You know you're in trouble when your own lawyer points out that people think you're a "general scumbag," a "bully punk" and an "arrogant gas-bag thief."

But that's the latest development in the strange saga of Henry Alvarez, the fired director of the San Francisco Housing Authority.

Alvarez faces two lawsuits by former employees who sued him for discrimination and retaliation - and his lawyer has filed a motion asking that the cases be heard outside San Francisco because Alvarez can't get a fair trial here.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller is scheduled to hear Alvarez's request Nov. 20.

As a refresher, Alvarez was fired in April after stories in The Chronicle about the employee lawsuits, allegations he steered contracts to political allies and a federal inspection score rating the Housing Authority one of the two worst in California. He also drove the agency to the brink of financial ruin while maintaining apartments with miserable living conditions.

Alvarez's attorney, Joe Stark of Stevenson Ranch (Los Angeles County), argues in the motion that those articles were "tantamount to an editorial pogrom with the local press serving as judge, jury and executioner."

Hmmm, last we checked, unearthing wrongdoing by taxpayer-funded government officials was our job.

Alvarez couldn't take the heat, so he got out of the kitchen and into another one - in a restaurant in Berkeley he proudly announced he was opening after taking paid medical leave from his job for being too unwell to work. He was fired shortly thereafter.

Alvarez answered his cell phone when we called for this column - the first time he has done so since the coverage began. (Maybe his caller ID wasn't working.)

"You'll have to call my attorney," was all he would say. Stark didn't call us back.

At the heart of Stark's request is an e-mail poll of 800 San Franciscans he commissioned in late September to find out their opinions of Alvarez. And boy, did they have opinions.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said they had "some knowledge" of Alvarez, and just 2 percent had a favorable opinion of him. Two questions allowed respondents to write what they'd read about Alvarez in the news and their opinions of him.

The change-of-venue motion includes more than 13 single-spaced pages of responses to those questions - and "arrogant gas-bag thief" is one of the more printable descriptors.

Others include that Alvarez was "an incompetent fool" and a "typical San Francisco Democrat corrupt hack" who was "brought on board by Mayor Gavin Newsom, another good for nothing, despicable individual."

Both lawsuits that Alvarez is facing were filed by his own lawyers at the Housing Authority.

Tim Larsen alleged he was discriminated and retaliated against because he is white and Alvarez is black. He said he was passed over for promotions and told to "stop being so Anglo" and that he didn't have enough "kink in his hair." He was laid off in the spring.

Larsen is now in therapy and has been unable to find another job, according to his lawyer, Ivo Labar.

The other suit was filed by Roger Crawford who said Alvarez tried to fire him after he took a two-week paternity leave after the birth of his baby. He is working for Marin County.

Both are fighting to keep the trials in San Francisco. In his own motion, Labar quotes Ben Tulchin, a prominent pollster in San Francisco, who debunks Alvarez's poll. He told us e-mail polls are notoriously unreliable compared with telephone polls.

And he thinks that because the trials aren't set to start until the spring, any memory of Alvarez will have dimmed considerably in jurors' minds.

"I can't believe the average juror who has other things to worry about - a job, a mortgage, kids' education to pay for - is focused so much about the issue," Tulchin said. "This ain't O.J."

The Chronicle ran a story Monday about how elevators at Clementina Towers, a high-rise public housing development South of Market, are constantly malfunctioning and stranding seniors and disabled people in their apartments.

How did folks at Clementina Towers mark the occasion? With another double elevator failure, of course.

"What a coincidence, huh?" said resident Terry Bagby. "Channel 5 showed up, and they talked to some of my neighbors who were waiting for an elevator. ... Our property manager was over there like a chicken with its head cut off."

His neighbor, Alexandra Elvir, said the elevators were out for a couple of hours, whereas Rose Dennis, spokeswoman for the Housing Authority, said it was a mere five minutes.

Mayor Ed Lee told us he's working to find the money to replace the elevators.

"Don't be surprised if I get some private money involved," he said with a glint in his eye. "We have some ideas burning on it, but it will take a little time."

Kind of like waiting for the elevator.

Quote of the week

"Art Agnos just won a game of Ping-Pong, and now he thinks he's a Wimbledon champion." Nathan Ballard, spokesman for the Warriors arena project after former Mayor Agnos said voters' defeat of a condo development on the waterfront spells doom for the arena
