The Anatomy of Public Corruption

Showing posts with label Wells Fargo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wells Fargo. Show all posts

Wells Fargo Suicide

  • NEWS
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  •  SAN DIEGO

Boyfriend Of Slain Woman Jumps Off Bay Bridge As Police Watch

2
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The boyfriend of a missing woman whose body was found along a remote coastal highway killed himself Tuesday, shortly after the body was identified, by jumping off the Bay Bridge, police said. He was under police surveillance at the time.

The boyfriend, Darion Sable, had told police that Jerusha Briley, 20, disappeared Saturday morning while going to buy groceries for her 23-month-old son, Gabriel.

Sable jumped off an approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco police spokesman Dewayne Tully said. He fell about 100 feet, landing on pavement in a fenced-in area.

Fifteen minutes earlier and five blocks away, Sable had been released on his own recognizance after being jailed overnight on a drug charge, police confirmed.

Police had followed Sable after his release to see where he was going to go and to see if he would lead them to any new information in Briley's death, Sgt. James Deignan of the San Francisco Police Department.

Police said they originally thought Sable was going to try to hitchhike, but contacted the California Highway Patrol when he continued to walk onto the bridge. They said Sable probably did not know he was being followed and that they had no time to stop him from jumping.

Homicide Inspector Tony Casillas wouldn't say whether police had told Sable he was a suspect in his girlfriend's death before letting him go.

"The investigation is still in its primary stages," he said. "Everyone is innocent until proven guilty."

Sgt. Doug Pittman of the Marin County Sheriff's Office said Sable was a suspect in Briley's death, but had not been singled out as the primary suspect. He said the sheriff's office is not yet focusing on one person as a suspect.

Police also haven't determined what killed Briley, whose body was found Monday along Highway 1 about five miles north of Muir Beach in Marin County. Footprints and tiremarks found in the gravel were being studied.

Family members were told Tuesday that the body had been identified as Briley's. Her childhood friend and Gabriel's godmother, Devon Rath, told The Associated Press that the family was too distraught to comment.

Sable had called police Saturday to report Briley missing, saying she wasn't the type to leave the house, let alone her toddler, for more than a few hours without letting people know where she was.

Friends said Briley had been weaning Gabriel off breast-feeding and was making calls to invite people to his birthday party two weeks from now. The sheriff's office would not comment on the relationship between Sable and Briley's son.

Sable told missing persons investigators that Briley had been seeing a counselor for "possible depression," but that he had no more information on the subject.

But Rath told a different story to the San Francisco Examiner - that Briley was getting counseling to improve her relationship with her boyfriend and thereby provide her son with a healthy family.

"If she wanted to get away from it all, she would have called someone," her 15-year-old sister, Naomi Briley, told the Examiner. "If she had problems, she would have called someone to take the baby."
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Walnut Creek / Investigators suspect boiler was at fault

Explosion Rips Through Wells Fargo in Walnut Creek / Investigators suspect boiler was at fault

Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, December 1, 1999
Note:  Darion Sable –Former Marine Suicide leaves Wells Fargo and jumps from Bay Bridge
A thunderous blast ripped through a Wells Fargo Bank branch in downtown Walnut Creek yesterday, injuring an employee and a pedestrian struck by flying debris. Authorities termed it an accident.
Fire investigators were focusing on a second-floor boiler as the likely cause of the blast. Authorities and bank employees said the boiler had been repaired about an hour before the explosion.

"It was a big boom," said bank manager Nancy Methlie as she stood with a group of Wells Fargo employees not far from the intersection of Bonanza and North Main streets where the bank is located. "It was like you could feel it everywhere in the building."

The explosion occurred at 3:51 p.m., blowing out windows around the building and throwing a large metal duct grille across Bonanza Street where it struck a man. He was taken to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Walnut Creek with injuries to his shoulder and knee.

A bank employee who was in a room adjacent to the boiler at the time of the blast was also taken to the hospital for symptoms of shock. But officials described both victims' injuries as minor.
Bank patron Alex Utal said the explosion knocked panels off the walls inside the bank. "I thought someone had thrown something against the building," he said.

Shannon Rogers, an employee at Athletic Outpost across from the bank, felt the explosion shake the building while she was working.

"It reeked of gas," she said. "A big metal piece flew off and hit the piano store across the street."
Other bank employees said the building quickly filled with heavy steam or smoke but officials said there was no fire inside following the blast.

Damage was heaviest on the second floor where the suspect boiler was located.

''Earlier in the day, repairs were being made to the boiler," said Contra Costa Fire Capt. Larry Thude. "The repair crew left around 2 or 2:30 p.m."

Authorities said only about 10 people, including employees and patrons, were in the bank when the explosion occurred. A gas line to the bank was immediately shut off but several neighboring businesses were evacuated as a precaution.
Police cordoned off a four-block area around the bank, snarling traffic in the already heavily congested downtown area.
Wells Fargo was planning to send its own security people to the scene to secure the bank, said bank market president Andrew Mastorakis.
Mastorakis said there had been no threats made against the bank and that all evidence pointed to an explosion in the boiler. Fire officials and police were expected to remain at the scene to establish an official cause of the blast. Engineers from the bank and the city were assessing structural damage to the building last night.
Lance Berg, a Wells Fargo spokesman in San Francisco, said customers in Walnut Creek should use Wells Fargo's branch on South Broadway until the branch on North Main reopens.















