Provided homes for parolees, probationers; used multiple aliases

Sought $34,655,437 in fraudulent PPP loans during COVID

Jury found former religious leader guilty on 44 felony counts

By U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California

OAKLAND – Attila Colar, aka Dahood Sharieff Bey, aka Sharieff Dahood Bey, aka Sharieff Pasha, aka David Lee, aka Georgi Petrakov, was sentenced to serve 204 months (17 years) in prison after being convicted of forty-four (44) felonies including conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, false statements to a bank, destruction of property to prevent a search, possession of a firearm as a felon, making a false tax return, obstruction, and witness tampering. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr., U.S. District Judge.

Colar, 51, of Richmond, Calif., was convicted of the crimes by a jury on June 23, 2023, after a three-week trial. Colar is the former Chief Executive Officer of All Hands on Deck, a Richmond, Calif., company that held itself out as providing a residential reentry home for probationers, parolees, homeless persons, and persons with mild mental illness. In finding him guilty of the sundry crimes, the jury concluded Colar carried out multiple schemes to defraud, including defrauding organizations that placed residents at his company’s transitional housing facilities and defrauding several lenders that were participating in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The jury also found that Colar attempted to destroy evidence, obstructed the FBI’s and grand jury’s investigations into his crimes, and tampered with a witness by attempting to concealing the witness while law enforcement was taking steps to execute a material witness order.

According to opengovus.com the organization was incorporated in Hercules and is listed as a “Minority-Owned”, and “Black American Owned” non-profit in 2015 but the registration has expired. The only officer listed is Jamlia Pasha as Manager.

According to transitionalhousing.org, “All Hands on Deck Ink is a clean and sober living environment that offers a structured living program for recovering individuals, Homeless Veterans, Parolees, and Individuals with Mental Health Conditions. The environment creates good habits and healthy outlooks that will lead their residents to positive results. Offer all of the residents access to a clean and stable environment, life skill courses, 12 step program, educational opportunities, business and economic training, and resource referrals. There is a sliding scale fee. Accept self pay, vouchers and other housing rent assistance programs. Residents will have access to internet, washer and dryer, cable, a healthy meal, programs, resources and more. As accepting new residents now, call their housing managers today for placement.” It has a location at a home in El Sobrante. That information was last updated on July 13, 2023.

“In the wake of a national crisis, the government established programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program, to ease the pain inflicted by a global pandemic,” said Ismail J. Ramsey, United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. “Colar took this opportunity to defraud the government, while also defrauding several other initiatives intended to help the homeless, newly released prisoners, and those with drug problems, to name just a few of his victims. This sentence should serve as a warning that this office will pursue with vigor those who seek to line their own pockets by defrauding government efforts to address our communities’ needs.”

“Colar is now facing the consequences for his attempt to steal from a taxpayer-funded program designed to offer crucial relief to those businesses affected during the pandemic,” said Robert K. Tripp, Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We are proud to have worked in close coordination with our federal partners to ensure justice prevailed in this case.”

“This sentencing sends a clear warning that you will be brought to justice if you defraud the federal government of pandemic relief funds,” said Jon Ellwanger, Special Agent in Charge, Western Region, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “We are proud to have worked with our federal law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to hold Mr. Colar accountable for his crimes.”

“Abusing SBA’s pandemic relief programs that are intended to provide critical relief to small businesses is unconscionable.” said SBA OIG’s Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King. “This sentencing further showcases that those who fraudulently take advantage of federal government programs will face justice for their selfish deeds. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and commitment to seeing justice served.”

“Mr. Colar attempted to defraud the U.S. government by filing multiple false tax documents to further his Paycheck Protection Program scheme. Along the way, he harmed the members of the community those funds are designed to aid and protect,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian of the Oakland Field Office. “This sentencing reinforces that people who abuse the U.S. tax system and victimize taxpayers will be held accountable. IRS Criminal Investigation agents work closely with multiple agencies to help ensure those who choose to break the law are caught and punished. I would like to thank the United States’ Attorney’s Office’s and its federal partners for working together to achieve a just result.”

