Mayor Ed Lee: Kicks the Can Down the Road

By George Wooding

Welcome to San Francisco in the year 2020. Mayor Lee has finally been termed out and is watching the new Mayor sweat the infrastructure problems Lee created building 30,000 housing units in six years. The new Mayor will quickly become the fall guy for the collapse of San Francisco’s infrastructure.

San Francisco had built 1,500 housing units annually during the previous two decades, but Lee began adding 5,000 units annually during the six years beginning in 2014 — 30,000 units total.

Once upon a time, San Francisco’s entire infrastructure (water, sewage, roads, general maintenance) was funded by the City’s general fund. As City employee salaries grew higher and the number of City employees increased, San Francisco started deferring infrastructure payments to pay for its City employees.

Due to inadequate annual funding of capital improvements, and deferred maintenance, City politicians have allowed public works to deteriorate. The City is now forced to pass bond measures to pay for basic, routine infrastructure. The San Francisco PUC (SFPUC) utilizes revenue bonds — meaning the SFPUC pays for bonds by raising customer rates.

City officials have allowed San Francisco’s infrastructure crisis to roll forward year after year. It’s relatively easy for Mayor Lee to defer maintenance because the consequences are not apparent for many years. His failure to have publicly-available information on the condition and cost of deferred maintenance hides the problem. There is little public clamor and few advocates for increased spending on the City’s capital needs.

The 30,000 units that the mayor will build cannot be supported by the City’s current infrastructure.

Additionally, capital improvement bonds are a horrible way to finance deferred maintenance. Bond measures allocate 30% to 50% for deferred maintenance projects. In other words, property taxpayers are paying for deferred maintenance with 30 years of interest payments. The interest on these bond projects almost doubles the cost of each project.

Almost all of these capital improvement projects could have been addressed through regular annual appropriations; instead they are neglected and the money goes to City salaries.

Nearly one in three (12,504) of San Francisco’s 39,122 City employees earned $100,000 or more in total pay in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015 — a number that has been growing steadily for the past decade — and averaged $141,703 in total pay. These salary amounts do not include the costs of often-generous City fringe benefits, including health care and pensions.

In November 2014, San Francisco voters passed Proposition K, a non-binding, “declaration of policy” which allowed the City to help construct or rehabilitate at least 30,000 homes or more by 2020. Policy declarations are non-binding because Mayors and City Supervisors are not bound to budget for them. Prop. K was also both redundant and unneeded because Lee had already unilaterally declared it to be official City policy in his January 2014 State-of-the-City speech.

The City’s deferred infrastructure cannot handle the massive growth Mayor Lee proposed, and little of the new property taxes generated by the 30,000 units will be used to fund neighborhood infrastructure improvements.

San Franciscans will smell the first whiff of a broken sewer line as they wait for a bus that is averaging five miles per hour. The MUNI bus is new, but cannot go faster than the traffi C. When the bus does come 20 minutes late, it is full and trapped behind a Google bus, and you’ll have to walk into the street to board.

The SFMTA will need at least $10 billion by 2030 just to maintain and possibly increase its service by up to 20% (very optimistic and very doubtful). By its own estimates, SFMTA will still have a $3.3 billion shortfall by 2030. SFMTA bonds, taxes, general fund set-asides, vehicle license fees, increased ridership fares, parking meter rates, and traffic ticket citations have not been able to, and can’t, support SFMTA’s operations.

Without cars, the SFMTA would lose over 30% of its annual revenue. The SFMTA cannot afford to get rid of cars or it would go broke, rapidly.

According to a City transportation report, “Without investing in transportation infrastructure, San Francisco will have more than 600,000 vehicles added to its streets every day by 2040, which is more traffic than all the vehicles traveling each day on the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge combined. Caltrain ridership has grown by 60% in the last decade. Ridership on Muni is projected to increase by 300,000 trips per day (or 43%) by 2040. Significant design measures need to be implemented to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians to navigate San Francisco’s heavily-trafficked streets.”

Commercial shuttle “Google buses” will soon have upwards of 1.2 million shuttle buses stopping in Muni red zones, since SFMTA’s Board approved making the shuttle program permanent but creatively exempted the program from a full Environment Impact Review (EIR).

There is no more parking throughout the City and the asphalt/slurry on the roads is deteriorating to its lowest usable level ever. City roads used to be excellent and were rated at a pavement and road condition of 75 (good) in 1989. By 2009, due to 20 years of deferred maintenance, San Francisco roads declined to a pavement condition of 64 (bad).

Terrible road conditions forced San Franciscans to pass the $368 million 2009 Safe Streets and Road Repair Bond. The road repair was underfunded by approximately $230 million and only $209 million — just 56.8% of the $368 million bond — went to street resurfacing and reconstruction. Ironically, after the bond money will be spent through 2018, San Francisco road ratings will only reach a pavement and road condition of 67.

Bicyclists are finding It harder and harder to run stoplights or stop signs. The 8% who are cyclists are being hailed as environmental crusaders; however, the fast, young cyclists hate car drivers, pedestrians, and out-of-shape, old, or pregnant cyclists who block their lanes.

How funny: Once-unique neighborhood corridors have been homogenized. The natural character of each neighborhood and their individual businesses are disappearing. Every SF transit corridor has begun to look the same: Surrounding buildings are taller, with a much higher population density. Remember, a transit corridor is considered to be 250 feet wide on both sides of the street.

The architectural design of these new buildings ranges from utilitarian to mediocre, at best. Dwelling sizes have been decreased and garages have been removed to cram in more people per square foot.

Drought or no drought, we already have the lowest water consumption in California at 41.6 gallons per resident per day, yet water rates are sky rocketing. More people will lead to lower water-per-person consumption, but higher water rates.

San Francisco’s sewer system is over 100 years old, and several component parts of the infrastructure were constructed in the 1800’s. The sewer infrastructure is failing and in need of significant repair. Sewer conditions threaten public health.

The SFPUC’s Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP) — another huge maintenance deferment — is the SFPUC’s wastewater capital improvement program that includes multiple projects to improve the existing system.

Routine repairs are no longer sufficient to keep pace with San Francisco’s aging and seismically vulnerable sewer infrastructure. It is important to invest now in larger capital improvements to avoid more costly emergency repairs, potential regulatory fines, and greater impacts on our communities. The longer upgrades are delayed, the more expensive they become. Another clear case of deferred maintenance.

The SSIP is the culmination of several years of wastewater system planning efforts, public meetings, and SFPUC Commission workshops to develop proposed improvements to deferred maintenance of SF’s sewage system. The SSIP is expected to cost billions. The first phase is expected to cost $2.78 billion, alone.

If you have gray hair and don’t own your own home, you may also be disappearing — since City-backed developers need to convert your rental apartment into a condominium to make a profit. The Planning Department needs to charge developers higher permit fees to maintain its budget, and the City needs more density to generate more property taxes.

The more dwellings that can be demolished, rebuilt, or increased in density, the more income will be generated by the City. San Franciscans that stay in place in their own homes pay much less in property taxes than new owners.

Mayor Lee and the Board of Supervisors have just financially linked housing prices to residential units.

City government amended the Planning Code so that developers who build residential structures of 20 or more units throughout the City will have to pay an extra $7.74 per square foot, per unit.

The City’s old Transit Development Impact Fee (TDIF) applied to only commercial developments and PDR (production, design, and repair) facilities. Heretofore, the TDIF fees only came from downtown commercial developers.

The new TSF transit funding is an open door for financial misuse and abuse. TSF funds should be used for transit maintenance and repair only. However, the new TSF funds a complete streets component, enhancement and expansion of bicycle facilities, as well as pedestrian and other streetscape infrastructure to accommodate growth. The TSF is also responsible for maintaining the existing amount of sidewalk space per pedestrian.

This is why there are so many well-paid City employees and so much deferred maintenance

By charging residential housing developers a transportation fee, the City will collect an additional 40% more in transportation fees annually.

San Francisco’s new TSF fee/tax will increase the price of larger residential projects by 2% to 3% per unit. The City hopes to increase transportation fee collection by $480 million over the next 30 years.

The City will add 190,000 jobs and 100,000 homes by 2040, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), but without improving public transit, traffic in the City could increase by 40%.

Other than as a source of revenue, cars have become the City’s lowest priority.

The City set the TSF fee/tax by estimating how much development impacts transit in terms of cost, roughly $31 per square foot, then balanced it with the results of a fiscal feasibility study that looked at what level fees would discourage development.

According to the TSF Financial Feasibility Report, the average residential base cost per square foot should be $6.19; however, the City chose to increase TSF residential taxes by 125% to a tax of $7.74 per square foot.

A brand new 750-square-foot, two-bedroom condominium just became $5,805.00 more expensive, but comes with a bus that is late, full, broken, or never comes.

Look around you: There is deferred city maintenance everywhere! Our infrastructure cannot support the 30,000 dwellings that Mayor Lee is trying to build over the next five years. City Government is just kicking the can down the road.

Wooding is a board member of the Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association.

December 2015

Coyotes or Pets?

By George Wooding

Coyotes are small, brownish, wild dogs, basically. They run with their non-bushy tails held down. Photo: Calvin Cardinas

San Franciscan’s don’t love coyotes, they love their pets.

As our small, seven-square-mile City grows more compact, humans and pets are forced to live in ever closer proximity to a burgeoning population of coyotes.

As coyotes become acclimated to humans, their bold behavior has led to the death of a dog named Buster, whose owner says he was killed by coyotes near the Pine Lake area of Stern Grove two weeks ago. A month earlier, another owner says he was surrounded by five coyotes before they attacked his Bichon named Eddie. All of this has dog and cat owners in the area nervous and asking what to do.