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Safeway Managemet and safewaymurders.com

Safeway

Safeway Murders
The story I'll be telling about Safeway involves, a murders, suicide that was a murder and murder near an employee who died.

COMPANY
Supermarket chain formed 1926 by the merger of M. B. Skaggs' Skaggs Stores with the Sam Seelig Company. It was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1986. After extensive restructuring and the sale of half its stores, Safeway was made a public company again in 1990. It presently has 1,775 stores in North America, operating under the Safeway brand and a variety of lesser names including Carrs (Alaska), Casa Ley (Mexico), Dominick's (Illinois), Genuardi's (Pennsylvania), Pak 'n' Save (California), Randall's (Texas), Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy (Texas), and Vons (California). Acquired by Cerberus Capital Management in 2015.
Official Website:
http://www.safeway.com/
Industry:
Retail
Ticker:
NYSE:SWY
Corporate headquarters:
Pleasanton, CA
Sales:
$38.4B (2005)
Employees:
200,000
EXECUTIVES
NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Steve Burd Business 1949
CEO of Safeway
Brian C. Cornell Business c. 1960
CEO of Michaels Stores
Charles K. Crovitz Business c. 1953
EVP at Gap, 1998-2003
Julian C. Day Business 14-May-1952
CEO of Radio Shack
Jim Donald Business ?
President and CEO of Starbucks
Lawrence V. Jackson Business c. 1953
Wal-Mart executive
Peter A. Magowan Business 5-Apr-1942
President, San Francisco Giants
Charles E. Merrill Business 19-Oct-1885 6-Oct-1956 Founder of Merrill Lynch
Vasant M. Prabhu Business c. 1960
CFO of Starwood Hotels
M. B. Skaggs Business 5-Apr-1888 8-May-1976 Founder of Safeway
CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS OR DIRECTORS
NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Steve Burd Business 1949
CEO of Safeway
Janet E. Grove Business c. 1952
Vice Chairman of Federated Stores
Mohan Gyani Business c. 1951
CEO of AT&T Wireless, 2000-03
Paul Hazen Business 1941
CEO of Wells Fargo Bank, 1995-98
Robert I. MacDonnell Business c. 1937
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Douglas F. Mackenzie Business c. 1959
Partner, Kleiner Perkins
Rebecca A. Stirn Business c. 1952
President of Aesthetic Sciences Corporation
William Y. Tauscher Business c. 1949
CEO of ComputerLand, 1987-99
Raymond G. Viault Business c. 1945
Vice Chairman of General Mills, 1996-2004
PAST BOARD MEMBERS OR DIRECTORS
NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Sam Ginn Business c. 1938
CEO of Airtouch Communications, 1993-99
Henry Kravis Business 6-Jan-1944
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Peter A. Magowan Business 5-Apr-1942
President, San Francisco Giants
George R. Roberts Business 1944
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
M. B. Skaggs Business 5-Apr-1888 8-May-1976 Founder of Safeway
EMPLOYMENT
NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Joe Albertson Business 17-Oct-1906 20-Jan-1993 Founder of Albertson's
Kathryn Walt Hall Diplomat 1947
US Ambassador to Austria, 1997-2001
George W. Off Business c. 1947
Checkpoint Systems
Mike Vaska Activist 1960
Discovery Institute
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Connecting The Safeway Murders - My personal 30 year story

Background: During the 1980's I operated a large commercial casework cabinet shop.

Clients: Mace Rich, Simon Stores, Contra Costa College District, Safeway, Wendy's, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and City of Walnut Creek plus PG&E, Chevron and AT&T.


Heading




Agencies:
DEA Dir
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#LinkedIN: The Fremont Group Letter > Produced Accenture, PG&E, Wells Fargo and Symantec

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#blameBush



As the Presidential Election leads us forward the secrets behind the #Deadbankers story nags at minds of millions of Americans and Citizens of the world. The reality of 9/11 is it possible that the bankers located at the World Trade Center.

In 2003, US programmer Kevin Flanagan joined the ranks of suspicious bank related suicides now a global pandemic likely far bigger than being touted by media pundits in late 2013. 



When read my story about the murders near me and the attempts to kill me, my family and friends it's becoming clear that the Federal Indictments looming with Albert D. Seeno, his connections to the legal community judges and bankers clearly are my problem.


Mr. President, Mr. Burd attends Hillside Covenant Church
where several members attempted to kill me in 2011
while I was employed at PG&E developing software
for what has become this Federal Investigation
Nice to know you keep good company
or you're a really good at bluffing.


Not far from the Bay Area was the alleged murder suicide of Phillip Marshall and his two children.  Currently classified as a familial murder but given that Marshall's story connects to 9/11, that his connections leads to cases near me.

For the moment ponder this pool of connectors published by NNDB and the fact that I've alleged since 2012, that Steve Burd's friends at Hillside Covenant Church are behind one of several attempted murders on my person. 

In 2014, I filed claims with the City of Walnut Creek and within seven days officers tried to run me down, wrote me fresh tickets on top of the 20K I already.

