Recently in Code Enforcement Category

By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- A man who says he has spent 16 years living at properties operated by the woman who has been arrested on suspicion of abuse at a Golden Avenue group home insists she is actually a generous woman who takes good care of her tenants.

"That woman's got a heart of gold. That woman takes people off the street," said Raymond Pyatt, 43.

The woman in question is Pensri Sophar Dalton. Dalton was released from custody Saturday, the day after she was arrested on suspicion of abusing tenants at a group home in the 2800 block of North Golden Avenue.

Pyatt, who said he is a former resident of the Golden Avenue home, decried reports of mistreatment at the Golden Avenue home as hearsay. However, San Bernardino city agencies are conducting a criminal investigation of activities at the house.

State authorities are also conducting a probe to determine if the home was managed without proper licensing, said Oscar Ramirez, a spokesman for the licensing branch of the state Department of Social Services.

On Thursday, razor wire still topped the fence outside the home where city officials say mentally ill adults were lived in bird habitats that were initially described as chicken coops.

A woman who answered the phone Thursday said Dalton was not available to comment.

Pyatt said no one was ever forced to live inside the aviaries, but tenants did sometimes use the places as spots to hang out with significant others. He also said the razor wire was installed not to keep residents in, but as a barrier against criminals fleeing police.

He also said Dalton kept tenants - who were typically disabled adults receiving Social Security benefits -- well-supplied with food and that she would often purchase snacks, sodas and cigarettes for the tenants with money from her own pocket.

Pyatt now lives in a Highland group home on Villa Avenue where four other residents also said they were pleased with Dalton's care.

He said he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia since childhood and that he administers his own medications. He has a tatoo of her last name inked in script on his right wrist.

"She's the only mom I've ever had," Pyatt said.

Also on Thursday, City Attorney James F. Penman said investigators from his office and the state inspected multiple properties connected to Dalton.

Penman also said that in 2004, his office, in cooperation with county officials, helped an individual move into a Dalton-operated home in Highland. He said the placement was at the individual's request following a city-ordered shut down of an apartment and that the location passed inspection at the time.

He said his office is still working to determine if the city had any role in ever placing anyone at the Golden Avenue house.

City Attorney James F. Penman said Wednesday afternoon that personnel in his office are interviewing an individual who believes city officials have placed residents at a group home that's under investigation following the discovery of unsanitary conditions there.

"We have received at least one allegation that a city department may have been placing people at this home for some time," Penman said. "We're interviewing the individual who is making that allegation today."

The Police Department is investigating to determine if any felonies occurred at the group home, which is in the 2800 block of Golden Avenue. Lt. Dan Keil said detectives are looking for things like financial issues, licensing problems and whether medication was illegally dispensed among residents.

Keil said he had not heard of any allegations that anyone in the city's employ made placements at the group home.

"I am not aware of any direct placements at these facilities," Keil said.

Keil added that investigators were checking to see if any of the Golden Avenue home's residents were wards of the court or placed in conservatorship.

He also said any placements at any group home would typically be made by a county agency, not a city department.

Jim Morris, chief of staff to Mayor Pat Morris, similarly said that city departments are not supposed to place individuals at residential facilities. The only exception he mentioned is relocation assistance that he said is administered through the City Attorney's Office.

Penman also said he is displeased that a meeting that had been scheduled to involve his office, as well as members of the Police, Fire and Code Enforcement departments has been postponed.

The meeting, initially set to have taken place Wednesday afternoon, is now postponed until Monday because City Manager Charles McNeely is on vacation. Penman said he is concerned that the delay could impede the parallel investigations being conducted by police investigating potential felonies and other city staffers checking for misdemeanor or municipal code violations.

Catherine Pritchett in the City Manager's Office confirmed that meeting had been rescheduled but added that she sees absolutely no reason for the postponement to affect ongoing investigations.

The city's Code Enforcement Department was not part of the city's initial response to the Golden Avenue home because of budget cuts. The department is closed on Fridays.

Marianne Milligan, the department's deputy director, said Code Enforcement officers were dispatched Tuesday and have already issued a notice of violation. Observed code violations include razor wire around the home, the conversion of an aviary into living quarters and trash and debris around the residence.

Milligan said there are no records of any prior complaints of code violations at the Golden Avenue home. She said the house is in a neighborhood that was annexed into San Bernardino in 2006.