The SF Rec and Park Department (RPD) has little to offer pet owners. It has built a small barrier to keep dogs from chasing coyotes up a hill. This same barrier will not keep coyotes out of Stern Grove. The RPD has also ordered wildlife-proof trash cans in hopes of teaching coyotes not to associate food with parks. The coyotes live in the parks and will not be fooled. Last, the RPD has posted warning signs in Stern Grove.

Coyotes do not have state protection, but hunting is not allowed in City parks, and City policy specifies co-existence with wildlife. Certainly the Stern Grove coyotes should be relocated for their own benefit. If their predation of cats and dogs goes unpunished, the coyotes’ behavior will certainly become more aggressive.

The City’s lack of policies on coyotes is ridiculous and calculated. No matter how many pets are killed or attacked, it is completely the pet owners’ fault/responsibility for not being vigilant. It is solely up to the pet owner to modify the coyote’s behavior.

It goes unsaid, but most convenient for the RPD, California Department of Fish and Game (CDFW), and Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), that all three departments really don’t want dogs running off-leash. In fact, they would prefer to not even have dogs on public property. All three agencies appear to want the coyotes more than they want the dogs.

Sally Stephens, the Chair of San Francisco Dog Owners Group (SFDOG) explains,

“There is a huge demand for off-leash access in San Francisco. Given the threats to the legal off-leash dog play areas (DPAs) -- the GGNRA wants to cut access to 90% of current areas, RPD’s Natural Areas Program will cut access in city parks by 15% -- losing any legal off-leash space because of coyotes is not acceptable. But it may not be necessary because we can co-exist.”

Sadly, a September 24 Facebook post by Peggy Lo reported:

“Today, we lost our seven pound Malti-poo, Buster. We were at Stern Grove and a Coyote was waiting for him behind a tree approximately 20 feet above the walking path across from the lake. Buster heard a noise, and began to run up the hill and then we heard him squeal. My husband (Johnny Lo) chased the Coyote who had the dog in his mouth. A second Coyote appeared. Johnny searched for two hours but couldn’t find our Buster.”

Sarah Lo continued:

“We feel responsible for not having him on a leash but he usually walks right next to us. We are heartbroken and don’t want anyone else to go through this. The coyotes are getting too comfortable and are so close to the path, it might not have mattered if Buster was on a leash. We will contact Fish and Game tomorrow but it seems futile since the City, and Park and Rec, don’t have any will to relocate the animals or exterminate them, if necessary.”

A group called Project Coyote has started giving seminars to pet owners called “Coyote Hazing Field Training.” Instructor Gina Farr gives the following advice: Make eye contact with the coyote, keep your dog on a leash, wave your arms over your head, continue to shout “go away coyote,” carry a noisemaker, and advance on the coyote.

Project Coyote’s objective is to modify pet owners’ behavior so that they can co-exist with coyotes.

Sara Roma, another dog owner was recently quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“We’re now at the point where it isn’t going to help to say ‘Go away coyote.’ I am not convinced that given what has already taken place that calling on park users to haze the coyotes will necessarily give us a definitive solution.”

Suzanne Dumont, a local resident and dog owner who attended an October 22nd meeting on coyotes commented:

“Children’s safety and the well-used BBQ pits at Stern Grove right near a coyote den were never discussed by the RPD representatives, who seemed not to have done their homework. Much to the frustration of those attending the meeting, a RPD manager told the crowd it was illegal to haze coyotes in city parks, oblivious to the Rec & Park sponsored Hazing Training that took place at Stern Grove just a few weeks ago.”

The City, RPD, and California Fish and Wildlife Department (CDFW) have no plan for the growing coyote problem. CDFW spokesman Kevin Hugman states:

“It’s not a coyote problem. It’s a people problem, and … dogs and cats are going to be taken. We have calls all the time of dogs taken right off their leash. It’s going to happen, so you have to be the best dog owner you can be.”

The coyotes that live among us have become domesticated and do not fear people. With no predators and no restrictions on their behavior, coyotes are free to do whatever they want, without any punishment.

In San Francisco, if a dog attacks another animal, health code Section41.5(ii) sets out the process:

“In the event that a biting dog causes severe injuries to a person or other animal the Director of Public Health may recommend that such dog be declared a menace to the public health and safety and he shall so inform the District Attorney by a written complaint. The District Attorney shall then bring said written complaint to the Municipal Court for a finding that the dog is a menace to the public health and safety. If the Court finds the dog to be a menace to the public health and safety, the owner thereof shall be subject to the provisions of paragraph (c) of this Section, and upon order of the Court, the Animal Control Officer or a Police Officer shall impound, hold, and humanely destroy the dog in accordance with the procedures of paragraph (c) of this Section.”

Why are dogs who attack dogs, cats, and people considered a menace, and coyotes are not?

For the politically-correct citizens of San Francisco, the thought of punishing a coyote for its behavior is too harsh. We cannot stand the thought of hurting a “wild animal,” yet many of us think nothing of walking by a homeless person, Starbucks in hand.

Certainly the Stern Grove coyotes should be relocated for their own benefit. If their predation of cats and dogs goes unpunished, the coyotes’ behavior will certainly become more aggressive and they will become overpopulated.

The coyote is a medium-sized member of the dog family that includes wolves and foxes. With pointed ears, a slender muzzle, and a drooping bushy tail, the coyote often resembles a German shepherd or collie. Coyotes are usually a grayish brown with reddish tinges behind the ears and around the face, but coloration can vary from a silver-gray to black. The tail usually has a black tip. Eyes are yellow, rather than brown like many domestic dogs. Most adult coyotes weigh between 25 and 35 pounds, with a few larger animals weighing up to 42 pounds.

Although coyotes are predators, they are also opportunistic feeders and shift their diets to take advantage of the most available prey. Coyotes are generally scavengers and predators of small prey, but occasionally shift to large prey. They prefer small rodents, and human garbage. Interestingly, about 25% of their diet consists of fruit.

San Francisco’s coyote population — estimated to be between 100 and 200 coyotes — are no more wild animals than San Francisco’s raccoons are wild. These animals are living in residential areas and have adapted to surviving in them. The next time your garbage can is knocked over by a “wild raccoon,” think about what a raccoon in the woods would be eating.

San Francisco’s coyote problem began in 2007. Coyotes started colonizing the Presidio. The coyote population has spread rapidly throughout City’s open spaces. DNA testing on some of the original coyotes in the City showed that they came from Marin County. With no known predators and ample amounts of food, the coyote population in San Francisco appears to be growing rapidly.

There have been only two fatal coyote attacks recorded in modern history: In 1981, a three-year-old girl in Southern California died of injuries sustained from a coyote attack, and most recently in 2009, a 19-year-old female was fatally attacked by a group of eastern coyotes while hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scoti A.

According to a recent report on coyote diseases developed by the Urban Coyote Ecology and Management Research Team in Cook County, Illinois:

“Wildlife disease is of great importance to the health and safety of humans and domestic animals because 73% of emerging and re-emerging pathogens are known to be zoonotic (transmitted from animals to people). There is increasing evidence suggesting that urbanization and resultant land-use changes contribute to the emergence of wildlife diseases through multiple mechanisms, with consequences for human and pet health.”

Through serological testing (using blood to identify disease), the Cook County Coyote Project looked primarily for the presence of these diseases in the coyote population: Canine parvo, canine distemper, toxoplasmosis, Lyme, and Leptospirosis. These diseases are important to study because they can affect people or pets. While these diseases may occur in fairly high rates in coyotes, they are rarely transmitted to people or pets because of low pathogen survival rates in the environment, or because the coyote may be a “dead-end” host. Coyotes are also known carriers of mange, heartworm, and rabies.

The Cook County Urban Coyote Research Team study located accounts of 142 coyote attack incidents, resulting in 159 human victims. These attacks took place over a wide geographic area, including 14 states in the U.S. and four provinces in Canad A. Most attacks, however, occurred in the western U.S., with almost half of the attacks occurring in California and another large portion (14%) occurring in Arizon A.

San Francisco’s coyote population is getting out of hand. It is time for citizens to contact their district Board of Supervisors representative to develop a workable plan to protect people and their pets from coyotes.

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

November 2015

Density Crowds the City

Sometimes togetherness isn’t better

By George Wooding

Under San Francisco’s current and proposed planning guidelines, building density now trumps height zoning or character of neighborhoods.

“Density” is the new altar at which the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, developers, Chamber of Commerce, and co-opted City think tanks like SPUR, now pray. All of these groups pay little attention to what the impacted neighborhoods think about their plans to build height or density housing as they see fit, while ignoring neighborhood input. These groups also need the money, profit, donations, and political contributions that continued development generates.

City zoning changes and property use changes are routinely ignored or changed. Witness The Chronicle’s gigantic Mission and Fifth project (5M), one of the largest City building projects ever, that was just turned into a “special use” district. This means almost no standard planning rules will apply to the project.

“By fast-tracking the 5M project through the planning process through Special Ordinances that exempt this site from established Area Plans, the City is negating the hard work of all those involved in the community planning process by granting exceptions, variances, and privileges through the creation of a Special Use District and implementation of a Development Agreement,” Gerry Crowley, SF Neighborhood Network founder said. “Dismissing the impact of major up-zoning on vulnerable neighboring communities adjacent to 5th and Mission Street threatens community planning and responsible development in every neighborhood throughout San Francisco.”

Several City development projects have routinely received height exemptions through spot zoning variances, such as 1481 Post Street and 75 Howard.

The Planning Commission is a seven-member board controlled by the Mayor. Four of the commissioners are directly appointed by the Mayor and give the appearance of having no independent free will on large planning decisions. Citizens wait hours to testify for two minutes at the Planning Commission on issues that have long ago been decided by the Mayor.