“When individuals corruptly obstruct the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code and file documents under false pretenses, they defraud and steal funds from taxpayer-funded programs intended to assist small businesses. TIGTA will always pursue these individuals and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” stated Special Agent in Charge Rod Ammari. “I want to thank our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their joint efforts to hold these criminals accountable for their actions.”

Evidence at trial showed that starting in late 2018, Colar engaged in a scheme to defraud, among others, GEO Reentry, which provided treatment and supervision programs for adult probationers, parolees, and pretrial defendants in residential, in-custody, and non-residential reentry centers for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Specifically, in or about 2019, Colar fraudulently induced GEO Reentry to refer parolees to All Hands on Deck using falsified fire inspection clearance reports, a false letter of recommendation, false security clearance documents, and false and misleading information about its staff.

Additional evidence demonstrated that in April and June of 2020, Colar engaged in a second scheme to defraud lenders participating in the PPP lending plan authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who were suffering from the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to the CARES Act, the SBA managed the PPP lending plan. Trial evidence established Colar submitted multiple loan applications on behalf of All Hands on Deck to lenders that were false and misleading. For example, the applications substantially overstated the number and payroll of All Hands on Deck employees—while Colar’s loan applications stated All Hands on Deck had approximately 73 to 81 employees, the business had, in fact, perhaps other than himself, no salaried employees.

Colar was also convicted of offenses related to the submission of multiple fraudulent loan applications in the name of other companies. The evidence demonstrated Colar hastily revived two dormant companies, and then submitted loan applications from the PPP lending plan for the bogus businesses. To carry out this scheme to defraud, Colar used, without legal authority, the names and identities of two persons living in his residential reentry facility. Colar falsely represented that the residents were “CEO”s of companies with hundreds of employees with million-dollar payrolls.

In all, the evidence at trial showed that Colar submitted a total of 16 fraudulent loan applications to the PPP lending plan seeking approximately $34,655,437 in PPP loans.

Colar also was convicted of obstruction and witness tampering relating to the investigations into his crimes. Colar has been found guilty of destroying documents during a search of his home, lying to the FBI about a firearm, falsifying records produced to the grand jury, interfering with the representation by counsel of a material witness by impersonating the witness’s Power of Attorney, coaching a witness to falsely state that the witness was the CEO of one of Colar’s bogus companies that submitted fraudulent loan applications, and concealing a witness in multiple hotels and other locations in the Bay Area to forestall or prevent the witness from providing testimony in the federal grand jury.

In sum, Colar was convicted of forty-four (44) federal criminal offenses for his conduct. The convictions include the following: one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349; one count to commit conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349; two counts of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344; sixteen counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343; eight counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A; two counts of false statement to a bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014; one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g); one count of destruction of property to prevent a search or seizure, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2232(a); one count of obstruction of justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2); two counts of falsification of records in a federal investigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519; six counts of making a false tax return, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206; one count of conspiracy to tamper with a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k); one count of tampering with a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1); and one count of tampering with a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(2).

In addition to the prison term, Judge Gilliam also ordered Colar to serve 60 months (five years) of supervised release, to begin after his prison term. Restitution will be determined at a later date. Colar is currently in federal custody and will begin serving his prison term immediately.

According to an Oct. 3, 2020 ABC7 News report, “Colar was the leader of a Black Muslim temple in Oakland and a group that was a spinoff of Your Black Muslim Bakery, after the leader of the bakery was arrested and later convicted of ordering the murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey.” He “was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to five years in state prison for submitting bogus documents to win security contracts with Alameda County, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara J. Valliere, Adam A. Reeves, and Ross D. Mazer are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Laurie Worthen and Legal Assistant Kathy Tat. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Internal Revenue Service: Criminal Investigation, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

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It’s the same tour he and his team have given to several California officials and service providers, all looking for new answers to the Golden State’s dire homelessness crisis. As a result, Austin-inspired villages are now springing up in California.

These developments add a new twist to the “Housing First” philosophy dominant in California’s homeless programs. In these Austin-influenced villages, there’s a belief that housing isn’t enough—you also need community.

