A Democrat San Francisco city supervisor resigned a week after being sworn in amid controversy over the horrific conditions at a pet store that she owned, including a freezer stocked with “dozens” of dead creatures.
The brief tenure of Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz as District 4 supervisor came to an abrupt end last week when she stepped down at the request of Mayor Daniel Lurie, who had previously touted her skills running The Animal Connection which he called “the neighborhood’s most beloved pet shop,” despite her lack of any government experience that would qualify her for the job.
Alcaraz’s rising star came crashing down after Julia Baran, who took over the pet shop in May, told local media about the stunning shape that the business was in after she was given the keys, sharing pictures and videos of the hundreds of dead mice underneath shelves and the macabre contents of the freezer.
“It smells like death,” she said in one video that, according to the San Francisco Standard, “showed masses of dead mice and feces behind one of the store’s shelves.”
“There was a layer of pee and dust and poop on everything,” Baran told the outlet. “On the walls. On every cabinet. On a lot of the inventory, so I couldn’t even sell it.” She said that “it took months and thousands of dollars to clean out the filth and bring the shop to a state in which she feels comfortable welcoming customers.”
Baran also shared the gruesome images with the Daily Mail that showed “extensive rodent nests and decaying carcasses inside the store” in the vicinity of the freezer, which was “filled with dozens of deceased pets,” with guinea pigs and lizards being among the frozen critters.
(Video Credit: KPIX)
“In Beya Alcaraz, the Sunset has a supervisor who has dedicated her life to serving her community and will work every day to bring people together. She stepped up from employee to owner of The Animal Connection — working seven days a week for six years and keeping the doors open through the pandemic to serve her neighbors. That’s the determination and the work ethic she brings to the Board of Supervisors, and it’s why Mayor Lurie is absolutely confident she is the best person to be the Sunset’s voice in City Hall,” the mayor’s office said in a statement praising the city’s historic first Filipina American to serve on the board.
“To say you’re a successful businesswoman is not true,” Baran said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I don’t know how the mayor appointed someone without doing their due diligence.”
Other than her neglect of the pet store, Alcaraz also has a more serious problem, cheating the IRS by reportedly paying employees under the table and listing her personal expenses as business expenses, and showing that the business was losing money on profit and loss statements.
The shady practices were detailed in text messages that Baran released.
“I also live off a big portion of the non-cash revenue. I spend (sic) expense a bit of money on my personal life so I can use it as a tax deduction. E.g., I pay for my dinner and drinks with my friends or ‘clients’ as a business expense, and they may or may not pay me back in cash,” one text message read, according to ABC7.
“I pay people under the table now,” she confessed in another text.
“I spoke to Supervisor Alcaraz tonight. She and I agreed, as we always have, that the Sunset deserves a supervisor who is fully focused on serving the community. We also agreed that the new information about her conduct while running her small business, which I learned today, would be a significant distraction from that work. In our conversation, she told me she intends to resign as supervisor,” Mayor Lurie said on Thursday.
“This is my childhood pet store I’ve known for my whole life,” Baran is quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle. “I could have walked away the first month. This business deserves love and care for it to be successful.”
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