The Mayor’s office — telling the Planning Department what to do — has proposed the adoption of a State law called the “Density Bonus Program” that will increase developers size and bulk limitations if they add affordable housing to new or existing buildings/housing.

Affordable housing is designated as “below market rate.” The federal government, the City and non-profit housing organizations underwrite the development and leasing of affordable housing throughout San Francisco.

The new density bonus program wouldn’t apply to zoning districts that only allow single-family (RH-1) or three-unit development (RH-2) on lots. Major exceptions to this rule include streets along transit corridors, like Geary, Judah and West Portal Avenue.

Impacted neighborhoods will watch developers add two floors of supposedly affordable housing to their neighbors’ homes. When housing costs $800,000 and the family of four moving in has an income of $120,000 per year the house is really for moderate-income people. Moderate-income people need help with housing as well.

Can developers who build the density be trusted to use the bonus building capacity favors correctly? How can we be sure that a City with such a checkered past on building oversight will do a good job measuring square footage? Time will tell.

The one great thing about the Bonus Density Program is that it will force the City to better use its inclusionary housing program. Planning Code Se C. 415 or the Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program, requires residential developments with 10 or more units to pay an Affordable Housing Fee. Project sponsors may apply for an alternative to the fee in the form of providing 12% of their units on-site or 20% of their units off-site as affordable to low-to moderate-income households.

Once the City receives the inclusionary housing money no one really knows what happens with the funds that the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOHCD) will receive. For example, the 75 Howard Street project paid $9.8 million to the City so that they could build 133 luxury-housing units and no affordable housing. Where is the money going?

In 2012, voters passed Prop C creating an enormous housing slush fund and the State decided to shut down redevelopment agencies. The City will transfer over $1.5 billion from the General Fund to the MOHCD over the next 20 years. But rather than placing redevelopment funds into the General Fund, the City created the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) with MOHCD’s “sole discretion” over how the fund will be expended. What happened to that money?

There are currently over 20,000 vacancies. Prop C was supposed to be used over 20 years to build up to 30,000 units. Mayor Lee is trying to build 30,000 units in five years. When the housing bubble bursts, the City will be overbuilt.

We need more equally dispersed affordable housing. Building density isn’t the answer. We need to be concerned about quality of life and living space.

Marsha Maloof, the President of the Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association, thinks concentrating low-income and affordable housing does not work.

“When you concentrate all affordable housing in one area you get uninspired housing that turns into raggedy housing over time. Not to mention, making the average household income levels of the surrounding area unattractive to retail and many other businesses.

“San Francisco is on the right track with mandating and incentivizing development to include a reasonable number of low-income and affordable units. However, to allow developments to shift this requirement from the building site to alternate locations is not good for residents, neighborhoods, or the economic development of the City.”

Maloof concludes, “Let’s not allow the ‘NIMBY’ attitude or developer greed to replace good common sense.”

The Census Bureau reports SF’s population grew 4.6 % from 2010 to 2014. At current projected growth rates, it will grow by 5.6% from 2010 to 2015. Interestingly, 53.8% of the growth is from single, white people. 41.2% of these Caucasians live alone (elderly people and young people). There are 2.31 people living in the average household in 386,564 housing units.

Single people, not families, are fueling our rapid growth from 805,195 in 2010 to an estimated 852,469 in 2014.

New young residents with money have driven up housing prices and contribute to the displacement of longtime San Franciscans, gentrification of neighborhoods, and housing density development.

The SF rental market continued to be the most expensive in the country, reaching an all-time high of $3,530 for a 1-bedroom apartment. While prices in New York City remained largely flat at $3,000, last month SF increased 1.5% per month and 3.3% over the last quarter.

Mayor Lee’s density policies sound great until you have to live in a 288 to 1,200-square-foot apartment, or pay one-half of your salary to live with two other people. You had to sell your car, the last two buses were late, and both were full.

Many single people who recently came to the City will leave when their jobs disappear, they start a family, or simply get tired of living like a hamster in their overpriced, shared apartments. At the moment there is still a housing crisis in San Francisco.

In June 2014, our Board of Supervisors approved two significant pieces of legislation that support accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as “in-law” or secondary units. The first, introduced by Supervisor Chiu and passed in 2014 enables existing illegal units to be legalized. The second, introduced by Supervisor Wiener allowed construction of new accessory dwellings in his district.

Chui’s legislation has been an absolute failure because the cost of renting secondary units too high. Once rented, it became a rent-controlled unit.

In March, Sunset Supervisor Katy Tang, asked the City Attorney to craft a law to legalize backyard cottages in single-family zones. According to the Examiner, The Sunset has “many homes that have large backyards that could accommodate” additional dwelling units, Tang said.

No more backyards in the Sunset…Tang was appointed by Mayor Lee.

Just recently, the Supervisors expanded in-law units in Weiner’s District and tossed in Supervisor Julie Christensen’s District 3.

In November 2014, citizens passed Proposition K, to 1) Address the current housing affordability crisis; and 2) Support production of 30,000 units of new housing —one-third of those affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

This Policy has been the platform for several bad planning decisions. Please note, that 90% of the Planning Department’s revenue comes from developer fees. Between the money donated to local politicians by developers and the Planning Department’s development fees, developers and their lobbyists have become have become the new “kings” of San Francisco.

Perhaps it is time to apply the proposed “Density Bonus Program” to the City Hall building, the Planning Department building, and the SPUR office building. Each structure could use an additional two stories of luxury condominiums. The Planning Department would have no problem changing each structure’s zoning requirements. Gentrification and changes to “character of neighborhood” should not be a problem, nor should changing the affordable condominiums into luxury condominiums.

George Wooding was recently elected president of the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods

October 2015

Supervisor Norman Yee Surprises Supporters on Police Staffing

By George Wooding

Why did District seven Supervisor Norman Yee, heretofore a staunch supporter of the police, vote against increasing a depleted San Francisco police force?

Representing District seven, San Francisco’s most conservative District, Yee did the unthinkable—he voted against adding more police classes. Yee is now paying the price as many of his District Seven supporters are angry with him.

A simple non-binding Board of Supervisors resolution regarding new police staffing levels suddenly became a battleground over how many police officers are needed to effectively stop crime in San Francisco.

Presented on Tuesday, June 23rd, Resolution (150628) is the first step in establishing a Board of Supervisors policy that police staffing levels be adjusted to account for population and neighborhood growth, including adjusting the definition of “minimum staffing” upward by several hundred officers. The term “minimum staffing” is open ended and not defined.

The resolution became contentious and passed on a 6–5 vote. Supervisors Wiener, Farrrell, Cohen, Tang, Christensen and Breed voted “yes” to pass the resolution and Yee, Avalos, Campos, Mar and Kim voted “No.”

Yee has already passed city budgets which have allowed eight police academy classes to graduate. He has always stated the need for more police, but still people are mad because he did not support a poorly-written, non-binding resolution.

The current number of sworn full duty officers in the City is 1,730, down from 1,951 in 2010.

The City Charter as adopted in 1994 defines full staffing as 1,971 officers. Yet, that number is now outdated, since San Francisco has grown significantly since 1994 – from 742,000 to 841,000, an increase of 13.3%.

How may police officers should we hire before the city starts over-hiring?

The June Board of Supervisors “police hiring resolution” could lead to the city hiring at least 283 more police officers, at a cost of more than $40 million a year—in addition to the 241 new police who are already in the mayor’s existing budget.

San Francisco will have a hard time affording the expected increase in police officers’ salaries, benefits, housing credits, equipment, and jails. Remember that the city’s budget and revenue is at an all time high. Five years ago, San Francisco had a $500 million deficit and was delaying police salary increases and trying to restructure police pension payments.

There is no doubt that more police officers will reduce crime—we love the police, so why all of the fuss?

Hiring more police may not actually lead to a significant reduction in crime. Ratios, such as officers-per-thousand population, are totally inappropriate as a basis for staffing decisions.

Our current police force should allow citizens to take over police desk jobs. San Francisco should reduce the number of sworn officers (sheriffs) that work with prisoners and events and have them work with the police. This will allow more police on the streets.

According to Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi “Our jails are half empty.” Of the four open jail sites, three in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco and one in San Bruno, there’s space for a total of 2,450 inmates. Only 1,246 or 51-percent of jail capacity is currently being used.

According to the Chronicle, “At issue is a six-month pilot program — which ended in January — that saw sheriff’s deputies take over duties from police officers who transported arrested subjects from police stations to jail.” Mirkirimi further stated, “this program allowed police officers more time to do their jobs.” In light of that, he questioned the call by city Supervisors Scott Wiener and Malia Cohen to spend millions of dollars to build up the police force to match the city’s growing population, saying the effort was incomplete without considering other ways to free up officers.

There is no legislative mandate as to what these new police would be doing or where in the city they would be serving. There is no legislative prioritization, just a blind adherence to bureaucratic number calculations.

San Francisco definitely needs more police because California has created its own crime wave.

Due to court orders, California has quietly released approximately 10,000 of its lower level criminals to reduce prison overcrowding over the last six months. More non-violent prisoners will continue to be released.

Additionally, the passage of 2014’s Proposition 47, “The Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative,” has changed the sentencing of felonies to misdemeanors.

Many crimes that were previously “arrestable” as a felony will now only be “citable” as a misdemeanor. This means that miscreants may not be booked into jail but rather given a citation (similar to a traffic ticket) with a court date to appear, and released in the field. They will not be held pending trial.

Such felony crimes that are now misdemeanors include: Commercial burglary (theft under $950) • Forgery and bad checks (under $950 value) • Theft of most firearms • Theft of a vehicle (under $950 value) • Possession of stolen property (under $950 value) • Possession of heroin, cocaine, illegal prescriptions, concentrated cannabis, and methamphetamine.

