The committee convened on September 15, 2025, to conduct administrative appeals hearings for properties on the dangerous buildings list. Chair Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero presided, with Councilmembers Scott Benson and Mary Waters present. Over 50 properties were considered. The hearing included testimony from property owners, inspection reports from the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED), and votes on demolitions, withdrawals, and deferrals.
Numerous other property owners participated with properties that were withdrawn or ordered demolished; many had addressed BSEED requirements.
Like to call to order our public health and safety standing committee for the purposes of our dangerous buildings hearings. May the clerk please call the roll. Councilmember Gabriela Santiago Romero. Present. Councilmember Scott Benson. Councilmember Mary Waters. Madam Chair, you have a quorum present. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Given a quorum, we'll go right into our hearings for today. For folks that are now joining us, we're gonna first hear from the administration before turning over to LPD before we get started on our hearings for today. With that, I'll turn it over to the administration to share a little bit about what these hearings are. This means that you must do the following. One, provide proof of ownership or interest in the property. Two, pay all required inspection fees. Three, secure all openings on your building from trespass and the elements and remove all exterior debris, abandoned vehicles, overgrowth, et cetera. Four pay or make arrangements regarding any delinquent city taxes. Five, obtain the necessary permits to bring your building into compliance with all applicable codes. Six, and submit completed deferral application. Thank you. I'll turn it over now to LPD. Good afternoon, madam chair. Uh the public should be aware that these are legally required administrative appeals hearings from previous informal hearings with the Department of Building Safety Engineering and Environment. These are the legally required hearings for all the buildings on today's dangerous buildings list. In order to demolish them or for owners to oppose the demolition, this is the committee's opportunity as required by law to either approve the demolition or reject it. To assist the committee in making this determination and to provide due process, representatives of BC are here with files, inspection reports, photos, and other data to assist in conducting these hearings. Thank you, madam chair. My name is Dili Portel. I'm assistant chief at the property maintenance uh building and safety department. All good. You can share, you can just press it once. You should be good now. Thank you. All right, everyone. Thank you for the introduction and um really setting the scene for what we're gonna be doing here today. We have over 50 properties on our list. Usually we have anywhere from 20 to 40 people in person or online who are here to uh conduct a hearing. If you are here um in person or online, I'm gonna ask everyone, given the amount of people that we have, that we try to keep this uh conversation as succinct as possible. The questions will be the same. Are you looking to save your property? Are you looking to demo what are the plans to do so? Um, if you have been here more than once, if we if you are here a second or a third time and I have not seen um a lot of change or investments in the property, I am most likely not going to be able to support an extension. Um, we really really want to make sure that we are addressing the dangerous buildings in our city. Um, and if your property still is um open to the elements uh falling apart and has not deen we have not seen any kind of improvements, I most likely not will not be able to give you an extension. Um, I share that because for the most part we do. We want to work with you. If you want to save your property, if you have a plan, um, you can definitely um assume that we'll be able to help you as well. But with that, we're going to begin our hearings with the folks that we have here in person before we turn it over to the folks that we have online. Are you both together for the hearing? All right, I'm gonna invite uh both of you to take a seat up here, make sure that the microphone is turned on. There's a button at the bottom of the mic.