Mr. President I am a dying a slowly roasted death being exposed to the elements with every incident now eclipsing over 100 cases (38 years).   Mr. President this page is easy to prove or disprove but Accenture controls decisions at SBC, AT&T, Wells Fargo, Symantec, Bank of America and even have a leg in the Federal Reserve.

I'm looking for the best plausible denial about how Accenture magically touches every major case in the country which is supported by my argument they are the Masters of Disasters.  You only need two to make a conspiracy, right?

 #strackdeaths #strackdeaths
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Steven A. Burd 1949– President, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board, Safeway


Steven A. Burd
1949–




#MormonMurders - Links coming soon
#SafewayMurders -  Links coming soon


President, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board, Safeway
Nationality: American.
Born: 1949, in Valley City, North Dakota.
Education: Carroll College, BS, 1971; University of Wisconsin, MA, 1973.
Family: Married Chris (maiden name unknown); children: two.
Career: Southern Pacific Transportation Company, 1974–1982, marketer; Arthur D. Little, 1982–1987, management consultant; Safeway, 1986–1987, consultant; self-employed, 1987–1991, management consultant; Stop & Shop, 1988–1989, consultant; Fred Meyer, 1989–1990, consultant; Safeway, 1991, consultant; 1992–, president; 1993–, chief executive officer; 1998–, chairman of the board.

Address: Safeway, 5918 Stoneridge Mall Road, Pleasanton, California 94588-3229; http://www.safeway.com.

Nate Greenan Murdered in 2012
Ernie and Ardoth Scherer Murdered
by Ernie Scherer III (top left) with
ceremonial sword sitting Nate's hands
two years after conviction
■ Steven A. Burd was an evangelical Christian (Hillside Covenant Church) and a tough leader, a combination that puzzled his opponents but that put him in the mainstream of a movement that resulted in the election of another evangelical Christian, George W. Bush, as president of the United States in 2000; Burd was one of Bush's most prominent supporters in California. Burd's strength, and perhaps his bane, was his remarkable skill as a micromanager; he could increase sales from a store by merely rearranging the shelving on an aisle, and he could save his company money by adjusting how plastic bags were ordered.

RAILROAD TO CONSULTING

 Burd's father was a railroad-yard superintendent, and Burd was raised primarily in Minot, North Dakota. He earned a BS in economics from Carroll College in 1971, and in 1973 he earned an MA in economics from the University of Wisconsin, after which he took a job in marketing with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
In 1982 Burd joined the industrial management consulting firm of Arthur D. Little in New York City, where he earned a reputation for fixing broken companies. While at Arthur D. Little he attracted the attention of the management of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, a firm that specialized in leveraged buyouts of troubled companies. In 1986 Burd worked at Safeway as a management consultant after Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought the ailing supermarket chain. In 1987 he went into the consulting business for himself while continuing to help Safeway with its organizational problems.

AILING CHAINS

In 1988 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts asked him to consult at Stop & Shop, a chain of stores that was losing its customer base. Burd helped fix the chain's problems with product selection, which had not kept up with changing consumer tastes. In 1989 he went to Oregon to help the local supermarket chain Fred Meyer. Although Burd had no official title and was technically an outsider, as the representative of the parent company, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, he found he had real muscle behind him when he ordered changes. His most significant contribution to the chain's recovery was to set up management systems to keep track of operating expenses and how supplies related to sales.
By the end of 1990 the mismanagement of Safeway was legendary, with tales of employees driven to suicide and others killed by work-related stress appearing in newspapers and magazines. Employee morale was awful, amid chronic fears of sudden, seemingly arbitrary dismissals and store closings. Safeway's prices were higher than those of its competitors, driving away customers, and it was losing money rapidly. Fresh from his two-year turnaround success at Fred Meyer, Burd was asked to consult again at Safeway.

TURNING SAFEWAY AROUND

Link
Just a good list that will get better
Bay Area Open Mics
Bay Area Sightseeing
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Cell Phone Index
Cell Phone Index
Link
When he returned to Safeway, Burd found a paranoid corporate culture, outraged labor unions, customers who felt betrayed by a chain that closed profitable local stores, and an accounting system that was so neglected that management could not know what was making money and what was not.

On October 26, 1992, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts forced Safeway's management to accept Burd as its new president. It had to have been a tough situation for Burd, because the man most widely blamed for Safeway's woes, Peter Magowan, remained chief executive officer (CEO). Magowan was supposedly Burd's superior in the governance of the company, but in terms of micromanagement Burd had few peers, and he soon made his presence felt throughout the company. The chain had 1,100 stores, mostly in the far west of the United States and in Canada. It had nine regional companies, each run independently of the others.
It took Burd years to make the nine divisions partners. He began with seemingly simple matters such as the procurement of plastic bags for bagging groceries. He found that each of the nine companies had its own individual deals with plastic-bag manufacturers, seven altogether. As he would for procurement in general, Burd centralized at corporate headquarters in Oakland, California, the ordering of plastic bags by narrowing the suppliers to two, which translated into a savings of $2.5 million per year. Burd introduced streamlined systems of cost analysis, which also resulted in savings. For example, store managers reported that in-store salad bars were earning 40 percent margins, a big boost for a company that was losing money. Yet when Burd examined the losses due to spoilage and the cost of labor to maintain the salad bars, he discovered that they were actually losing money, so he had them eliminated. For 1992 Safeway grossed $15.2 billion, and its shares sold for about $5.
On April 30, 1993, Burd was appointed CEO as well as president of Safeway, with Magowan remaining as chairman of the board but no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of the company. Burd took to visiting individual stores to study layouts, products, and even the ambient music and lighting. He began adjusting each store's produce section to suit the ethnic preferences of the neighborhood; adding, for example, more mangos in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods. He was distressed by the amount of produce and other perishables that was spoiling on shelves and pressured store managers to keep their produce fresh. He introduced organic produce to Safeway, reasoning that low prices alone would not make customers loyal and that special, high-quality products could help cement consumer loyalty.

