The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission lacks standards. The SFPUC has hoodwinked us for a long time - and now it's time to expose all the atrocities and more.
It is also the most corrupt department among all the San Francisco City Departments.
The many indictments linked to the SFPUC are well known. However, it seems that the SFPUC managers do not give a rat's ass - and continue their sordid corruption.
The most corrupt is the Water Department - backed by the General Manager of SFPUC and other corrupt crooks.
Right now, most of the reservoirs that store clean drinking water are contaminated - sludge that has accumulated, two feet high, and other contaminants that are adverse to all those who drink the water and put themselves in harm's way.
The so-called clean drinking water must be tested, and we, the citizens who pay the taxes, must be given access to the data - the fact is the data is not gathered from the reservoirs - and this must be remedied on a war footing.
The SFPU Commissioners have no clue about the reservoirs - and now want to charge the citizens of San Francisco more, twenty percent more.
It is with the sewage, too - San Francisco was overcharged and promised that they would be compensated - that did not happen.
The Chair looks you in the eye and lies - has no clue about our infrastructure and has taken the job to rubber-stamp actions that do not do justice to San Franciscans.
Today, the SFPU Commission dares to increase the sewer rate by fifteen percent.
San Francisco has several tanks and reservoirs that require millions of dollars for repairs and the cleanup of accumulated sludge and other garbage.
We found the reservoir at Potrero Hill occupied by some homeless people, who had access to the drinking water, and took advantage, going so far as to wash themselves after defecating. All this and more is a shame.
Remember, we are talking about clean drinking water that is distributed to the public in large quantities here in San Francisco.
It is the same at the Sunset Reservoir - millions of gallons are leaking. Some minor cleanup was done by those who targeted - we have the photographs and the SF Inspector General has seen it and must now adjudicate - it has been weeks since we met and is awaiting the judgment.
When it came to the University Mound reservoir, money that was in place was spent, and a pretect was used to get more money for the roof, when, truly speaking, it was for the cleanup of the University Mound reservoir.
The SF Public Utilities Commissioners act as a cabal - rubber-stamping and afraid of the General Manager, who will be retiring in September - good riddance to very bad rubbish.
It is time for Steve Richie, who has been wheeling and dealing - playing golf with his sidekick William Taehan - and signing contracts - linked to shady deals.
Time for Steve Richie, who lies, to step down and fade into oblivion.
April 28, 2026, there will be a meeting in Room 400 and SF City Hall - apparently, SFPUC wants to raise the price of doling out clean water, and it is not satisfied with more for sewage.
Some twenty-five percent for clean drinking, a raise that will be challenged, and fifteen percent for sewage, another ploy that these thugs think we, the people, will agree to.
Time to bring these crooks before the Feds and apply the RICO Act.
Stop paying salaries as high as $500,000 per year and think you get away with murder in broad daylight.
Those who pay for SFPUC drinking water do not receive clean drinking water; most reservoirs are contaminated, there is a lack of hygiene, and this and more is a shame.
The Raker Act of 1913 and the many amendments made to it over the years have cast those of us who pay for our clean drinking water and sewer service as victims and have failed to consult the users, with the SFPUC hoodwinking us in broad daylight.
The meeting held on April 28, 2026, had agenda items 8, 9, and 10, with proper notification and explanations linked to law and policy; SFPUC ignored them.
The agenda was posted with the intent to deceive the rate payers - a mode of operation that the present General Manager and Deputy Manager thought they could pull over our eyes.
It is wrong to deceive, to lie, and to cheat - we see this all the time with the SFPUC.
The manner in which many of the agenda items noticed on April 28, 2026 lacked transparency and accountability.
Lucky for us, we had an attorney who laid the facts, and not a whimper from the SF Public Utilities Commission and the General Manager.
The SFPUC - the Water Department is known for corruption, and the managers gang up on hardworking employees.
Fire the decent, hardworking SFPUC workers when they bring to the managers' attention atrocities that should not be tolerated.
Imagine forcing the workers to use brooms and shovels 40 feet below ground - where there is stagnant water, over 2 feet of sludge to be removed, very slippery ground, and poor lighting.
The time has come to bring these evil managers to book - and send them behind bars for a long, long time.
The managers work for two days and get paid for a week.
They lie, cheat, steal, watch prono at work, gang up on innocent hardworking employees - and do this without anyone monitoring these crooks.
It has been months - we have stated all the facts linked to Joe King, Conrad King, and Adolfo Padilla - fired for going to the manager William Taehan and stating that the environment and safety conditions adversely impacted the three workers who were not given training linked to the project " Confined Space ".
We have taken the matter to the SF Inspector General and the SF Cal/OSHA, who have accepted our presentation and are deeply troubled by how the three workers were treated.
We have the empirical data - we have the photographs of the dirty, filthy conditions - linked to three reservoirs.
Supposedly, clean drinking water contaminated with filthy sludge and other contaminants is pumped to San Franciscans.
Let us speak Truth to power - let us do right - after all, this is San Francisco - where once we respected all - fair play and justice - tenacity and fortitude were our hallmarks.
The Great Spirit sees it all. Aho.
Steve Richie, William Taehan, Frank Jordon from the SF Water Department, and Joy Chen from the Human Resources - ganged up on Joe King, Conrad King, and Adlofo Padilla, and laborers who belong to SF UNION 261.
Every ploy was used to harm these innocent workers, and the ploys were used with intent.
Working underground, thirty to forty feet below ground, requires special training known as Confined Space training.
The three laborers belonging to Union 261 were targeted because they brought to San Franciscans' attention the abject corruption at the SFPUC and its leader, Dennis Herrera.
Steve Richie, William Taehan, and Frank Jordon must be fired. There have been too many corrupt atrocities filed before, and these three managers have been protected by the higher-ups.
