Neighbors gathered at Unity Plaza for an open house dedicated to refining the design of the Balboa Reservoir development's park. Alex Mullaney/Ingleside Light
Designs for Larger ‘Reservoir Park’ Unveiled at Open House
by Alex Mullaney, Ingleside Light
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Dozens of neighbors stopped by Unity Plaza on Saturday, October 16, to see the new designs for the 1,100-unit Balboa Reservoir housing development’s park.
What they saw: More lawn, more green and more pavilion. (See the designs here.)
Dubbed Reservoir Park, the new recreational area will offer a pavilion, rain garden, community garden, playground and large lawn.
The changes to the previous design include 2,000 square feet of programmable space added to the pavilion and 2,190 square feet added to the Great Lawn. The 52-bed community garden was reconfigured to maximize food production and a communal table was added.
Representatives from AvalonBay Communities, BRIDGE Housing and GLS Landscape Architecture were on hand to answer questions and solicit comments.
Rendering: Reservoir Community Partners, LLC / McCann
“At our last community meeting there was a lot of interest in growing the grassy park area a little bit more and so that’s what we did,” AvalonBay Communities Development Director Nora Collins told the Ingleside Light.
The open house followed up on the July 24 open house also held in Unity Plaza where 75 people provided feedback on the design of the park and buildings.
The park and buildings will break ground together in late 2022 with the opening two and half years after that.”
Some of the input collected at the July open house was also used in the design review application for the development’s first three buildings in advance of which the development team submitted to the Planning Department in September, according to Collins.
The park and buildings will break ground together in late 2022 with the opening two and half years after that.
More Reservoir Park
BRIDGE Housing is building all of the affordable housing, creating the master plan and building all of the infrastructure, the company’s Executive Vice President Brad Wiblin told the Ingleside Light.
After hearing feedback from a resident that the Great Lawn was not much bigger than the courtyard of one of the housing developments, the design team expanded it as well as the lawn around the pavilion.
“The cost, quality of the materials and various components are going to lead to a very special place,” Wiblin said.
Jon Winston, Sunnyside resident and chair of the Balboa Reservoir Community Advisory Committee, said Reservoir Park will be an addition to the whole neighborhood, not just the reservoir.
“I think there’s lots of green space,” Winston said. “There’s a nice balance of programmed and non-programmed space. It’s going to be part of the community as well as integrated into the housing.”
Longtime Sunnyside resident Jennifer Heggie found the new design to be better, noting the angles of the pathways, or paseos, and the diversity of trees.
“I like the improvement,” she said. “It’s better than it was and so we’re really happy about that.”
Thirty-year Ingleside resident Nick Baluyut said the design of the park is really nice. He would like for his daughter to live in the development.
“I hope my daughter can buy one,” he said. “I’ve been following it for some time now.”
The development team is accepting comments on the new design of Reservoir Park via email at balboareservoir@gmail.com. The deadline to send feedback is Oct. 29, 2021.
Alex Mullaney is publisher of the Ingleside Light neighborhood newspaper.
October 2021
City College Stakeholders File CEQA Appeal
Irreparable Damage to City College — Legal Violations at Balboa Reservoir Project Cited
Project Elevation as presented at the West of Twin Peaks Central Council in October 2017
An appeal to the decision of the Planning Commission is scheduled at the Board of Supervisors, likely sometime in August. The appeal alleges that substantial violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) resulted in Certification and "is invalid because it understates the project's significant and unavoidable impacts. Many of the claimed benefits are not supported by substantial evidence in the record and the claim that any one of the claimed benefits would suffice to outweigh the project's impacts is conclusory and unsupported by any explanation or justification, especially when several of the significant and unavoidable project impacts would adversely affect human health and safety for inhabitants of the area surrounding the project including bicyclists, students, and young children."
This is NOT the time for any Project to go forward that will all but destroy the access for 70,000 college students, most of them from working class, immigrant, black or brown communities.”
Appellants attorney Stuart Flashman filed the appeal on June 19th, 2020. It represents appellants Alvin Ja, Wynd Kaufmyn, and Madeline Mueller, some key issues were noted.
fails to give an accurate and complete description of the project area and existing conditions.
fails to analyze the significant impacts of the Balboa Reservoir Project’s significant impacts on the construction schedule of planned City College buildings.
fails to give stable, accurate, and finite descriptions of the affordable units it promises.
fails to fully identify and mitigate significant impacts on noise, air quality, transit delay, pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
fails to include feasible alternatives, such as 100% truly affordable housing.
ignored the changed circumstances presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
"There is no reason to rush through the approval of a Project that would have been highly flawed and suspect even before the deep game-change of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the need to analyze its future effects," appellants said in their July 22 press release.
"This is NOT the time for any Project to go forward that will all but destroy the access for 70,000 college students, most of them from working class, immigrant, black or brown communities."