San Francisco’s rate of larceny and thefts per 100,000 inhabitants has jumped 27%. Burglary rates rose 10%, and the rate of motor vehicle thefts and break-ins is rapidly approaching a 10% increase.

Do you feel as safe as you did five years ago?

Please read Yee’s press release and call his office for more information. He is simply asking to review police hiring policy practices before approving a poorly written, bureaucratic hiring policy that is only tied to San Francisco’s population.

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Asso C.

Read Supervisor Norman Yee’s Press Release

Read WOTPCC's Letter to Supervisor Yee

July/August 2015

Ready for West Portal’s Traffic Armegeddon?

By George Wooding

Big Infrastructure changes to West Portal Avenue’s water, sewage, road paving coupled with the closure of the Twin Peaks tunnel will have a dramatic impact on the West portal area for the next 18 months.

The Department of Public Work’s (DPW) Water main and Road Project are scheduled to begin on April 2015 and end in August. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencies’ (SFMTA) Blue Light Emergency Telephone project and and the Tunnel Radio Replacement project will both begin in July of 2015 and end in January.

Finally, the (SFMTA’s) Twin Peaks Tunnel Rebuild will start in January 2016 and end in August.

Inside the Twin Peaks Tunnel from SFMTA’s Tunnel Inspection Report 2009

West Portal Ave Water Main, Sewer and Paving Project

Many may remember the broken, 60 year old, 16 inch water-main located at 15th Avenue and Wawona that broke apart, creating a flood that damaged 23 homes in the surrounding neighborhood. After that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) had to set-up a field office in 2011 in the West Portal neighborhood.

The current West Portal road work will be performed in several phases over a 16-month duration. Work to be performed includes:

• water main installation on West Portal Ave.

• sewer main work on West Portal Ave between 14th Ave and 15th Ave at the intersection of West Portal Ave and Ulloa St

• bulb-out installations on West Portal Ave at Vicente

• new curb ramps along the project limits

• paving two parking lots within the project limits

• repaving along muni tracks

• roadway resurfacing on West Portal Ave

Street parking will not always be available on blocks during construction work hours which are 9am-4pm, Monday-Friday and 8am-4pm on weekends. Other anticipated problems will be a high level of noise, Dust and traffic congestion.

“Nobody wants to have the street in front of their business torn up, but this is infrastructure and it needs to be done. It seems like the construction crew is doing their best to keep the project moving quickly which is great because it mitigates our lost business. We had to close our door, which is usually open, to keep out the dirt and noise and our sales declined from 20%-30% on those days. Luckily, most of our customers realized it wasn’t that inconvenient to shop on West Portal,” said Matt Rogers, owner of Papenhausen Hardware, located at 32 West Portal Ave.

Elliot Wagner, The owner of Dimitra’s Skin Care & MediSpa, 324 West Portal Ave. said “There seems to a giant disconnect between what the DPW led businesses to believe would be a very orderly progression of work that would be done one block at a time vs what is currently taking place. Other than the overall dates of Apr 2015 - July 2015, West Portal businesses really didn’t get specific dates of when each segment of the project would be done. I guess the DPW are independently doing some of the pieces of the project, like replacing the water lines that run on my side of West Portal right now. Currently, they have posted No Parking signs, running from April 13th –May 4th & some from April 24th – April 27th.”

“For many businesses, construction noise is a disaster (imagine getting a relaxing massage or facial, and suddenly you are blasted away by the extreme racket of jack hammers). There is a high possibility that the DPW could put me out of business. At several of the WPA meetings, I asked that the really noisy work be done from 7-10 am, before most businesses open. Businesses were told by the contractor ‘our concerns would be taken under advisement.’ It seems the parking and use of construction equipment was the DPW’s primary objective.”

“The Construction Management team is sensitive to the needs of the community and is actively working with the merchants and residents to ensure project success by including them in the partnering process and construction meetings both before and during construction,” Najim Dadasi, the DPW Public Affairs Officer said.

“Some of the issues we have been able to mitigate are the parking challenges. We agreed to leave open both public parking lots at Ulloa and Claremont and West Portal and 14th Ave during construction. We will pave these lots at the end of the project. Additionally the contractor will only work on one side of the street at a time, utilizing only the space that is needed within their immediate work-zone so as not to further impact merchants.

“We have also committed to providing a half-block area within each active block for deliveries. Representatives from both the merchant and resident groups are valued members of our team and provide us instant feedback on the day to day construction triumphs and woes. We are committed to making these roadway, infrastructure and safety improvements for the people that use West Portal.” 

The Twin Peaks Tunnel Construction

SFMTA will be replacing all of the tracks inside Twin Peaks Tunnel. The Tunnel runs between Castro and West Portal MUNI stations. A number of retrofits to the inside of the tunnel will also take place during the track replacement to avoid future shutdowns.

Despite the age and deterioration to the tunnel, the City has never performed any seismic retrofits to the Twin Peaks Tunnel. A 2009 report, put out by the SFMTA’s Capital Programs and Construction Division, asserts that the Twin Peaks Tunnel is in relatively good condition.

According to Kelley McCoy, Public Information Officer, “…three lines travel through this tunnel several times a day, serving over 80,000 customers daily. To keep the system running safely and reliably, we need to replace the aging track system, repair parts of the tunnel walls and ceiling, and make seismic improvements.

“The current tunnel infrastructure is about 40 years old and is nearing the end of its usefulness.

“The seismic improvements to the unused Eureka Valley Station will not only improve the safety of the tunnel, but the neighborhoods above it. The last time the tracks were replaced was 1975. In the nearly one hundred years the tracks were replaced twice. The total cost? $47 million.

“Any information about the bus shuttles, including the temporary stops and route, will be posted to the project website when it becomes available.”

Twin Peaks Tunnel New tracks between West Portal and Castro stations will ensure that MUNI trains run safely and reliably through the tunnel. This will also lift the current speed restriction in the tunnel and allow trains to move faster.

Blue Light Emergency Telephone The existing emergency phones will be upgraded and new phones added throughout the MUNI subway. These phones are crucial for contacting emergency services in a crisis, such as a natural disaster or medical emergency.

According to Jay Lu, Public Relations Officer, “(the Blue Light) Emergency Telephone and Radio System were last installed in the 70’s. The current systems are old and outdated. The new Blue Light phones and radio system are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to modernize MUNI and the reliability of our communications system. Upgrading the Blue Light Emergency Telephones will improve the MUNI emergency response system. Replacing 90 old phones with 181 new ones will make it easier and more accessible for MUNI customers in emergency situations. The upgraded system will be effective in dealing with unplanned emergencies, such as a natural disaster or a medical emergency.”

The Blue Light Emergency Telephone and Radio Replacement Projects (From West Portal Station to Embarcadero Station) will cause MUNI to shut down on weeknights 7 days/week (9:00 pm to start of regular am train service) in July 2015 to January 2016.

Twin Peaks Tunnel Track Replacement Tentative schedule: Shutdown on weekends (late pm Fridays to start of regular train service Monday morning) in winter 2016 to late spring or summer.

Radio Replacement: As part of a system-wide upgrade to MUNI communications, SFMTA is upgrading the radio system. This will improve communications on all MUNI vehicles, provide American Disabilities Act (ADA) passenger travel information, and improve service disruptions.

Tunnel repairs have had a history of neighborhood problems. While most of the work is taking place inside the tunnel, construction crews have to haul gravel, rails, and other materials in from either end. It creates a continuous level of construction sounds that include the beeping of trucks and earthmovers backing up, dump trucks depositing gravel, and the grating noise of rails being dragged. The movements of large gravel and rail dumps create high pitched noise and large amounts of dust.

When the Sunset tunnel for the N Judah was being refurbished, the noise level at night was so loud that residents could not sleep. After 51 residents signed a petition regarding the Sunset project had to be shut down for two months.

According to the SFMTA, many of the problems created from the Sunset tunnel rebuild will be mitigated by 1) gravel removal which will be done at both the Castro street and West Portal entrances; 2) gravel ballast will be delivered to the job site only between 6am – 10pm Friday and Saturday; 3) new truck back-up alarms will lower noise levels; and 4) using electric-powered equipment, rather than diesel-powered equipment, whenever possible.

There will be two staging areas needed for the project. The area on Junipero Serra from Ocean Avenue to Sloat Blvd. will be used to hold all the new rail and gravel to go into the tunnel. The second staging area will hold the old materials until it can be discarded.

The West Portal parking lot will most likely be used as a staging area as fewer trucks will be needed to carry debris from the tunnel to the lot.

The Twin Peaks Tunnel rebuild and the water main and sewage project are inconvenient, let’s hope they do a good jo B.

George Wooding, Westside Observer

Last Twin Peaks Gas Station Endangered

By George Wooding

The San Francisco Real Estate Department may be about to push the Twin Peaks Petroleum gas station out of business by not negotiating the station’s new lease in good faith. The gas station has been located on the corner of Portola and Woodside Avenue for over 60 Years. This piece of property is located on Department of Public Health (DPH) property. The gas station was originally leased to Mobil Oil and then transferred to British Petroleum . The station as been managed/owned for over 30 years by Nancy and Michael Ghari B.

It’s not often when a neighborhood business becomes an institution. It’s even rarer when a gas station captures the hearts of surrounding neighborhoods.

After all, gas stations can be noisy, odiferous, and obtrusive. They are designed more for convenience than neighborhood appeal.

Besides being one of the last surviving independent gas stations in San Francisco, this gas station is the last gas station servicing the Twin Peaks neighborhoods for over one to three miles in any direction.