An employee plants sunflowers at Community First! Village in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. (CalMatters/Jordan Vonderhaar)

Left: Chickens and other farm animals provide food for Community First residents! Village in Austin, Texas. Center: Leafy greens and other vegetables are grown in an aquaponic greenhouse. Right: Tilapia are grown as part of an aquaculture food operation. (Cal Matters/Jordan Vonderhaar)

The non-profit organization Salt + Light is building an Austin-inspired permanent residential village near Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley. Dubbed Neighborhood Village, it will consist of 53 mobile homes with amenities such as a dog park, garden, columbarium, pop-up cinema, art classes and mobile medical clinics. As in Austin, they will also have “missionaries” — volunteers who live on site, look after their formerly homeless neighbors around the clock and help build a sense of community.

Adrianne Hillman, CEO of Salt + Light, first visited Austin’s small home village in 2018.

“The first time I went there, I actually cried when I got there,” she said. “I was pretty blown away by the beauty. It touched me on a spiritual level.”

Convinced that someone needed to bring the model to California, Hillman turned her life upside down, founded a nonprofit organization, and set to work.

She’s not the only Californian fascinated by the utopian village of Community First, with its small, cute houses, lovingly landscaped gardens and streets with names like Peaceful Path and Goodness Way. Another copycat project arose in the East Bay city of Livermore. Two others are trying to get back on their feet, one in Silicon Valley and the other in Bakersfield.

Two City Council members from Richmond, in the East Bay Area, attended a Community First symposium in April and came home with a vision to repeat what they saw.

“I was really, really impressed,” said Councilor Gayle McLaughlin. She wants to work with Contra Costa County and local nonprofits to build something similar – albeit smaller – on a 3.5-acre site just outside the city limits.

Not enough tiny houses for everyone who wants them

Community First offers several tiny home options. For example, the 200-square-foot micro-homes offer electricity but no plumbing (residents share shared bathrooms), and offer space for a bed, as well as a small living area with a fridge, freezer, microwave, crock pot, and coffee maker. The village also has larger models, including prefabricated houses with an area of ​​about 400 square meters and full water supply. They have a bedroom, a living area with a couch and a small dining table, a mini kitchen and a bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower.

With land scarce in California, it would be difficult to build enough small homes to make a noticeable difference in the state’s homelessness crisis. Even Austin’s small home village hasn’t solved the problem.

Tiny houses used as apartments on Community First! Village in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. (CalMatters/Jordan Vonderhaar)

Camps are still plentiful in the city’s green belts, and the estimated number of homeless people in the county rose 40% between 2019 and 2022, according to federally mandated point-in-time census. In 2021, disgruntled Austin voters passed legislation banning public camping, and activists say homeless people are now being forced to move from camp to camp because of a shortage of emergency shelters or long-term housing.

Matt Bradley, 39, said it would be “nice” to move to the tiny home village and not have to constantly worry about someone stealing their belongings. Bradley, one of many people living in a tent in the woods behind Austin’s South Town Square mall, said he’s been on the apartment waiting list for three years. The police come by at regular intervals and check him and his neighbors.

“They calm us down and say help is coming,” Bradley said. “But you know, we’re still waiting.”

Austin vs California

Left: Caravans serve as homes at Community First! Village in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. (CalMatters/Jordan Vonderhaar). Right: A Tiny Home Village as an affordable solution to housing the homeless in Sacramento on September 29, 2022. (CalMatters/Rahul Lal)

In a way, homeless service providers in California are inclined to like what they see in Austin. State and local politicians have increasingly embraced tiny homes as a solution to homelessness since the pandemic, when concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in overcrowded shelters shaped state policy. Gov. Gavin Newsom is distributing 1,200 tiny homes for homeless residents in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose and San Diego counties.

However, there are some major differences between Austin Tiny Homes and most similar programs in California.

In California, tiny houses are almost exclusively used as emergency shelters. Residents are expected to move from the micro-apartments to traditional apartments — sometimes in just a few months and often with low success rates. In contrast, Community First is permanent housing. Residents pay rent (ranging from about $370 to $440 a month for a tiny house including utilities, or $450 for an RV — plus electricity and propane) and can live there until they die.

