Innovative Solutions

By Dennis Herrera

Dennis Herrera understands that it takes more than just a good lawyer to be an effective City Attorney. It takes a leader. That's why Herrera takes innovative approaches to many of the cases his office handles--not simply to protect San Francisco's tax dollars, but to help improve San Francisco's neighborhoods.

Herrera won tough, enforceable injunctions to ensure compliance with health and safety codes at low-income properties in San Francisco's Hunters Point neighborhood.He negotiated a $1 million payment from the company as seed money to improve recreational facilities for neighborhood youth.And he helped forge an improbable alliance among the City, AIMCO, the San Francisco Housing Authority, the San Francisco Boys & Girls Clubs, the San Francisco Giants and the San Francisco 49ers.

Today, the neighborhood boasts the state-of-the-art Willie Mays Clubhouse in Hunters Point -- the only full-service resource for young people in the community -- which includes the new Junior Giants Baseball Field.

In 2001, the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) first uncovered building and health code violations at over 600 affordable housing units in San Francisco's Hunters Point.The units were owned by a Denver-based investment trust that was among the nation's largest owner of subsidized housing. After a thorough investigation, DBI issued multiple notices of code violations and attempted to force compliance. When AIMCO refused to address the problems, DBI sought the assistance of the City Attorney's Office.

The City Attorney filed a code enforcement action in January 2002 against AIMCO and related companies for multiple violations of the building and health codes.The violations occurred at four low-income HUD-subsidized apartment buildings in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods. The City Attorney also charged AIMCO with unfair business practices related to its management of the apartments. (City and County of San Francisco v. AIMCO, San Francisco Superior Court No. 404-010).

In September 2004, after two years of enforcement actions and negotiations, the City Attorney reached a landmark settlement with AIMCO.The agreement required abatement of all code violations and guaranteed that the properties would remain affordable through 2020.The settlement also provided incentives for tens of millions of dollars in capital investments in the contested properties and secured a multi-million dollar cash settlement to be paid to the City.Especially significant for the children of Bayview and Hunters Point was a requirement in the negotiated settlement that $1,000,000 of the cash settlement be dedicated to establishing a new Bayview/Hunter's Point Boys and Girls Club (BGCSF) with an associated office of the San Francisco Police Department.The goal of this unique settlement condition was to provide recreational opportunities, enhance public safety, and to reduce crime in the very neighborhoods hurt by AIMCO's unlawful practices.

In March 2005, the City, working in cooperation with the San Francisco Housing Authority and the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco, entered into a series of agreements to provide for renovation of the existing buildings and facilities at the Milton Meyer Center, at 195 Kiska Road, a site near the affected AIMCO properties.BGCSF agreed to renovate, open and operate the new club, with the San Francisco Police Department continuing to operate an office with designated community policing officers at these facilities.In February 2006, under the terms of the settlement agreement, AIMCO's $1 million payment plus interest was disbursed by the City Attorney to BGCSF for the project.The new club, born from the creative settlement with AIMCO, provides much-needed recreational opportunities for youth in the Bayview-Hunters Point community, while helping to improve public safety and build trust between the San Francisco Police Department and the Bayview and Hunters Point residents.