City Attorney James F. Penman said city officials can use large-caliber fines called Administrative Civil Penalties to penalize retailers who sell single-serve containers of alcohol in violation of conditional use permits.

City officials announced an enforcement campaign against single-serve alcohol on Monday. Officials' concerns mostly rest on the notion that sales of 40-, 32-, 24- or 16-ounce bottles of beer or malt liquor can fuel petty and serious crimes. The reasoning is that people buying a single are likely to drink the brew shortly after purchase and then do the kinds of things people do while under the influence of alcohol.

Administrative Civil Penalties, or ACPs, allow the city to impose a $1,000 fine, per day, for any violation of the city code. Regulating alcohol sales is generally the responsibility of state government, but Penman said the city has power to prohibit the vending of singles when issuing conditional use permits to establishments that sell alcohol.

If singles are prohibited, can retailers tape two bottles together and avoid penalty? Maybe. Penman said some retailers permits allow for the sale of two-packs, but others require alcohol to be sold in four- or six-packs.

Penman said vendors selling singles who stop doing so after inspection probably won't feel the full weight of the fines.

"They modified so quickly, we're probably going to give them a break," he said.

San Bernardino officials began issuing ACPs against users of illegal fireworks last July. Since then, the city has written out 761 ACPs, and City Attorney's Office investigators issued 504 of those citations, Penman said.

Police issued the next largest amount, 215.

A city hearing officer determines how much people issued an ACP have to pay. Penman said the officer has upheld more than $1.4 million in fines and that San Bernardino has collected nearly $429,000.

Penman said the full penalty is enforced against people who blast loud music from their vehicles or who have to be told twice that they are hosting loud parties.

He said homeowners are given 10 days to correct code violations, and the full weight of the ACPs are not enforced for people with minor violations. He said the fines can be forgiven for people making good-faith efforts to rectify a problem.

"If they're even making progress ... we don't even issue the citation," he said.

Curious to know how any homeowners or business owners who have received ACPs have dealt with the fines. What kinds of fines have been levied against you? Are fines forgiven if you try to fix a problem? Post away in the comment section.

By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- Former city Code Enforcement director Glenn Baude and a husband-and-wife team of restaurateurs are working to set up a new sports-themed eatery in the shadow of City Hall.

The restaurant -- set to be called Nice Bunz & G's -- is a work in progress where the Souper Grinder and Isabella's, an Italian restaurant, once did business downtown on E Street.

Raymond and Marty Briones, perhaps best known for running the Nice Bunz & Subs sandwich shop downtown, have partnered with Baude to run the restaurant. They said the place could be ready for business in the next three weeks or so.

"We're betting on our ability and we're betting on the city changing itself in the next couple years," Baude said.

Baude and the Brioneses are counting on the thousands of city, county and state employees who work downtown to dine at their restaurant.

They want to deliver food to San Bernardino's government offices, put a breakfast and coffee cart out on the sidewalk to serve morning commuters and provide speedy lunchtime service for those who only have 30 minutes to eat.

"Most of our dishes will be around $7. Steak, a potato and salad and drink," Baude said.

Like any sports friendly restaurant, the partners are planning on decorating the place with memorabilia and several plasma screen televisions to watch sporting events. The floor could end up looking like a basketball court or football field.

The owners want to slow things down at night time. After dark, they want to to serve beer and wine and host live entertainment.

The partners said Souper Grinder, whose clientele included Mayor Pat Morris, city employees and on at least one occasion, Democratic Congressman Joe Baca, closed about one month ago. The down-to-earth sandwich shop had its fans, but not enough to fill space that seems cavernous when compared to most sandwich chains.

"This place is too big to be a sandwich shop," Raymond Briones said.

The location, near City Hall and in the same building as the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency, should make it easy for Baude to sell food and drink to his former employees in Code Enforcement.

Baude was head of that department and led the city's Operation Phoenix anti-crime initiative until late July, when he was placed on administrative leave during the blowup that following the arrest of a once popular youth center supervisor.

The youth center supervisor, Mike Miller, was in charge of San Bernardino's flagship Operation Phoenix facility until early July, when he was arrested on suspicion of child molestation. Miller's arrest opened the door to a series of reports that showed management difficulties and a lack of discipline within Operation Phoenix and the city's Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

A city and District Attorney's investigation cleared Baude of wrongdoing, but he agreed to retire in the fall of 2008. He says he was removed from his duties because then-City Manager Fred Wilson wanted to shut him up.