The sheer size of Community First also sets it apart from other tiny home projects. It’s probably the largest in the country for the homeless. Built on 120 acres just outside the city limits, the nearly 400 habitable homes are home to 345 formerly homeless people and 40 missionaries. By the end of the year, the number is expected to increase to 530 apartments. In addition, construction is underway on another 600 houses across the street, which are expected to be completed over the next six years. Travis County recently contributed $35 million to build an additional 750 homes on a separate lot 15 minutes away.

The county’s commitment is the first time the organization has received public funding. Until then, it had depended on private donations and large donations from wealthy donors such as Michael and Susan Dell. This is another departure from California, where tiny home projects typically rely heavily on city, county, and state funding.

Related story: How Texas shrank its homeless population and what California can learn from it

In the major California cities where homelessness is most prevalent — Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, for example — it’s nearly impossible to find huge lots that would fit hundreds of tiny homes.

“The tiny houses are often just not big enough to be helpful,” said Marybeth Shinn, a professor at Vanderbilt University who specializes in homelessness.

And there’s a debate over whether tiny homes should be accepted as permanent housing. About two-thirds of tiny houses in the village of Austin have no plumbing, forcing residents to leave their units to access shared bathrooms.

The units with no bathrooms do not meet the housing quality standards set by the federal government, which has some activists thinking.

A resident cooks breakfast for his neighbors in one of Community First’s communal kitchens! Village in Austin, Texas on May 12, 2023. (CalMatters/Jordan Vonderhaar)

“The focus has to be housing someone,” said Alex Visotzky, senior California political scientist at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “And housing means having a bathroom, a kitchen, a sense of privacy, tenancy rights and the stability that comes with that. That must be the end goal. That’s what ends a person’s homelessness.”

Austin’s Graham says it’s “bullshit”. If people want to live in a small housing unit they can afford, with no bathrooms, that should be their right, he said. Also, no one in his community has to walk more than 100 feet to a toilet, he said.

“People should have a choice,” Graham said, “and we should get people out of the misery in which they live as soon as possible.”

A sense of belonging

Graham, who lives in the tiny home village himself, describes the community as cheerful with a “side salad full of excitement”. Many residents have mental health issues and it’s not uncommon to see someone walking down the street naked, he said. The program does not require residents to be sober, and many have addictions. But after moving into the village, residents who use drugs report using on average 80% less than on the street, Graham said.

Blair Racine, 69, has lived at Community First in Austin for five years. He pays about $500 a month to rent an old 1990s RV — one of the original dwellings before the organization started building fancier tiny houses. Racine, a University of Minnesota graduate and former real estate agent, said he ended up homeless after a former business partner got him into financial trouble and left him without family support to fall back on. He spent four years on the streets and in homeless shelters.

Now Racine feels like he belongs. People here call him “the Mayor” and he spends his days offering a listening ear and emotional support to his neighbors. He plans to live here until his death. Then he wants to be buried on site.

“I came here and found this to be my place,” he said. “And the rest is history.”

About the author

Marisa Kendall reports on the California homelessness crisis for CalMatters. She previously covered homelessness for the Bay Area News Group, the courts for The Recorder in San Francisco, and crime for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, DC

About CalMatters

CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to explaining California politics and politics.

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Anti-trans legislation is rocking the nation. Bills banning drag performances are appearing in state houses. Violence and malevolence are turning children’s drag story hour events into headline protests.

San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by appointing the country’s first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position meant to represent the city’s famed LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack.

In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says creating a position that not only supports drag culture but also government resources was a natural step provides for this. D’Arcy Drollinger, a popular drag performer and nightclub owner, has been awarded a $55,000 stipend for her 18-month role as the city’s first drag honoree.

“My goal is to make San Francisco shine. I think drag performers bring a lot of glitz, humor, glamor and silliness into the world. I think that’s one of the reasons why drag is so successful,” Drollinger said, adding that she expects to be in the drag scene throughout her role. “I’m going to be in the drag scene pretty much 24/7 for the next 18 months.”

She noted that San Francisco’s drag community was already politically engaged and active.

“The drag community in San Francisco has a lot of power,” she said. “I feel very honored to be able to take this further step.”

West Hollywood is likely to follow suit

West Hollywood is close to naming its own drag honoree later this month, albeit at a much lower salary and with limited commitments. In New York, where the Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, a 2021 attempt to create such a job failed in a committee, reflecting the challenges of creating such jobs even in the United States linked to liberal cities.

