Talk:Tenants and Owners Development Corporation

This is a biased article - and not worth keeping.

For instance "The organization has used these resources to lobby against housing construction" is not supported by the citation he gives. Also: "Elberling lives rent-free in one of TODCO's affordable housing units" should mention that he's doing it as a building manager. (Which is in the citation listed). Personally, I'd suggest just getting rid of this article. Dancingsnails (talk) 18:12, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

Disagree. This organization is a major player in the politics in one of the world's most important urban economies.

We should fix, and do so by finding well-sourced coverage from a variety of sources. Ctbeiser (talk) 05:56, 3 October 2022 (UTC)

Add early history content

Hello,

My name is Andres, I work for TODCO and would like to help editors on Wikipedia in making this article more robust. For the near future, I will be making requests on this Talk page with suggestions for content to be added. Feel free to tag me here if you want to chat.

For my first suggestion, I propose adding some early history of TODCO to the very top of the History section. Please consider the following:

TODCO was founded in 1971 as a coalition of South of Market tenants and building owners. It was formed in response to redevelopment of the Yerba Buena corridor.

John Elberling took over TODCO in 1978, when it had started construction on the first of its senior housing buildings. Elberling lives rent-free in one of TODCO's affordable housing units.

After joining TODCO, Elberling worked on the 1980s Prop. M campaign that limited office development.

References

I'm here on the Talk page to chat! TODCOAM (talk) 20:26, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

 Done Encoded  Talk 💬 07:09, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

More history content

Hello,

This is TODCO employee Andres again. Thanks to Encoded for the updates above. Here are a few more possible updates to History section for editors to consider:

• After the sentence, "In the 1980s and 1990s, TODCO built a set of low-income apartment buildings, concentrated on Sixth Street", consider adding, "Following this, TODCO redeveloped single-room-occupancy hotels on the street. In 1998, it completed a 24 unit development called The Leland Apartments for people with disabilities."
• In the sentence that reads, "Since the early 2000s, the organization has not built more housing, but remains active in local politics", consider changing "local politics" to "advocacy". I think this is a better description of what TODCO does and is also supported by this San Francisco Chronicle source already in the article.
• In the sentence, "The organization has used these resources to lobby against housing construction, as well as fund various other propositions", consider adding the phrase "market-rate" so that it reads: "The organization has used these resources to lobby against market-rate housing construction, as well as fund various other propositions." This is also supported by the above source and adds more specificity to the sentence.
• After the sentence that reads, "The organization has been criticized for using the windfalls of its operation on political advocacy rather than on its properties and resident services", consider adding, "According to author Chester Hartman, TODCO offers social services for its residents including a community clinic, case management and shopping transportation." for additional information of TODCO's functions.

References

I'm here on the Talk page to chat! TODCOAM (talk) 22:13, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

 Done Encoded  Talk 💬 21:30, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Thank you, Encoded! TODCOAM (talk) 22:15, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

Business Practice and Complaints section

Hello editors,

I would like to discuss a recent addition to this article, which is the new Business Practice and Complaints section. It is a three-paragraph section that I think editors will find to be redundant, as some of the content is already discussed within the article; not written in encyclopedic tone; and potentially gives too much weight to one specific source.

I would like to suggest that it be removed, rewritten, and re-incorporated into the current History section.

Please see this list for a more detailed proposal:

1: The first paragraph of "Business Practice and Complaints" should be added to the History section.

2: The second paragraph should be rewritten to be more neutral with due weight, and reincorporated into the History section. Much of the information in this paragraph is synthesized and draws conclusions. Please see this proposal:

The San Francisco Standard published an article where tenants living in buildings operated by TODCO complained of conditions in the units. The Standard article wrote that TODCO used funds for political causes. The article reported that annual revenue for the organization's main nonprofit entity had doubled over the last decade while the amount of revenue spent on residents was reduced. The organization cited inflation for the reduction in maintenance funding, citing wages as an example. TODCO tripled the amount spent on employee salaries, which TODCO attributed to adding administrative and program staffing because it was "understaffed".

3: The third paragraph is redundant, as the Wikipedia article already discusses this criticism of TODCO in the fifth paragraph of the History section. The History section covers the same points as this new paragraph does. Because of that, I believe this paragraph could be removed in its entirety.

Thank you to editors for their review. Perhaps Encoded this new request may interest you? TODCOAM (talk) 20:36, 17 May 2024 (UTC)