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San Francisco Chronicle​

Letters: Despite good experience, S.F.'s building department is still problem-plagued. Here's a fix

Regarding 'Entrepreneur visited S.F.'s notorious building department 80 times in 6 months: 'I got so much support' ' (San Francisco, May 4): I'm happy to hear that Vy Tran had a good experience working with San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection on her escape room project. On my one trip there, I too found the staff to be helpful. However, the story also points outs the department's glaring shortcomings, namely that 'a typical multifamily applicant waits 627 days after approvals to obtain a full set of permits' and that 'the city's building code is 1,000 pages, with decades of lawmakers layering on requirement after requirement, while rarely getting rid of obsolete codes.' Is this any way to run a city, or should I say ruin a city? I propose that Mayor Daniel Lurie create a task force to whittle the city's building code down to something closer to the size of an average novel (300 to 400 pages), then assign it as a summer reading assignment to his entire staff. Stan Barnett, San Francisco Supervisor deserves recall Regarding 'Did S.F. moderates 'rile up' Chinese Americans on recalls only to abandon them?' (Opinion, May 4): Residents of San Francisco's District 4 are pretty forgiving: We didn't recall two supervisors who ended up in prison or those who voted in ways we disagreed with. But previous supervisors met with residents in public meetings, heard their arguments, openly informed them ahead of time what they were planning and took the heat for their decisions. Supervisor Joel Engardio did none of these when he decided to ditch the widely accepted weekend closure compromise to support entirely closing the Great Highway. It's not just that Engardio proposed and endorsed Proposition K; it's the underhanded way he went about it that amounts to what many in the Sunset consider 'high crimes and misdemeanors' — to the point where a recall is warranted. We can't wait until the next election. He doesn't think he did anything wrong, so he'll ignore us again with future important issues affecting our lives. The Chinese American Democratic Club is quite correct, as quoted in the article, Engardio, 'has shown us time and time again that he isn't a leader.' We need a supervisor now who honorably represents District 4. John Higgins, San Francisco Product misrepresented Regarding 'How to know if a charity can be trusted with your money? This one thing can tell you' (No-Nonsense Money, May 4): Cecilia Diem, director of the Center for Civil Society, claims in the story that Charity Navigator's ratings only indicate the financial transparency of nonprofit groups. This misrepresents our comprehensive evaluation framework, which specifically addresses leadership quality and operational effectiveness. Our Encompass Rating System includes assessments across four areas influencing nonprofit success, and only one focuses on finance. Diem also incorrectly claims that Charity Navigator's ratings 'aren't going to tell you anything about leadership or operations.' Our team relies on IRS research and analysis and evaluates organizational effectiveness using evidence-backed metrics. Our Causeway Initiative offers estate planning solutions that leverage Charity Navigator's rating to ensure donations remain effective and aligned with donors' intentions. While we appreciate the Chronicle's focus on informed charitable giving, perpetuating misconceptions about nonprofit evaluation tools undermines donors' ability to make truly educated giving decisions. Michael Thatcher, president and CEO, Charity Navigator, New York Be vigilant about tyranny Winston Churchill called the Battle of the Bulge 'the greatest American battle of the war.' It was the last major German offensive launched against the U.S. Army in World War II in a snowbound forest in Belgium during the Christmas season of 1944. In one of the bloodiest battles in the fight against tyranny, the Allied forces prevailed, eventually leading to the surrender by Germany on May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day. In celebrating the 80th anniversary of this historic capitulation, Americans and Europeans would be wise to recognize that tyranny tends to fester and is never fully vanquished. It feeds on the indifference and passivity of those who would allow the emergence of an autocrat to go unchecked. Jane Larkin, Tampa, Fla.