The "Confined Space " issue was linked to "deferred maintenance"; the plumbers refused to undertake the project.
The plumbers demanded a pay increase and refused to undertake the maintenance and cleanup of the reservoir, thirty to forty feet underground.
For starters, the workers were sent without training and special equipment to carry out the hazardous work.
As I said, the trained plumbers did not want to work in the hazardous, confined space.
The plumbers asked for a pay increase and were told by SFPUC Management that this would not happen.
The managers then enticed the laborers to take on the project without training, and put the laborers who should have been protected by Union 261 in harm's way.
It is a shame that the laborers who were fired without cause went to Union 261, only to be told it could not help them.
The Truth be told, the laborers paid their dues for years and were denied help, and favored the actions of the very corrupt SFPUC managers.
The laborers' Union 261 failed to come to the aid of the hardworking, innocent workers.
We advocates will monitor and see Union 261 use its ploys, machinations, and shenanigans to collect dues for years - and fail the Union 262 laborers who need help and respect.
Putting the laborers in harm's way to work with intent is a crime.
SFPUC managers have been caught red-handed lying and cheating - dereliction of duty - failed to maintain standards.
The filthy conditions at many San Francisco reservoirs, supposedly providing clean drinking water, are causing contamination and putting innocent San Franciscans in harm's way.
The millions of dollars set aside to maintain and keep the reservoirs clean are being wasted on filthy, health-hazardous conditions.
Where is the San Francisco Health Department?
Where is the SF Environment Department?
Where is the SF Controller on this issue?
Where is the Board of Supervisors on this issue?
Where is the stupid Mayor on this issue?
For all the talk, there is no walk.
The SFPUC employees fired were treated with disdain and traumatized.
The SFPU Commissioners are complicit too - they have been told the Truth and refuse to help the traumatized laborers - Joe King, Conrad King, and Adolfo Padilla.
The SFPUC laborers were not sent for training - they were made to clean and remove the two feet of sludge that had accumulated and had not been cleaned for decades.
The laborers were forced to sweep the sludge with brooms and other tools, such as squeezes, which put them in harm's way.
The floors were lined with slime and were prone to slipping, as happened to the SF Public Utilities laborers.
When the lead laborer, Joe King, went to the managers, William Taehan and Frank Jordon, they were fired.
The managers from the SF Water Department enticed untrained laborers to work on "Confined Space " projects. This is a crime.
We need a man like Richard Sklar, an engineer, not some clowns who are attorneys who lie and have inflated their salaries, one of them $500,000 - no one should earn more than $200,000 at SFPUC - not with our SF City and County, in dire straits.
I appeared before the SF Public Utilities Commission on October 28, 2025, and provided my testimony to the Commissioners:
Check this out, the SFPU Commission meeting on October 28, 2026:
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/51038?view_id=22&redirect=true
Check this out, the SFPUC meeting following the October 28, 2026, meeting - the entire family of the three employees fired - giving their testimony:
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/51114?view_id=22&redirect=true
Check this latest SFPUC meeting - this is the clarion call to San Franciscans :
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/52186?view_id=22&redirect=true
The SFPUC is a corrupt organization, more specifically, the SFPUC Water Department - led by Steven Richie, next by William Taehan, and Frank Jordon.
There is clear empirical data to fire the three corrupt managers who have ruined the lives of many innocent workers.
Each of the managers favors nepotism and is racist to the core.
It does not help that the General Manager of the SFPUC, Dennis Herrera, and the SF City Attorney's office, led by David Chiu, have ganged up on the innocent SFPUC laborers, firing them and denying them fair play and justice.
Hundreds of pages of fake information are prepared by the SF City Attorney lawyers - they have created a boilerplate model - to harm innocent workers - and the time has come to go to the Feds - and bring these crooks to book - using the RICO ACT.
My team gave a presentation to the SF Inspector General, and she saw the empirical data - complete with dirty, filthy sludge in our reservoirs - contaminating the drinking water that is pumped and distributed to San Franciscans.
Recently, attempts have been made to clean up the University Mound Reservoir - and I hope they do a good job - for years, the drinking water from the University Mound was contaminated, as a result of deferred maintenance.
It is time for the Feds to inspect the reservoirs all over San Francisco to ensure they meet standards.
No harm should come to the citizens of San Francisco, and they should not pay a lot for drinking water only to be hoodwinked in broad daylight.
I call upon Greg Wegner, the SF Controller, to intercede on behalf of the innocent workers who were fired and to restore all the benefits they have lost.
I call upon SF CalOsha to inspect the reservoirs and get back to me, as I have played a key role and invested a lot of my own money, to see that fair play and justice rule supreme.
It is simply wrong to fire innocent workers - and ruin their lives.
It is wrong for the City and County to state in writing that they cannot seek employment with the City and County of San Francisco.
We, the people, united, will never, ever be defeated.
The SFPU Commissioners had better get their act together and stop rubber-stamping and encouraging abject corruption.
It is time for the many commissions that just rubber-stamp and do not represent the taxpayers - they play second fiddle to the corrupt manager crooks who must be fired.
We meet on April 28, 2026, at SF City Hall, Room 400 on the 4th Floor, at 1:30 pm.
Water is Life, and these idiots do not comprehend what they are doing.
They stole the water and dared to use it to flush the toilets.
They stole the water from the Miwoks, the Paiutes, Pomos, and many other indigenous tribes in and around the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
It is time we bring the indigenous together, do a needs assessment, compensate the indigenous tribes for all the atrocities, and do right.
The indigenous lived in and around the Hetch Hetchy Valley for over eight thousand years - the strangers, in less than one hundred and fifty years, have contaminated all that was pristine.
This is a clarion call - the Great Spirit sees it all.
