Reply To Reader: Games Vernick Plays Turns Criminal

A dedicated readers asks:  I just read ur paper posted to a muni bus stop.   You go on and on how we should stop him but you don't really say why.   So who is Jonathan vernick and what did he do to piss you off so much?
Sent from my iPhone

Dear -----------------

Thank you for your letter. In fact, I do say why at the bottom of the page: " He (Jonathan Vernick" is a bad actor who has defrauded me out of $200,000, he stands accused of embezzlement, fraud, theft of public funds, forgery, corrupting his employees to engage in unlawful conduct exposing Baker Places, Incorporation to civil charges which would have defunded Baker, and on and on."

Additional information is provided at www.defundbakerplaces.blogspot.com.

From a human rights issue, my concern is the manipulative games he plays as documented by former employees (and verified by several current employees). The usual game is to promise some sort of "treat" or reward for a certain behavior (often unlawful and/or unethical) and then before it's time to collect Vernick will find some fault the employee has committed and then refuse to honor his promise. In some cases, he does give the employee the reward and then we have a corrupted individual who Vernick can return to time and time again.

In my case, his game constituted criminal fraud and civil fraud as he promised me an exchange of apartments and then when I vacated the first one, he then attempted to evict me from my new studio apartment. This is all the more shocking because he used several Baker Places employees to pull of the scam.

Thanks again for writing and please contact your member of the Board of  Supervisors at www.sfbos.org . Please feel free to write back again if you have additional concerns or have inputs you would like to share.

Sincerely Yours,

Harry Petersen

Jonathan Vernick Fraud Update!

Note to Readers: This feature of this blog began after September 2, 2015 when I filed embezzlement and fraud charges against Jonathan Vernick, the executive director of Baker Places, with San Francisco Police Department.  In it, I offer the reader a review of the present situation, assessments, plans, and encourage reader direct involvement with protecting the most vulnerable from abuse.


March 28, 2016


This is a very interesting period: A reporter for this blog has made appeals to members of the Board of Supervisors for the purpose of seeing that Jonathan Vernick is dismissed. From a process view, the Board can only fund/defund Baker Places; it is up to Barbara A. Garcia to see that the contract which is signed for the new year, 2016-2017 FY, calls for a new executive director at Baker. The reason nothing has been resolved to date: While nearly all the Board members want to protect Baker Places (because of the services it provides in their district), they realize that Vernick is probably a bad actor. How to get rid of him without defunding Baker Places?

In my view, this is not that difficult. Sooner or later, Jonathan Vernick is going to have to retire as he suffers from chronic dementia which appears to be in the early stages right now. There are obvious ties to Pablo Tisker (a real estate speculator with Bernstein Realty) and Vernick's other for-profit holdings (see link at bottom of this post) which investigators have told me are grounds for fraud investigators to audit Baker.


There are many signs that things are amiss at Baker Places: The Baker Board fails to obey the law and meet publicly twice a year, the Chair of the Board (Nick Lederer) has been informed about Vernick and has refused to respond to my requests for meetings, the IRS 990 forms show losses year after year (in 2013-2014 Baker Places lost $732,000), it appears as though the services Baker Places is supposed to provide (such as supportive housing) are being reduced as no new apartments are being rented and others are being vacated.


In addition to lots of messes, I believe Jonathan Vernick uses and abuses people. Because some of the specific information is confidential, I will state that I continue to meet with officials and will provide case histories which in general form show how the manipulative games are played. Readers are asked to contact their Board of Supervisor at www.sfbos.org and request that Vernick is dismissed. We have a deadline of June 30, 2016. Please note that I will visit several member's offices later this week (probably Tuesday and Wednesday).  Please telephone me at 415-865-0734 or email me at safeway7354@gmail.com for any input or questions.


Note: Jonathan Vernick Et Al v. Mynette Boykin :: Superior Court of ...for background info on Jonathan Vernick's private holding corporation.

A solution to solve the homelessness problem and other social ills

Yesterday, March 16, 2016 a reporter from Defund Baker Places, Inc. Blog attended the Mental Health Board at City Hall in San Francisco in room 278. The subject was primarily dealing with the problem of homelessness. While we are grateful for the dedicated volunteers to this program, all their recommendations are for naught as by the well-known economic law of the “Tragedy of the Commons,” the more officials in San Francisco do to ameliorate the homeless population, the worse the problem will become. This is because there is no national policy and thus it is to the advantage to various cities, counties, and states to practice “Greyhound therapy” and send their downtrodden to San Francisco. It will take a Hillary Clinton to address this vexing social problem by giving the states block grants to house the homeless.