Supplemental Details for Key Issues
1) The Project EIR fails to give an accurate and complete description of the project area and existing conditions.
The report lacks adequate information on the present and future needs of City College of San Francisco and two adjacent high schools. The combined enrollments represent approximately 70,000 students.
2) The Project EIR fails to give an analysis of the significant impacts on the construction schedule of planned City College of San Francisco buildings.
In the recent March 2020 election, San Francisco voters, by an 80% majority, approved an $845 million bond for City College facilities. As a result, planned new construction will start almost immediately to complete City College's West Campus, located on the eastern portion of the reservoir property - directly adjacent to the Balboa Reservoir Project. The EIR fails to assess the significant impacts the Balboa Reservoir Project construction will have on the construction schedule of these planned City College of San Francisco buildings, and surrounding conditions, when the two construction schedules appear to overlap.
3) The Project EIR fails to give stable, accurate, and finite descriptions of the affordable units it promises.
The Project describes the affordable units as "up to 50% of the units". This is vague and aspirational. It does not comply with the requirements of a legally sufficient EIR. Project descriptions under CEQA must be stable, accurate, and finite. Instead, this Project's EIR depends on future surveys, future funding restrictions, and other input before committing to an actual affordable housing plan.
4) The Project EIR fails to fully identify and mitigate significant impacts on noise, air quality, transit delay, pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
The EIR shockingly lacks adequate consideration of the many childcare facilities and classes scheduled at immediately adjacent City College buildings.
5) The Project EIR fails to include feasible alternatives, including 100% truly affordable housing.
The EIR examines only a Project built under a private for-profit umbrella requiring amending the existing community plan in order to allow building market rate housing. However, the Balboa Park Station Area Plan mandated, “first consideration to the development of affordable housing on publicly-owned sites.” Construction of a 100% affordable housing was not ever considered, let alone given first consideration.
The EIR promotes the development by claiming it will provide up to 50% affordable housing. However the developer will only fund 19.3% of the affordable units (which is less than 10% of the total units.) There are several funding possibilities available to build more deeply affordable units in greater numbers than described in the EIR. Such possibilities do not depend on privatizing public land for developers' profits, and would also have much lower negative impacts on the environment. It is unacceptable not to consider feasible alternatives whereby public land stays in public control.
6) The EIR ignored the changed circumstances presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Public Comments on the draft SEIR were completed on 9/23/2019 and responses to comments were not issued by the SF Planning Department until 4/29/2020. This was more than a month after San Francisco entered its first shelter-in-place order and roughly three months after San Francisco’s first Corona virus cases, but Planning ignored the circumstances of the COVID- 19 pandemic and its implications for the for the future use of the Balboa Reservoir site and the surrounding area.
The circumstances of the ongoing pandemic demand that the analysis presented in the EIR be re-evaluated. A new analysis is needed before an informed decision can be made about the true impacts of the Project.
July 2020
Big Balboa Giveaway Bad Break for City College
by Jean Barish
The Balboa Reservoir Project was, sadly, unanimously approved by the SF Planning Commission May 28. If you listened to the hearing, I hope you took notice of the many concerns voiced by project opponents. This project is an unjustified and unreasonable give-away to a private developer.
the SF Public Utilities Commission will sell the land, over 17 acres, for approximately $11.2 million ... about $640,000 per acre for prime San Francisco real estate ... the City of San Francisco is offering to sell prime real estate to a privateer for more than 90% below market rate”
According to the Development Agreement between the City and Avalon Bay, the project developer, the SF Public Utilities Commission will sell the land, over 17 acres, for approximately $11.2 million (page 1231). This is about $640,000 per acre for prime San Francisco real estate. According to a casual perusal of the prices for a lot in San Francisco on Zillow, about one tenth of an acre is selling for over $1 million, or $10 million per acre. In other words, the City of San Francisco is offering to sell prime real estate to a privateer for more than 90% below market rate. If that's not a give-away, I don't know what is.
Stay tuned for further developments
For public land adjacent to City College of San Francisco, this unconscionable.
Additionally, the future of City College of San Francisco hangs in the balance. The Balboa Reservoir Project, an oversized, largely market-rate development that will be built on land used by City College for years, will cause City College to shrink and become a shadow of its former self. The decline of City College will significantly impact thousands of people throughout San Francisco: students who need a class to matriculate to a four-year college; students who need certification for a vocational training program; seniors for whom classes provide the physical and emotional support they need to stay healthy, vital, and engaged; and people of all ages who are taking non-credit classes to learn new skills, such as ESL, or who simply want to become more productive and fulfilled members of the community.
In 2013, a Budget and Legislative Analyst evaluation estimated that City College’s value to the City was over $300 million by providing job training, skills training, jobs for 2400 faculty, administrators, and classified staff, market value of jobs attained by CCSF graduates, state and federal grants, low-cost higher education compared to for-profit two year programs. But it’s not just economic. It’s also about improving the quality of life of everyone in City by providing well educated and well-trained San Franciscans, from home health aides to tech workers to engineers to artists and musicians.
