Podcast appearances and mentions of jeff kositsky

Episode #16 of The Teddy Brosevelt Show is a one hour discussion of the bombshell story we just dropped on the brand new website Austin Texas Times. “BOMBSHELL: Austin Wants to Hire Scandal-Ridden California Non-Profit Urban Alchemy to Manage ARCH Downtown Homeless Shelter”For people who listen to the show for national and global topics, this is a major national discussion about the notoriously corrupt Homeless-Industrial Complex that fleeces taxpayers for billions of dollars each year, while making the crisis way worse. Starting a homeless non-profit organization is a great move for grifters.The worse you suck at your job, the more money you make, fruitcake.(Say that last line in a Jerky Boys voice Paul). If the Homeless Industrial-Complex came up with a real solution to end homelessness by 2023, they'd all be out of a job within the next 18 months.Instead they encourage more homeless vagrants to relocate to their city by providing catered meals, free needles and the promise of ‘free permanent supportive housing'.I copied this article practically word-for-word directly from the Austin Texas Times.I don't care if it gets me in trouble. They work me to the bone, I never get any credit and the paycheck sucks. Have zero fear of getting fired, since all those a******s over there who work on that digital garbage dump realize one thing.If Teddy leaves, that whole thing collapses in less than two weeks.Tops.AUSTIN TEXAS TIMES BOMBSHELL:‘Austin Wants to Hire Scandal-Ridden California Non-Profit Urban Alchemy to Manage ARCH Downtown Homeless Shelter'Austin City Council will hold their next marathon meeting on Thursday July, 28 to vote on 193 agenda items.There are dozens of wasteful, corrupt-looking items on Thursday's agenda that should trigger serious anger among Austin citizens.However, here's an item buried near the very end of the agenda that stands out as the most outrageous ideas I've ever seen in nearly two years of keeping a close eye on these despicable snakes.ITEM #190:Authorize negotiation and execution of an agreement with Urban Alchemy to operate the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) shelter for a thirteen and a half month term, beginning August 15, 2022, in an amount not to exceed $4,143,350.Austin's NBC affiliate KXAN reported yesterday:"There will soon be new leadership at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) shelter.""Listed on next week's city council agenda is a vote on whether to authorize a new, more than $4 million contract with a California-based company called Urban Alchemy.""This comes after the city announced on Monday they'll be discontinuing their partnership with Front Steps, due to that group reorganizing internally."Out of all the grifters that make up America's corrupt Homeless-Industrial complex, I dare you to find a more scandal-ridden, sketchy and shady company than Urban Alchemy.First huge red flag:Urban Alchemy employs convicted felons to run their outreach programs.The Pacific Sun reports that most of Urban Alchemy's 1,100 employees “have served life sentences in prison”.What better people to mentor and manage Austin's homeless community than a bunch of convicted felons?From the Urban Alchemy website: Don't be alarmed when you see a naked vagrant on meth choking their chicken and screaming at the moon on Sixth Street. Most people just confuse feeling uncomfortable with feeling unsafe.[/caption]The Urban Alchemy website insists that their trustworthy, top-notch team of compassionate convicted felons did “serious self-work to get out" from their life sentences in prison.Skeptical Emoji questions whether convicted felons are the best outreach coordinators to supervise and mentor Austin's 3,100 Homeless people.[/caption]Urban Alchemy was awarded a six month contract for $463,620 from the Sausalito City Council to provide "around the clock site management services" for the Bay Area town's homeless camp from January 2022 to June 2022.Ten past and current homeless residents who were staying at a Sausalito, California homeless camp supervised by Urban Alchemy shared this list of shocking allegations with the Pacific Sun.[caption id="attachment_986" align="alignnone" width="630"] Pacific Sun screengrab on Urban Alchemy from June 1, 2022[/caption]Pacific Sun (June 1, 2022):Urban Alchemy staff members frequently did drugs on the job, including snorting meth and smoking concentrated marijuana oil out in the open with homeless residentsUrban Alchemy staff members sexually exploited homeless females.President of the Marin Homeless Union tells Pacific Sun: "“Once the city increased the contract, we got all these new Urban Alchemy people coming and going. They don't have name tags on, and some were pretty confrontational. There was a lot more anonymity and a lot more opportunity for exploitation. It turned dark.”[caption id="attachment_982" align="aligncenter" width="223"]Urban Alchemy logo[/caption]Four homeless people told the Pacific Sun that Urban Alchemy employees brought methamphetamine into the encampment for personal use or to share with campers.One of the Urban Alchemy employees (Josh) had several visible white supremacist symbol tattoosOne of the Sausalito staff members had to be transferred to another location after being caught on cell phone video calling a woman at the encampment a “b***h” and a “w***e.”Current encampment resident Sarah Gossage: "I did a line with an Urban Alchemy guy. He asked if I want to do a line and I said sure. He handed me a rolled up 20-dollar bill with crushed up crystal meth. After I was done, he let me keep the 20 dollars."Current encampment resident Phil Deschamps: “Steveo would drop off drugs to a woman at the camp and ask campers to find him drugs. A