Burd succeeded at lowering shelf prices to make Safeway competitive with other supermarkets. The savings that resulted from his management reforms were used to lower prices further, remodel stores, train employees to give better service, and to introduce the Safeway Select line of premium in-house products, which became very successful at attracting and retaining customers who wanted a brand line they could trust. Although Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had reintroduced Safeway to the stock market in 1990, it still held 67 percent of the shares, and its support helped Burd's reforms stick. By the end of 1993 Safeway had achieved a 1 percent profit margin, about the industry standard, which at the time was regarded as significant evidence of Safeway's new efficiency and improved customer service. On September 7, 1993, Burd was elected to Safeway's board of directors.
In 1995 Burd began the Safeway Category Optimization Process, which considered a store's offerings aisle by aisle rather than by product category. The idea was to put products on the aisles where customers would expect to find them. In 1996 Safeway owned 35 percent of Vons, a southern California supermarket chain. Burd forced a buyout of the remaining 65 percent of shares from a reluctant Vons management. This expanded Safeway's holdings to 1,377 stores, employing 140,000 workers. Customer service improved throughout Safeway's stores, with employees remembering frequent customers by name and escorting customers to the appropriate aisles when they asked about a specific product. Insistence that employees smile at customers may have backfired when some women employees protested that their smiles elicited unwanted interest from male customers. The price per share of Safeway stock rose to $80. Burd believed that enabling employees to invest in Safeway stock was good for the financial health of both the employee and the company, and he believed shares needed to be priced low enough that employees could easily invest in them, so in 1996 he had Safeway split its shares two for one.

By 1997 one-fourth of Safeway's employees owned 15 percent of the company's stock. Burd developed a program of sending anonymous inspectors into individual Safeway stores to check on the service provided to customers. Safeway's private-label plants were selling their products to other Kohlberg Kravis Roberts chains, increasing the profits realized at each plant. Safeway's sales increased 48 percent, and the chain tried to underprice its competitors on average shelf prices. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts lowered its holding of Safeway stock to 50 percent. Safeway netted $1.3 billion in 1997, and Burd sought to use the money to acquire new stores, believing that by increasing its size Safeway would achieve an economy of scale that would allow it to survive the looming challenges of discount chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.