On average, the station’s price per gallon of gas is approximately ten cents lower than chain gas stations. Beyond consumer convenience, these lower prices help to keep chain gas station prices lower due to competition.

According to station owner Michael Gharib, “We have been great caretakers of Twin Peaks Petroleum for over 30 years and have always treated the City land as if it were our own.

“When I first set out as a service station owner 30-plus years ago, it was all about the word ‘service.’ We may have modernized and streamlined over the years, but that is still one past aspect of the industry that I hold close and that is to provide the best service to my customers — many of whom are my neighbors and my friends.

“Thirty years ago there were at least eight other service stations in the immediate are A. Now it’s just me. And if I were forced out by the City, the surrounding neighborhoods including Upper Market, Midtown Terrace, Glen Park, Diamond Heights, Miraloma, Forest Hills, and Forest Knolls to name just a few, would have no service or gas facilities anywhere from one to three miles!

“When we went ‘independent’ in 1994, we chose a name and logo that reflected the neighborhood, and colors that blended in with the surroundings. This was all thought out and planned because we are part of the surrounding communities and wanted to honor that connection.

“I don’t think we would have had so many negotiation problems with the Department of Real Estate if we were a big oil company with all of their lobbyists and attorneys.”

Twin Peaks Petroleum’s Good Intentions Are Punished by the City’s Real Estate Department

The City’s Real Estate Department’s standard 20-year lease with Twin Peaks Petroleum expired in July 2014. In anticipation of this lease expiration, the Gharib’s began renegotiating a new lease in 2012.

By June 2013, Twin Peaks Petroleum and the City Real Estate Department had negotiated a new lease allowing the station to plan and operate for another 15 years.

In July 2013, the station received a notice from the Department of Public Health (DPH) that the station site was officially deemed clean. Twin Peaks Petroleum had removed a leaky waste oil tank, cleaned the surrounding soil, and monitored the surrounding area for contaminants for over 20 years.

The station’s “clean” land was now worth much more than if the Gharibs had kept the land contaminated. Suddenly, the City shortened the length of lease terms. Insurance deposits rose from $10,000 to $100,000, and station demolition time frames went from 18 months to 6 months. After two years of negotiations the Gharibs were placed on a month-to-month lease.

On March 23, 2015 the Department of Real Estate finally sent the Gharibs a lease that allows them to remain an additional five years. Twin Peaks Petroleum was offered a five-year term with a five-year option period, with mutual termination rights upon six months’ advance written notice. This basically means that the Gharibs will be allowed to remain for an additional five-year period if they sign the lease.

With only a five-year lease, Twin Peaks Petroleum will not be able to recoup the cost of repairs, permits, or basic station maintenance. The gas station will become a run-down broken mess.

One of Mayor Lee’s major goals is to build 6,000 housing units per year for the next five years in the City. Some of this housing, such as the proposed Balboa Reservoir housing project, will be built on leased City property.

Would 30 condominiums built on an old gas station site overlooking the Youth Guidance Center be worth more than a 65-year-old gas station? The City’s answer would be “Yes” while the neighborhood’s answer would be a resounding “No.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Since the economic recovery started in 2010, housing developers have initiated projects that would replace 23 gas stations across the city, including five on four blocks of Upper Market Street, four on Valencia Street, two on Sixth Street and two on South Van Ness.”

Along with 13 sites of former gas stations that have already been developed or are under construction, by 2017 the City will have 40 percent fewer service stations than existed a decade earlier, according to City records.

Current gas station users and neighborhood groups are already angry with what the City’s Real Estate Department is doing on public property without any consultations or concerns about how neighborhood groups and residents feel about the removal of their gas station.

The West of Twin Peaks Central Council (WTPCC) and its 20-member neighborhood group voted unanimously to help save this gas station. Ironically, one of the reasons the WTPCC was formed in 1936 was to prevent the continued building of gas stations on the west side of town. Several neighborhood groups and residents are also planning to send letters to city hall. A sampling of neighborhood resident letters are shown below:

“I am a long-term Forest Knolls resident. In the past few years, I have watched more and more gas/service stations move out of our are A. Not only do I rely on Twin Peaks Gas for the purchase of gasoline, I depend on the station for servicing and emergency repairs of my vehicle. As a senior, I will find it very inconvenient to drive around looking for a gas station. Also as more stations close their businesses in our area, the existing gas stations are impacted with long lines and waits.”

— Norma Bell, Forest Knolls

“We wish to send this email in strong support of the Twin Peaks Auto Care Business on Portol A. We have lived in the neighborhood for 32 years. The Twin Peaks Auto Care Business provides an extremely valuable service to the many neighborhoods surrounding its central location. It is on a busy transit corridor and is also located in a commercial district, and is rarely, if ever, without a bustling business and parade of vehicles and customers who need their service. It provides to this area of San Francisco fuel at fair-market pricing and a reputable, reliable auto mechanic shop. This business has been an asset to those of us who live on the west side of the City. On another level Twin Peaks Auto Care provides employment and a living to workers who are supporting their families. That, alone, is an outcome of great importance and value.”

— Victor and Anne Pagan, Midtown Terrace Residents

“I cannot imagine Twin Peaks Auto Care being gone and having to drive further out of the City to get gas. This would be a devastating loss.”

— Kathy Saelor, Miraloma Park

“Why on earth would they even think of closing down this station? It’s proving that with all the other stations closed down Twin Peaks is the only station left serving that area and beyond. This is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. I think the local so-called administrators should remove their heads out of their asses and allow Twin Peaks to continue on with the excellent service they have been giving.”

— Sam Adams, Forest Knolls

If you and or your neighborhood group want to send letters to City Hall to help save the Twin Peaks Petroleum gas station, please contact the following people:

Barbar A.garcia@sfdph.org

john.updike@sfgov.org

norman.yee@sfgov.org

mattias.mormino@sfgov.org

Claudine.venegas@sfgov.org

Claudi A.gorham@sfgov.org

Naomi.kelly@sfgov.org

Steve.kawa@sfgov.org

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

April 2015

Played for a Fool

By Nancy Wuerfel and George Wooding

Funding is the name of the game for San Francisco’s ambitious Department of Environment (SFE) which is now maneuvering to get the Mayor to allow the agency to draw funds directly from the City’s already over-committed discretionary General Fund.

The SFE currently is a City enterprise agency. This means that it has to be financially self-sufficient, generating its own revenue without subsidies from the General Fund. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the San Francisco International Airport, and the Port of San Francisco are all enterprise agencies.

If SFE becomes a “General Fund department” and annually takes a cut from the City’s shrinking discretionary money, other City agencies such as the libraries, Recreation and Park, Human Services Agency, Public Health, Children Youth and Families, plus several more departments will start to receive less annual funding. The City services that people depend on will foot the bill to pay for SFE.

Unlike other City enterprise agencies, the SFE is empire building, and refuses to cut back on employees, expenses or projects even though its revenue does not cover its costs. The result is currently a budget shortfall and SFE wants a City bail out.

SF Environment’s Financial Mismanagement

Financial mismanagement was revealed at the January 27th Commission on the Environment meeting to approve the 2015-2016 SFE budget. The budget was sent to the Commission with funding gaps in salaries and unfunded obligations for employees’ benefits, referred to as “structural problems.” There was no discussion of hiring freezes, layoffs or cutting programs to balance the budget.

During the meeting, the Commissioners did discuss various strategies for enticing the Mayor to make SFE a “General Fund Department” to backfill the gaps. Then they approved the budget, even though it was unbalanced. The Charter requires Commission approval before a budget is submitted to the Mayor.

To understand the department’s mismanagement, one needs to know that SFE grew from its creation in the revised 1995 City Charter with a budget of $281,000 in 1997 to presently a $20 million operation. It employs over 100 people and occupies a rented 24,400 sq ft space at 1455 Market Street in order to house everyone.

SFE gets 46% ($9,389,000) of its revenue from grants. This is an enormous amount of their budget that varies from year to year. The funding that many staff rely on is not guaranteed. Also, many grants do not pay for all the staff benefits the City affords its employees, so these costs are shifted to other funding sources by bending the rules.

Frequently, grants do not pay for indirect costs. These indirect costs include such things as the $756,000 that SFE pays annually for rent, with a remodeling loan financed at 8%. There are other administrative expenses that bring the total to $4 million a year. When grants do not pay for indirect costs, they must be absorbed by other funding sources.

Now those other funding sources cannot sustain underwriting all the grants, so it’s City Hall to the rescue.

The culture of SFE has not reflected a desire to be a fiscally responsible enterprise department with a sound business plan. Why would they be any better at managing money if they were a General Fund Department? There is no oversight by anybody, including City Hall.

SFE could curtail some financing problems by stopping the practice of hiring long term costly City employees with short term grant funding. For example, last July SFE got the Mayor’s approval to convert four staff from temporary employees to permanent status with all the benefits that includes. Now SFE is advertising for another new permanent employee in the salary range of $84,000 - $102,000, knowing this adds to ITS deficit.

Grants can be used to hire independent contractors without City benefits to perform SFE’s work, instead of hiring employees with benefits. When the grant money ends, so does the need to pay somebody. Problem solved.

The rest of the $20 million budget comes from other City departments who contribute 9% ($1,752,000) to SFE in the form of work orders, and from the Solid Waste Management Program (SWMP) for 45% ($9,323,000). The SWMP money is a fee added to the residential garbage rates renegotiated whenever the Recology rates are periodically increased. SFE tells Recology how much money to collect on behalf of the City, and this sum is then part of the rates. The Refuse Rate Board always approves whatever SFE asks.

