Building Permit Scandal in San Francisco: Executives Charged with Bribery

[Nomad]

In San Francisco, there's important news about building permits. Three executives from a local construction planning company are facing charges for bribing workers at the city's Department of Building Inspection (DBI). They are charged with paying off DBI employees to speed up the construction permits and inspection permits back in 2003. Because of this, there might be more careful checking and stricter rules for approving permits in the future. This situation is a reminder of how crucial it is to follow ethical practices when getting building permits. If you're in the construction and planning business, it's important to stay updated and stick to the right legal steps to avoid problems.

You can read it in detail here

 

[Winny]

Makes you wonder how many buildings are built poorly due to them rushing everything. Sounds to me like they may have to look at how these buildings were built and make sure they're up to code. Because if they rushed the permit side, and especially inspections, who knows what we can expect. And if this happened all the way back in 2003, there could be some structural damage to consider too.

But yeah, hopefully they follow the permitting process appropriately and don't rush anything going forward.

 

[W3 Planning and Research]

I hate to say that in 25 years in this business, I have seen this issue creep up time and time again. I always rotated building inspectors randomly in their beats to ensure that this could never happen and any employee who I even had an inkling of corruption was investigated by the Sheriff's Office. We all have to take a zero tolerance approach to any type of corruption in this industry. The days of envelopes of cash on a site for a "passing" inspection are long over and I have always had a zero tolerance on this. What most people don't understand is that corruption by a public official can and is investigated on the federal level in many cases. The FBI loves these types of cases.

 

[Eric]

I hate to say that in 25 years in this business, I have seen this issue creep up time and time again. I always rotated building inspectors randomly in their beats to ensure that this could never happen and any employee who I even had an inkling of corruption was investigated by the Sheriff's Office. We all have to take a zero tolerance approach to any type of corruption in this industry. The days of envelopes of cash on a site for a "passing" inspection are long over and I have always had a zero tolerance on this. What most people don't understand is that corruption by a public official can and is investigated on the federal level in many cases. The FBI loves these types of cases.

Employee education is obviously a key component as well. We have required annual ethics trainings to ensure that everyone remains fully aware of ethics rules. It's also impressed upon employees that using one's position for personal gain can result in criminal penalties (i.e., jail time). After my wife got a job working for the local electric utility a couple years ago, I had to immediately stop work on a project for an affiliate company, to avoid potential conflict of interest.