EXPANSION

On May 12, 1998, Burd was elected Safeway's chairman of the board, with Magowan remaining only as a director. This was Burd's chance to fully shake loose from his predecessor. Meanwhile, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts brought its holding in Safeway down to 16 percent, meaning that Burd was largely free of their oversight, too. By October 1998 Safeway's shares were selling for $43.63 (after the split) and its financing seemed strong enough for Burd to make a daring move: In November 1998 Safeway bought Dominick's Finer Food of Illinois for $1.8 billion, consisting of cash and an assumed debt of $646 million. Dominick's had 113 stores and was a chain known for its premium products. Three years earlier the chain had been purchased for $693 million by Yucaipa Companies, owned by Los Angeles magnate Ron Burkle; the sale to Safeway was a big windfall for him, and financial analysts criticized Safeway for paying too much. Dominick's had cost Safeway about $16 million per store, compared with $11.3 million per store in the 1996 Vons deal.
Burd was sure he could turn Dominick's into a powerful asset the way he had made Safeway into one—by careful attention to details. Safeway invested $294 million into improvements at Dominick's, rearranging store layouts, widening aisles, and introducing Safeway's highly successful house brands. Dominick's employees were paid about $3 per hour more than those at local rival Jewel, owned by Albertsons, making it difficult to compete on shelf price. Burd cut staffing at Dominick's to try to lower expenses. The initial results were not good. Customers were unhappy that comfortable old layouts had been replaced by Safeway's open configuration and that Safeway brands had replaced premium name brands. For three consecutive years Dominick's income declined, and its regional market-share fell from 28 percent to 23 percent. To be fair to Burd, high-quality Safeway brands had achieved margins as high as 30 percent in the Vons chain as well as at other Safeway stores, giving reason to expect them to find appreciative buyers in Illinois.
In 1999 Safeway purchased Randall's Food Markets of Texas. To realize quick savings, Safeway reduced the chain's product selection and, as at Dominick's, introduced its house brands to customers unfamiliar with them. At both Dominick's and Randall's understaffing caused long lines at checkout registers, angering customers and lowering employee morale. Burd had long believed that high employee morale would result in better customer service, and he believed Safeway could excel in customer service, making its stores more attractive to shoppers than those of competitors, so the decline in morale was to him a serious problem.
Burd believed that a key asset was store location—placing stores where they were most convenient for shoppers. Thus, he was always looking for ideal store locations. In May 2000, for example, Safeway bought six stores in Houston from Albertsons because they seemed well placed. Burd's aggressive moves to acquire more stores created excitement among investors and journalists, and by 2001 rumors were rife about what his next moves would be. That year Safeway's stock peaked at a little over $60 per share, an increase in value of $10 billion since 1993. The chain's sales had doubled since 1993, and the profit margin was 4 percent, a big increase over 1993.
In February 2001 Safeway bought 11 stores in Arizona from Abco Foods, then purchased the Genuardi's Family Markets supermarket chain in Pennsylvania for $528 million. Genuardi's had 44 stores. Thereafter Genuardi's developed a reputation for poorly stocked shelves and poor produce. Burd viewed Safeway's advantages as location, selection, perishables, and service, but market forces were turning against him. In October 2001 United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) members struck three Safeway stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Burd said that Safeway had to contain its labor costs in order to compete with challenges from discount chains, and he threatened to close the stores rather than give in. In June 2002, after months of negotiations, he did just that.
In 2002 Safeway took over $1.2 billion in write downs (admitting the value of assets had gone down), a $589 million charge on Dominick's in April (taking a loss in value), and a $788 million charge on Dominick's again in November 2002. In November 2002 Safeway put Dominick's up for sale. Safeway's books valued Dominick's at only $315 million. Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies offered Safeway $350 million to buy back Dominick's, but Safeway turned him down; Burkle said he felt slighted by Safeway. In August 2003 Safeway sued Burkle for interfering in negotiations with Dominick's union, costing Safeway a purchaser for the chain because the purchaser could not reach an agreement with the union. Increases in costs of meat and dairy products further hurt Safeway's bottom line, because in a low-inflation economy it would have a hard time justifying increases in prices to its shoppers. Meanwhile, conditions at Genuardi's had deteriorated so badly that Safeway ran newspaper ads apologizing to customers and asking them to forgive Safeway and to try shopping at Genuardi's stores again. For 2002 Safeway grossed $35.7 billion, but it lost $828 million.

RIDING A HURRICANE

Events in 2003-2004 almost cost Burd his career and Safeway its financial strength. Wal-Mart announced that it would open 40 supercenters—stores that sold a full line of groceries as well as Wal-Mart's other offerings—in California. Discount chains in general, but Wal-Mart in particular, worried Burd and other supermarket leaders because they could significantly underprice traditional supermarkets. The biggest advantage for Wal-Mart seemed to be in the cost of labor. Wal-Mart employees were paid on average about $8 per hour less than Safeway employees and received few benefits, whereas Safeway's employees enjoyed some of the best benefits for retail workers anywhere in the country. The charge by the federal government in 2003 that Wal-Mart employed illegal immigrants who received no benefits only heightened the anxiety Wal-Mart caused its competitors.
Burd said that labor costs were a threat to the supermarket industry's survival, that high wages and benefits made it impossible for the chains to compete with Wal-Mart and Target, which were nonunion. On October 11, 2003, the UFCW went on strike against Safeway's Vons stores in southern California. Vons had 326 stores and generated 19 percent of Safeway's sales. In support of Safeway, Albertsons and Ralph's, which was owned by Kroger Company, locked out UFCW workers. Union leaders said they chose to strike only Vons because Vons would have the toughest negotiators. The three supermarket chains made Burd their spokesperson. Mindful of his belief that employee morale translated into customer service, Burd moved to mitigate some of the hardships of striking Vons workers by setting up a fund to aid workers with mortgage bills, car payments, and other expenses, hoping to alleviate the hard feelings that would result from a strike. On October 16, 2003, Burd said the three supermarket chains had made their final offer to the union, declaring that the only changes that could be made to the offer would be to make it "less good" (SignOnSanDiego.com, October 26, 2003). Burd wanted to cut Safeway's contributions to health care from $3.85 per hour worked to $1.35 per hour worked. For its part, the UFCW feared that Safeway could set a precedent that would affect contract negotiations throughout the United States.

Safeway's share price fell to $22 on October 24, 2003, which was still much higher than it had been in 1993. While Burd talked publicly about the long-term future of the industry and labor costs, he was working on revolutionary changes in how the supermarket industry dealt with vendors. For decades supermarket chains charged vendors for shelf space and shelf position; that is, in order to have its products placed in a good position on stores shelves, the vendor would pay the chain in cash. In 2003 Burd was reworking, in his typically meticulous fashion, the relationship between Safeway and vendors, demanding not cash for product placement, but price concessions. He saw Safeway's future in buying products for the lowest real-market value and then passing on the lowered prices to consumers. The prices might not beat those of discount chains, but they could be low enough that with superior products and service Safeway would attract customers away from Wal-Mart and its ilk. Further, he started having stores remodeled to be more comfortable for shoppers, installing imitation wood floors and softer lighting, for example. Market studies had indicated that shoppers found Wal-Mart stores chaotic and anxious; Burd sought to make Safeway's stores welcoming and calming. For 2003 Safeway grossed $35.6 billion but lost $170 million, failing to make a profit because it lost $696 million in the fourth quarter of the year, mostly due to lost revenue from its Vons stores.

