. And this doesn’t just go for HVAC repairs and contractors. Take a look at all your vendors and suppliers and motto ways to make your supply chain stronger during these unpredictable times.

Beware of being stuck in a sole supplier situation. Establish secondary vendors and contractors for essential services (like HVAC), and don’t hesitate to reach out to them if their lead times are shorter or in emergency cases. Consider using supply chain management software, as well. Common programs from Blue Yonder, Infor, Oracle, and SAP help building owners gain better visibility into their vendors and supply chains and they also greatly benefit planning.

Perhaps the worst part of the supply chain nightmare is no one’s quite sure when it will end. Major exporters in Southeast Asia of critical components like semiconductors are still struggling to contain COVID-19, and global port and shipping congestion may last well into 2022.

The Biden administration has taken steps to alleviate the problems, such as urging the Port of Los Angeles to operate 24/7. But as General Motors CEO Mary Barra and other business leaders have indicated, the shortages and rising costs have forced many companies to re-think supply chain management altogether.

Pomeroy said building owners have to be “proactive instead of reactive” with their HVAC systems. Property managers need to focus on their HVAC units and ensure their mechanical components are in good working order. If they’re not focused on HVAC right now, he said, “they’re setting themselves up for a very difficult period of time.”

“I don’t believe this is a case where, in two to three months, all these supply chain and labor shortage issues affecting HVAC go away,” Pomeroy said. “I think we all came into 2021 thinking, well, it’s going to be better. In some cases, it has been better. But in some cases, it hasn’t been. The demands on the HVAC industry have been high. For those clients who are sitting back and waiting, they’re running the risk of the day they decide to do something, they’re going to find themselves not being able to find a labor source or not being able to find the materials.”

Lead times for HVAC repairs may be longer, and costs may be higher, so be proactive about this situation and keep a close watch on it. Get fall HVAC maintenance done as early as possible, and also think about other essential supplies and parts that may be affected. Resiliency, flexibility, and planning skills are the key attributes for surviving this supply chain turmoil. You likely already know about the supply chain issue, don’t wait until it leaves you out in the cold.

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Map 4B cuts D5 at Divisadero

Decisive Vote Saturday After Shameful Process

A near final draft map must be approved by the Redistricting Task Force on Saturday, April 9. The city attorney informed the Task Force that after April 9 only tinkering around the edges is allowed.

The Elections Commission has set an emergency meeting for Friday at 1:30 pm. Many believe it may remove its three appointed members to the Task Force. This prospect has altered its own controversy.

Replacing three members on the eve of a final vote risks creating a public perception that certain political forces have hijacked the process. While backers of the plan feel it’s fair to change a process that they see as rigged against them, the public will not see it that way. Nor are courts likely to look favorably on a last minute change to the Task Force (it’s hard for me to believe the Election Commission can legally change their appointees this late in the process).

Do San Francisco Democrats really want national stories about how Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco fired three members of the redistricting task force on the eve of casting final votes? That’s what media coverage will look like if the Election Commission proceeds..

Opponents of the flawed redistricting process have occupied the high ground. This late attack on the Task Force members undermines this perception.

Mayor Breed and State Senator Wiener issued press releases opposing the potential Elections Commission move. Supervisors Stefani and Safai sent a letter and Matt Haney tweeted similar sentiments. Now we have an astroturf campaign urging people to “Stand with Chasel, Ditka, and Raynell” (the three Task Force members appointed by the Elections Commission). It claims “Fair Representation and Due Process Matter” even though both have often been missing from the Task Force’s operation.

Has this challenge to their service made the three Task Force members more or less likely to side with their opponents’ redistricting arguments? I leave it to readers to decide.

While we await the final map, a final verdict on the redistricting process can already be rendered: it has been a complete embarrassment for San Francisco. After two decades without controversy, San Francisco’s redistricting process was driven by the type of political paybacks that Democrats justifiably criticize Republicans for doing across red states.

How could this happen?

30,000 Extra Residents in D6

The door to political machinations around redistricting was opened by the need to shift 30, 000 D6 residents to another district. That’s because most new housing units since the 2010 census were built in D6.

This unequal distribution of new housing requires an unprecedented population shift. From October to late March, there were two rival plans.

I describe the plan backed by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (which I head), many SRO tenants, Supervisor Aaron Peskin and Chinatown activists in a March 22 story laying out the case (“SF Redistricting: Why the Tenderloin Must Join D3”). We saw the shift as unifying the two neighborhoods with the most SRO tenants. It would produce a more progressive D3 and leave SOMA unified.

The rival plan kept the tenderloin in D6 and addressed D6’s overpopulation by shifting parts of entire SOMA neighborhoods to other districts. My article backed SOMA neighborhood groups in opposing this division.

I wrote my story after groups were working on the redistricting process for over five months. My March 22 article never mentioned the Tenderloin moving to D5 because that idea was not on the table.

