Kathy Wall

Vacant Homes a Target for Homeless and Criminals
February 10, 2011 · · 2 Comments

I was scheduled to do an open house at one of my listings in a terrific San Francisco neighborhood today.  When I arrived at the property and unlocked the door, the first thing that I saw were 2 men’s socks and a bunch of dirt, along with something that looked like a dirt clot, but later turned out to be a rock.  

Since this house has always been immaculate, I knew that something was radically wrong, so instead of entering the house, I first called the owners.   When I was unable to reach them, I decided to call the police.    Although it turned out that the intruder had already left, I’m so glad that I did call them, because it turns out that they were able to get really good evidence of who had entered.

This home had previously been “staged” and furnished, but the owners had requested that the staging be removed due to cost concerns, so it is now completely vacant.    Although we kept the front drapes closed so that people would not notice that it was vacant, someone clearly noticed, broke a downstairs window and spent at least one night in the property, apparently ripping down one of the drapes and using it as a blanket.      Read more

Terry Birt

Millbrae Community Workshop
February 6, 2009 · · 8 Comments

Last evening I attended a Millbrae NOW Community workshop.  The meeting was open to the public and hosted by our city staff.   The purpose of the workshop was to inform the community of its economic status, and what methods can be used to raise revenue for Millbrae’s’ vital services.

 After hearing all the presentations, the conclusion was that the city does not have enough revenue to maintain its current services and is not building a surplus in our infrastructure which could be a huge liability if there was an emergency. 

They were able to illustrate what cuts have been made by providing data on the sources of revenues and how it is distributed. It was  demonstrated how the city was able to cut costs by sharing services, staff, and program budgets, such as fire and police with other cities, without impacting public safety.  Read more