The Plan To Fool The Mayor

At the same January 27th meeting where the budget was approved, the Commission heard a presentation by a Mayor’s Budget Office staff member on the Controller’s 5 year financial plan to the year 2020. It projects a shortfall of $15.9 million for next year’s budget, and that expenditures are continuing to grow faster than revenue. Because the 5 year plan is presenting a “recession scenario,” the city proposes to curb growth and increase revenues.

The Commissioners heard these words of warning, ignored them, and decided that now is the ideal time to get on the City’s gravy train, before the financial picture gets any worse. Then they discussed various strategies for convincing the Mayor to make SFE a General Fund Department. Since the Mayor referred to SFE programs in his recent State of the City speech, they decided he could be manipulated into providing funds for them.

Previously, at the Operations Committee meeting on January 21st, Commissioners talked about ideas for getting the General Funds:

1. Commissioners discussed the need for more funds and how to get their expensive City Attorney fees paid with City money. They assume that becoming a General Fund Department with just “a dollar” allocation will automatically provide SFE with a large budget appropriation to pay these fees. This is a primary reason for pursuing General Funds.

Commission President Arce: “We have to get General Fund [money] period. Why? It solves the City Attorney problem. If we get $1 we get an allocation. Right? So we have to win. We have to get in there [into the General Fund budget].”

2. Commissioners discussed what would be the best way to justify and sell to the Mayor a request for General Fund money. Would it be by asking for either “discretionary” funding to pay for expenses, or for a to-be-determined “program component”, or both reasons?

Commission President Arce: “We can work hard on this to make it happen. And that’s what we’re here for as Commissioners, to work all kinds of little angles and stuff.” - including fooling the Mayor.

3. Commissioners discussed how to make their SFE budget proposal look better, “create a buzz,” and be more appealing to the Mayor by parroting back the ideas from his recent State of the City speech.

Commission President Arce: “We just say the exact same words. We just copy and paste from the shared prosperity agenda [from the Mayor’s speech] and put it into our proposal for General Fund [money]. We’ll get it. Period.”

At the January 27th meeting, Director Deborah Raphael reported that she had already had discussions with Kate Howard, Director of the Mayor’s Budget Office, about the importance of General Fund money for SFE and thanked the office for their support in this effort. Clearly, this idea is now being discussed behind closed doors on the second floor of City Hall.

It is important to note that the Commission made no effort to get any public opinion on this controversial decision to cease being an enterprise department. The topic was never on any Commission agend A. This is exactly the kind of issue that the Sunshine Ordinance intended to keep in front of the public at all times with full disclosure. That did not happen.

Conclusion

SFE has been left to its own devices and is now out of control. They want funding from the taxpayers as well as from the ratepayers with no oversight.

The City needs to audit SFE’s fiscal practices and business plan long before considering giving them any taxpayer money, and to decide what procedural changes need to be made. Detailed financial oversight from the City is definitely required for all of SFE’s funding sources.

SFE needs to balance the books and live within its revenue restrictions. It should not be rewarded with general funds to cover up poor management of grants.

SFE should hire independent contractors on grants, rather than City employees.

SFE should faithfully apply the Commission-approved Guidelines for Use of the funds from the Solid Waste Management Program, with periodic City audits of the expenditures for compliance.

New activities should not be accepted without the underwriting to finance them. If necessary, other City departments can take on programs SFE has trouble funding.

SFE needs a viable fund raising plan to endow the department, and then needs to implement it.

The Commission on the Environment needs to agendize all fiscal matters according to the Sunshine Ordinance. Major financial decisions are discussed without being clearly publicized in violation of the Ordinance and Brown Act, and without inviting an informed public to comment. Financial matters need full disclosure and transparency.

The Mayor needs to immediately fill two vacancies on the Commission on the Environment with people who have experience in overseeing multimillion dollar business operations and have a working knowledge of fund raising and grants.

Nancy Wuerfel, a government fiscal analyst, served as a member of the Park, Recreation Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC) for 9 years as an appointee of 3 District 4 Supervisors, George Wooding is a Westside Observer Investigative Reporter.

March 2015

Where Can Homeless Shelters Be Placed in San Francisco?

By George Wooding

Few citizens know this, but all of San Francisco’s Residential Housing with two attached units (RH-2) can be converted into a homeless shelter by the Planning Department.

While the City claims it does not significantly add to the capacity of homeless shelters, there is already a severe shortage of facilities.

Cruel as it sounds, most neighborhoods will not want a homeless shelter in their neighborhood due to the potential for problems with homeless residents and their friends who visit.

Last November 25, Mayor Ed Lee proposed an ordinance that would change the definition of homeless shelters. The Mayor’s proposal was adopted by the Planning Commission on December 18 and will be heard before the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee in late February.

The proposed ordinance would amend the Planning Code to define what a “Homeless Shelter” is and to establish zoning, open space, and parking policies for this use in compliance with California Government Code requirements. It would also amend the Administrative Code to require contracts between the City and shelter operators to contain operational standards.

The Planning Code currently does not include a definition for homeless shelters.

Planning is stating that the new ordinance will be almost identical to the old homeless shelter ordinance, minus some changes in the regulations for tourist hotels.

The legislation will supposedly allow consistency in reviewing homeless shelter applications per the Planning Code. It would:

• Create a definition for homeless shelters in the Planning Code, reflecting the current implications of this type of use in the neighborhood based on the more current trends of shelter operation.

• Allow this use as a right in certain zoning districts, and with conditional approval in some other districts, reflecting the group housing zoning controls.

• Exempt homeless shelters from open space, car, and bicycle parking, as well as impact-fee requirements. More people can be placed in a RH-2 residence if there are no cars or bikes located in the facility.

According to the 2013 Homeless Count Report, 7,350 homeless people live in San Francisco, including sheltered and unsheltered persons, as well as unaccompanied children and transition-age youth. Of these, approximately 59% were unsheltered (about 4,200 people).

Current occupants of homeless shelters include people with disabilities, families, the elderly, transient individuals, and people who have mental illnesses.

City planner Kamia Haddadan explains the new homeless ordinance by stating, “Currently, homeless shelters are allowed in many zoning districts.” Where and how they are permitted depends on if they are categorized as a Tourist Hotel or Group Housing, which is determined by the Zoning Administrator on a case–by-case basis. Homeless shelters are categorized as Group Housing when the length-of-stay is a week or more. If the length-of-stay is less than that, it is considered a Tourist Hotel. The majority of homeless shelters permitted to date have been categorized as Group Housing, which is allowed in most zoning districts including RH-2 with Conditional Use (CU) authorization.

Haddadan further states, “The proposed legislation would not change these controls, but it would create a separate use category for homeless shelters so that each proposal would not need a Zoning Administrator Interpretation to determine the appropriate use category. Also, the City’s policy towards homelessness is to primarily provide permanent housing for the homeless population. While homeless shelters are necessary, the City’s primary focus will still be on finding permanent housing for homeless individuals and families.”

The proposed Ordinance would clarify the zoning controls to streamline the review process for any potential future homeless shelters applications across the City.

If the City’s CU process were utilized, and the Planning Department wanted to place a homeless shelter in your neighborhood, they would need a Planning Commission hearing in order to determine if the proposed use is necessary, or desirable, to the neighborhood, and whether it may potentially have a negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

All owners within 300 feet of proposed new homeless shelters will receive notification of the hearing. The assigned planner will gather comments and concerns from the neighborhood during the notification period. Neighborhood support or opposition will be reflected in a staff report presented at the Planning Commission hearing, complete with the Planning Department’s recommendation for approval or disapproval of the CU.

District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, who helped to introduce the homeless shelter ordinance stated, “San Francisco has been at the forefront of helping the mentally disabled, but the City has been unable to adequately address mental illness problems.”

Nearly one-third of people who are homeless have mental illnesses. With the appropriate treatment, care and support, they could live successful, productive lives in the community. Unfortunately, most people who are homeless lack access to the services they need.

The number of acute-care psychiatric beds in San Francisco are rapidly being downsized in both the public and private sectors. Lengths of stay in acute-care psychiatric units are dropping. Unfortunately, inpatient psychiatric facilities lose money.

California became the national leader in aggressively moving patients from state and county hospitals into the community. By the time Ronald Reagan assumed the governorship in 1967, California had already deinstitutionalized more than half of its state hospital patients. That same year, California passed the landmark Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, which virtually abolished involuntary hospitalization except in extreme cases. Thus, by the early 1970’s by the time Ronald Reagan assumed the governorship in 1967, California had already deinstitutionalized more than half of its state hospital patients and, bypassing LPS, had made it very difficult to get patients back into a hospital if they relapsed and needed additional care. Ironically, President Reagan was shot in 1986 by John Hinkley, Jr., who was later found to be not guilty by reason of insanity.

The financial burden of mentally ill patient treatments quickly fell squarely on the cities and counties in Californi A.

Consequently, San Francisco was inundated by mentally-ill patients. Many of these patients currently reside in local prisons. Many additional mentally-ill patients currently reside in the San Francisco community trapped between homelessness and shelters. The mental health problem is exacerbated by San Francisco’s inability to provide medication to mental health patients on a regular basis.

In 1985, San Francisco voters approved a proposition authorizing $26 million in bonds to construct a 147-bed psychiatric facility, the Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility (MHRF), on the grounds of San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) to keep psychiatric patients in county. Eleven years later, the “MHRF” opened in 1996. By 2003, when the City was facing a huge deficit, DPH proposed closing the MHRF. A “Blue Ribbon Committee” eventually split the three-story building into multiple uses, and today, the MHRF operates only 24 psychiatric beds. Many of its patients were discharged out-of-county.

The bond measure was actually passed in November 1987. The voter handbook said 185 beds — not 147 — would be built for a “mental health skilled nursing facility,” and that the measure would end up costing $39.7 million, including interest on the bonds. It took 11 years before the MHRF was built and opened in 1996. Sadly, the MHRF has all but closed, converted to other mixed uses.

