Re: Landlord sues environmental youth organization for vacating mold-infested office

[Guest guest]

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT.

Instead of us being able to sue them, THEY SUE US - for complaining.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! THIS COULD BE YOU!!!

[Guest guest]

WOW, I am speechless. I am not even believing this. This makes me want to punch

a wall or something.

tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

Ironic exodus

Landlord sues environmental youth organization for vacating mold-

infested office space

San Francisco Bay Guardian - San Francisco,CA

BY AILSA CHANG

http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?

entry_id=2042 & catid=4 & volume_id=254 & issue_id=261 & volume_num=41 & issue_

num=06

Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) has empowered youth in

southeast San Francisco to make their bleak neighborhoods healthier

places to live since 1998. But the LEJ's landlords, Alberta Tolliver

and Sammie Young, expected the environmental group to remain in its

Bayview–Hunters Point office enduring mold, mildew, and respiratory

problems every day. When the LEJ decided to leave before its lease

ended, Tolliver and Young harassed the LEJ, sued the group, and then

squeezed $10,000 out of it.

Other environmental organizations in San Francisco are surprised

that Tolliver and Young sued the LEJ. Lantsberg, cochair of

Sustainable Watersheds Alliance, told the Guardian, " LEJ helps kids

see beyond the despair that is so readily apparent in their

neighborhood.... It's absolutely absurd that a slumlord is suing a

youth health organization for asserting its right to a healthy

workspace. "

The LEJ reminds young people that a person's right to clean water,

uncontaminated food, and a nontoxic environment should not depend on

income, status, or geography. The organization asks kids to take

responsibility for their community. Nearly 2,500 public school

students in southeast San Francisco participate in the nonprofit's

environmental justice programs and internships — some do so on their

way to becoming leaders in the restoration and urban sustainability

of some of San Francisco's dreariest areas.

Yet the environmental justice group learned that claiming its own

right to work in a nontoxic office would be a hard-fought battle.

Its staff members first reported unhealthful conditions to Tolliver

and Young soon after the group moved into the office on Third Street

in 2001. Dana Lanza, the LEJ's founder and executive director until

2005, noticed water leakage from the roof, mold growing in the

closet carpet, mice infestation, cracked windows, a missing water

meter, and a broken heater.

After cleaning out the storage closet one day, Lanza reported that

her chest felt " constricted " from the noxious smell of the mold. She

wrote property manager Tolliver in an October 2004

letter, " As an environmental health organization, we could not

possibly continue to expose our youth and employees to such hazards. "

State law usually gives tenants of residential properties the right

to withhold rent if a landlord fails to provide safe, sanitary, and

weatherproof housing in violation of state or local housing codes.

However, the law does not apply to commercial properties like the

LEJ's office.

The LEJ is not the first tenant that has had problems with buildings

owned or managed by the Tolliver family. At least two formal

complaints have been made with the San Francisco Department of

Building Inspection about properties owned by Tolliver in

Bayview–Hunters Point. One of the complaints, made in May 2003 by

renters at 1201 Gilman, cited general ...maintenance problems on at

least two occasions.

In January 2003 the LEJ began sending written memos to

Tolliver to complain about problems with the office. Lanza wrote

that the leaking roof was causing mold to grow in the main office

closet and that staff could smell mildew throughout the space.

Several staff members and teenage interns were asthmatic and

suffered worsening symptoms during the rainy season, when the smell

intensified. One of the workstations became unusable as water

dripped constantly over the computer.

The LEJ wrote at least four letters to Tolliver between 2003

and 2005, but the leak, mold, and mildew problems persisted. " Over

the years the problems became worse and the response became less, "

Lanza told us. She said Tolliver promised he would use portions of a

maintenance fund paid by the LEJ to patch the roof and install a

water meter, but he never got around to it. During the four years

that the LEJ occupied that office, Tolliver and Young spent no more

than a few hundred dollars on roof repairs and never sent over a

roof contractor, according to Lanza.

After waiting more than two years for Tolliver to fix these

problems, the LEJ decided it had no choice but to move out. Lanza

insisted in a letter dated Dec. 2, 2004, that if Tolliver did not

correct the several problems documented in the memos, the LEJ would

be forced to provide its 30-day notice and vacate. Nothing was done

to fix the problems, and the LEJ began looking for a new space in

January 2005.

On March 1, 2005, Lanza informed Tolliver that the LEJ

planned to leave April 1, 2005. Two months still remained on the

current lease, and a second one-year lease was set to begin June 1,

2005. By April 2005 the LEJ moved into a new office at 800 Innes.

Shortly after its departure, the group began receiving letters from

Tolliver and Young's lawyer demanding payment of rent.

Tolliver and Young ultimately sued Lanza and the LEJ, demanding

$23,000 in unpaid rent. The trial was scheduled to begin this year

the week of Sept. 25. When the parties learned that the trial would

probably be delayed another week, they decided they did not want to

prolong the proceedings and settled Sept. 27. The LEJ and Lanza

agreed to pay Tolliver and Young $10,000.

Tolliver refused to comment on the dispute because payment of

the settlement was still pending. Tolliver and Young's lawyer,

Cruz , noted that " the Tollivers and Youngs have been in

the Bayview–Hunters Point area for 50 to 60 years. " She maintained

that they have helped people build and buy homes in the neighborhood

and they have become an active part of that community. Maybe, but

the LEJ said the landlords aren't active in a way that helps the

community.

" I think a little greediness is going on, " Lanza stated at a break

during the settlement conference at San Francisco Superior Court.

Pointing out that the anticipated construction of a new light-rail

stop close to the LEJ's former office will allow ...Tolliver and

Young to raise the rent, she surmised that the landlords are " just

looking for this youth organization to foot the bill while they

leave the space empty. " SFBG

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go...

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