And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on The John Phillips Show, broadcasting live from Claremont, California, where Randy There's going to be a gubernatorial debate later on this evening, and we're going to be there tonight at five point thirty on all CBS stations statewide, so CBSLA channel two to nine in southern California, KPIX five in the Bay Area, CBS thirteen, CBS Sacramento, CBS eight in San Diego. You're going to be able to watch
this debate. All eight candidates will be there, even Tony Thurmand, even Antonio Viragosa, but not Tony Atkins because he dropped out six months ago. Said there will not be a Tony Tony Tony at this debate. People love reunions, but we're going to be there.
We're going to be watching the debate live. And if John has any kind of a run in with Katie Porter at Pomona c you're gonna hear about it tomorrow. Please eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is the host of the Gotham Oakland podcast, which you can download wherever
you download your favorite podcast. You can also get him on Twitter at Seneca Scott Seneca Scott.
Welcome, thanks to John.
Good to be back.
All right, so let's start out with an update on our favorite former mayor of Oakland, California, Shang Tao. What's going on with Shny?
Absolutely?
Absolutely?
Oh my goodness, what a funny uh. You know, no one knows and no one seems interested. He's a if I was actually going back. I wrote an article for the Open Report called Emotional blacks about emotional blackmail, about this new tax measure that the firefighters are pitching, and took to remind everyone of how many people support a Shin and how passionate they were, that she was a good person who did not deserve to be recalled. And remember she said I'm not going anywhere. Well she went away.
No one knows where she is. She hasn't been seen in public in months, and far as we know, she hasn't talked the plea either. So the trial will be on October nineteenth.
I wonder if it benefits her or works against her. For the fact that they're going to wait a long time obviously before this goes to trial, and people's memories are not as long as they used to be. If they wait a couple of years, no one's going to remember her at all. I wonder if that helps her.
Well, it's start a court of public opinion. It's the court of for law. And so even if the jury that they ultimately select it's unfamiliar or memory has faded, they're gon't even be reminded when they present their case. And that's how Who matters is the jury and the decision that they make. And so not that public opinion does have it does not have any influence over a jury.
I don't think it matters as much. Actually, the ZiT guys, the political zite guides, has shifted more toward exposing corruption. If you look at Nick Shirley, if you look at all of a sudden Gavin Newsom's renewed interest in exposing fraud as well as a toney general of our Bonta right, the corruption is the cause the jure, and so this trial is highly anticipated because it's not just about former
mayor Centile, it's not just about the Doon family. We're waiting to see what happens with information about the Bonta here in Oakland. We're waiting to see how many other people who well currently in positions of power and influence in Oakland, California, had something to do with Shankao's life to power, or who at least knew about her coruption and let it go on because they got something out of it.
You mentioned the Bontes and Nick Shirley. Mia Bonta, who is the assembly woman from Oakland, was the author of legislation that would go after citizen journalists like Nick Shirley, which sparked Nick Shirley to show up to the California State Capitol in Sacramento to make his case to legislators
in person. When she was asked about Nick Shirley specifically, Nick Shirley, of course, is the one who exposed all of the fraud going on at the hospice centers in the San Fernando Valley, among other fraud, and Mia Banta claims that she had never heard of Nick Shirley before and didn't have him in mind when she wrote this legislation. What do you make of that?
I think that it's a comical level of dishonesty, and it shows how blazon California progressives has gotten and how confident they are that it doesn't really matter what they do or say that there are no consequences for their bad behavior. It's just it's so dumb to think that anyone would believe that, Like the how targeted this legislation is to the bombshell and the fact that her husband had to respond to it as a toney general and
not to start charging people. I mean, it's just come on, Mia, like, get out of there. They're not to get out of their bubble or maybe not. I mean, what's the old saying when the enemy is making a mistake, don't interrupt them. So maybe I should just encourage her keep going, me, keep go go, We'll get it. Go go.
Well, it's wild to me that the attitude and it's not just from the Bonds. Newsome had this attitude too, because his social media team attacked Nick Shirley with Nick Shirley exposed the fraud with the hospice centers, and it seems like their attitude is we should be angry at the people who are exposing the corruption and not at the people who are corrupt who are stealing from taxpayers, because if none of this was exposed, then no one would know about it, and we could talk about other things.
Well, and I can keep stilling on money. The people who are the gatekeeper very likely all sides point to it involved with or at least knowledgeable about the collection. So you know, it's kind of obvious why they're attacking people who are exposing it is because they're given away what side there on they should be enclosing this level
of exposure. But what do you make of the recent news that guy Vin Newsom was notified a decade ago, over decade ago about the levels of flawed in Hapu's care A news centers a lot of the things that were exposed who got noticed of a decade ago?