UA employee f--ked [a female camper] in the tent next to the tent I'm in."Keep in mind these are fresh allegations from June 2022.Now in July 2022 - in light of all this scandal - the Austin City Council wants to award them with a $4.3 million contract!Nice vetting process, huh?The City of Austin is begging for potential lawsuits by hiring a rogue, unlicensed bunch of convicted felons with a track record of supplying meth to homeless campers and sexually exploiting vulnerable homeless females to run the freaking ARCH homeless shelter (of all places!) in downtown Austin.Urban Alchemy's current legal situation in California:At least SIX lawsuits have been filed against Urban Alchemy since it's inception in 2018.Last year over 450 employees filed a potential class action suit against Urban Alchemy alleging labor violations.Three homeless individuals are suing the organization for civil rights violations by Urban Alchemy employees.Sounds like just what Austin needs right now!A corrupt, scandal-ridden bunch of California grifters with highly suspicious financials who loudly accuse you of racism if you dare question anything about their methods, operations, employee vetting process or dubious financial records.San Francisco taxpayers have awarded $41 million in highly suspicious no-bid contracts to Urban Alchemy just this year.The San Francisco Examiner reports:"Despite the fact that Urban Alchemy is receiving tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money from city coffers, the operation remains stubbornly mysterious and opaque."Urban Alchemy currently runs San Francisco's three safe sleeping villages, which are city-sanctioned and monitored encampments surrounded by a locking chain link fences and supervised by several unarmed 'street ambassadors'.Did I mention all of their 1,000+ 'street ambassadors' are convicted felons who spent several decades in prison?What could go wrong?Urban Alchemy Promotes Anarchy in California:An unarmed Urban Alchemy 'street ambassador' got shot in front of a homeless encampment while trying to stop two men from selling drugs near San Francisco City Hall on February 23, 2022.Unlike other shelters, people can stay at the San Francisco safe sleep sites as long as they want.Even better, they are free to smoke, snort and inject all the drugs they want.Homeless drug addicts don't need to worry about about overdosing, as Urban Alchemy's team of convicted felons has plenty of Narcan handy to assist junkies in fending off the Grim Reaper. This saves an average of one homeless overdose death per week at the three camps.Skeptical critics say Urban Alchemy is "another expensive Band-Aid" on San Francisco's fight to reduce the skyrocketing substance abuse and open air drug dealing on city streets.Urban Alchemy Exploits Loophole to Avoid Street Ambassador Security TrainingEven though Urban Alchemy is providing security service at these encampments, they are exploiting a loophole that would normally require all 'street ambassadors' to obtain licenses.Under California law:Charities that are “organized and maintained for the public good” are exempted from private patrol license requirements.The San Francisco Standard reports: "California requires an extensive licensing process for operators of a 'private patrol service', which means someone 'who furnishes a watchman, guard, patrolperson or other person to protect persons or property, or to prevent theft, unlawful taking, or loss.'""Licensure for security guards requires training as well as FBI background checks.""Urban Alchemy, in documents filed to qualify as a “public benefit corporation,” or charity, states that the organization “employs former long-term offenders as ‘Urban Alchemy Practitioners' to provide clean and safe public facilities in urban areas.”"City records reviewed by The Standard show that Urban Alchemy representatives and city officials have both acknowledged that the nonprofit's staff members are providing security services that fit the state's definition of activities that would normally be regulated."Urban Alchemy ain't dealing with all that extensive licensing, training and FBI background check b******t!This trustworthy team of 1,000+ convicted felons is composed of “practitioners” or “street ambassadors”.Never call them "security", "guard" or "patrol".Unless you want trouble.If you dare question anything about Urban Alchemy, just know that their motto is 'No Fuckery'. See the footer of their website.Urban Alchemy even applied for an official trademark for their very own 'No Fuckery' symbol. Urban Alchemy Trademark application[/caption]Urban Alchemy's Highly Suspicious Financial RecordsUrban Alchemy has ballooned to 1,000 workers since 2018Urban Alchemy's budget increased by more than 500% since 2019Urban Alchemy's page on Charity Navigator is missing all financial information.Just look at their shady-ass 2022 Fiscal Year budget.Operating revenue for FY 2022: $43.4 millionPersonnel expenditures for 1,000 convicted felons: $35 millionAdministrative expenses (a.k.a. executive salaries, offices and perks: $6 millionMoney left over for the Homeless after Urban Alchemy pays themselves: $2.2 million- SOURCEAre you freaking kidding me?So Urban Alchemy gets $43.4 million from the City of San Francisco...And less than 5% of that money actually goes to the homeless community? No wonder the city of San Francisco looks like the slums of Mumbai in 2022!Hardly any of the $43 million that Urban Alchemy has been awarded this year is going directly to San Francisco's Homeless population.The San Francisco Examiner discovered a city document that listed Urban Alchemy Founder and CEO Lena Miller's salary as $220,000.Reporters questioned whether her longtime relationship with San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her "relationships with City Hall power brokers" played a major part in Urban Alchemy's stunning revenue growth.