This Project is a giveaway to a private developer that will decimate City College, and will not benefit the neighborhood or the City of San Francisco. It should not be permitted.
Jean Barish
Read Jean Barish's detailed letter to the Planning Commission (PDF).
June 2020
Public Land for Housing: Balboa Reservoir?
Photo by: Otto Pippenger
By Maya Lekach
When Mayor Ed Lee surveyed San Francisco looking for unused land that could be repurposed, the site of the Balboa Reservoir on Ocean Avenue was one of the first to be considered.
The newly created Public Land for Housing commission held their first community meeting on the subject of this site on January 21st at Lick Wilmerding High School.
While low income housing is often subsidized by the government and market rate housing is subsidized by hearty paychecks (or trust funds), it is moderate income housing that takes a back seat. If the city carries on at this rate, it will quickly become a polarized environment: the ultra rich and the ultra poor. ”
The meeting and the impending development was advertised as the possibility of 6,000 new homes in San Francisco. While this might have held exciting promise in the Financial or SOMA districts of San Francisco, where many new residents work and play, the reaction was a resounding difference when the local community came out to speak their part at the meeting.
The discussion was an exercise in creating a town hall vibe in the big city. The attendees were mostly homeowners from the surrounding neighborhood, namely Ingleside, Sunnyside, Balboa Park and Crocker Amazon. Many came with their neighbors, some speaking for those who held less of a grasp on the English language.
Before the real hubbub began, project manager Jeremy Shaw politely outlined the plan - both for the meetings and the development. He stated the planned goals of addressing public needs that the commission feels could be solved through the development of this large patch of land that has often been deemed an eyesore.
Although the need for housing and public land is real, understanding the feelings of the nearby community is crucial to taking correct action with this plot of land now that it is in the city’s hands. The meeting was thus intended as a way for the community to understand the facts but also for concerned parties to help guide the process of development from the plethora of current options into an actual proposal and plan.
To outsiders, of either the city or neighborhood, the proposed goal of increased moderate income housing seems like a great idea for a city that seems to be bursting at the seams.
While low income housing is often subsidized by the government and market rate housing is subsidized by hearty paychecks (or trust funds), it is moderate income housing that takes a back seat. If the city carries on at this rate, it will quickly become a polarized environment: the ultra rich and the ultra poor.
Local residents were strongly wary of any sort of development that might impinge upon local character and, most of all, local traffic patterns. Whether those present at the meeting were suffering from a severe case of NIMBY (not in my backyard) or if their concerns were valid arguments amidst San Francisco’s rapidly changing urban landscape is up for debate.
Balboa Park Station Area Plan is part of a larger SF Planning project.
As participants broke off into smaller groups from the nearly 200 who attended, personal issues were discussed and priorities were ranked, allowing the maximum amount of voices to be heard by commission proctors.
Many in these smaller groups voiced concerns over the already intense parking situation in the neighborhood. The influx of cars daily for use of the City College campus as well as the new Ocean Avenue Whole Foods is already overburdening the neighborhood for parking. The belief was that a loss of this massive parking lot, eyesore or not, could only harm this problem.
Janet Lehr, a City College ceramics teacher and longtime neighborhood resident, had much to say on the subject of the college itself.
“We need to recognize the importance of City College to our community. [Roughly] 1/7 San Franciscans have taken classes at City College.” Lehr said. And, it is true, that many of these student commute by car.
Traffic problems may not seem a good enough reason to maintain a large parking lot, although it may provide an impetus for bookmarking some of the space for a multi-level parking lot.
Many attendees argued that nothing could truly change unless the transit system was improved, allowing for less car traffic and a decreased need for housing in some of the hottest spots in the city, including this one.
What the traffic debate brings to light is the chicken-and-egg situation prevalent in such parking versus transit issues. The transit cannot grow without demand as students and other city residents continue to use their cars as they wait impatiently for busses that never arrive and trains that do not extend to their corners of even this small city.
To many, increasing public housing seems a band-aid on a citywide problem of poor transportation, causing congestion at certain hot spots. The meeting heard many a cry of “first the Mission, now here!” These BART-adjacent neighborhoods have gone from quiet residences and ethnic communities to areas highly sought after by a the new influx of local elite who would not fit into the description of moderate income.
Discussions of housing and parking made earlier ideals of creating an open space and public activity space seem like more of a utopia amidst more pressing city needs. Although arguments for a development that focused on sustainability, even going so far as to request an actual reservoir be created on the land for which it was originally intended, were hard to ignore.
Despite smiling in the face of criticism, the planning commision faced a variety of voices - many of them strong - in regards to what their priorities should be for the space.
