VOTE! BOMA SF-PAC Voter Guide for the November 8, 2016 Election

BOMA San Francisco's Political Action Committee's Voter Guide
November 8, 2016 Election

Did you know that BOMA San Francisco has a Political Action Committee that campaigns for candidates and issues that promote the economic vitality of the industry and the City and County of San Francisco?

The BOMA SF-PAC is looking forward to the November 8, 2016 election and our members have already endorsed candidates for elected office and taken positions on the following propositions in San Francisco (click here to learn more about the various measures). If you are a registered voter in San Francisco, please reference this guide when you vote!

If you have any questions, please contact Ken Cleaveland at kenc@boma.com and John Bozeman at johnb@boma.com.

Local Propositions

Please click here for a detailed explanation of why these positions were selected. 

NO POSITION --- Proposition A - School Bonds                                                
OPPOSE --- Proposition B - City College Parcel Tax                        
SUPPORT --- Proposition C - Loans to Finance Acquisition and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing                                          
OPPOSE --- Proposition D - Vacancy Appointments    
SUPPORT --- Proposition E - Responsibility for Maintaining Street Trees and Surrounding Sidewalk
NO POSITION --- Proposition F - Youth Voting in Local Elections
NO POSITION --- Proposition G  - Police Oversight
OPPOSE --- Proposition H - Public Advocate
NO POSITION --- Proposition I - Funding for Seniors and Adults with Disabilities
SUPPORT --- Proposition J - Funding for Homelessness and Transportation 
SUPPORT --- Proposition K - General Sales Tax 
OPPOSE --- Proposition L - MTA Appointments and Budget  
OPPOSE --- Proposition M - Housing and Development Commission
NO POSITION --- Proposition N - Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections
SUPPORT --- Proposition O - Office Development in Candlestick Point and Hunters Point
SUPPORT --- Proposition P - Competitive Bidding for Affordable Housing Projects on City-Owned Property
SUPPORT --- Proposition Q - Prohibiting Tents on Public Sidewalks
SUPPORT --- Proposition R - Neighborhood Crime Unit
NO POSITION --- Proposition S - Allocation of Hotel Tax Funds
OPPOSE --- Proposition T - Restricting Gifts and Campaign Contributions from Lobbyists 
SUPPORT --- Proposition U - Affordable Housing Requirements for Market-Rate Development Projects
NO POSITION --- Proposition V - Tax on Distributing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
OPPOSE --- Proposition W - Real Estate Transfer Tax on Properties Over $5 Million
OPPOSE --- Proposition X - Preserving Space fo Neighborhood Arts, Small Businesses and Community Services in Certain Neighborhoods

Regional Proposition

SUPPORT --- Proposition RR - BART Safety, Reliability and Traffic Relief

CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS

Scott Wiener for State Senate

 David Chiu for State Assembly

 Marjan Philhour for SF District 1 Supervisor

 London Breed for SF District 5 Supervisor

 Ben Matranga for SF District 7 Supervisor

Josh Arce for SF District 9 Supervisor

Ahsha Safai for SF District 11 Supervisor

UPDATE: San Francisco Fire Code Changes Could Impact Commercial Property Owners

UPDATE - July 29, 2016

After a few meetings with the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) and BOMA San Francisco's Codes and Regulations Committee leaders, the concerns regarding this potential impact have been assuaged:

• The current Notice of  Violation (NOV) process, impacts to BOMA members and how, together, BOMA and SFFD are working to make the NOV process easier and comprehensible.
• The NOV is the new Notice of Correction. BOMA members will monitor the process with the SFFD and address issues as they arise. SFFD is willing to make the process as pain-free as possible for BOMA members every step of the way.
• Craft NOVs, both Standard and Priority
• The SFFD is willing to work with BOMA members to craft an NOV form that makes sense for both BOMA members AND their tenants since both parties are affected. 
• The best news is the a NOV will not automatically stop all permitted work in a building.
• SFFD will make sure that our members receive a pre-inspection checklist for the commercial building owner AND tenant to reduce NOVs.
•  SFFD stated that some building owners are not getting involved with tenant violations and that the tenant must deal with it themselves. This has increased the SFFD workload.
• The pre-inspection checklist will help reduce the SFFD workload by notifying both constituencies about common issues found BEFORE SFFD inspects. 
• The $240 re-inspection fee for Notice of Violation, Standard for owners and tenants in commercial buildings is waived.
• Although if on the second, fee-free, inspection the NOV has not been resolved, the fee will apply. This is absolutely reasonable. 
• If your NOV Standard escalates to a Priority, the fee will apply. 
• Large, unattractive posters will not be posted on a building’s entrance for common NOV Standard violations. NOV Priority , e.g., imminent life safety issue, yes. 

If you have received an NOV and have questions, please feel free to email johnb@boma.com. 

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Original Post - June 30, 2016

BOMA San Francisco's Codes and Regulations Committee recently discovered a code change from San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) Fire Marshal, Dan DeCossio. The update was passed unanimously at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and it will change the way the SFFD will conduct inspections of all buildings - both residential and commercial:

• There will no longer be a Notice of Correction (NOC) given out for minor fire code violations. Instead, two levels of NOVs (Notice of Violations) will be handed out, Priority and Standard. Both NOVs could potentially hold up the issuance of other permits in buildings that receive them.
• It is unclear at this point how the Fire Department will be handling these infractions, and if there will be any type of differentiation taken between high rise buildings versus multi-tenant residential buildings; the latter was the focus of the legislation.
• The Fire Department acknowledges that mandating the issuance of unwarranted NOVs in fully-sprinkled high rise buildings would redirect their resources where they are less likely to achieve the goal of reducing residential building fires. 
• Supervisor Scott Wiener, the author of the legislation, also acknowledges that he didn’t identify the difference between types of buildings that were to be more stringently inspected by the Fire Department when he wrote his legislation.
• BOMA staff believes that Mr. Wiener may be willing to amend the original ordinance that could clarify the the intent of the measure: Better, more transparent, fire safety inspections of residential buildings . 

Stay tuned for additional updates in the near-term as our members intend to meet with Supervisor Wiener and his staff to discuss this issue further. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact kenc@boma.com and johnb@boma.com