DEVELOPMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT SAKE AT HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD AND CANDLESTICK POINT (06/12/10)
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There is no land left in San Francisco and the little vast land that one sees is mostly in-fill, toxic, and mostly in the Southeast Sector of San Francisco. Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that was once all wetlands. Then, the U.S. Navy as part of the World War II war effort; took the land using eminent domain and carried out the worst atomic and other very dangerous and toxic experiments.
Additional operations linked to Ship Building contributed to the pollution of the Bay and the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Hundreds of animals that took part in the Bikini Atomic experiments were brought to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and buried all over the place. Ships were sand blasted as part of the clean up of the ships that took part at the Bikini Island and atomic waste from these clean ups contaminated the Bay by the docks, piers and also were buried on land. It was not uncommon to bury lead paint, PCBs, toxic waste from operations from other places at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard - especially on Parcel E and E2. Some folks make light of the toxic soup mostly radiological in nature - however, mother nature always wins and IF there is no through clean up and there come the BIG ONE - those that want to build over this toxic soup - will deny what they have been saying for the longest time ever - but the repercussions will be widely known and the entire City and County of San Francisco will be adversely impacted. Thousands will die and more sick for years to come. The City and County of San Francisco starting with Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. who can carve a deal when asleep saw his opportunity to bring in Lennar a dubious, corrupt developer, with whom Willie L. Brown already had a tight relationship having permitted Lennar to build a Golf Course on toxic land in Sacramento. All this - when Willie L. Brown was Speaker of the California Capitol in Sacramento and when Willie termed out and decided to run for Mayor in San Francisco in 1996 - in came Lennar with the "thug" Mayor. Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is mostly under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy - today. Only one parcel - Parcel A has been conveyed to the City of San Francisco who in turn conveyed it to SF Redevelopment Agency who is turn conveyed Parcel A to a Rogue Developer - Lennar. The Mayor, the Mayor's Office of Economic Development and Workforce, the SF Redevelopment Agency, and some entities all paid by Lennar are aiming for fast tracking and not cleaning up very toxic land. This was decided and clearly stated by Proposition P in the year 2000 when eighty seven percent of the voting constituents of San Francisco - clearly voted to mandate the clean up of the entire Hunters Point Shipyard to the highest standards - meaning Residential Standards. People often ask why the quick conveyance? The answer is simple under the SF Redevelopment Agency that is a quasi-State agency - the stringent standards the SF Planning Department adhere do not exist and what is more do not have to be implemented. SF Redevelopment Agency and its proxy SF Redevelopment Commission can fast track and rubber stamp - anything they want. In this case they employed the assistance of the Zoning Czar Larry Badiner who has seen been fired - recently. He was caught watching Porno while working and being paid by the City and County of San Francisco. Three other SF Planning employees most of them Senior Planners left with the "thug" - Larry Badiner. What has Mayor Gavin Newsom to say about this? Signs of the times. Large areas at Hunters Point and Candlestick point have not been zoned. It is difficult to address pertinent issues linked to any area that is not zoned; it makes it difficult further to address planning issues linked to these large areas that have not been mapped less zoned. How would one address the building of residential units, industrial building, transportation, other zoning issues that should be mentioned and have clear demarcations and uses but which the SF Planning Department and the SF Redevelopment have chosen to by pass and fast track the Draft, Environmental Impact Report linked to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Candlestick Point and left unmapped. Also, the subsequent Comments and Reponses, some 7000 pages and errors in this large document - did not incorporate our full answer and did injustice by printing responses that are drab and convoluted. The SF Redevelopment agency will put up a charade, dog and pony show - pretend that it means business; but, in reality it practices blatant corruption at all levels. This happened when the Western Addition that was adversely impacted by SF Redevelopment Agency in the 1960s and it will happen and is happening, once again, reminding one that history repeats itself - and has been happening with Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point in the year 2010. As I said Parcel B, C, D, E, E2, F, G, UC1 and the many other parcels carved by the U.S. Navy are all very polluted and under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Navy has wasted millions. In the beginning when International Technology (IT) was charged to clean up the Hunters Point Shipyard, much before SF Redevelopment and the City and County was involved - three hundred million dollars was wasted by IT and the company IT, declared bankruptcy. No one talks about this because many including the many sell outs like Angelo King, Veronica Hunicutt, Aurelious Walker, Lola Whittle, Tiffany Bohee, others - all new comers