Photo: Heidi Alletzhauser
Choosing between prioritizing local residents’ traffic and parking concerns, the need for City College expansion and maintenance, urban beautification, and the pressing need for more housing can’t possibly be an easy task for those in charge of the commission. Faced with the option of sectioning off the land into small parcels for each initiative or prioritizing some over others will be certain to anger members of the community.
It is these difficult decisions, however, that need to be made in order for progress to be made. Much ink has been spilled over those who want the city to remain the same amidst the sea of changes, but what is most important now is how the city will respond to new needs and create new solutions.
This meeting was the first of a series, with the next arriving in Spring 2015. As San Francisco takes it’s next steps, this is perfect opportunity to have your voice heard and shape the future of our city. It is these decisions that will affect the city for years to come.
Maya Lekach is a local journalist
February 2015
City’s Granny Dumping Spike
City Health Department’s Missing Report Concealed Shameless Patient Dumping
by Patrick Monette-Shaw
The hospitals shed their Skilled Nursing bed capacity in the City’s private sector hospitals en masse. It Was adversely affecting profits
There is a dire shortage of nursing home beds in SF—especially for those on Medi-Cal—which pays for chronic long-term care when a resident cannot afford $15,000 a month.
Mayor Breed has proposed an unprecedented rollback of San Francisco’s height and density limitations that would allow six story buildings in areas previously zoned for one and two-story construction
The format made it difficult for candidates to evade tough questions—all four seasoned politicians are skilled in. Even non-politician Lurie was not exempt.
A confluence of major legal actions has moved forward to pretrial deposition testimony in BVHP Residents v Tetra Tech brought by SFPD and whistleblowers under the False Claims Act.
Removal of the weedy species is necessary. All plants have natural predators in their native ranges, but landscape plants imported from, say, across the ocean, left their predators there.
While gasoline tax-paying automobile owners finance the streets of San Francisco San Francisco’s Budget finances the SF Bicycle Coalition, a private entity?
SFMTA still has no quantifiable road safety data other than right turns are bad, left turns are bad, fast-moving cars are dangerous, slow-moving cars are dangerous, cars are bad, and bikes are good.
Local school board elections used to be sleepy affairs. No more. Political activists now pay close attention to these local contests — for good reasons.
Despite a surplus of water in our reservoirs sufficient to withstand a drought for four years, the SFPUC has imposed a drought surcharge on San Francisco ratepayers.
The previous City Administrator was a protégé of Willie Brown—resigned due to corruption. The current City administrator is a protégé of a protégé of Willie Brown.
With housing and commercial vacancies like Park Merced and businesses still closing downtown, on Market Street, and in most neighborhoods, it’s dogging the Mayor’s election.
The devastating effect of drug addiction is evident from the human wreckage ...Yes, it’s a nationwide plague. But SF overdose rates are twice the national average.
“It is a significant reconfiguration of the street. A two-way bikeway would replace existing parking. Bus stops would relocate from the curb to new transit boarding islands in traffic lanes.
If you do get into a shelter — they’ll take away your belongings, you can’t have a pet, you can’t have visitors and after a few days or a week, you’ll likely be turned out on the street again with nothing.
Two surprises. Republican Steve Garvey, and Democrat Adam Schiff were the top two finishers. Schiff concentrated on making Garvey his opponent rather than Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.
Unfortunately,it also has many disadvantages. The gas is explosive. It needs to be compressed or converted into other chemicals, such as liquid ammonia...
A confluence of major legal actions has moved forward to pretrial deposition testimony in BVHP Residents v Tetra Tech brought by SFPD and whistleblowers under the False Claims Act.
Removal of the weedy species is necessary. All plants have natural predators in their native ranges, but landscape plants imported from, say, across the ocean, left their predators there.
While gasoline tax-paying automobile owners finance the streets of San Francisco San Francisco’s Budget finances the SF Bicycle Coalition, a private entity?
SFMTA still has no quantifiable road safety data other than right turns are bad, left turns are bad, fast-moving cars are dangerous, slow-moving cars are dangerous, cars are bad, and bikes are good.
Local school board elections used to be sleepy affairs. No more. Political activists now pay close attention to these local contests — for good reasons.
Despite a surplus of water in our reservoirs sufficient to withstand a drought for four years, the SFPUC has imposed a drought surcharge on San Francisco ratepayers.
The previous City Administrator was a protégé of Willie Brown—resigned due to corruption. The current City administrator is a protégé of a protégé of Willie Brown.
With housing and commercial vacancies like Park Merced and businesses still closing downtown, on Market Street, and in most neighborhoods, it’s dogging the Mayor’s election.
The devastating effect of drug addiction is evident from the human wreckage ...Yes, it’s a nationwide plague. But SF overdose rates are twice the national average.
“It is a significant reconfiguration of the street. A two-way bikeway would replace existing parking. Bus stops would relocate from the curb to new transit boarding islands in traffic lanes.
