metroactive.com | sanjose.com | metrosiliconvalley.com | JANUARY 24-30, 2018
THE FLY
LOBBY HOBBY
A group of landlords that spent the past couple of years campaigning against stronger tenant protections in San Jose have been accused of illegal lobbying. The Bay Area Homeowners Network— called BAHN and led by real estate agent JENNY ZHAO and landlords DAN PAN and IRENE SMITH, among others—coalesced sometime in 2016 as the City Council began debating whether to lower the rent control cap and banning no-cause evictions. One of their first recorded meetings with an elected official took place in April 2016 at Councilman CHAPPIE JONES’ house—the only meeting the District 1 rep took at his own home that year, according to his public calendar. But BAHN apparently failed to report that or any other meeting with city officials. According to a recent claim submitted by an unnamed “former member” to San Jose’s Ethics Commission, BAHN ducked transparency requirements by attempting to shape public policy without registering as a lobbyist or filing required disclosures. They The complaint also Did notes that BAHN raised What? more than $40,000 to fund a “public relations SEND TIPS TO FLY@ campaign with the METRONEWS. intent of urging direct COM communication with city officials in order to influence a legislative action.” The complaint includes several attachments, including a fundraising ledger and emails urging members to convince District 7 Councilman TAM NGUYEN—considered a crucial swing vote—to keep the yearly rent control cap at 5 percent, which he did. City Clerk TONI TABER declined to comment on the claim except to note that it has yet to be assigned to an evaluator. BAHN members told Fly that the complaint was news to them. “Technically, we are not lobbying,” Zhao said. “Our main goal is to help mom-andpop businesses.” Granted, as a nonprofit trade association under the same IRS classification as a chamber of commerce, BAHN can legally work as a lobbying group. The question is whether they should register as such.
Kevin N. Hume
8
SVNEWS
TOP BILLING For San Jose Water Co. customers disputing unusually high water costs, it’s their word against the meter.
CASH FLOW
Residents voice frustration over inexplicable water bill spikes BY CAMILLE MILLER
W
HEN BRIAN JONES opened up his water bill last September, he knew something was wrong. The San Jose resident, who typically pays around $200 per bi-monthly cycle, was charged nearly $1,700 for a reported use of 3,000 gallons a day in his Almaden Valley home—and with no conceivable cause. To put that number into perspective, the average American uses about 88 gallons per day, or 14 cubic feet of water per month. Jones, who lives with three other adults, was billed for using 236 cubic feet (expressed in “ccfs” on the bill, the industry-standard designation) within the months of July and August— up to 10 times what his household uses
on a regular basis, enough to fill a dozen backyard swimming pools. Jones immediately complained to the San Jose Water Co., an investorowned utility that serves more than 1 million people in Silicon Valley. A field worker from the water retailer then checked his home for leaks and, finding none, extracted his water meter to test its accuracy in the company’s meter shop. When results showed that his meter was reading correctly, the company concluded that Jones had somehow used the reported amount. Jones, who is unemployed and couldn’t afford to pay the full charge, tried to the settle the dispute with a good faith payment of $250, which based on past usage would be considered a high bill for his household. Four months later, when the water company shut his water off, he had no choice but to cough up the
remainder of that bill, causing him to increase his credit card debt and take on additional interest fees each month. As Jones recounts the ordeal, his voice stiffens. “It is a genuine hardship,” he says. Other San Jose Water customers have complained about spikes in their water bill. Rita Benton, a Saratoga resident and leader of activist group WRATES—short for Water Rate Advocates for Transparency, Equity and Sustainability—says this is a common issue in the company’s domain. Toward the end of the last year, Benton and WRATES member Bill Sherman began noticing several hundreds of posts on the social network Nextdoor, which connects members within a neighborhood, about people experiencing unusually high water bills. About 40 of the 377 posts Sherman tracked down in the Almaden Valley group recount a nearly identical story to Jones’, wherein households that typically use 20 to 30 cubic feet per billing period were being charged for using well over 100. “There are too many of these to be coincidence,” Sherman says. Malcolm Bordelon—a San Jose Water customer, former publisher of the Silicon Valley Business Journal and former executive of the San Jose