Baude has also said on multiple occasions that San Bernardino officials should have been more transparent about their efforts to repair Operation Phoenix in the weeks following Miller's arrest.
Planning the restaurant, Baude now finds himself on the other side of city government. Instead of enforcing city policy, he has to apply for permits to renovate the restaurant and possibly install a sign that he and Raymond Briones say will make it look like a boxer is punching his way out the building.

Even for a formal city official, it can be a frustrating process.

"Those hurdles are things I'd like to see our city government solve for business," Baude said.

Baude and the Brioneses plan to have a contractor get to work on the renovations this weekend. If Nice Bunz and G's takes off, Baude said he can imaging the place not only hosting jazz musicians for evening entertainment, but promoting boxing matches on the top level of City Hall's parking structure.

"Maybe we can get (City Attorney James F.) Penman and (Mayor Pat) Morris in the ring together and we can promote that," Baude said. "I'd buy a ticket."

Here is the text of a city announcement regarding rental housing inspection notices that were sent to residents who did not need to receive them.

The city's release does not specify how many unnecessary letters were emailed. The messages were cent via certified mail, which means each letter cost more than $5 to mail. A First Class stamp costs only 42 cents, but city law requires certified mail.

Interim Code Enforcement director Wayne Harp said earlier this week that he wants San Bernardino to change its policy to allow the department to use standard mail delivery.

The city's announcement follows:

Interim Code Enforcement director Wayne Harp says the city needs to change its requirement to use certified mail when sending inspection notices for San Bernardino's single-family rental inspection program.

"You're looking at $55,000 to $75,000 bucks just for the rental inspection program," Harp said.

Harp said the department is obligated to send notices by certified mail under city law. He said the City Council is expected to consider a change to that policy at a future meeting.

Harp said First-Class Mail would be sufficient.

A First Class stamp costs 42 cents. The inspection notice - sent via Certified Mail - that Montrose Avenue resident Anthony Eygnor received cost $5.32.

Harp said the city sends 11,000 to 15,000 inspection notices in a year. The $4-plus cost difference really adds up.

Also, Eygnor said he's not renting his home to anybody, so there wouldn't be a need for Code Enforcement to spend a fiver and change on sending him a letter.

He said several of his neighbors also received the notices.

"The poor post lady had a stack like this," Eygnor said.

The city's round of budget cuts doesn't only eliminate rank-and-file jobs. A quartet of senior management positions are also slated to be eliminated.

Those positions are:

- Animal Control Director (Estimated savings of $125,089 in Fiscal 2009-10.)

- Code Enforcement Director (Estimated savings of $219,530 in Fiscal 2009-10.)

- Facilities Management Director (Estimated savings of $178,576 in Fiscal 2009-10.)

- Information Technology Director (Estimated Savings of $171,600 in Fiscal 2009-10.)

City Hall officials are considering a departmental merger that would place Animal Control and Code Enforcement under Parks, Recreation and Community Services.

"A portion of my proposed savings over the next 16 months comes from the consolidation of some operating departments. In particular, it is recommended that the Parks Director assume responsibility for Animal Control and Code Enforcement Services. The library would retain its
autonomy," interim City Manager Mark Weinberg wrote in an email.

"It should be pointed out that I have purposely recommended that any organizational restructuring be deferred to the start of the next fiscal year. This will give the new permanent City Manager an opportunity to review my recommendations and make modifications to suit his or her vision of the organization," he continued.

Here's a nugget found in a city document related to proposed budget cuts:

"Parks, Recreation and Community Services could be consolidated with the Library, Code Enforcement or other departments. The Parks Division could be maintained, separated or contracted out for increased beautification efforts. The merging of Library and Recreation (Community Services Department) would allow the shifting of satellite branches to the community centers. Determination for executive oversight or exploration of Recreation Services staffing would need to be determined. The elimination of support personnel in any departmental consolidation would also be General Fund savings."

The author of the proposal is not listed in the document. Any thoughts? Recreation and library services may mesh well but I wonder what people think about mixing code enforcement work to a department that's mission is essentially to provide residents with places to relax and have fun.

City officials are currently considering proposals to save money by laying off parks employees responsible for taking care of the city's parks and contracting for the service.