If you do get into a shelter — they’ll take away your belongings, you can’t have a pet, you can’t have visitors and after a few days or a week, you’ll likely be turned out on the street again with nothing.
Two surprises. Republican Steve Garvey, and Democrat Adam Schiff were the top two finishers. Schiff concentrated on making Garvey his opponent rather than Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.
Unfortunately,it also has many disadvantages. The gas is explosive. It needs to be compressed or converted into other chemicals, such as liquid ammonia...
Every five years, the EPA determines the success of superfund cleanups
New Shipyard Report Confirms: Unsafe for Habitation
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Take-home message: Cleanup efforts in 15 parcels and sites do not protect residents from hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants emanating from the dirty base
Unlike Flint, we don’t use salt to deice roads. However, if we over-tax our ground aquifers, we could draw salt from the Pacific into our drinking water.
Just when Laguna Honda seemed to be turning the corner on its struggle toward reform, three law firms have teamed up to expand their Class Action lawsuit.
“Tamales are such a delicate process... things like the balance of masa to filling, or how long you steam them for, or how tightly they’re wrapped in their husks And time... timing is crucial to ensure they do not become dry and tough.
New proposed location for Ocean View Library is ideal
by Glenn Rogers
Few were surprised when Supervisor Safai learned the library was not to be built in the Greenbelt — he feared the worst. No library at all.Since 2023, the Library Commission has been considering 466 Randolph Street, where the I.T. Bookman Community Center and the Pilgrim Community Church are located.
When the runways for the Alameda Naval Air Station were extended out into the bay—using dredged bay fill, the same way Treasure Island was created — they crossed over the city line. The federal government apparently didn't know or care.
The March 5 election is fast approaching. The San Francisco Department of Elections will start mailing all registered voters automatic vote-by-mail ballots in early February.
Your local self-appointed sage hopes Trump is barred from his presidential candidacy by high courts such as the Supremes. (And I don't mean the singing group!).
UCSF proposes settlement for Joseph Miranda and his radioactive truck
ONE BIG MAN — ONE HOT TRUCK!
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Two UCSF workers with respiratory disease, cancer and lung disease were not evacuated during shipyard landfill fire that erupted in “green, yellow, and orange” flames.
Assessing Judge Bergert’s use of mental health diversions
by Lou Barberini
Fortunately for Mendez, he appeared in ultra-liberal Judge Michael Begert’s court. Despite Mendez’s failure to comply with diversion, Begert nevertheless granted Mendez “mental health diversion’ (again).
Newsom, Breed, and SF’s Supervisors may all have taken a hands-off waiting game approach I knew Nancy and her good government advocacy for years, sometimes crossing her path when we both attended meetings at City Hall.
The unreliability of American and San Francisco media today is not new to our country. Neither is the people's right to discard biased, unsound judges.
To families parked along Winston Drive the dreaded December 19 date is less than a month away. Four-hour parking restrictions approved by SFMTA will certainly upend their lives and dampen their holiday spirits.
Neighbors apprehend a thief in the act, but will he be back on the street?
A Man Walks Into a Walgreens ...
by Michael Antonini
Aware that his escape was implausible, or perhaps it was the ear-splitting sound of approaching police cars, the thief turned and ran back into the Walgreens
The Judge denied a motion to detain an alleged drug dealer despite the defendant had over half a kilo of drugs, including 170.8 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill 85,400 people.
Delayed Inspections Mean Dumping More Seniors Out-of-County
Laguna Honda Hospital’s Endless Waiting Game
by Patrick Monette-Shaw
Newsom, Breed, and SF’s Supervisors may all have taken a hands-off waiting game approach to LHH’s Medicare recertification inspection process that will take four months to complete.
Falling advertisements, digital transitions and major lay-offs plague journalists
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Emilio Garcia-Ruiz worried about the New York Times becoming a “huge competitor” in the Bay Area by “undercutting the market on subscription costs to $1/week.
At last! SFUSD has identified why students aren’t learning. Ready? The real cause is White Supremacy. That’s right. White Supremacy Culture is preventing our students from learning.
It effectively punishes hundreds, if not thousands, who want to participate in our local government. Even worse, it will force those who have disabilities to disclose their special needs. Or face the burden of traveling to City Hall.
District Elections, London Breed & the Housing Exageration
by Quentin Kopp
Construction of new housing? I’ve concluded from present vacancies and dispirited new home construction the matter is extravagantly exaggerated by City Hall politicians and local media.
Owner Diana Zogaric has little time to bemoan setbacks. She notes that the original owner, Douglas Shaw, opened the business during the Great Depression in 1931.
SF has lost 1,381 Skilled Nursing Facility beds. If LHH loses 120 more beds it will leave only 2,161 meanwhile 4,186 patients were discharged to other counties in 2022.
