{"id":30077,"date":"2023-11-21T12:51:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T20:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=30077"},"modified":"2023-11-21T12:51:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T20:51:09","slug":"federally-charged-ex-dbi-employee-okd-work-on-family-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/21\/federally-charged-ex-dbi-employee-okd-work-on-family-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Federally charged ex-DBI employee OK\u2019d work on family home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong> NOVEMBER 20, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cyril
Ex-Department of Building Inspection plan-checker Cyril Yu, seen here at a 2019 city meeting, was this month federally charged for an alleged yearslong bribery scheme.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like our coverage? Please consider supporting it today<\/a>. We depend on our readers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When ex-Department of Building Inspection plan checkers Rudy Pada and Cyril Yu were federally charged<\/a> this month for allegedly benefitting from a longstanding bribery scheme, none of their former colleagues was surprised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had long predicted<\/a> this day. They even predicted that Yu would wear his ubiquitous puffer vest to his arraignment. He did<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goings-on within the building department are arcane and complex, as was the investigation the feds undertook to unearth this alleged bribery scheme. But the scheme itself is not complex: Pada and Yu are charged<\/a> with allegedly accepting meals, drinks, bribes and kickbacks to help wealthy developers move projects through the building department\u2019s notoriously sclerotic process \u2014 that\u2019s all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of the scheme, Co-conspirator #3 would pay Yu between $1,200 and $1,700 in cash for helping approve building plans for Co-conspirator #3\u2019s company,\u201d reads the Nov. 2 charging document<\/a>. \u201cCo-conspirator #3 would pay Yu in cash, typically during drives to lunch together.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yu\u2019s erstwhile colleagues aren\u2019t surprised, but they are confused. We\u2019ve written it before, but the cost of doing corruption would appear to be one of the few remaining bargains in San Francisco. Yu comes from a family of means, and earned a solid living at the department (nearly $222,000<\/a> in total pay and benefits in 2020). It is unclear why he would purportedly feel the need to resort to that ultimate trope of corruption, the cash-filled envelope. He did not return Mission Local\u2019s email or text. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yu\u2019s family, in fact, owns at least five properties around the city \u2014 and, going through the building department\u2019s own records for these sites, oddities abound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what appears to be a direct contravention of the building department\u2019s code of ethics<\/a>, in June 2020 Yu approved a permit for work on a Lombard Street home owned by the Carson and Irene Yu Revocable Trust \u2014 his parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will request to be recused from any issue in which I, a member of my family, or a close personal acquaintance has an interest,\u201d reads the operative section of the DBI\u2019s ethics code. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that didn\u2019t happen on Lombard Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reroofing permit in question lists the job at $13,000, so it\u2019s not exactly a king\u2019s ransom (though analyzing the value of a project is, in fact, a key element of a plan-checker\u2019s job). And, while \u201creroofing\u201d is sometimes used as a guise by bad actors to undertake major reconstruction, before-and-after photos of the Lombard Street home reveal a new roof and no more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rather, in this case, time was money. Yu\u2019s former colleagues point out that in mid-2020, the Building Department was mired in a lockdown, and it was extremely difficult to obtain over-the-counter permits; months-long delays were commonplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not on this project. The permit was filed on June 4, Yu approved it on June 5 and it was issued on June 8 \u2014 a snappy turnaround in good times, let alone during the dog days of the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The San Francisco Standard\u2019s<\/em> Michael Barba recently published a thorough expos\u00e9 of building inspector Van Zeng, who has been suspended<\/a> after he purportedly signed off on multiple properties owned by his family members. In an act of remarkable synchronicity, the inspector who signed the final inspection on the reroofing permit for the Yu family\u2019s Lombard home was none other than Van Zeng. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yu\u2019s fingerprints are not directly on the other four San Francisco properties his family owns that Mission Local identified. But there are many red flags \u2014 and the biggest and reddest and most widespread of those red flags comes in the personage of Bernie Curran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curran is currently serving<\/a> a federal prison term stemming from a bribery conviction (he\u2019s also on the hook for a two-year prison term for state-level perjury charges<\/a>). He took money from developer Sia Tahbazof, who was recently hit with federal charges<\/a> that he was also paying off Pada and Yu. If the feds\u2019 charges are true, then Tahbazof essentially achieved vertical integration at the Department of Building Inspection: He purportedly owned the guys approving his plans and<\/em> the guy who\u2019d be out inspecting them in the field.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years before the hammer fell, Curran was a larger-than-life figure within the building department, boisterous and jocular and so self-assured<\/a> in the overt corruption that he was engaging in that former colleagues recall him generously re-gifting the gift cards he\u2019d been handed \u201con the job.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man (kinda sorta) affectionately known as \u201cCrazy Bernie\u201d<\/a> by his colleagues established a cottage industry of gallivanting across town and signing off on permits and final inspections. This is suspect and unusual; district inspectors are generally supposed to do this, not senior inspectors like Curran \u2014 and, especially, not out-of-district senior inspectors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curran had been doing this long enough that his propensities, specifically, inspired DBI rules<\/a> in 2014 regarding who should and should not do inspections. He clearly contravened the rules that were created because of his own behavior, and continued to do as he pleased for years. Within the department, there was even a term for inspectors bucking the chain of command and\/or traveling out of their districts to sign off on work: \u201cA specialist.