Well, one of the departments in the state of California that is actually performing quite well as the California State Auditor, And so a lot of the waste, fraud and abuse that exists in California government isn't buried away where no one can find it. They're finding it and they're putting in reports. It's just the Electeds and Sacramento are choosing not to do anything with it. When a journalist like Nick Shirley goes and exposes all of the fraud with
the hospice care. It's not like he just randomly woke up one morning and showed up and, oh, look what I stumbled upon. He's going to these reports and he's seeing what's in black and white that the state legislature is theoretically seeing too. Just unlike them, he's deciding to act on it and just expose them on the internet. But if Galvin Newsom or Robonta or any of these
people wanted to be proactive about it, they could. They just choose not to, which is funny because now Galvin Newsom and Robonta are trying to portray themselves as law enforcement officers fighting corruption.
I mean, the only people who believe that are the fellow progressive cult members, which, as much as I laugh at them and call them soggies, unfortunately represents at least one fifth of voters nationwide and probably more like one third of voters in the state of California, making them a very formidable and dangerous coup, which is exactly what they are. So it's quite frightening again to see how
confident these people are. So they can continue this bad behavior and just lie to our face and think that anybody's going to buy it. But when you look at the comment sections of anything, you never see any weren't buying it. Even their supporters are too ashamed to you know, beat their chest and act like they're really behind this type of stuff, even though they're going to vote that way and they can count on it. Uh, it looks
like there's there's some issues there. Also, if you look at the governor's race that you're you're about to motivate or that you're at today, look about think about how all the unions which usually work in lockstep are sort of in some inner competition with each other around these candidates, which each shall be at least Katie Porter mayheand I'm
not Mayhand. I'm sorry he doesn't have much union and support, but Katie Porter and Staya having a significant amount of very influential unions who usually work together, as I said before, on the Central Labor Council. So that's something's going on. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it looks like they're recognizing that they're losing the people and that nobody's buying their bs. Anymore. And so there's the
look for ways to we pland himself. And I think that there's some differences of opinion amongst the progressive on the best way to do that.
Why do you think they're not on the same page this time around? Do you think it's traced back to the expectation that Kamala Harris was going to be the candidate and that everyone would get behind her and there wouldn't be a question. So there was no forward planning, no forward thinking going on at all, where they were looking at these candidates two three years ago and sizing
them up. And then when she took a pass on the race, people expected Alex Padilla to jump in and they would all get behind him, and then he decided at the eleventh hour not to get in the race, and they were just caught flat footed. And when unions are caught flat footed, that puts them in a bad place.
You know. I don't pay attention enough to it to speak to a high level on it. So I don't want to claim or know something I don't, but I will shoot from the hip and say what I feel if that's okay. Sure, So some of these people aren't bad people. A lot of the progressives, even the ones who may know about the bad behavior or have heard of it, aren't benefited from it financially, and maybe they will offer it in a good faith or be a
user's useful idiots for nefarious causes. And I think that they're not willing to go down with the ship from people who they're discovering have been, you know, stealing money and doing things that are very bad, and so that could be part of it. The more the corruption goes and more it gets exposed, people and just self interest start to act different. Another issue is what allows people to get elected and Swallowell, there's some significant insight into that, right,
so everybody knew what that dude was doing. Man, and then people who want to get mad like, well, if you knew, why don't you say anything. It's like because just accused public figures of crimes like that, you'll get sued. The guy's a lawyer, you know, like you have to have evidence. So before anybody asked me that come forth and took rich themselves to do so even if you knew about it, you really couldn't say much. Also, they
like people like that Shintow, Swallowell, maybe Rob Bonta. It looked like the Democrats like people who are compromise doesn't work for it, that they have a German world or Russian world. I don't know what I'm playing. I know what I see there, you go, my man. So like they like that type of stuff, that's their vibebe and so they don't like good people, and so they don't put good, honest sleeper with ties to any positions of authority.
Because the moment's actually trying to solve a problem faith, the first thing you realize is something's wrong here, and then you start playing detectives, and then you realize, oh crap, this is corrupt a hell. Right, That's exactly what happened to me. I didn't know anything about politics until I went in for city council, and then I ran familiar and as I was trying to be a good candidate and really learn the jobs is that I was trying to win, it is expected to win, and then I
would have to perform the duties. I took it serious bly started trying to figure out how would I solve our problem? And the first thing I see is a holy crap, it's corrupt as hell. That's why you can't solve the problem. These people are stealing money hand over fifth, they're using Oakland's budget as a way to reward themselves and their political allies and keep the cycle of corruption going. And Oakland is the same as the state of California.