Laguna Honda’s battle to keep 120 skilled nursing beds is unnecessary.
Patrick Monette-Shaw
LHH’s bedrooms exceed the minimum square-foot restrictions. They have sliding doors between each bedroom — essentially making them all private, single-person rooms.
It’s time to assess Prop 47’s havoc on the safety of San Franciscans
by Lou Barberini
Before Prop 47 eliminated California Penal Code section 666, a police officer could charge a thief with a criminal history with “felony theft with-priors” and take him to county jail.
Pretend you're an alien (E.T.) come to earth in human form to live and learn and even to rationally guide humans who have lost their way. You land in San Francisco.
It’s time to assess Prop 47’s havoc on the safety of San Franciscans
by Lou Barberini
Before Prop 47 eliminated California Penal Code section 666, a police officer could charge a thief with a criminal history with “felony theft with-priors” and take him to county jail.
Pretend you're an alien (E.T.) come to earth in human form to live and learn and even to rationally guide humans who have lost their way. You land in San Francisco.
Some say a little bit of corruption greases the wheels. Just don't kid yourself ... each of these words, Social Impact Partnering, are buzzwords. There's a reason for that.
The neighborhood was much different then. Yellow and white margaritas were everywhere in wild areas on the south and north side of Alemany Blvd. There was no Highway 280.
City Family’s coziness with contractors sustains a “Homeless-Industrial-Complex." Politically-connected entrepreneurs are awarded City contracts and return the favor.
Giving a complaint to the “Ethics” Commission is like giving a complaint to a black hole. Your complaint goes in and the chance that anything comes out is slim.
Laguna Honda Finally Hires a Nursing Home Administrator
Patrick Monette-Shaw
After 20 years without a licensed Nursing Home Administrator at the helm, that will change. At last someone knowledgeable about Federal nursing home regulations will be in charge.
The Health Department burned down a village of Chinese fishermen dependent on the lucrative shrimping industry when the Navy purchased the 934-acre property using eminent domain for the Naval Shipyard.
It Could lead to more arrests of protestors, minorities, or anyone the State considers a threat if artificial intelligence is designed and executed improperly.
It took courage for the Public Guardian to file suit. Hopefully, the public will learn the full extent of the scandal. The timing couldn’t be worse for LHHs struggle to survive.
April 14th is the anniversary of Laguna Honda's decertification
Just Released—Laguna Honda Hospital's Revised Closure Plan
Patrick Monette-Shaw
LHH mostly serves low-income, medically indigent patients, likely to face discharges, exile, and displacement to out-of-county facilities, away from their families, and support networks.
Fentanyl overdoses have killed more San Franciscans than COVID. Yet, SF fails to prosecute dealers; no convictions for fentanyl sales in 2021. Most dealers are granted diversion.
The history of liberty is the history of the limitations on the power of government. And the provenance of government usually expands on federal, state and local levels
Xylazine is infiltrating North American fentanyl and heroin supplies. It is causing more fatal overdoses, zombie-like intoxication— addictions that are harder to treat than simple fentanyl dependency.
Controller's estimated $290 million deficit — $90.1 million more than projected in January. For the next two fiscal years, the shortfall is projected at $779.8 million.
Billions and Billions Later, California's High-speed Rail Future Is Still Illusive
by Quentin Kopp
The project cost for the non-high speed rail portion in the Central Valley increased last month to $35.3 billion from $25.2 billion. It obtains money from a cap-and-trade program which adds 23 cents to every gasoline gallon besides the state’s 53.9 cents tax per gallon
For decades, the City has allowed weaker standards for buildings shorter than 240 feet — no signs of seriously considering these structural deficiencies.
This mural is currently on loan from City College to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) —The agreement includes the return of the mural to City College which has been its owner and guardian since 1940.
In third grade...nearly 60% of students are not yet proficient in reading — students can't “read to learn” until they have successfully learned to read.
Did 20 years of mismanagement prompt the Feds to intervene?
The Bungled Management of Laguna Honda
Patrick Monette-Shaw
Kanaley had no experience running a skilled nursing facility whatsoever and certainly no experience or training to run a 1,200-bed nursing home with approximately 1,500 employees
Newsom violated ethics laws by signing into law Shipyard redevelopment measures he sponsored before the Board of Supervisors and accepted the transfer of Parcel A at the cost of one dollar
Poor people seldom end up on the street.But, addicted and mentally ill people become “disaffiliated” from supporters – a key determinant of street homelessness
30% of Parkmerced's 3,221 units are vacant. If the Prop M Vacant Unit Tax does not encourage lower rents, the City might purchase them at a bargain, making thousands of new units available...
Madam Mayor parties down as City is deluged in “atmospheric river”
Mayor's Clueless New Years Fumble Signels Trouble
by Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai
Adorned in a feather boa and accompanied by City Attorney David Chiu, Breed's City Officials were oblivious to the massive flooding NASA satellite images predicted December 16, 2022.