Chronic homelessness is now a way of life in San Francisco. We cannot neglect these people, but we need to understand why so many mentally ill patients are living on the streets of San Francisco. Homeless shelters can be a good way to help the mentally ill remain in the community.

The question is, as always, where should the mentally ill, transients and poor families live in San Francisco? The neighborhoods with RH-2 housing should carefully consider the impacts of homeless shelters they add in their communities.

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

February 2015

End of the Road for Residential Neighborhoods

By George Wooding

Last year, Supervisor David Chiu rezoned the City’s residential housing stock by making secondary units legal throughout the entire City. His legislation was so bureaucratic and ridiculous that only seven residents have signed-up.

This year, on October 21, the Board of Supervisors voted 7 to 4 to help Chiu pass the Airbnb legislation that caused 1) Every residential house in the City to be rezoned as commercial property, 2) Has no effective enforcement, 3) Is purposely vague, and 4) Allows Airbnb to skip paying at least $25 million in back taxes owed to the City.

Meanwhile, New York City leaders are prosecuting the Airbnb people who are renting out their homes illegally.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just issued a report claiming up to 72 percent of Airbnb lodging reservations in New York are illegally booked.

New York is taking a different path than San Francisco. Schneiderman says as his investigation continues, he’s teaming up with local authorities to step up enforcement against what he calls illegal hotels.

San Francisco’s local politicians — Chiu, Wiener, Tang, Breed, Cohen, and Kim — capitulated to Airbnb’s money and local political influence, while NewYork’s politicians chose to fight Airbn B.

Conversely, District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee showed real backbone by standing up against the commercial rezoning of residential neighborhoods zoning. Yee states, “I don’t believe in the one size fits all approach that this [Airbnb} legislation takes in legalizing short term rentals, we have zoning laws and allow certain uses in specific areas for very good reasons. I cannot support rezoning of the entire city and redefining residential use that this legislation attempts.”

Chiu does not care one whit what his Airbnb legislation has done to the character of San Francisco neighborhoods. His true goal is to beat David Campos in California’s District 17 Assembly race with the help of Airbnb’s money.

According to Joe Eskanazi, a reporter from the San Francisco Weekly, “An independent expenditure committee called “San Franciscans to Hold Campos Accountable” has, to date, poured some $600,000 into torpedoing Assembly candidate David Campos, Chiu’s opponent in the forthcoming election. Half a million dollars of that comes from early Airbnb investor Reid Hoffman, $49,900 comes from early Airbnb investor Ron Conway, and $49,000 comes from Conway’s wife, Gayle.”

Chiu’s campaign manager, Nicole Derse, is a partner in the consulting firm 50 + 1 Strategies. This same firm was also hired by Airbnb to recruit people who rent out their homes to lobby Supervisors to support a bill friendly to Airbn B.

Both Derse and Chiu claim that 50 + 1 Strategies has a “firewall” between his election campaign and Airbn B. 50 + 1 Strategies only has ten employees.

Interestingly, Supervisor Malia Cohen, the deciding vote on many of Airbnb’s contentious 6 to 5 amendment votes is also represented by 50 + 1 Strategies. A quick perusal of contributions reveals several thousand dollars worth of donations to Cohen from Airbnb interests.

Cohen voted not to collect the $25 million in back taxes owed by Airbnb to the City because, “the information on Airbnb is devoid of accurate information and is really politically motivated.” She is obviously not paying any attention to City Treasurer Jose Cisneros.

Winning her District 10 Supervisorial seat with only 4,321 votes, Cohen is a great example of the limitations of rank-choice-voting.

Last but not least, Airbnb investor Ron Conway is one of Mayor Lee’s biggest financial supporters. Conway is well known in the technology sector for his early investing in Google, Facebook and Twitter, Conway had similarly spotted early potential in Lee as a malleable candidate for mayor. Conway formed an independent expenditure committee to support Lee’s election to a four-year term. He pitched in $150,000 of his own money, and the group raised $670,000. Run Ed Run.

Mayor Lee signed Chiu’s Airbnb legislation into law on October 27th while anti-Airbnb protestors demonstrated on the front steps of city hall and discussed lawsuits. Earlier, Mayor Lee had endorsed David Chiu on October 22nd to be the District 17 Assembly representative—-no one cared.

Chiu’s Airbnb legislation will now be facing a ballot initiative according to Doug Engmann, the former head of the planning commission. Engmann’s anti-Airbnb group has already collected 15,761 signatures, likely enough to ensure the 9,700 valid signatures required to appear on the ballot. Engmann also stated that “anti-Airbnb volunteers may continue to collect signatures through May, 2015.”

Enough said.

Dianne Feinstein Hates What Airbnb Will Do To The Neighborhoods

California Senator Dianne Feinstein stated, “The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is poised to approve legislation that would legalize short-term stays in private homes that are negotiated through a number of online reservation systems.”

This [Airbnb] is a shortsighted action that would destroy the integrity of zoning throughout San Francisco, allowing commercial and hotel use in residential areas throughout the City. The board compounded this poor decision by rejecting a number of commonsense amendments that would have vastly improved the legislation.

Feinstein continues, “As a former nine-year member of the Board of Supervisors and nine-year mayor, I know firsthand the merits of strong zoning laws. They protect residential areas so they can support families and be free of commercial activities that are not related to neighborhood needs.”

“This home-sharing legislation blurs those lines and provides for residential housing to be leased out for hotel use. As such, those of us who value the residential character of our neighborhoods and are invested in the city’s quality of life will see all of this washed away by a blanket commercialization of our neighborhoods.”

Feinstein is right.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown stated in his October 26th Chronicle column, “that Senator Diane Feinstein tells me that if Mayor Ed Lee signs the Board of Supervisors’ legislation legalizing Airbnb-style rentals, she’ll support an effort to overturn it at the ballot.”

Brown further states, “It would be one heck of a fight for Lee to face when he is up for re-election next year, but Feinstein is serious in her belief that the proliferation of short-term rentals in the City will destroy the neighborhoods.”

Thanks to the new Airbnb legislation, homes will now cost more as families compete with developers and business people looking to convert existing residential units into Airbnb units. Bye-bye new families with children, tenants, and old people.

Even the high-tech workers pushing for the gentrification of lower income neighborhoods will suffer sticker shock, since the average monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment is $2,873 and $3,859 for a two bedroom apartment. In July 2009, the monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment was $1,416 and $1,840 for a two bedroom apartment.

Also, thanks to new planning rules many of the new apartments will only be 500 to 700 square feet. Some units are now being built as small as 288 square feet.

People used to aspire to live in the expensive house at the top of the hill. Now, they covet the affordable homes in the low-income housing areas. As lower income parts of town are being “gentrified,” lower-income people and the businesses who serve their neighborhoods are being pushed out by wealthier people ordering short, tall, grande, and venti coffees.

Why would a landlord rent/lease to a tenant for $4,000 a month, when they could make $6,000 per month by using Airbnb?

More planning changes may be coming to the residential neighborhoods.

Chui’s Airbnb legislation has run roughshod over the San Francisco Planning Department’s recommendations for Airbnb’s planning amendments and will now create new changes to Planning’s Article 2.

The Planning Department has created/combined a 462-page rewrite of Planning Code Article 2 for residential housing. Planning did excellent work and claims that there are no substantive changes to the residential housing planning code, but there will be many unintended consequences to combining housing rules and definitions.

Questions on the Article 2 can be answered by planner Aaron Starr at (415) 558-6362 and/or by e-mail at Aaron.Starr@sfgov.org

The Planning Commission is set to adopt the new “Article 2” code changes at its November 20 meeting. It is a 462-page umbrella article for residentival lots. Changes will allow a myriad of non-residential (e.g., institutional, public utilities, et C.) uses to be allowed without hearings in all residential areas.

A new “use characteristic” category will be created to allow the sea change for residential lots. Height limits may change based on topography. Rear yards shrinking to 15 feet or precious housing being automatically being turned into dormitory housing? Since the Board of Supervisors passed Airbnb (hotel-like use) for residential areas, who’ll be your next neighbor?

David Chiu’s Airbnb legislation has made a mockery of the City’s planning processes demonstrating a system where politicians who were elected to represent the voters are representing billionaires to further their own self interest.

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

Supervisor Chiu: Rezone Residential Housing to Commercial Housing

By George Wooding

Strike two for Board of Supervisors president David Chiu.

Chiu and his downtown allies are once again trying to pass legislation to rezone all of San Francisco.

Many homeowners will remember that Chiu rezoned the entire city in a poorly written and ineffective legislative attempt to regulate secondary housing units. Thanks to Chiu, San Francisco’s in-law units became legalized throughout the City last April.

Neighborhoods that did not want legalized secondary units were not listened to and are being forced to relinquish their neighborhood character by adding density, permanent rent controlled units, increased traffic, less parking, higher building permit fees, larger housing footprints, and the destruction of neighborhood association bylaws.

Chiu’s pending legislation to “Regulate Short term Rentals and Protect Residential Housing” — otherwise known as Airbnb legislation — would regulate a resident’s ability to rent their principal place of housing on a short-term basis. Currently, residential apartments cannot be rented for fewer than 30 days under San Francisco’s Administrative and Planning Codes.

Chiu’s new legislation is weak and designed to favor the wealthy Internet companies that rent housing to tourists — not to favor San Francisco neighborhoods, or to preserve housing and rental stock.

Chiu took over a year to develop his Airbnb legislation by working with tenant organizations, developers, and tourist rental groups such as Airbn B. Chiu ignored the neighborhoods’ input when he developed his secondary unit legislation and it looks like he will again be ignoring the neighborhoods with his Airbnb legislation.

