Supervisor Wiener's Aide Meeting: Notes and Recommendations

Below is a copy of notes handed to Adam Taylor, a legislative aide to Supervisor Scott Wiener, on October 15, 2015. We discussed Jonathan Vernick's fraud case and his removal from Baker Places. I will follow up with an analysis of the points made in the meeting in an upcoming post.

 

Notes for Adam Taylor:

 

1. The purpose of this meeting is for Jonathan Vernick, Executive Director of Baker Places, Inc. to retire owing to his memory loss.

 

 2. Evidence of his memory loss:

1. Dozens of personal interactions in which dates, events, and directions were confused. One day an event would be scheduled to happen a week in advance and then the next day I would be told something different.  These memory lapses occurred on a regular basis between January 27, 2015 and February 24, 2015.
2. Three long-term employees explained that it is an “open secret” that Vernick has dementia.

 

3. An audit conducted in 2008 found that Baker Places, Inc. has cash flow problems and does   not follow accepted accounting principles in many cases. Please study the audit which I have enclosed.

 

4. According to the IRS 2013-2014 990 form, Baker Places lost over $800,000. The debt was paid to the IRS in February 2015.  Please note that there has not been a CFO for some time (although one may have may hired recently).


5.  I respectfully request an independent audit be conducted as it appears as though the taxpayer’s money is not being well managed.

 

6. In my particular case, Jonathan Vernick made a real estate exchange in February 2015 (apparently in order to pay the taxes owed to the IRS ) in which I vacated a studio apartment (56 Francis Street) while in return I got an equivalent studio apartment (337 Fulton Street). Now because of memory loss, he cannot recall the meeting having taken place—even though there are 3 witnesses and record of what was agreed to.


7. In addition to memory loss, mismanaging the public’s money, committing fraud, Jonathan Vernick has done many other things which makes him unqualified to be the director of a nonprofit. Some examples include:

• Unlawfully evicting 6 tenants from a baker places-owned building—according to the Rent Board, the duplex at 54-56 Francis Street was under the rent control ordinances and thus the tenants were entitled to written notice which would spell out their rights and why the building was being sold. Instead Jonathan Vernick had his employees lie to the tenants and tell them the building was being repaired; this breeds a culture of deception which is unacceptable!

  

• Forged the signature of the Chair of the Board at Baker Places,  Nick Lederer. Evidence for this claim includes a de facto admission by the one who wrote the letter: Fancher Larson. Also, when I wrote Mr. Lederer in April 2015 he had no response to the this serious charge. There are several other lines of evidences, but if it is the case that he committed forgery (and it is true), then this is unacceptable conduct and thus he needs to be replace by the end of the year.

 

• Staff at Baker Places engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud. Examples include: Having other write letters on his behalf (until recently I had been under the false assumption that he had written them) which contains false statements; refused to give me a copy of any contract (July 26 request to Masami Endo); had employees deceive me by having me fill out a rental application (February 9, 2015); an attempt to evict me in September 2015 based upon “harassment” because I stood up for my rights and wrote him several letters; when I agreed to be both in the program and be a tenant (April 13, 2015), he turned around and concocted a scheme to evict me for violation of the program rules (which I have no idea what they were).
   

8)  What must we do now? The following are some options:

 

a. Jonathan Vernick needs to resign by December 31, 2015 and find a suitable replacement.

 

b. Defund Baker Places as a nonprofit.

 

c. Allow his outrageous behavior to continue.

 

9) Although option "a" is an optimal outcome, I am not sure he is ready to retire at this point. If that is the case, then defund Baker Places and then fund the 10 programs (or so) through a different source. There are other nonprofits such as the Progress Foundation which might be able to help.

 

10) Follow up: It is essential that we monitor this situation. Thus it is likely that I will need to meet with you, Supervisor Wiener, and other stakeholders. Thank you for this meeting as it is a first step to resolving a tricky situation.