A huge number of students who enter high school are not proficient in English and math — almost 45 percent of SFUSD 8th graders are not proficient in English. More than half are not proficient in math
...the mission of a nursing home is to promote resident autonomy. This is not compatible with the treatment of persons with unstable behavioral issues, which requires structure and agreement to "house rules." If LHH continues admitting persons with active substance use or unstable mental illness, we will lose Laguna Honda.
Willie Brown predicted the Central Subway would reduce (can you imagine?) Muni’s operating costs by $23.9 million annually. Muni’s operating costs will now increase by more than $25 million per year.
Renne sought to take credit for the Tobacco Settlement Revenue lawsuit. It was used, in part, to pay for the LHH rebuild project. Renne had done no such thing.
Climate reparations dominated Egypt's UN Climate Change Summit this month — overburdened communities demand help cutting emissions, adapting to climate change…and compensation for damages!
Since its inception, the SOTF has been a thorn in City Hall’s backside. Why? ... Engaged citizens and journalists seek more information than officialdom likes to share.
Audit non-profit agencies and City contracts to ensure that services are provided ... especially those providing homeless services. ...revenue-generating departments need to ensure all revenue sources are addressed
You won't see from downtown what you can see from Mt. Tam. Out here at Ocean Beach the nighttime fog makes viewing an occasional event. Happy skywatching!
Despite these commitments to ensure safe and minimally-stressful transfers ... it did not fully grasp the number and complexity of LHH patients. So, LHH was “pigeon-holed into rules applying to standard nursing homes.
City Leaders Value Saving Money Over Saving Lives and Property
by Frank T. Blackburn and Nancy Wuerfel
Mayor Breed remains blissfully silent on the need to extend adequate fire protection to approximately half the City, even though she has knowledge of Fire Department needs having been a fire commissioner in 2010.
D5 gets $50,000 for tree planting. D8, $246,000 for sidewalk gardens and street trees. And that's it for the entire City. If there is a climate emergency you wouldn't know it from San Francisco.”
There is a need for a routine and consistent review of this facility. Programs that exist here are rarely audited, and when they are, the list of improvements required is long and important.
Time to Shine a Brighter Light on SFUSD Chronic Absences
by Carol Kocivar
Children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent—and face the most harm because their community lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school.
As of July 11, just 623 patients remain at LHH, compared to 681 in May. Most have been transferred to San Mateo nursing homes. Three went to homeless shelters.
Power plant emissions formed black soot on windows and doorways in their homes and triggered asthma attacks, headaches and nosebleeds in their children. Residents led the successful fight that ultimately closed the PG&E Hunters Point power plant in 2006
Farmers Market and St. Ignatious in Tug-of-war over parking spaces
by Jonathan Farrell
...the farmers market gets: 2000-6000 visitors per weekend. Whereas if the area were ceded back for Saint Ignatius’s parking needs they would serve about 60 cars...
LHH was given 6 months to correct its deficiencies. A follow-up inspection found persistent - and seemingly worse - drug and contraband use, despite LHH’s Plan of Correction.
Will Laguna Honda Solve Its Problems By Abandoning 120 More Patient Beds?
Patrick Monette-Shaw
Both consultants provided “preliminary assessment reports” of their initial recommendations. Only HMA’s “preliminary assessment report” has been made public.
Everybody involved knew that adding “unstable” adults brought disarray and danger to Laguna Honda's seniors. Most folks just went along. Now they’re surprised?
The report concludes groundwater “may” become contaminated as sea level rises. In fact, Shipyard groundwater was documented as“contaminated” where thousands of homes are being constructed.
“It seems preposterous to put a library on a congested thoroughfare when there are better places that are safer for pedestrians to use,” one community member said.
People are frustrated and spurt out the word “segregated”
That's because SFUSD has failed to prepare all ethnicities for a rigorous academic high school.
41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
The moderates only need to flip one district from the progressive side of the aisle to preclude the veto power of the Board of Supervisors, since the mayor appointed moderate Supervisor Matt Dorsey ... the Redistricting Task Force handed moderates a perfect set up to do just that.
If a mandatory reduction is ordered, there will be a “floor” or minimum allocation per person so that those who have conserved, and now conserve, will not be penalized.
...competence erodes as conscientious employees get marginalized and lackeys are promoted. This consolidation promotes impunity. Betraying the public trust is normalized.
Violent Thug Attacks, Robs Asian Visitor—Goes Free
Boudin's famed "puppy killer" strikes again
by Lou Barberini
Boudin and the judge circumvented diversion rules because violent criminals are “not eligible” for diversion programs. Why did Boudin send someone to drug diversion if they weren’t arrested for drugs?”
Despite the fact that discharge is not legally required (yet) at Laguna Honda, all patients and their families are being interviewed for discharge and this is causing a lot of stress.