<\/a>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spotting Curran on a building\u2019s inspection record is a bit like seeing G. Gordon Liddy as a scheduled speaker on an ethics panel: It stops you in your tracks, and is a clear indicator of profound potential problems. Let the record show that Curran is all over <\/em>the records for the Yu family\u2019s homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Curran is not only here, he\u2019s doing Curran things. At a home the Yus own on Eucalyptus Drive, for example, Curran assigned himself to the property \u2014 never a good sign \u2014 and, on that very same day, signed the final inspection on a $25,000 bathroom remodel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Upon being named Department of Building Inspection employee of the quarter in April 2016, senior inspector Bernie Curran, on the far right, said \u201cIt is a pleasure and privilege to serve the people of San Francisco on a daily basis.\u201d From left: then-Department of Building Inspection director Tom Hui, then-Building Inspection Commissioner Frank Lee and then-deputy director Dan Lowrey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, a complaint was registered regarding a 24th Avenue property co-owned by Cyril Yu and his parents. \u201cCaller believes [address] has work beyond the scope of the permit being done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That complaint was opened on May 31 by Chris Schroeder, the building inspector then overseeing that district. But, on June 2, it was yanked away by senior inspector Bernie Curran, who emphatically quashed it, even writing \u201ccase closed\u201d in the notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracked down for comment, Schroeder, who no longer works for the building department, said he could not recall this particular instance of Curran bigfooting him and ameliorating a complaint on a connected individual\u2019s property. That\u2019s because \u201cthis happened many times.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The permits on this 24th Avenue home \u2014 which Curran claimed were all being adhered to in justifying his vehement spiking of the complaint \u2014 were all, in fact, being overseen by Curran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2017, he signed off on a $20,000 kitchen remodel \u2014 which had had no prior DBI field inspections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two months later, he signed off on a $250,000, three-floor horizontal extension and interior remodel \u2014 with no recorded prior DBI field inspections<\/em>. This was a big, complex job; there were no fewer than 16 special inspections mandated here, which were undertaken privately. But Curran\u2019s final inspection appears to be the only one undertaken by DBI personnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news: A foundation upgrade on the site actually does have four<\/em> recorded DBI field inspections. The bad news: Bernie Curran did them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Curran is currently a federal inmate. Yu no longer works at DBI either; he left two years ago<\/a>, after having taken an extended leave. Whatever air cover he had at the department appears to be gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when a complaint was called in on Yu\u2019s 24th Avenue property this month, nobody was able to wave a magic wand and make it go away. Quite the contrary: The complaint was assigned to the department\u2019s \u201cinvestigation team,\u201d and a Notice of Violation was slapped on the building.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belatedly, the actions Curran undertook on multiple Yu family properties have been red-flagged; both the Eucalyptus and 24th Avenue sites came up in the ongoing departmental audit of Curran\u2019s work. Letters will be sent and questions will be asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DBI officials, we are told, took the liberty of viewing Yu\u2019s 24th Avenue property via Google Earth, and noticed it appears to have deviated from its approved plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years after the fact, it appears there will be inspections here. And, perhaps, introspection<\/em>: If the building department is serious about \u201cclose personal acquaintances\u201d not working on each other\u2019s properties, it might want to scour the records to see who was approving work on the Yu family homes. Some have left the department \u2014 some have been incarcerated or are facing time \u2014 but some have not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Building Inspection, it seems, will take a hard look at all these properties. They may not like what they find. Yu\u2019s colleagues would not be surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Feds charge SF developer Sia Tahbazof, two other execs with bribery<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a>by JOE RIVANO BARROS<\/a><\/strong> and JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>NOVEMBER 9, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feds hit two more ex- DBI employees with bribery charges<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>NOVEMBER 3, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scathing report on Dept. of Building Inspection faults years of toxic leadership, broken systems<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>SEPTEMBER 16, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disgraced building inspector Bernie Curran gets prison: a year and a day<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by GILARE ZADA<\/a><\/strong>JULY 14, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web of corruption: Explore the cronyism, lies, and federal crimes at the heart of San Francisco\u2019s government<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a>by\u00a0WILL JARRETT<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>NOVEMBER 3, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Editor\/Columnist. Joe was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour humble narrator\u201d was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI NOVEMBER 20, 2023 (MissionLocal.org) Like our coverage? Please consider supporting it today. We depend on our readers. When ex-Department of Building Inspection plan checkers Rudy Pada and Cyril Yu were federally charged this month for allegedly benefitting from a longstanding bribery scheme, none of their former colleagues was surprised.  They had long… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1472],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30078,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077\/revisions\/30078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}