Why can’t David Chiu let the neighborhoods decide what is best for each individual neighborhood, housing type, or zone?

“The proposed Airbnb legislation would rezone the entire city from residential zoning to commercial zoning in one fell swoop,” said John Bardis, former President of the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods and former San Francisco Supervisor. “We hear complaints from almost every neighborhood about the detrimental effects of short-term rentals on the quality of life of tenants and residents,” Bardis adds.

When Chiu passed his secondary unit legislation, he was supposedly trying to create two-unit homes throughout the City. Now, his Airbnb legislation could fill those units with tourists.

The Airbnb trend has led to evictions, lease violations, and landlord-tenant disputes. Neighbors are concerned about security linked to ever-changing overnight visitors. Policymakers say San Francisco’s tight housing market will be pressured more if units are held back for tourist stays.

Supervisor David Campos, Chiu’s opponent in the November race for the Assembly District 17, has documented lobbying reports showing 61 contacts between representatives of Airbnb — including former City Hall insiders David Owen and Alex Tourk — and Chiu’s office.

The Tail That Wags the Dog

How much of Chiu’s Airbnb legislation was influenced by Ron Conway, the billionaire high-tech investor who is a partial owner of Airbnb? Not only is Conway Mayor Lee’s biggest financial backer, he is heavily involved in Chiu’s District 17 Assembly race.

In mid-May Reid Hoffman — another billionaire who invests in Airbnb — announced a $200,000 donation against David Campos to an independent expenditure group called the Committee to Hold David Campos Accountable, a group whose only other named donor is Gayle Conway, wife of tech investor Ron Conway.

Filings with the California Secretary of State confirm Gayle Conway also donated $49,000 to the independent expenditure fund. As the District 17 Assembly race between Chiu and Campos narrows, the Committee to Hold David Campos Accountable has started mailing out hit pieces against David Campos.

Chiu’s politically compromised version of Airbnb legislation has led a group of concerned citizens to try and place the “City and County of San Francisco Ordinance Regulating Illegal Use of Housing for Tourist Accommodations” on the November ballot.

This new proposal is much tougher than the Airbnb legislation proposed by Supervisor Chiu.

Although San Francisco is facing its most severe housing shortage in more than 100 years, an increasing number of apartments, condominiums, houses, and portions thereof are offered and advertised as short-term rentals on websites such as Airbnb and VRBO. In recent months, the number of such listings has exceeded 9,000. These listings contribute greatly to the disappearance of affordable housing in San Francisco.

A single-day sample commissioned by the San Francisco Chronicle showed 4,798 rental listings posted by Airbnb, the biggest online source. Chiu’s proposed legislation would legalize casual rentals, require payment of a 14 percent bed tax, and limit the number of nights that can be rented. In April, Airbnb pledged to collect the bed tax to meet criticism here and in other cities.

Chiu’s pending Airbnb legislation would regulate a resident’s ability to rent his housing. Whereas Chiu’s legislation would legalize short-term rentals citywide, a ballot initiative gathering signatures to qualify for the November ballot will restrict temporary, short-term rentals only in neighborhoods currently zoned as commercial districts. The ballot measure was initiated by former San Francisco Planning Commissioner Doug Engmann, housing advocate Calvin Welch, and public relations executive Dale Carlson.

“It is a backdoor rezoning of every residential neighborhood in San Francisco, and it undermines years of housing advocacy work in San Francisco and shows an arrogant disregard of established land use procedure,” said well known housing advocate Calvin Welch.

Among other things, the proposed ballot measure will prohibit four types of residential units from being offered as short-term rental:

• Any unit that has received affordable housing funds from any state, local, or federal agency, including down payment loan assistance;

• Any unit that has been the subject of an Ellis Act eviction (where the owner takes the unit out of the rental market);

• Any in-law unit; and

• Any affordable housing unit.

Property owners and tenants alike have to understand how Supervisor David Chiu’s weak Airbnb legislation will reduce housing, hurt San Francisco’s hotel industry, displace hotel worker jobs, and impact neighborhoods in the long-term.

Chiu fooled the neighborhoods once with his citywide secondary unit housing legislation and now he is on the verge of rezoning the entire city from residential to commercial zoning.

Does David Chiu represent a couple of billionaires, or the people of San Francisco? Voters — whether homeowners or renters — must decide two key issues at the ballot box: First, whether to allow Chiu’s Airbnb legislative ordinance regulating short-term rentals to stand unchallenged, or to support the Engmann-Welch-Carlson ballot measure to reign in Chiu’s wild rezoning of the entire City.

And second, whether to elect Chiu or Campos to become the next Assemblyperson for District 17.

To the extent the November 2013 defeat of the 8 Washington development project and the June 2014 victory requiring voter approval of height-limit exemptions along the waterfront were both referendums against decisions approved by the Board of Supervisors, the November 2014 ballot measure to overturn Chiu’s Airbnb legislation will be another referendum against Chiu himself. Is Chiu really who you want representing San Francisco in the State Assembly?

Please support the signature gathering process for the “San Francisco Ordinance Regulating Illegal Use of Housing for Tourist Accommodations.”

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

Measure A

By George Wooding

This is a $400,000,000 bond ordinance.

San Francisco is proposing a $400 million Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond (ESER 2014) for the June 2014 ballot. The purpose of ESER 2014 is to fund repairs and improvements that will allow San Francisco to more quickly and effectively respond to a major earthquake or disaster.

ESER 2014 builds on the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bonds approved by 79% of San Francisco voters in 2010. ESER 2010 funded critical seismic upgrades to the City's deteriorating emergency and first response infrastructure.

ESER 2014 continues the $412 million investment of ESER 2010, the first phase of essential improvements to the City's public safety facilities.

The 2014 ESER bond was put on the ballot by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors and approved by the mayor. ESER needs a two-thirds majority (66.7%) vote to pass, and authorizes landlords a pass-through to renters for 50% of the increase in the real property taxes attributable to the cost of repayment of the bonds.

The 2014 ESER bond money will be spent as follows: neighborhood fire stations, $85 million (21.2%); emergency firefighting water system, $55 million (13.7%); district police stations and infrastructure, $30 million (7.5%); motorcycle police and crime lab, $65 million (41.2%); and a medical examiner facility, $65 million, (16.2%).

This bond is a classic example of politicians bundling projects that are vital with less popular projects that need to be funded. The motorcycle police, the crime lab, and the medical examiner facility are all located in the seismically-deficient Hall of Justice located at 850 Bryant St.

The 2014 ESER bonds purpose is being touted "to fund repairs that will more quickly allow responses to disasters and earthquakes." The motorcycle police could be located at police stations throughout the city. Both the crime lab and the medical examiner facility have nothing to do with allowing faster responses for earthquakes or other disasters and do not belong in the bond.

Further, the city is not telling the public where all of the $400 million bond money will be spent.
All five parts of the bond deliberately do not require any type of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. By not designating where the bond money will be spent on the neighborhood fire stations, emergency firefighting water system, CEQA is avoided and the public is being asked to spend money blindly.

As the 2014 ESER legislation states, the Board of Supervisors finds that the "bond proposal as it relates to funds for facilities and infrastructure is not subject to CEQA because as the establishment of a government financing mechanism that does not involve any commitment to specific projects to be constructed with the funds, it is not a project as defined by CEQA and the CEQA guidelines."

For all of this bond's faults, the 2014 ESER bond is vital to the future of San Francisco's well-being. This bond will not be the last seismic bond that San Franciscans see. Seismic preparedness is inevitable and protecting the public safety is paramount. We highly recommend that the neighborhoods endorse this bond.

June 2014

Vote Yes on Proposition B–Waterfront Height-Limit Initiative in San Francisco

By George Wooding

Initiative: Shall the city be prevented from allowing any development on port property to exceed the height limits in effect as of January 1, 2014, unless the City's voters have approved a height limit increase?

A record-breaking petition drive by a coalition of environmental and community groups collected 21,000 signatures to place Proposition B on the June 3 ballot — more than twice the required 9,702 signatures — in just three weeks. The Coalition for San Francisco neighborhoods (CSFN) is a major ballot proponent for measure B.

Measure B was deemed necessary by citizens throughout San Francisco after City politicians, the Port Authority and the Planning Commission continually chose development projects that were beneficial for the wealthy and detrimental to average San Franciscans. Wealthy developers have been allowed to skirt existing planning regulations by receiving special zoning assessments, paid exemptions, and spot zoning.

The Port of San Francisco is more than $1.5 billion in debt and has desperately been trying to pay off this debt by building/planning large developments on Port lands; both the Port and the City will receive extra fees/taxes for every approved development.

City Controller Ben Rosenfield has issued the following statement on the fiscal impact of proposition B: "Should the proposed measure be approved by the voters, in my opinion, it would in and of itself, have no direct impact on the costs of government."

We are urging voters to stand behind the new Prop. B. Our waterfront is a place that needs careful and attentive stewardship, and if that means letting citizens be a more active part of the political process over its future, then that's a good result.

Proposition B's opponents claim that the passage of Proposition B will jeopardize San Francisco's vacant Port land and Eastern shore line. Opponents of Prop. B say development projects that the City has supported will now never be completed. Additionally, opponents allege that critical funding to rebuild crumbling waterfront piers and seawalls will eventually disappear. Opponents also believe that there will be less housing and fewer jobs.

Proposition B takes away the blank check given to developers to build luxury condos and high-rise hotels without regard for traffic, neighborhoods, or the long-term health of our waterfront environment. It gives voters the ability to hold developers accountable for the waterfront that we all deserve.

Please vote "Yes" on proposition B.

George Wooding, Midtown Terrace Homeowners Association

June 2014