Too bad no one saw this coming......oh, a group of doctors from Laguna Honda did.
Over time, those special interests have proven adept at using the same “peoples protections” to further their own interests. Recalls are expensive, and a few of San Francisco’s bitterest billionaires buy low-turnout elections when they disagree with the voters...
41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
...there are issues that can unite us.. We all want to support our educators who have been doing the hard work every day despite a pandemic and political feud.
Could the motivation behind all of this be to create such a god-awful divisive plan and create so much anger that the voters would just throw up their hands and get rid of it altogether?
Taylor minced no words … the results of her 1995 investigation displeased health officials and influenced her decision not to publish significant findings, “I was convinced there was something there
Each student is tutored three times a week primarily outside of school time via an online, collaborative learning platform that offers intervention through guided reading lessons, gamification, and assessments.
Chair Townsend's Solution to African-American Population Decline Will Likely Result in a Lawsuit Redistricting's latest map has everyone on edge, scrambling to find out who their new Supervisor will be.
District 7 reclaims Forest Knolls, Twin Peaks, Midtown Terrace, the Woods and Miraloma Park from District 8 as well as all of Lakeshore and Merced Manor from District 4, but loses ground entirely in the Inner Sunset.
Lowell high school's merit-based admission policy is perfectly legal. We’ve looked at the language of the law, the history of the law and the intent of the law. We've done our homework.
Labor Union Sues City for Corruption and Retaliation
Union Lawsuit Reveals "City Family" Backroom Maneuvers
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Why does the FBI manage to unearth City Hall corruption, while our watchdog agencies; the Controller’s Whistleblower Program, Ethics Commission and City Attorney’s Office cry “What happened?
… instead of looking seriously into what could be done to solve the coupling problem … henceforth the trains operating in the subway would be only one and two cars long.
... SFPUC says 50% rationing could be required. Environmental groups contest that judgment. But if anything like that threatens imminently, you can bet costs will rise and fast. Rates follow.
Limit plastic used in wrapping done by on-line shopping? Since the pandemic, online shopping has created 29% more waste in landfills which can end up in our oceans
... infant mortality rates in BVHP (were) twice as high as the rest of San Francisco and one of the highest in the state, a cluster of infant deaths were detected in the shipyard region.
SFPUC: Controllers Audit Reveals Compromised Bid Process
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Most contractors lagged in delivering community benefits and submitting required progress reports. And, once a contract ended, undelivered benefits were not recoverable. SFPUC had no policies to monitor compliance.
Ideally, police can stop “sideshows” before they happen with intel from undercover officers and by monitoring social media accounts that announce where sideshows will be. That was not evident in West Portal & 30th/Lawton incidents
Ginsburg, working with the SF Bicycle Coalition and Walk SF, have banned cars on JFK Drive and the Upper Great Highway during the pandemic. Plans are being made make the bans permanent ...
Persistent Corruption, Incompetence & Some Good News
by Quentin Kopp
Despite City Hall corruption, Supervisors ignore Recology’s garbage monopoly...a year has passed with a minor refund of rate overcharges thanks to Controller Ben Rosenfield...
There are procedures for closing a major highway, and that includes an Environmental Impact Report — how much more pollution would be caused by rerouting up to 20,000 vehicles a day through stop and go traffic ...?
Drivers ... good news for you: the vast majority of streets are dominated by cars! You can drive on all the roads, which is why a radical change is necessary.
CEQA Protects Us From Special Interests’ “Big Lie”
by Roger Lin and Douglas Carstens
A sustained campaign, led by polluting industries, real estate developers, etc, has repeatedly and falsely claimed California’s environmental law is fueling the housing crisis.
We have one coastline; we should prioritize this safe place to recreate and be with neighbors—not a redundant roadway separating the neighborhood from the coast to save drivers a couple minutes.
Moving physically - or mentally-challenged patients is clearly detrimental to their health...leaving fragile patients stranded, miles away from their families and friends
..income disclosures serve to identify and deter potential conflicts of interest, pay-to-play deals and bribes ... But something was omitted – the lavish cost of the banquet at the Old Skool Café.
Their plan—use the earthquake bond money to upgrade antiquated and fragile drinking water mains, is the reason expansion of the high-pressure hydrants cannot be completed before mid-century.
Does the City care what your rates are? The Commission recently passed a resolution to guide Herrera. It lacks anything about keeping rates as low as possible.
Homelessness is so grueling that getting high brings welcome relief. When the high wears off, a dysphoric “crash” ensues along with a craving for more meth.
With less water in the rivers, the temperature increases, killing salmon and allowing the green scum called algae bloom that can make water toxic to humans and fish.
You already know what you want to do. And you have already been told, loudly, that riders want — and need — all their old routes back in operation. Soon. Not months from now. Therefore, the phoney survey.