I had heard about the Tenderloin to D5 plan but there was insufficient basis in fact for me to even include it in the story. I asked D5 Supervisor Dean Preston about these rumors and he had the same take as mine: they shouldn’t be taken seriously. After all, D5 had no population change and there was no reason to add 30,000 Tenderloin residents to the district. Further, for all the talk about prioritizing “communities of interest,” there are barely any SRO hotels in D5. The Tenderloin’s diverse, low-income population is more connected to Chinatown—CCCD owns multiple buildings in the Tenderloin—than to D5.

But on March 25 everything changed. This was the first vote to shift the Tenderloin to D5. This is when the decimation of the longstanding boundaries of D5 began.

Chair Townsend’s move

The rumblings I heard about D5 stemmed from comments made by Task Force Chair Reverend Arnold Townsend. Townsend wanted to redesign the D5 into a “black seat.” He subsequently stated such sentiments at the Task Force and to the media.

I’ve known the Reverend Townsend for a long time. We had a long talk about redistricting. I disputed that adding the Tenderloin to D5 would create a “black seat.” I noted that London Breed won election with the current boundaries.

London Breed also joined Willie Brown in being the only black mayors ever elected in the nation with such a small percentage of black voters in the city. The idea of ​​needing to carve out a certain percentage of black voters to elect black candidates has not applied in San Francisco (until Ed Lee, Brown was the most popular mayor among Asian-American voters in city history).

Our team began getting reports from Task Force members that the “ship had sailed” regarding moving the Tenderloin and Central SOMA to D3. The March 25 map instead put the Tenderloin in D5 for the first time. The Task Force subsequently voted 8-1 to reverse their vote, but at their next meeting returned to the map that ends D5 at Divisadero.

In other words, the entire Haight-Ashbury would no longer be in D5. Nor would the Inner Sunset or NOPA, A massive political gerrymandering to reduce tenant power was being carried out in pro-tenant, tenant-majority San Francisco.

Political agendas

San Francisco politics is divided by those identifying either as “moderates” or “progressives.” Moderately gained control of the Task Force because progressives weren’t focused on getting their allies appointed. Battle-tested veterans of San Francisco’s political wars did not apply. Progressives routinely outnumber moderates at redistricting hearings but it’s the composition of the Task Force that most counts.

The nine member Task Force had only two members, Chair Townsend and José María (Chema) Hernandez Gil, who were well known in the political community. One member only recently moved to San Francisco. Others had little familiarity with the city’s political history. The Task Force lacked the skills and experience required to make the best decisions in a highly charged political environment (this was further shown last night when one task force member proposed out of nowhere that the Tenderloin be split between D5 and D6. Nobody with knowledge of the district elections history for the tenderloin would ever consider such a move).

Why target Preston? He is the supervisor most publicly critical of Mayor Breed. He ran against Breed for supervisor. He unseated her supervisor appointee, Vallie Brown, and then defeated her again. I don’t think there are two elected officials in the city with a worst relationship than Preston and Breed.

Preston also consistently sponsors legislation to help tenants. And he gets legislation passed. This has made him landlords number one target.

The gerrymandering to weaken the board’s tenant power is a replay of the August 1980 special election to overturn district elections. A major reason landlord and downtown interests pushed the recall was to prevent a pro-tenant district board from passing vacancy control. These interests didn’t care that it was completely undemocratic to hold a summer special election; landlord interests don’t care what the optics look like so long as they can weaken tenant power and unseat Dean Preston.

Why Everyone Should Care

This D5 massacre goes far beyond Dean Preston. In fact, I believe Preston will win re-election in 2024 under the new district lines.

The real victims here are the residents of D5 who are being suddenly moved to another district. I would bet at least 75% of those impacted have no idea this is happening. How would they know? The last big media coverage was after the vote rejecting the splitting up of D5. With meetings going into the early morning even hard core activists can’t stay up long enough to know how the Task Force has voted.

How is it that a process that has gone on for months, that as of March 22 has had no public testimony supporting the splitting of D5, could suddenly change course? The answer is that this late switch gave opponents less time to mobilize opposition.

I wish the late Planning Commissioner and Supervisor Sue Bierman were alive to publicly denounce what is being done to her beloved Haight-Ashbury. Bierman did not stop a freeway from going through Golden Gate Park to see her community radically split up.

For all of its increased wealth, the Haight-Ashbury remains pro-tenant. And that is unacceptable to those redrawing district lines.

Today’s meeting starts at 3pm and has no finish time. Tomorrow’s meeting starts at 10am. I’ll update this story after the Saturday vote.

Randy Shaw

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco

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“I think the wind seems to be blowing here,” said Dr. George Rutherford, epidemiologist at UCSF. “I don’t see the state or federal government stepping in. It will largely be a private sector solution that is government sponsored but not mandated. It will be like ‘no shoes, no shirt, no service’.”

Even if the state does not require companies to ask their customers to present digital vaccination cards, the simple provision of the digital infrastructure and the gentle stimulation of companies in this direction – which is already the case with the vaccination of employees – could be a de facto Create a system of vaccination records. The state’s digital IDs are not as easy to forge as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s physical vaccination cards and could become the preferred method of verifying vaccine status in the state.