In San Francisco, Drollinger will open the role three weeks before Pride Month begins. Her responsibilities range from producing and attending drag events, to serving as a spokesperson for San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community, to assisting officials in ensuring the city’s drag history is “shared, honored, and preserved.” The job posting was looking for someone who “embodies San Francisco’s historic, diverse, and inclusive drag culture and uplifts the entire community nationally and internationally.”

The city’s mayor called Drollinger a “bright star in San Francisco” for her advocacy and nurturing of the city’s drag community.

“Whether it was to tragedy or to celebrate a special occasion, she was truly a leader in this community and a supporter of so many others,” Breed told The Associated Press.

Drollinger said she felt both nervous and honored to be told the job was hers, given the recent violence against drag performers, even in the Bay Area.

“I know there are a lot of anti-drag people out there, and they’re very loud, right? But I don’t want to live my life in the shadow of fear either. I don’t want intimidation to stop me from growing,” she said. “So yeah, I’m a little nervous. But I’ve come from a lot of great people and a lot of fabulousness.”

Members of the Proud Boys sparked a hate crime investigation last June when they protested and shouted insults outside a Bay Area library where the Drag Story Hour, where drag queens read to children, was held. In Oregon last year, protesters – some armed – threw rocks and smoke grenades at each other before a drag event.

In November, a gunman at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre, killing five and injuring 17 others. The suspect was charged with hate crimes and murder.

The American Civil Liberties Union is prosecuting 474 anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the US, including Tennessee’s first law in the nation that essentially prohibits towing on public property or in the presence of a minor. A federal judge temporarily blocked the measure hours before it was due to take effect in late March.

Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Story Hour, a global nonprofit events network founded in San Francisco in 2015, said he hopes other cities across the country will launch their own drag laureate programs.

“It’s just about having that visibility and having that personal human connection — the social history of someone in your community who looks like you, or someone you see or interact with regularly,” Hamilt said .

New York City Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Johnson plans to continue lobbying for a drag laureate in her city if the position doesn’t gain support this year. Jack McClatchy, the elected official’s legislative and budget director, could not give a specific reason why the effort has stalled, merely pointing out that it is one of more than 1,000 bills before the council.

West Hollywood, which was founded in part by LGBTQ+ activists in 1984, is expected to name its drag laurate in the coming weeks after an attempt in 2021 fell through over a salary dispute. Officials originally advertised the position with a $5,000 stipend, nearly double the city’s poetry award winner. Pushback prompted the council to increase the amount to $15,000 per year for the two-year term beginning on July 16, International Drag Day.

Drollinger is the owner of the Oasis nightclub, which hosted “Meals on Heels” following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, where drag performers brought food, cocktails and lip-synching performances to home-based customers with food, cocktails and lip-synching performances.

“I hope that the drag award winner’s position sends a signal to the rest of the country that drag is not something to be afraid of,” Drollinger said. “Drag is something to celebrate.”

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Dave Chappelle asked the crowd at his comedy show to “make some noise for the world’s richest man.”

They did. Lots of booing.

It was a rather uncomfortable appearance for Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, at Chappelle’s show with Chris Rock on Sunday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco. At the end of the show, Chappelle was talking about the need to get along and communicate with people with different viewpoints and perspectives.

He invited Musk onstage. The billionaire obliged, wearing an “I Love Twitter” T-shirt. Loud boos filled the arena – along with some cheers, too.

Chappelle joked to Musk: “Sounds like some of those people you fired.” As the boos continued to ring out, the comic pointed out that “All you people are booing, and I’m just pointing out the obvious — are in terrible seats.”

Twitter is going through massive changes since Musk took over the social media platform, with the first few weeks of tenure seeing widespread layoffs and the restoration of several blocked accounts, including those of former president Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The other performers from the night, including Rock, Donnell Rawlings from “Chappelle’s Show” and the hip hop group Black Star, came up on stage to say goodnight, while Musk also stayed on stage. Chappelle asked Musk to repeat Rawlings’ catch phrase from their classic show – “I’m rich b—-” Rawlings went first, and then Musk complied.

