The list of contractors who have run afoul of city inspectors is a virtual who's who of the San Francisco painting business. Some of the property owners who have been cited are among the city's professional and community elite, including real estate mogul Frank Lembi, the University of San Francisco and a string of churches, synagogues and private schools.

City inspectors at one point also slapped two violations on work being done on an Ingleside apartment house owned partly by Joe O'Donoghue, powerful chief lobbyist for the city's building industry. The case against him was ultimately dismissed, but city records raise questions about whether the action was proper.

Critics say the weak enforcement exposes a major flaw in a law that requires safe removal of lead paint during exterior work on buildings constructed before 1979. High lead-paint exposure has been linked to stunted development of children and circulatory and nervous disorders in adults.

Through the end of June, inspectors from the Department of Building Inspection had handed out 341 citations to property owners and contractors for offenses ranging from allowing toxic dust and chips to fly around to failing to notify the city of lead-paint removal. Eight

Contracting firms have been cited at least twice and seven cases are awaiting possible disciplinary action.

The reason for the absence of fines is that the law did not specify a disciplinary process and the city has yet to set one up. Peter Burns, the city's chief housing inspector, said yesterday that the department is still working with the city attorney's office on a procedure, with no timetable set.

The delay has irritated consumer groups, contractor organizations and others who helped write the law, which was enacted with civic hoopla and became one of the first of its kind in the country. They say it is a slap to the community and painters who are following the rules.

``Those of us who were involved with the development and implementation of the law are frustrated with the time it's taken (the Department of Building Inspection) to put together a procedure to deal with people who are not complying,'' said Neil Gendel, head of a citizens committee that advises the city on lead-paint cleanup. ``We would like to see it move faster, for sure.''

Gendel's group and city officials worked four years to develop the law, which went into effect in January 1998. San Francisco is regarded a lead-paint danger zone because it has more older housing than any other city in the state and water- based paint did not become prevalent until the 1970s.

The peril is exacerbated in children. Lead penetrates their bodies more readily, and developing nervous systems are particularly vulnerable.

Recent city health research in San Francisco found 12 percent of nearly 4,200 children screened had excessive lead levels in their blood -- defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as more than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter. About 1 percent of those screened had
amounts high enough to hamper growth and intellectual development, according to the study, which found most of the problems in the Inner Mission, Bayview-Hunters Point and the Tenderloin.

Since the law went into effect, city officials have no reports that sloppy lead-paint control has caused lasting health problems for anyone, although illness could show up later. But city records and interviews show that contractors' failure to contain flying dust and chips has sometimes posed significant risks and disrupted lives.

The law is designed to contain lead-paint residue on a site, and calls for property owners or contractors to erect mesh or other barriers around buildings and to remove fallen debris regularly. Any tenants and the city must be notified of the work in advance.

Housing inspector Burns and other backers of the law say most contractors have complied, but some see gaps to be closed. The law allows fines of as high as $500 a day, but no one has been penalized because a disciplinary hearing process is still in the works.

``What we have been trying to do in the first year is educate the contractors, and a lot more are trying to comply,'' Gendel said. ``But I'm very concerned that good contractors are saying there is not enough enforcement, so why should I bother? That's the question now.''

Others see additional flaws in the law. While requiring debris containment, the rules do not specify steps to avoid interior contamination -- and there have been cases where failure to seal windows has had severe consequences, said Nancy Burns, a painting contractor and lead-paint specialist.

Still others, including victims of shoddy contracting, complain that the city often cites only a property owner for violations, letting a contractor go. Critics say the practice shields major offenders and makes it hard for consumers to check up on contractors.

Chief housing inspector Burns said that the city cites contractors as best it can but that often it is unable to find them.

For the most part, contractors with several violations denied any intent to subvert the rules and said they were striving to comply, even though they viewed some of the regulations as troublesome.

``We have no problem with the law,'' said Bryan Molont, owner of Pago Painting, which has been hit with at least three citations. ``All the violations have been resolved or will be resolved.''

Pago is involved in one of the cases awaiting possible disciplinary action. Molont is accused of not providing containment at a Noe Valley painting job, berating a city inspector when a citation was issued, and permitting workers to sweep paint debris into the street instead of removing it.