It's the stay at the state of the Democratic Party nationwide.
And it's actually very tragic because that we have no will left in America if you're looking at what the left is apposed to represent, the actual real interests of the people who can point to measurable results and things that are working to help improve the trajectory and traditions of the working class and the upper economic mobility of the working class, and you look at the progressive's handy work, which due to the exact opposite, America has no real left.
And so I think that's actually tragic for the political spect to being balanced in the sleve in California with a one party state that in places very bad, toxic people, and I think all of them are like that to this point, and so they don't have anybody to go to because they.
All stock Oh Josh, you gotta dump that, all right, Do you believe you referenced Eric Swalwell, who was a longtime member of Congress in the East Bay, and he was able to hold that seat for a long time without any of his skeletons coming out because I guess he didn't fly too close to the sun. But when he ran for governor, he flew too close to the sun, and that's when everything came out, and that's when his
career was ended. Do you believe that had Rob Banta ran for governor instead of re election for attorney general, he would have gotten some of the Swallowell treatment.
So, first of all, I do know that that's the conventional things and he flew too close to the sun. But that's not my hypothesis at all. I think it's a lot more simple than that. And if you know the people behind it, then maybe you agree with me. So I'll hear you what I think happened. Tom Steia is backed by California Noses Association. California Noses Association was the ones who almost got Bony that with a single pay of platform with a big red bus that used
to follow him around the country. And Rosa Tomorrow and Michael Lighty if you know those names and you know them, two of the most intelligent. I don't know if they run the union anymore, but they start. Look, California Nurses Association is not someone to mess around with. And the moment I saw that they were back in Sia, I knew that anyone in their past had a problem coming.
And so it's my hypothesis that that's just good old old fashioned California nice fight in the phone booth politics and California Noteses Association and Tom Shia paid enough people and took him out, all right. So I don't think that he flew too close to the sun. I think he was actually going to be our next governor, and had they did not want to file. You know, Tom Steyer's ambition has not grown so much that they did
what they always do. They're taking each other out. At this point, there's going to be more coming on other candidates. I predent.
Because using your logic here, then Katie Porter is standing in the way of the Nurses Association, and so is Javier Basera.
Oh. I feel bad for him, bro, but out to finish the question, Bounca, I think it's more about that trial in October. I think that Rob Bouncer would have won government easy had he not had any issues with the zoos in Shintau who swore in familiar and until he can get clear of that, political future as uncertain. So somehow he escapes unscathed, then he'll be right back in the game and you can expect his trajectory to continue because he's a very smart person and a very
skilled politician. But if he doesn't, you know, it's a big risk for him, so personally, and so I just the more if you're wanting for governor, there's more scrutiny, and it's just I'm feel bad for the party because again, these things are being innocent to proven guilty. That's the court of off thing, that in a public opinion thing. So if I was my opposition, his opposition, I will
exploit that. And he's just got too much badge an apple out there who means to sit down until it goes away, and he probably can win, So this Jeno are much easier.
Seneca Scott, host of the Gothamoakland podcast. If you haven't checked out that podcast, definitely check it out. All the latest news on the political scene in Oakland and so much more on that Gotham Oakland podcast. Seneca Scott, Thanks so much for stopping by.
Thanks for having me John take care.
If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com, and Randy, you're monitoring the mail bag. Chris writes in at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com on the subject line new listener, Greetings radio heads. I recently left the Godfather Show at KFI John Cobalt because he left his one to four slot and I can't listen to their
current talent while trying to digest my boloney sandwich. I have been been listening to AM radio since the late sixties, and I can tell you that you two know how it is, and I wish I had discovered you earlier. You make me laugh numerous times with your soundbites. Absolutely absolutely and many others. Please don't ever change outstanding job, guys,
to which I responded absolutely absolutely. I sent him the MP three eight hundred two two two five two two two is jellphone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two here with an update on the City of Dumpy. Mister Randy Wayne.
You know this has really been an issue for the City of Dumpy.
Excuse me.
A new audit has shown that the City of Dumpy is not just being dumped on by outside contractors, but also you know who's dumping in the City of Dumpy, Oakland ers themselves.
I guess word got out.