The solution to many of our social and economic problems has been known since the 1960’s: First eliminate all taxes (federal, state, and payroll and so forth). Constitutionally, pass an amendment which outlaws the IRS and other government collection agencies except for the Treasury department which will assess a 20% consumption tax and sales taxes at the local level (eliminate property taxes, estate taxes, corporate taxes and so forth).

The second prong is to give each United States citizen 50% of this tax on goods and services in redistribution at about $2,000 per month. All government programs are eliminated except those dealing with constitutionally required expenses such as the defense of the country, upholding contracts, maintaining the peace, and coining money. Under this plan, government will shrink to about 30% of its present size.

The third prong is to compel those who are homeless to use the $2,000 monthly check for housing. Those who refuse, will be deemed harmful to themselves and/or others and will be either placed in a structured environment (e.g., housing those who are psychotic) or the $2,000 will be used as a housing voucher. Presto! The homeless problem is solved!

We are hopeful that within the next few years the public will embrace this obvious solution for many of our social and economic problems. Perhaps by the year 2020 this policy will be taken seriously. Until then, homelessness will continue unless it is dealt with as a national issue.

 

Reader's Question: Please be more specific about allegations of abuse

Email from a dedicated reader March 8, 2016:

 I have seen your fliers and have a few questions after visitiong your blogspot. Can you be a little more specific as to how he abused clients or employee's? Second are you referring to the same Baker Places that provide medicated detox to people with certain problems? If not can you be more specific about what they do and whom you are talking about? thanks,

My Reply on March 8, 2016:

The abuse to which I allege is interpersonal transactional games. An example (which is a real-life one): An employee is promised a promotion to management if he/she agrees to do xyz (which almost always involves unethical/unlawful acts); he/she does the actions; then Vernick will renege by saying the employee "screwed up" by doing something wrong (say failed to filed all reports in a timely manner); then the employees gets nothing and is punished.

The is the type of game Vernick plays all the time: manipulate someone to do his bidding; promise a reward; renege on the promise. 

Note that the "promise" above sometimes involves contractual and or legal agreement ( or an "oral contract"). Since Vernick lacks an ethical center anything he says today is meaningless; he will only keep his word if he feels required to do so; he will not honor his word otherwise. Simply put, Vernick is a psychopath without guilt, remorse, or shame for his misconduct.  

Baker Places, Inc. is a nonprofit funded by the city and county of San Francisco at about $12 million annually. It administers about 10 programs via the Department of Public Health. These programs include transitional housing, rehabilitation for various addicts, and housing for those HIV+. The oversight of these programs for their effectiveness is nonexistent; the very fact that the program is designed to do good, means it must be doing good. This is the kind of "bad logic" which the media and thus the public accepts. So the problem with nonprofits goes beyond Baker Places, but is endemic to the entire private-public partnerships.

Thank you for writing. Please contact your member of the Board of Supervisors (www.sfbos.org) to let them know that you expect your taxes to be spend wisely and human beings deserve to be treated with respect.  

Sincerely Yours,

Editorial: Jonathan Vernick Needs To Be Dismissed—Now!

Since the beginning of 2016 Defund Baker Places, Inc. Blog has been part of a “Ping Pong diploymacy” in which a reporter from this blog has maintained communication with members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and officials at the Department of Public Health (DPH). This has been going for the last two months; the time for games is over…Now is the time for action. Jonathan Vernick needs to  be dismissed by June 30, 2016.

While we have offered to give the Board of Supervisors and officials at DPH documents and statements verifying Vernick’s disrespect towards employees and clients, there has been only silence in response. This is unacceptable! A Resolution needs to be implemented which is why a reporter will once again return to the Board of Supervisors by March 14, 2016.

The financial mismanagement has been documented to the Board, to DPH and the Mayor’s office. We have shown that Baker Places lost a total of $825,000 for the fiscal year 2013-2014. This is the taxpayer’s money; yet, even Mayor Lee has failed to show any interested in wisely managing funds.

Because former employees have written to this blog, sharing information about corruption and abuse under the 25-years of terror by Vernick, we consider this to be a human rights issue: All human beings have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. One would think that Barbara A. Garcia, the executive director of the Department of Health of all people would know this; yet by her inaction she is showing otherwise. It is time for Ms. Garcia to do the right thing and dismiss Vernick.

Readers of this blog have supported its efforts for nearly six months. We are grateful and call upon dedicated readers again to rise to the occasion: Please contact your member of the Board of Supervisors at www.sfbos.org and let him or her know that it’s time for action: Vernick must not be supported by the taxpayers of San Francisco as he must be dismissed—Now!

This editorial is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.