That’s when Chappelle asked the crowd not to boo Musk as he needs him to open up the first comedy club on Mars. He also asked Musk if he could help Black Star’s Talib Kweli, who Chappelle said had been banned from Twitter.

Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, responded by saying: “Twitter customer service here.”

He stayed onstage and shook hands with many of the performers. Attendees had been required to lock up their phones during the show, but a few videos of the encounter made their way online.

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What takes four years to make and costs more than $20,000? A trash can in San Francisco.

That costly, boxy bin is among six trash cans hitting San Francisco’s streets this summer in the city’s long saga in search of the perfect can. Overflowing trash cans are a common sight in the Northern California city, along with piles of used clothes, shoes, furniture, and other items strewn about on sometimes-impassable sidewalks.

City officials hired a Bay Area industrial firm to custom-design the pricey trash can along with two other prototypes that cost taxpayers $19,000 and $11,000 each. This summer, residents have the opportunity to evaluate them along with three off-the-shelf options added to the pilot program after officials faced criticism.

Last month, the city deployed 15 custom-made trash cans and 11 off-the-shelf trash cans — each of those costing from $630 to $2,800 — with QR codes affixed to them asking residents to fill out a survey. City officials said they intend to pay no more than $3,000 per can.

San Francisco began its search for the perfect trash can in 2018 when officials decided it was time to replace the more than 3,000 public bins that have been on the streets for almost 20 years.

Officials say the current bins have too big a hole that allows for easy rummaging. The bins also have hinges that need constant repair and locks that are easy to breach. Some people also topple them over, cover them in graffiti, or set them on fire.

The city is so serious about the endeavor it has created interactive maps so residents can track and test the different designs, which include the Soft Square, the priciest prototype at $20,900. The boxy stainless steel receptacle has openings for trash and for can and bottle recycling and includes a foot pedal. The Slim Silhouette, at $18,800 per prototype, is made of stainless steel bars that would give graffiti artists less space to tag.

If one of the custom-designed bins is chosen, the cost to mass produce it will be $2,000 to $3,000 per piece, said Beth Rubenstein, a spokeswoman for San Francisco’s Department of Public Works.

“We live in a beautiful city, and we want (the trash can) to be functional and cost-effective, but it needs to be beautiful,” she said.

But the good looks of the shiny new trash cans have not protected them from vandalism and disrespect. Three weeks after being unveiled, several have already been tagged with orange and white graffiti. Others already show the drip stains of inconsiderate coffee drinkers or have attracted dumping, with people leaving dilapidated bathroom cabinets and plastic bags full of empty wine bottles next to them.

Trash on San Francisco city streets has been an issue for decades. In 2007, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom eliminated about 1,500 of the city’s 4,500 trash cans because he said they were not helping keep streets clean and were becoming magnets for more trash. Officials couldn’t say how many receptacles are currently on the curb, but the city plans to replace at least 3,000.

“A trash can is one of the most basic functions of city governance and if the city can’t do something as simple as this, how can they solve the bigger issues of homelessness and safety and poverty?” asked Matt Haney, a former supervisor who lives in the Tenderloin neighborhood and now represents the area in the California Assembly.

New trash cans will be the latest addition to the city’s arsenal against its dirty streets. In 2014, San Francisco launched its “Pit Stop” program in the Tenderloin neighborhood, the epicenter of drug dealing and homelessness in the city, setting up portable public toilets. In 2018, the city created a six-person “poop patrol” team amid demand to power wash sidewalks.

Haney said that as a supervisor he reluctantly agreed last year to approve the pilot program despite the high prices to avoid delays.

“I think most people, including me, would say just replace the damn cans with cans that we know work in other cities, just do it,” he said.

Haney said the “whole trash can saga has this stench of corruption,” referring to disgraced former Department of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who pleaded guilty in January to federal wire fraud charges. Nuru awarded the contract to maintain San Francisco’s trash cans to a company owned by a relative of a developer who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is cooperating with federal authorities in the case against Nuru.

On top of the corruption, the city has long been the butt of jokes for how long it takes to complete public works projects of all kinds.