Well for some people, you see a giant pile of garbage and you're like, well, why go to the dump?
I said, hell, no, baby boy, let me get up on out of here.
But it's not only that contributing to the illegal dumping problem in the city of Oakland. For more on the audit here is kron four.
D of Oakland just announced a new series of initiatives to combat illegal dumping in that city, and now an auditor's report zero is in on who is dumping the most and why corn Forest Dan Kerman reports.
Why because why not? Because it's free?
Illegal dumping has long been a problem in the city of Oakland. Now a new report by the city auditor has uncovered it's not just out of area contractors using Oakland as a dumping ground.
A lot of the problems driven by residents.
So it's not contractors in Fremont. Well, I'm sure they have that problem too.
So residents just throwing their trash things that you would see in residents private trash bags.
We saw them all over the streets of Oakland.
City Auditor Michael Houston.
Such just lots of little debbie rappers. I don't live there.
We saw them all over the streets of Oakland.
City Auditor Michael Houston says one of the reasons Oakland ers may be dirting their own city is because of how much trash pickup costs.
This is one of the things that does not get talked about enough when it comes to the illegal dumping problem in the city of Dumpy. You have to go all the way back to the crooked contract that was authored to California Waste Solutions to be the trash provider, which is the Dong family. And in fact, Oakland Report has a fantastic thread about this on social media. Why is Oakland to Washington illegal dumping? According to a recent audit,
Oakland's trash pickup fees are exorbitantly high. Rebecca Kaplan, who was Sheng Tao's mentor when on the city council in twenty twenty fourteen, helped steer Oakland's recycling contract to California
Waste Solutions. Waste Management filed a lawsuit claiming the contract was unlawfully steered due to personal and political connections, something that we know the Dong family has done a lot of a few years later, the owners of California Wate Solutions, David and Andy Dong, were federally indicted making illegal political donations to several Oakland politicians, including Rebecca Kaplan, including Rabanta, and of course including Shang E. Tal.
That's right, I like that.
That is amazing.
The FPPC alleged that over thirty five hundred dollars was routed to Kaplan through several straw donors. Kaplan denied any awareness or wrongdoing. Today, Oakland's trash fees are fifty percent higher than the average fees in other cities.
And when they are artificially high, people don't pay it. What they do is they dump it illegally costs.
We found that our hauling rates were among the highest within.
I mean, this is the same thing that we saw going on in Los Angeles. It costs you more to take a load of trash to the dump than to pay the illegal dumping fine. And that's if you get caught, but.
Even among those jurisdictions that used the same contracted hauler.
But the audit also found the city has not done enough to deter people from illegal dumping.
The enforcement has been lacking in the city. The fines are really low.
Now they did just increase the fines quite a bit. And one of the things that they said that they're going to do is they're going to use license plate reading cameras to directly send out tickets to the people that they capture doing the illegal dumping. Maybe that will make a difference, but at this point enforcement has been almost non existent.
Well, and when they initially said that they were going to employ the drones to keep an eye on where the dumping was going on, they made the point that they wouldn't use the drones to get anyone in trouble. They just wanted to know where the dumping was.
And then even when the fines are administered, we don't have very much success in getting the fine.
Yeah, I believe it was a story we talked about last week where the city of Oakland has spent about two million dollars trying to get about sixteen thousand dollars in fines.
The report comes with a variety of recommendations, including renegotiating trash fees and stepping up enforcement. Dan Kerman Krown for News.
With everything that's going on with the Dongs, how are they even allowed to still be the service provider for the city of Oakland with all the corruption that's been going on with that family.
Well, this is original sin for a lot of these people. It's original sin for Shang Tao, it's original sin for Brian Osevido, it's original sin for the dumping crisis in Oakland, and it might be original sin for let's just say a politician who's now in Sacramento.
Bob Bonta.
All right, so that's what's going on with the dumping in Oakland, the illegal dumping. I guess I should say. We also have an update on what's going on at the Oakland Unified School District OUSD. After over twenty years, finally got out of receivership, and less than a year later, it looks like they're heading back into receivership. Good job for Mare. Here is kpix in.
The Bay tonight in Oakland, where the school district's budget problems are well documented and have been well reported on the Oakland Unified School District board has to close this massive budget gap by the end of June. We've talked about this on the broadcast, or they risk a state and county takeover. The board already said cuts would be necessary to get into a better financial position.
This is after they decided to avoid a strike to give the teachers union that was going to strike everything they asked.
For something they cannot afford.
