Features

S.F. sues major contractor 

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco has sued the major contractor that worked on San Francisco International Airport’s expansion, accusing the company of defrauding the city of tens of millions of dollars. 

The suit, filed Friday in federal court, seeks $30 million in damages from Sylmar-based Tutor-Saliba Corp., as well as forfeiture of profits and possibly millions more in damages from Tutor-Saliba and its partners, Massachusetts-based Perini Corp. and Pennsylvania-based Buckley and Co. It also seeks to keep Tutor-Saliba from bidding on future contracts in San Francisco. 

The city claims the company overbilled and company manipulated and defrauded the city-run minority contracting program to win lucrative airport contracts it shouldn’t have gotten. 

Company owner Ronald Tutor denies the charges. 

“I’m really taken aback. I did not believe they would do anything so unreasonable,” he said. 

U.S. Postal Service offers amnesty 

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Postal Service is offering an amnesty to anyone in possession of its white plastic bins, commonly used to distribute large amounts of mail to businesses. 

The post office says about 10 percent of its 10 million boxes are missing nationwide. Each bin is worth about $3.50, but misuse of a single box can lead to a $1,000 fine or possible jail time. 

Each container, which is government property, clearly warns in blue print that the theft or misuse of it can entail the fine and a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. 

Diversity enrollment up due to smaller class size 

BERKELEY — This fall’s diversity increase in enrollment at UC Berkeley is mainly due to a smaller freshman class than last year’s, said a university representative. 

The freshman class has a total of 3,655 students, a 5 percent decrease from last year, said assistant vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment, Richard Black. The university received 36,000 applications, accepting roughly one in four. 

Hispanics, blacks and American Indians compose 15.6 percent of the fall freshmen class, up from 14.7 in fall 2001. In 1997, the year before the Prop. 209 ban on affirmative action went into effect, the percentage of underrepresented students was 21 percent. 

Asian Americans increased to 46 percent.