[caption id="attachment_989" align="aligncenter" width="568"] Urban Alchemy Founder and CEO Lena Miller[/caption]Urban Alchemy Founder and CEO Lena Miller bristled back through her PR flack on allegations of cronyism:"I don't care if me and the mayor were best friends. She wouldn't keep me around half a second if we weren't getting results."“How is it helping society or the story to tell the whole world what I make? What is the purpose, so everyone can decide if it's enough or too much? It's just messy.”"It's frustrating to me when people try to kind of connect dots, are constantly looking for the trick. How have we cheated to get this big? Because, like, you can't cheat picking up needles."If you think that cronyism is bad, wait until you get a load of this:Last November, the first homelessness chief in the City of San Francisco (Jeff Kositsky) joined Urban Alchemy after years of working with the group as a city official!Urban Alchemy was only providing mobile outdoor bathrooms back in early 2018.That's when Kositsky first suggested to city colleagues that Urban Alchemy should be awarded an expanded (and highly lucrative) new role running San Francisco's homeless encampment and hotel services.After Kositsky helps Urban Alchemy land a no-bid contracts with the city (currently tallied at $68 million), he bolts from his role as San Francisco's Director of Homelessness and goes to work for... Urban Freaking Alchemy!Here's the LinkedIn profile for this corrupt snake:Wait, it gets even better.Jeff Kositsky (He/Him) claims that criticism of Urban Alchemy is due to...wait for it.....Racism!Whitest man in the world Jeff Kositsky clumsily kibbitzes:“I think when you have an organization that's being run by primarily Black men who have been in prison for 10 or more years, you're held up to a different level of scrutiny.""When I'm feeling dark about the world, that's what I think.”Here is a photo of Jeff Kostisky's big white head.Bet you've never seen a 60-year-old man wearing Harry Potter glasses during a non-Halloween occasion until right now.When his organization that is founded and ran by white people faces criticism, white man Jeff Kostisky cries "racism" and claims his organization faces a higher level of scrutiny because it's being run primarily by black men.Founder and CEO of Urban Alchemy is a white woman and the Director is a white man.Yet they are both screaming:"Back off racists!""You are only criticizing our company that's run by white people because black people are in charge here!"The San Francisco Examiner called for a full investigation into these slimeballs back four months ago."Let's not wait until someone dies before we start asking serious questions.""It's time for the Board of Supervisors to get more curious about the role of an organization that's receiving lucrative city contracts to carry out ambiguous and possibly illegal duties."San Francisco Examiner editorial:"The real issue for me is the management and operation of Urban Alchemy.""Leadership has not issued a detailed program plan; there are no deliverables, no measurables and no benchmarks.""There is no apparent record keeping that maintains accurate financial oversight."San Francisco Redditors don't have a very high opinion of Urban Alchemy: "Urban alchemy bringing meth into homeless camps?""Urban Alchemy is useless. I'm frequently in TL for work and they just stand on the corner and smoke blunts. What a joke of a non profit. Maybe they need to vet the felons they hire.""One of the things I've noticed is that some of the Urban Alchemy guys do use drugs on their own or with the denizens. I've frequently seen them smoking weed on the job, and also seen them smoking other drugs, and even one time apparently dealing crack or meth, then ducking inside a tent to lay down (on Polk at Turk) and relax.""I've seen Urban Alchemy guys catcall passerby women loudly and comment on their bodies for the whole block to hear, so that doesn't surprise me.""You have a crew that's staffed with formerly incarcerated criminals. Some are going to use the money we're giving them for doing basically nothing and take it and make themselves better, and others are going to use it to go back to their ways and continue to victimize."Want more exclusive details on Homeless Industrial complex grifters Urban Alchemy?Stream Episode #16 of the ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show' now:SpotifyiHeartRadioApple PodcastsTuneIn RadioSubstack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit teddybrosevelt.substack.com

The city's plan to build a homeless shelter on the Embarcadero faces a legal challenge. Jeff Kositsky, director of San Francisco’s homelessness department, talks about the need to balance an emphasis on short-term shelters with permanent housing.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight talks with Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, about why the city’s homeless problem doesn’t seem to get much better despite city officials spending more than $300 million a year to solve it. Hint: For every 50 people moved off the streets, 150 take their place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff Kositsky is Director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing

As director of SFMOHCD, Jeff Kositsky has a major goal: find shelter for 8,000 individuals by the year 2020. 360BayArea sat down with him to find out how!

Catching up with a couple we met two years ago who were using a bus line as their shelter. A conversation with Jeff Kositsky, San Francisco's first director of the department of homelessness. The story behind this week's Audiograph mystery sound.