And the best detail about that whole story is that the teachers unify. The teachers that represent Oakland. They have been threatening to go on strike so many times that they actually have a storage closet where they keep all of the strike signs.
They don't even make new ones.
The board already said cuts would be necessary to get into a better financial position. The district approved layoffs earlier this year, affecting more than four hundred educators. Another one hundred and forty four will have their hours reduced. The district also suspended its search for a permanent superintendent less than a year after the previous superintendent's contract was terminated.
They why not just leave that job vacant when it's either Oakland or LAUSD. Superintendents don't last very long, and some of them are crooked.
And this is also what they did with the police chief. How long was that position vacant for It was.
Vacant for about a year and a half when Shang Tao decided to fire because she was a girl. Bars Lauren Armstrong absolutely, absolutely, and then it took a year and a half to get Floyd Mitchell in that job. Floyd Mitchell does the job for a year and a half and says, screw you, guys, I'm going to fremont.
Our.
Kevin co spoke to two school board members who say the district is pretty much at a breaking point.
In two thousand and three, the Oakland Unified School District faced financial ruin, taking a one hundred million dollar loan from the state, giving up control of the district. That state oversight ended last summer, and.
Here we are again. The more things changed, the more things stayed the same.
Of course, you got to remember that means that Oakland was still under receivership for all these years and years and years where the board was kicking the can down the road. They knew that enrollment was declining, They knew they had to make cuts, and they were not making the cuts.
No, because how many of these members of the board are supported by the teachers union or the other unions representing other work groups that do business with the district. Those work groups don't want any cuts to be made. They want raises to be given to all of their members.
And now there are concerns it won't last.
We are poised to be the first district in history to regain full local control and then lose it again within a year.
Oh, I I've said this before. I'll say it again. That's Michael Hutchinson of the Oakland Board. When eventually he loses his job for speaking out, get into vo my guy, Well.
There seems to be no shame. It seems as if their attitude is. Well, if we go back into receivership, and we do that because we gave the teachers everything that they wanted. Well, if I were to then turn around and run for city council, or I were to run for state Assembly or Congress or whatever, then the teachers are going to stick with me. So what do I have to lose? It won't last.
We are poised to be the first district in history to regain full local control and then lose it again within a year.
Oakland's going to Oakland. Sometimes they can't help themselves.
Oakland Unified School Board members Mike Hutchinson and Patrise Barry speaking out at a virtual town hall on Monday, as turmoil in the district echoes across the East Bay. Earlier this month, the Alameda County superintendent called the district's financial picture incomplete and not typical before.
They would get an f and people in that district are familiar with that letter before. What does it say when the people in charge of the schools can't do math, there's no hope for those students at all.
Before requiring the district to submit new budget reports by this Thursday, the concern is even if the district cuts its way past the upcoming budget, it won't be financially sustainable in the years and budgets to come. As this week's deadline looms, more than forty ousd principles sign this letter expressing decreasing confidence in district leadership, noting only thirty percent of students are reading at grade level.
Oh my goodness, and no one's upset about that. That's way below the state average. But at that point, everybody in leadership has got to go.
Yeah, you need a new school board, you need new contracts with the unions, you need new administrators to oversee the schools. You need to clean house top to bottom.
If we have only thirty percent of OUSD students that are graduating at reading levels and the teachers' union just got a big old raise, what is that about the priorities of the district.
Well, isn't this the same district that got in trouble for promoting anti Semitic rhetoric to the kids. Oh, that's right.
Looking at the data, it is in fact beyond.
Our kids spell genocide gn It.
Is in fact beyond discouraging, and some of it is enough to piss you off.
All of this happening as the district confirms it will not have a permanent superintendent for at least another year, Doctor Denise Sadler will stay in the interim. After the school board decided in a closed session to suspend the search, the letter from OUSD Principles also now.
Are they suspending the search because it would be too expensive? Or are they suspending the search because no one's applying?
When if you ever heard that phrase in the context of an opening for a big city superintendent. Suspending the search is something that happens when someone goes overboard on a cruise ship.
The letter from OUs D Principles also calls for the search to continue with more transparency.
Some of the most consequential decisions we face today are going to be made without permanent executive leadership, and all of that happening during an election year. The reality is that that's the moment we're in right now.
O USD says it is on track to balance its budget for the upcoming school year, but that it still needs to find tens of millions of dollars in cuts to bridge the.
Shortfall, so they're not balancing their budget, of course not. This is the sad news for anybody that wins this governor's race. They're going to be in a situation where not JUSTUSD, but also SFUSD and also la USD, they're all going broke. They're all going to need bailouts from the state in a time where the state does not have the money.