The West Coast leader of the UFCW was Sean Harrigan, a friend whom Burkle had helped become president of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). In March 2004 CalPERS and the pension funds of New York, Illinois, and Connecticut, each owning shares in Safeway, urged fellow shareholders to oppose Burd during the May 20, 2004, meeting of shareholders. A few financial analysts recommended that their clients vote to oust Burd. In January 2004 about 250 demonstrators tried to march to Burd's home but were stopped by the gates and guards. They prayed and called Burd evil. He was vilified in the press and on Web sites for being greedy, for costing shareholders $20 billion in stock value during a decline since 2001, and for abusing the rights of employees.
The southern California strike was settled in February 2004 in an arbitrated compromise that left workers with wages and benefits higher than in other retail businesses. Safeway's stock value was increasing, to over $28 per share. Shareholders complained that Safeway's board of directors lacked independence and profited from doing business with Safeway. Thus, the board dismissed three directors. Burd and two other longtime directors from the 1980s were targeted in the shareholders meeting, but each was reelected with over 80 percent of the vote. A proposition to separate the offices of CEO and chairman of the board received only 33.2 percent of the vote. Even so, a new position of lead independent director was created to help look after the interests of shareholders.
See also entry on Safeway Inc. in International Directory of Company Histories .

sources for further information

Barron, Kelly, "The Sam Walton of Supermarkets?" Forbes , October 19, 1998, pp. 64–65.
Green, Frank, "The Point Man," SignOnSanDiego.com , October 26, 2003, http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20031026-9999_mz1b26point.html .
Weinstein, Steve, "The Resurrection of Safeway," Progressive Grocer , January 1997, pp. 16–22.
Whelan, David, "Unsafe at Safeway," Forbes , June 7, 2004, pp. 66–68.
—Kirk H. Beetz


Read more: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/A-E/Burd-Steven-A-1949.html#ixzz3VMFlXOow
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#DeadBankers

The Earlier Dead Bankers

There are other deaths near other banks with my former peers. 
Bootstrap Thumbnail First

Gary Bell CEO

In 2012, Mr Bell fell ill near election day but within days he was in a coma.  Just like Councilman Shimansky, Tax Collector Pollacek they died from Spinal Meningistis.  The personal connection is the other bacterial deaths in the area and back in Florida with Jimmy Barnes death in Bradenton FL pushed the death count to almost ten. 
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Madeline Seeley 2010

Madeline Seeley mom and friends were often at the Round Up bar in Lafayette CA. One night the estranged husband decided to come down at the Mom's assistance. He worked for Pacific Services former banking arm of Pacific Gas and Electric. 


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City of Walnut Creek does it again - Threaten Candidate - Eject and Thwart




This potential litigant would have sued the City of Walnut Creek along with the driver in what would have been a successful personal injury case and for two years was lead astray by local attorney.  When the statues of limitations ran he was summarily told he didn't have a case.  The litigant suffered serious near fatal injuries, is permanently disabled, his body seriously crushed and mangled.  




This is his accident record that was suppressed as the accident data recently appeared on the Traffic Injury Information Mapping System (TIMS) which is maintained by U.C. Berkeley under grants from the Federal Government and the State of California.  

Other Hidden Accidents 
Eiko Sugihara - burned alive in on Dec 4th 2009 - her death is technically an accident but 

Mid August 2004 
Pete Bennett: On or about August 15th 2004, a 1987 F-250 Truck burst into flames in Interstate 680 NB just north of the Danville Police department.  When a motorcycle unit arrived I explained it was arson pointing the loosened oil plug, oil flowing like water.  In addition that the officer clearly stated 911 dispatch received over ten calls stating flames were shooting back over 100 feet.  In essence I was a fireball that was nearly burned alive yet there is no record of the incident.  Please read the exchanges between SRVFPD and my self when I attempted to get copies of the fire report.  Just like Sugihara, Cambra, Marcus Burger and my five recent attempts to get police reports nothing but today was another repeat of prior events.  

From Planning to Walnut Creek Police Department Front Counter 
Today I attempted to learn of the progress of investigations regarding the last group of incidents.  I walked to the Police Counter from planning where I clearly told the clerk I didn't need a police officer, that all events regarding police officers have been met with doublespeak, chit chat, circle talk and mumbo jumbo answers.  

I turn around to find several officers arriving and telling me nothing happened to me that my cars my stories were just stories, that my allegations were investigated, that requests for my police reports weren't needed because there was no crime and I wasn't allowed in the city. 

This is about the fifth time I've been escorted by police from the city hall.  Today they escorted a candidate for office seeking information, documents and copies of police reports needed to show the residents of Walnut Creek the stark realities of witness intimidation, murder suicides, murders and suspiciuous deaths of many homeless throughout Contra Costa County who are essentially being slaughtered to path the way for developments.  


Joe Canciamilla and Pete Bennett - the Pittsburg CA Connections 1981 to 1990

   

You may remember me from my efforts with the groundwork for starting the Pittsburg Seafood Festival which today has been a long term success.  