Vaccination records are controversial. Some Republican-led states have banned communities from adopting a vaccination record, and even in heavily Democratic California, where 61% of the population is fully vaccinated, Newsom avoids using the phrase.

The only state where a version of “vaccine passports” has been introduced on a relatively large scale is Hawaii, a major tourist center with millions of visitors Annual visitors from the mainland. It didn’t go well.

In early July, Hawaii launched its Safe Travels Program, which allows travelers to skip a quarantine period or receive a negative test in order to provide proof of vaccination. According to local TV reports, the first day of the broadcast at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport was a mess.

As part of the program, travelers were required to post pictures of their vaccination cards to the Safe Travels website in advance. As soon as travelers arrived at the airport, the waiting time for the control lines was more than an hour and there were finger pointing.

“They said about 90% of the cards submitted through Safe Travels have not yet been verified by Hawaii,” one traveler told KHON2.

Meanwhile, the state said that 70% of travelers didn’t properly follow the instructions when uploading their cards. Originally, Hawaii only allowed uploading images from the official CDC cards, but later allowed vaccination cards from health care providers or hospitals to be uploaded.

“Uploading the vaccination card is not easy. Unless you are tech-savvy, regardless of whether seniors are having difficulty uploading the carry card, or the phone functions do not have this ability to upload the card or vaccination card,” Bob Burr, the Operations manager of the agency behind Safe Travels, told KITV4.

California has no immediate plans to introduce vaccination records for travel, but Hawaii’s challenges with the Safe Travels system raise some questions about the California digital system. As soon as Californians submit information about their vaccination card (name, date of birth, cell phone number, email), they should receive their digital card with a QR code.

The operative phrase there is “should”.

Tens of thousands of Californians report delays in getting their QR codes, and a recent report from the San Francisco Chronicle describes some of the problems behind the scenes with the system (SFGATE and San Francisco Chronicle are both owned and operated by Hearst) independently ).

According to the Chronicle, many of vaccine site records are incomplete, with typos, or otherwise inaccurate, and the state has a team of 80 people who work on troubleshooting and correcting records. There is no timetable for when there will be minimal delays.

Only 1.4 million people have successfully received their digital records, which is about 3.5% of the California population. If restaurants, bars, sports venues, and other businesses considering vaccine passports choose to use the state’s digital system, it is highly unlikely that the state will be able to cope with the influx of vaccinees using their digital Find maps, process them quickly and efficiently, and thus create another Hawaiian airport location.

The other important lesson for California is how unvaccinated individuals respond to companies requiring proof of vaccination to enter.

Bars and restaurants on Oahu that were operating at full capacity were instructed to require customers to provide evidence of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within the past 48 hours to enter, and Hawaii News Now reported that the facilities subsequently “Eaten alive” by unhappy customers have been using the policy.

“That would be difficult to handle and I didn’t want to get my employees into a situation,” said one restaurant owner who does not follow the order.

Reports of unruly restaurant goers are piling up in California, and the Hawaii Restaurant Association said it could not name a single restaurant that is still sticking to the order after widespread backlash.

From a practical standpoint, it seems unlikely that companies can rely on the state’s slow digital system as the primary method of checking vaccinations. Instead, companies must use physical vaccination cards that are easily forged or lost. However, physical cards still have the issues of compliance and the situation where employees can be confronted and harassed by customers.

The only development that could potentially differentiate the California vaccination record from the Hawaiian one is the full FDA approval of the COVID-19 vaccines, which in theory would remove the remaining excuses for not vaccinating. Rutherford expects full approval sometime in the fall.

“Once it is not just an emergency approval, certain people who have hesitated can move on and the vaccine can be more easily prescribed,” Rutherford said. “The reason places like the US military haven’t mandated the vaccine is because it’s not fully approved. Once that is the case, people can start pushing buttons and implement it. “

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(Google Street View)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – The superintendent at the San Francisco Justice Hall said water flowed through secured pipes on the fifth floor Friday morning into a hallway, but it has since been cleaned.

“There was no poop all the way down the hall,” said site supervisor Scott Cline.

CONTINUE READING: Families, teachers march at rallies in the Bay Area calling for schools to reopen

Civil engineers and custodians were made aware of the interruption around 9 a.m. and arrived on the fifth floor to find water on the floor.

The fifth floor still serves as office space for some San Francisco Police Department employees, although most police officers, including Chief Greg Suhr, have moved to the newly constructed public security building.

Cline said everything near the stalemate has been cleaned and sanitized and will be cleaned and sanitized again this weekend.

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He said fans and dehumidifiers are set up to ensure the carpet that has just been cleaned dries on time for Monday business hours.

Cline said there are frequent interruptions on the top two floors of the building, floors six and seven, where the county jail is located.

He said inmates were known to clog the building’s system with shirts and other debris.

The superintendent couldn’t say exactly what caused the hiatus on Friday.

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