[Photo Credit: Frederic Larson, SF Chronicle]
It's been a year since Inspection Supervisor Augustine Fallay was led away in handcuffs, accused of accepting bribes from contractors to expedite permits. The Department of Building Inspection is getting sniffed at again and The Chronicle is on the case. Earlier this week Matier & Ross covered Acting Director Amy Lee's accepting a loan from a commissioner who allegedly forced her against her will to accept a dishwasher. Now we find that a holding company owned by Senior Inspector Leo McFadden bought a house in Potrero Hill that had been cited for illegal remodeling.
Certainly, it is troubling," said Amy Lee, acting director of the inspection department, when asked about McFadden's acquisition of the property, which she said she learned about only after the fact. "It would definitely make one raise their eyebrows.. an employee may not use information that isn't available to the public," said Lee. "But the public can come in off the street every day and ask for code enforcement activity on any property."Now that's encouraging. The public has to drive, park, find the Building Department and ask some surly bureaucrat for code enforcement activity (as if we know what that is) on a specific property while presumably such "activity" is available to everyone at the Building Department on their desktop. At home if they have remote access. Does Ms. Lee know about her department's website which apparently gives the public access to permit activity? No word on how often it's updated.
· New details in bribery case [SF Gate]
· Tempest Over Loan [Matier & Ross, SF Gate]
· Property Purchase Raises Eyebrows [SF Gate]
· Department of Building inspection [SFGov]