Employment of Supervisors Glover's cousins as my cabinet shop and that Bennett, Glover and Bynum's are pretty much acquainted by age, graduation year, residence proximity and overlapping history.   

Given your Pittsburgh legacy and history you like me are painfully aware of several distinct incidents.  For many these problems are over except in my situation simply put persons are trying to harm me.  

Mainframe Designs Cabinet and Millwork's 545 then 546 Bliss Ave 1981 and 1990
I once operated a large cabinet manufacturing operation employing up to 15 workers, my clients were Safeway Stores, Contra Costa College, PG&E, Wells Fargo, Fresh Choice and Wendy's.  By 1987 I'd negotiated over 4 million in contracts with Wendy's and Fresh Choice.  

Sadly in 1988 a takeover robbery took the life of Cynthia Kempf while during that same time frame my cabinet shop was targeted just like my software operation was targeted in Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Danville.  Starting around 1985 I endured incidents that several years where I'd lost over $50,000 in tools, equipment and property.  Then I attempted resolution by turning to the police department where I filed reports and called 911 when I was facing a couple of drug addicts with guns.  No big deal just another Pittsburg shootout at 4 AM with me against three.  

Over time I concluded that the Pittsburg Police were deeply involved and no matter how police reports I filed nothing happened then the FBI arrived along with several trustworthy police officers with the bad news.  They couldn't protect me from the shootings, break-ins and incidents like my four stolen vehicles.  

Five years later I learned that Officer Bergen was the shooter of my friend Cynthia Kempf and we both knew her.

Cynthia Kempf 

It doesn't stop there - we all knew the Bynum Brothers -  Please read the sad tragic litigation of how the Bynums were dragged through the courtroom where they took a secondary Courtroom sponsored beating where they encountered Attorney's defending the City of Pittsburg retained by the Municipal Pooling Authority.  
Tiny Bynum ~ Pittsburg HS Graduate 

February 2012 Walnut Creek CA 
I've recently created a blog on Contra Costa Homeless where I've gathered information that homeless are being targeted and harmed.  Last year a semi formal study revealed that over 40 homeless died.  Many were slaughtered by cars but on several occasions the same nearly happened to me.  The Walnut Creek Police have continually denied I'm being targeted even when their traffic / surveillance cameras had the Kodak Moment of which vehicles traveled near my accidents they still deny events.  

This blog will mature as time permits but I lack time to remove unnecessary preseeded template items.  If the City would pay for my computer damaged by their officers life would be easy.  I hang in there everyday with Rat's running around my "hidden spot", imagine that "thehomelesscandidate.blogspot.com" fighting the Municipal Pooling Authority who by now have spend over $100K defending Banta's 13 Million Dollar claim, and now they've got defend the David Bremer claim where they say he beat himself to death on a suicide watch.   


PG&E San Bruno Explosion 
Please understand what my position is on these events.  Between February 2011 and July 2011 I was developing software for PG&E specific to the San Bruno Fire.  Last month PG&E was indicted for obstruction on the Superseding Indictment which coincidently covered obstructing or impeding an investigation.  I agree that PG&E has done that but more important is how my project fits that allegation.  

First take a close look at this video - you have to wonder how a pipeline was able to send an explosion nearly 1/3 of a mile, how a PG&E Engineer who does high performance fluid dynamics calculations.  It's a fascinating subject of determining how liquids move from A to B but in my 2004 arson case it was simple.  

The explosion that lifted 3 tons of pipe onto the street but didn't burn any houses? 

There are series of videos near this fire that suggest the blast up street wasn't produced by Compressed Liquefied Gas but was more likely C-4 - my argument is that Commander Wielsch and Chris Butler possessed these explosives via what was partially revealed by the CAL DOJ investigation but my additional argument is the original source was the 1989 San Pablo Armory Theft which occurred right behind Contra Costa College where we often used to stage our cabinet installations.  

CHP Failures JFRANCO@chp.ca.gov 
The Contra Costa Arsonist Manual - 
R&R: Drain oil from engine, when replacing oil use temperature sensitive wax gasket, replace oil with mixture of accelerant or regular and call it a 50/50 Mix - then call the POBAR attorneys to ensure your union brothers will not create a record of the fire leaving no trails to follow.  

Where does this go?  

Once again when attempting to glean records from the City of Walnut Creek as this mornings goals were, speak to the City Clerk, collect specific details on these projects which was handled with trepidation by staff.  I attempted to get this information several times in the last year.  In one instance the police came charging out - I was met with five officers and told that I wasn't allowed in the City Hall and that I was required to email the City Clerk.  

So today I'm explaining to Walnut Creek Police officers that my truck fire is very important when the officer said he knew about our meeting nearly ten years ago where I've alleged consistently for over ten years (August 2004) that it was attempted murder. 

These are the events occurring 

Walnut Creek City Council Meetings 
I've attempted to voice my concerns over three years, I've written letters, made calls and spent thousands of hours of my time researching incidents throughout the county.  In my public speaking period I've vetted incidents that have occurred and how on more than one occasion I've had my civil rights violated.  Since appearing a series of intentional incidents have occurred, instead of calling WCPD I've called the FBI or CHP's legislative security team called Threat Assessment Unit (TAU), when someone attempted to run me over on September 28th 2013 I called Officer Mike Soslo and Brian Wong who've been collecting information on events near me since 2011 when Senator DeSaulnier called them to go after me instead I've concluded one very glaring connection which I will detail below.   




