Page 16 - Cisterra Development News Today

By Editor-at-Large Although a downtown high-rise building purchased by the City in 2016 as a new space for over 1,000 staffers was closed down last year over asbestos exposure, a greater threat to people in the building could have been uncontrollable fires. A lawsuit filed this week by a senior City staff engineer claims he warned his superiors about non-functioning heating, air conditioning, and fire systems in the 101 Ash Street building beginning in late 2018, more than a year before the Cit...

Gloria continues to ignore questions about two thorny issues facing the City despite repeated requests for comments and numerous opportunities to address the growing scandals.

Print The landlord that had been collecting nearly $18,000 a day from the city of San Diego for the past four years to lease a still-vacant downtown building is challenging in court former Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s decision last summer to suspend payments. Wilmington Trust has filed a cross-complaint suit against the city of San Diego, accusing it of violating its 2017 lease-to-own agreement for the 101 Ash Street building by, among other things, causing the damage that has prevented the city ...

Sean Elo-Rivera, the Ninth District candidate who beat labor candidate Kelvin Barrios The Cinderella story of last years November San Diego city council runoff is that of Sean Elo-Rivera, the Ninth District candidate who beat labor candidate Kelvin Barrios, forced from the race as campaign finance chargespiled up against him. Steve Black Cisterra website Barrios was flush with cash from the union he is employed by, along with some of the citys biggest developers, including $2100 from two top C...

By Arturo Castañares Editor-at-Large A lawsuit seeking to undo the City of San Diego’s lease of a downtown building plagued by financial scandal and equipment failures was amended to claim the deal is illegal under the state’s constitution and is now seeking the return of over $23 million already paid by the City. “The lawsuit was filed by a concerned taxpayer to do what the City isn’t doing – demanding the money back for a building that can’t be used. The lease purchase agreement ...

The current San Diego City Attorney and her two immediate predecessors have differing views on who is responsible for the final approval of the 101 Ash St building deal, but the City Charter points to only one ultimate legal authority that was empowered to approve the deal: the current City Attorney, Mara Elliott.

Elliott has been criticized for not having reviewed the very lopsided deal that included language on its first page that completely shields the landlord from any liability for any known and unknown defects or problems. That language, which several real estate lawyers claim is not legal under state law, is the reason the City may be on the hook for more than $100 million in repairs needed to bring the building back to be operational, in addition to the $128 million in lease payments required by ...

Mayor Kevin Faulconer Mayor Kevin Faulconer made the decision in 2016 to waste at least $16 million more on the 101 Ash St. deal in an effort to shield himself from political criticism over “Papa” Doug Manchester, one of the owners of the 101 Ash St. building, and everyone else went along with the taxpayer boondoggle by agreeing to disguise the purchase of the building as a lease. Faulconer made the decision in a meeting in his office with top city staffers to pursue a lease-to-own deal ins...

By Arturo Castañares Editor-at-Large Internal emails from key city staff and officials in 2016 document their efforts to raise the value of a building by the City signing a 20-year lease-to-own agreement to help the sellers secure financing they couldn’t otherwise obtain, and, in an exclusive interview with La Prensa San Diego, the former City Attorney focuses attention back on current City Attorney Mara Elliott as the final backstop for the now-crumbling deal. The lease deal has recently co...

Editor-at-Large A spokesperson for San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer denies the Mayor engaged in political maneuvers that led to the City leasing the 101 Ash St. building, but the Mayor has not directly disputed the allegations or demanded a retraction. Mayor Kevin Faulconer The statement was in response to a September 11, 2020, story in La Prensa San Diego that reported allegations that Mayor Faulconer made the decision to pursue a lease instead of a purchase of the now-vacated building in order...