Nope, if you live in Oakland, do not send your kids to those schools. Homeschool them, put them in private schools, lie about your address, do whatever it is that you have to do, but that school district is a mess and it's not getting better anytime soon. What eight hundred two two two five two two two. Let's shift gears from Oakland to the nearby city of Vallejo.
There is a neighborhood in Vallejo and neighbors are pissed off and they've had enough because one house in the neighborhood is surrounded by garbage. You don't say there's a lot of issues with having to be in an hoa, but one of the things you probably don't have in hoas is a house in the neighborhood that is nothing but blight.
Nope, the Karens won't stand for that. Well, let's find out about this garbage house in Vallejo. Here is kpix in the Bay.
To begin this evening in Vallejo, where neighbors say they're sick of dealing with the property that they say has been a blight on their block for months. The property on Indiana Street is covered in all sorts of junk, trash, clothes, even an old refrigerator.
What is this the set of Sanford and Son. It sounds like the aftermath of a hurricane.
The city has already issued three citations. Our Brad Hamilton spoke with a nearby neighbor who says it's not just an eye sor it's also making neighbors feel unsafe.
As Lily Heard approaches the first home she bought in nineteen fifty four, the memories floodback, and so does the satisfaction.
Was eighteen Wait, she bought it in nineteen fifty four. So she bought a house for probably like what twenty thousand dollars and it is probably worth two million, probably, and her property taxes got capped in nineteen seventy eight.
But look what she's living next to.
As Lily Heard approaches the first home she bought in nineteen fifty four, the memories floodback, and so does the satisfaction.
I was eighteen years old when I purchased home.
Val Have you ever heard of an eighteen year old in this generation or even the previous generation that could buy a house? Not unless grandma died and left them a king's ransom?
Have been Valaila ever since? Much pride here.
However, just steps away from her pride, a problem, she says, has taken over this Vallejo neighborhood, this home on Indiana Street doesn't exactly hide it. Trash, debris and junk filling up the front lawn of the property.
But do they call that portion of Indiana Street Gary Indiana?
But for Lily, this site is only part of it. She walked us to the back of her property that she now leases out and showed us where she says, strangers cut through like a passageway.
You're jumping over there, annoying her all times of night. The noise, etc.
Her tenant, she says, is terrible, these vacant abandoned properties, they usually end up becoming stomping ground for squatters.
Oh yes, tenant, she says, is terrified. So they've built two massive fences trying to draw the line. That hasn't helped, and Lily says, neither is reporting each issue to the city for months.
We need somebody to do something. Poice department for colde enforcement, somebody help. We're not getting that help.
Code enforcement seems to be the process that, for some reason is the slowest moving process in any city. But this is specifically things that we see in California cities like Vallejo or Los Angeles. When you've got vacant homes where you have squatters, people starting fires, people committing crimes. The only avenue the government says they have, which I don't believe them, is code enforcement.
No, you have to go to the local news to get any action.
We're not getting that help.
We did hear from officials from the Vallejos City management team who told us that there is an active code of Enforcement case against the property. They shared that just last week, the Indiana Street home received its third citation, adding that it's also registered to their vacant property program.
Oh wow, three tickets. That'll get them to change.
But the case itself remains unresolved.
Woo.
So why hasn't I always.
Wonder when you have these vacant properties, are the owners even paying property taxes?
Well?
I wonder, and I'm just spitballing here, but you know that a lot of foreigners just park their money here by buying real estate. Yes, we know that that is something that is very common, for example, in California, San Gabriel Valley. I wonder if it's just literally an absentee landlord, someone from Russia or Saudi Arabia or China or wherever, who's just parking money not in the country and doesn't care.
So why hasn't more been done? San Jose State Professor Jeffrey Hare says even with multiple citations, the process to take action is complicated.
Since the ultimate goal is compliance and not, you know, just collecting money. They're willing to wait it out and try to take care of it. Now, if there's the illegal activity, then it becomes a law enforcement matter.
No, because then law enforcement will say, the city told us it's private property, there's nothing we can do.
Oh yeah, they always wash their hands with it and direct you to the city or a judge.
Lily knows that there might be limits to what the city can do, but as a longtime property owner, she says staying quiet is not an option.
Sir just In Jama stated, there's nothing they can do.
The problem remains, but so does Lily. At ninety one years old, she's on a mission to do right by a neighborhood she's always been proud of.
So there you go. The blight house in Vallejoe