Running for Office and the Union is the same race
In every instance along this journey it's been Unionized workers but is not limited to just Police, in 2007 the Superior court clerks lost my Ex-Parte motion thereby deliberately interfering with my court motion which was a move away prevention order.  You think it's limited to me it's not, in the Matter of Marina Evans v. Mark Evans it is much worse.  I met Marina in 2004 but it took three years to learn what happened.  She was arrested in Walnut Creek held for 63 days on a serious Jay Walking charge.  The very troubling issue is they held an ex-parte motion in her absence.  This has been posted to my blog since March 2013.   

Marina was brought to the holding cell and held captive by the deputies.  The court procedure is very clear - the bailiff is to check to see if the respondent is in custody, in custody for Jay Walking, she was screwed out of every nickel she's acquired.  The good news in her husbands Attorney offices were burned down with my attorneys offices in building owned by one of Benny Chetcuti's victims who managed to fleece over 30 million from investors.  


The Maria Evans Story is not much different from the Jaycee Dugard story, held captive, denied her civil rights and due process, then I've got Joseph Welsch who was beat up my deputies, he wins a half million from the county, in my case a Danville Building Inspector beat me up right after my truck exploded on 680, Mr, Collins died an untimely death weeks after being linked to the CNET Scandal, along with Roma Bhatia and cub scout mom Loretta Hale. 

Just so you get the gravity of how Politicians are selected or deselected please read my blog pages about 
  • Office Eric Nunn - Candidate for Office District V 
  • Councilman Shimansky, 
  • Candidate Elect Gary Bell 
  • Contra Costa Tax Collector Bill Pollacek.

The Victim Collage - Nate Greenan 04/18/2012
James Greenan's son was killed on WB-24 is not another accident to be ignored, Greenan represented the County against Chevron.  Nate grew up in Danville, he was 35 at the time of his death, his family raised him Mormon but he left the church, he went to Oakland Temple inside the Danville Stake which contains, Danville, Alamo and San Ramon. 






The Fate of Attorneys and their families

One of the attorneys son committed suicide in the county jail. 
One of the victims just gave birth to baby girl. 


She was run over by car matching the description of the vehicle that tried to run me over not once but twice.  

This one should get your attention - 

In the above link Nate Greenan is holding a ceremonial sword (Left), and on the left is Ernie Scherer's III booking arrest photo.  The State's case boils down to time, motive and weapons.  One theory pitched over the rail was the missing sword from Scheerer La Brea residence was the weapon which was theorized by investigator Scott Dudek of Alameda County SO, Dudek was also the core investigator for the former DOE employee John Kelly who committed suicide in 2007.  


Via Nate's Facebook pages I found him holding a ceremonial sword which was at least a year after Ernie III was convicted along with a very tight timeline between NV to NorCal to SoCal then to bed.  

Who's connected to former Department of Elections Employee John Kelly? 

Candidate for Office Eric Nunn - Fatal 
Eric Nunn candidate for office, and BART officer Craig Wilson but it gets stranger as they also worked with Michael Maes, Timothy Smith and Robert Seymour.   In every case their deaths were untimely, a suicide, a plane crash, a murder suicide and officer involved shooting.  

The strange part is John's suicide had the perfect witness - an off duty police officer and the Nunn crash in a demographic region consisting of less than five hundred residents, there were two perfect witnesses on the ground perfectly positioned to inform FAA investigator Ian MacGregor.  

The relevance of all these snippets is I knew Nunn, Kelly, Maes, Chetcuti, Butler, Wielsch, Tanabe, and Lombardi.  I know all of them via phone, emails, or personally.  They inturn would know officers from Walnut Creek, CCSO, LPD, PHPD, and other cities where in turn each city I've had numerous incidents.  







The Municipal Pooling Authority - serving the cities, their union workers and pretty much killing opposition, litigants and dissention.  This litigant has alleged Walnut Creek Police officers on numerous occasions tried to harm Bennett but that without a police investigation nothing will happen.   

Please read "Find the 680 Boy Scout Arsonist and you'll find Alicia Driscoll's killers " 
Serving....
Antioch, Brentwood, ClaytonDanville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Manteca, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, OrindaPacifica, Pinole, PittsburgPleasant HillSan PabloSan Ramon and Walnut Creek

Ponzi Schemes Ala Carte 
In 2013 after discovering that Commercial Building Owner Scott Bergren owned 1776 Ygnacio Valley Road which was hit by an arsonist in 2001, that arson case derailed my litigation.  One case was a payables dispute and the other was proposed litigation with Albert D. Seeno.  Over a decade later I've discovered that Benny Chetcuti Jr. sister was married to Chris Butler (Fed Prison) and that Benny grew up a mile from the San Bruno Explosion, that he knows persons in another company who's signs I discovered near the Walnut Creek Kinder Morgan Fire.  It should be noted that 


Walnut Creek 

Lafayette 

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