LENNAR BVHP HOLDS ONE OF MANY COMMUNITY BENEFIT WORKSHOPS

The Burnett Child Development Center situated at 1520 Oakdale Avenue very near the Bayview Opera House was indeed a place to be today Saturday, September 18, 2004. The Citizens Advisory Committee attached to the Hunters Point Shipyard together with Lennar BVHP LLC, San Francisco Redevelopment, and City Officials were all there to be of some assistance to the community. We have a diverse community in the 94124, 94134, 94107 zip codes. For years the Italians, Maltese, French, Chinese, Samoans, African Americans have all played their unique role in the development of Bayview Hunters Point. Some may think that they are on Wall Street but in fact they are on 3rd Street and if you know anything at all about ground zero - there was no real diversity reflecting the community at large at the dog and pony show today. A nice way to diffuse any tension and avoid relevant questions demanding pertinent remarks is to have workshops. This is a glorified way of having dog and pony shows. In Room 118 Larry Florin handled the Community Builder Workshop. Larry is a mouthpiece of Lennar and an inept City Attorney Venessa Henlon accompanied him. In Room 217 Derek Smith a good pal of Mayor Gavin Newsom they went to school together handled the Construction Assistance Workshop and Sylvester McGuire helped him from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. In Room 219 Debbi Gubbins from UAMC and David Sobel from the SFRA held a workshop on Home Buyers Assistance. In Room 222 Laura Luster a Consultant to Lennar BVHP LLC and Chris Iglesias from the SFRA held a Workshop on Job Training and Employee Assistance. In the main auditorium Cliff Miller from Lennar BVHP LLC held a workshop on Priority Leasing, Business Incubator and Small Business Assistance. The community turn out was dismal and one of the reasons may have been that there was too much on going else where all over the Bayview Hunters Point and the City of San Francisco. Sophie Maxwell showed up late and in her stupid remarks made mention that is was time to do something since the Shipyard was closed in 1974. She just showed up in the community in the late 1990s and is not accepted by the community. She will work with those who will give her money and her main purpose today - was to do just that. I attend the workshop on Community Building and Job Training and Employee Assistance. At the Community Building workshop I asked the facilitator how clean was the Hunters Point Shipyard. He had no answer for me. I also asked the facilitator about some Quality of Life standard issues and he had no answer. His side kick the City Attorney Venessa Henlon tried to lie to me but I told her all she had to do was say she did not know the answer to my question. I have seen many attorneys dime a dozen. Thursday, September 16, 2004 I received the Final Radiological Report and also the final document on Parcel A and its proposed transfer. These two documents call for a lot of work in the line of abatement and clean up. Without a high standard of clean up especially due to the fact that radiological hot spots have been found on Parcel A and near by parcels - it would be prudent that no living beings go anywhere near Parcel A and the other parcels for an extended period of time. The First People of San Francisco consider it wrong for any human beings to live in any area that has radiological hot spots. The workshop of Job Training and Employee Assistance was another dog and pony show. One young woman told the audience that she was trained but she had no job. I hear that a lot - young men and women are trained but they do not have jobs. Another issue that is of importance is that the Community Based Organizations many helped by Willie L. Brown Jr. fleeced the community. These Poverty Pimp CBOs got millions, put much of it in their pocket and trained a few. Lennar and the Community Benefit Training are there in large measure because of Willie L. Brown Jr. All his cronies still run the show and now it is even worse that Willie is not there. The community should have a detail Needs Assessment on the Bayview Hunters Point Community done and this is not in place. An assessment of the number of trained students and those who have stuck to their jobs for more then 3 years can be a fair measure. It may surprise the experts and those who are planning the future training that if the3 year yardstick is used - the result will be pathetic. Less then 1 percent worked 3 years and less then 3 percent 2 years. Why? The Bayview Hunters Point Community has had many come before bluff the community and take off. People are so fed up with the Poverty Pimps and the Dog and Pony shows that few come to these meetings. Today was no exception. I remember I attended over 40 meetings in a month when the Disposition and Development Agreement Documents was pushed. This was illegal but the Citizens Advisory Committee attached to the Hunters Point Shipyard did not stop it they went ahead with it. All of them. Many key issues were not discussed. No one cared to talk about the Elders and critical issues pertaining to them. No one cared to talk about Health Issues. Only those who have money and power seem to have made their voices heard. Today at the dog and pony show less then half of the CAC members were there for the workshop. This is a very poor sign and reveals to the Public at Large that something sinks in Denmark. The Muwekma Ohlone has stated that all of the Hunters Point Shipyard should be cleaned. That is it wrong to place any human beings and make them work and live in any polluted place. It is wrong to make money off poor people and to bluff people and cheat them into believing that the Hunters Point Shipyard is safe. This was one more dog and pony show and there will be more.

Laura Luster talking about future jobs.


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