have no idea of the true history at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Often times you will hear some one say that so far the U.S. Navy has spent seven hundred million and forget to tell you about the three hundred millions that was wasted. We have to have line item accountability but what goes on in the City and County of San Francisco is mostly gossip and lies, that repeated many times - are taken for truth. For example you will hear Tiffany Bohee mention hundreds of meetings have been held. Some two weeks ago she mentioned over two hundred meetings and then a week later that number jumped to three hundred. None of the meeting- not one single one has address the Draft, Environmental Impact Report and less the Comments and Responses some 7000 pages - add the 400 pages linked to the Draft EIR and that makes some 1100 pages. These documents were dumped on us for review during the holidays and again we were given a couple of weeks to respond. Not everyone is well versed with Environmental Issues, less Transportation Issues, Cultural Resources (that were left out in the Draft, EIR) and so on. The rest of the money some four hundred million linked with clean up of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and some more on the way has been given to Tetra Tech and this company have very deep pockets and sound connections with the movers and shakers at all levels. Certainly, in Washington DC. Tetra Tech has direct lines of communication with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the same with the other corrupt Representatives, Senator Diane Feinstein, other senior Congressperson and Senators. Tetra Tech has made millions in profit and channeled millions towards contractors that Tetra Tech is in bed with. These include truckers and long trips by trucks when the same toxic and radiological toxic soil could have been moved by rail that is in very close proximity. Shame on these entities that think they are fooling us. Right now Tetra Tech is contacting constituents from the adversely impacted area in and around Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Tetra Tech has been awarded a contract and they want to collect their money. The method used before is ask the impacted constituents and those that used to attend the Restoration Advisory Board meetings - some drab questions. None of which mean anything except that everyone wants the entire Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to be cleaned to Residential Standards. Remove the entire contents linked to Parcel E and E2 and rail it to a certified holding center outside the State of California. The rest of the questions may mean some but really are a waste of time. A little digression here - I did not fail to notice Senator Diane Feinstein's name on Proposition G next to that of Mayor Gavin Newsom, Aurelious Walker, Lola Whittle, James Bryant and Sophie Maxwell. These are the sell outs that have harmed the Bayview Hunters Point community. All of the above have BLOOD on their hands and must remember that for the rest of their lives. We must never permit these folks to first fully comprehend and secondly to remember the harm these folks have done to the Bayview Hunters Point, Candlestick Point and the entire City and County of San Francisco. Selling out Quality of Life issues for some little money and stale bread crumbs that Lennar have passed in their direction to give them some temporary consolation. For the rest of their lives these sell outs have to live with the dirty deed - branded on their hearts and take it to bed - each and every day they live. The proponents linked to Proposition F are Jim Queen and Francisco Da Costa. We spent five thousand dollars to fight for the community and save the destruction of the last frontier. We mandated through clean up according to Proposition P - passed in the year 2000 by eighty seven percent of the voting constituents from the City of San Francisco's voting for the Proposition P. Many forget that Proposition F was winning and many underestimated that we could not collect the required number of signatures that we did in just nine days in very inclement weather. With our eighteen thousands signatures in - we were put through all sorts of adverse actions. We were told our signatures had to be counted and did so informing the Secretary of State of what we were put through by the SF Election Department that was pressured by Mayor Gavin Newsom and his thugs. For days teams monitored the re-count and finally we were told that we would be put on the June Ballot. Jim Queen and I had to attend other meetings simultaneously to review the actual language that had to go on the Ballot and so on. We did it all with class and put Mayor Gavin Newsom to shame. Towards the end the "thugs" behind Proposition G made a pact with the SF Labor Council and one Tim Paulson, ACORN that has been shut down by the Federal Government for illegal activities, SF Organizing Project that is not trusted by the Bayview Hunters Point community. As I said over $5 million was spent on Television advertisement and other full page advertisements in many newspapers. Today, those that cast their vote for Proposition G regret it because they know more about a Rogue Developer - Lennar. Suffice to say at Mare Island linked to the City of Vallejo - Lennar promised to build 10,000 homes and after 10 years had nothing to show. Lennar declared Bankruptcy and had the City of Vallejo holding an empty bag. Today, the City of Vallejo is in bankruptcy, has problems with Health and Safety issues - with no money to pay the Vallejo Fire Department, the Police Department, the Garbage Company, and other essential needs. I have addressed the Vallejo Council and stated to the Vallejo Council - that Lennar is a Rogue Developer.
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