A bus rapid transit system along Van Ness Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, finally opened this year after 27 years of construction. A new subway line connecting Chinatown with other areas of the city that started construction in 2010 is four years behind schedule. In 2017, the city completed the Transbay Transit Center only a year late, but the $2 billion terminal abruptly shut down six weeks later after crews discovered two cracked steel girders.

Ultimately, what trash can the city gets will depend on feedback from sanitation employees, and the surveys completed by the end of September, Rubenstein said. The new cans are not expected on the streets until the end of 2023.

Diane Torkelson, who often picks up trash in her Inner Richmond neighborhood with other volunteers, recently trekked 5 miles (8 kilometers) with a dozen other civic-minded San Franciscans to examine three of the cans.

The two prototypes were already full when the group arrived to check them out, she said.

“If the trash can is full, it’s of no use, no matter how well it was designed,” she said.

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SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco parents and other residents frustrated by the city’s scandal-plagued Board of Education will get a chance to recall three of its members.

City officials announced Monday that a special municipal election will be held on Feb. 15 after an effort to recall the board members gained enough signatures to put it on the ballot. The board has seven members.

Voters will decide the fate of Board President Gabriela Lopez, Vice President Faauuga Moliga, and Commissioner Alison Collins.

Pandemic Handling Fuels Recall Effort

The recall effort stemmed from anger and frustration at how the school board handled the pandemic. Most of San Francisco’s 115 public schools were kept closed for much of the last year, even as nearby districts eventually reopened classrooms and private schools across the city held in-person classes.

The San Francisco school board drew national attention for a variety of self-inflicted controversies, including an effort to rename 44 schools that was part of a racial reckoning that critics said went too far.

The renaming effort was criticized for historical inaccuracies and shoddy research as well as being a waste of time, when the city’s 57,000 K-12 students were struggling with distance learning and the focus should have been on getting classrooms open. The plan was ultimately scrapped.

End of Merit-Based Admissions Criticized

The board also faced criticism for a decision to end merit-based admissions to San Francisco’s top public high school, Lowell, and use the same lottery-based system that admits students to other high schools.

After the renaming debacle, the board faced multiple lawsuits, including one from the city of San Francisco which took the dramatic step of suing the school district and the board to pressure both to reopen classrooms more quickly.

Collins came under fire in March for tweets she wrote in 2016 that were widely criticized as racist. In the tweets, Collins, who is Black, said Asian Americans used “white supremacist” thinking to get ahead and were racist toward Black students.

Collins said the tweets were taken out of context and posted before she held her school board position. She refused to take them down or apologize for the wording and ignored calls from parents and public officials, including Mayor London Breed, for her resignation.

Mayor Would Appoint Interim Replacements

If any of the three board members are recalled, Breed would appoint their interim replacements.

Critics say the recall effort is a waste of time and money, as the district faces a number of challenges including a $116 million shortfall next year and the need to replace retiring Superintendent Vince Matthews.

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How Much Out of Control is the San Francisco Attorney’s Office under DA Chesa Boudin?

NBCBayArea.com reports that at least 51 lawyers have resigned or fired since Boudin took office in January 2020. That’s about a third of the department’s lawyers.

San Francisco AND Chesa Boudin

“Chesa takes a radical approach of avoiding criminal charges in the first place and simply releasing people without rehabilitation and placing them in positions where they are more likely to reoffend,” said a resigned prosecutor, Brooke Jenkins

“As an African American and a Latino woman, I would wholeheartedly agree that the criminal justice system takes a lot of work, but as a district attorney, it’s your job to strike a balance.”

“As an African American and a Latino woman, I would wholeheartedly agree that the criminal justice system takes a lot of work, but as a district attorney, it’s your job to strike a balance.”

Judge criticizes the prosecutor’s office

In September, San Francisco Superior Court Justice Bruce Chan criticized Boudin’s office from the bank for “constant turnover” and neglect of “the basics of competent, professional law enforcement.”

Organizers hoping to call the San Francisco attorney back filed more than 83,000 signatures with election officials on Friday.

A prosecutor’s spokesman said that “District Attorney Boudin has made promoting public safety for the people of San Francisco his priority.” Boudin was previously the San Francisco public defender.

Read more at this link.

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