One case that had been scheduled for possible disciplinary action, but was recently dismissed, involved O'Donoghue, head of the Residential Builders Association. The organization is a forceful, 700-member group of construction and real estate businesses that has raised funds for Mayor Willie Brown, former Mayor Frank Jordan and countless other politicians.
The dispute was centered on whether paint on a building at 501 Faxon Ave. that is partially owned by O'Donoghue actually contained lead. O'Donoghue and his contractor said it did not, and produced laboratory results to back them up.

But city inspectors who twice tried to stop work at the site rejected the test, saying it was not done by a certified laboratory and was performed incorrectly, according to city records. The inspectors' superiors upheld the test and dismissed the case.

Burns denied receiving any undue pressure in the case, although city records show that both he and deputy director Jim Hutchinson met with O'Donoghue's contractor. Burns saw nothing unusual in that, because the work primarily involved extensive building renovations.

Hutchinson did not return Chronicle telephone calls. O'Donoghue said he had not contacted any city officials.

``I want to be squeaky clean and I don't involve myself in a dumb paint job,'' he said. O'Donoghue said the building was repainted in the late 1970s and that any lead paint was taken off at that time.

One of the inspectors on the job, Bernard Tom, referred calls to Burns.

In another case involving a prominent figure, city inspectors twice wrote citations for lead-paint violations at a seven-story apartment house owned by Frank Lembi, a former chief executive of Continental Savings & Loan who has extensive political ties and an enormous portfolio of residential and commercial real estate in the city.

Tenants of the apartment building at 950 Franklin St. said the contractor, VIP Painters, seemed to have so little regard for their health during two months of sanding that it asked people to leave their windows unlocked so workers could open them to facilitate the job.

``They flouted every rule in the book,'' said a former tenant, Gustavo Suarez. ``You'd come home and you'd find the place filled with dust and paint chips.''

Carol Painter, another former tenant, criticized Lembi's company for not demanding higher standards from VIP and for not doing more to alert tenants in advance of possible hazards.

``It was gross neglect,'' she said. ``It was a horribly slipshod operation.''

The Franklin Street citations have been referred to top city building officials for possible fines.

The city has issued citations in at least two other painting jobs done by VIP -- at 2240 Bay St. and 405 Valencia St. Records show that VIP also has been in trouble with the state Occupational Safety and Health administration, which has fined the company $6,000 for worker safety violations since 1995.

Peter Tripousis, VIP's owner, said that there was no intention to violate the law and that he has complied with all of the city's demands for better work practices on his jobs.

Lembi, head of Skyline Realty, could not be reached for comment, but an assistant, Antoinette Di'Cicco, denied disregard for the law or tenants.

Told that the case is being considered for fines, Di'Cicco said, ``It's all news to me.''

Other property owners who have run afoul of the law include the University of San Francisco, which was twice cited for painting lapses; Congregation Beth Sholom in the Richmond District, St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Howard Street and the Mission Language and Vocational School in the Mission District.

No further action was taken by the city in those cases after problems were cleared up.

Some victims of shoddy painting practices at other buildings described major upheaval in their lives, including having to cope with fears that their children's health had suffered.

Susan Davis, a free-lance writer who lives on Russian Hill with her husband, Peter Brand, a project manager with the California Coastal Conservancy, and their 18-month- old daughter, Phoebe, had no indication a paint job on their rented home was anything other than routine until a friend who is a painting contractor passed by in May and called to inquire.

Tests on dark paint dust in the apartment found high levels of lead, throwing the family's life into chaos. Everything had to be cleaned and the family had to move out for two days while the toughest work was done. Twenty garbage bags of belongings -- including rugs, pillows and Phoebe's stuffed animals -- had to be tossed out.

But worst of all were the eight anxious days that Davis and Brand spent waiting for the results of blood tests on Phoebe. They were negative.

``I was out of my head,'' Davis said, describing the wait. ``I can endure a lot of stress, but this was too much for me.''

The city, which issued a citation to the property owner, John Gallagher, said the contractor, John McAteer, did not contain the property with mesh and took other shortcuts, allowing dust into the apartment.

After the citation was issued, the debris was cleaned up. The city has taken no further action.