WILLIE BROWN AND HP DDA

The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) delivered the draft Disposal and Development Agreement (DDA) to the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) linked to the Hunters Point Shipyard today September 15, 2003. It is not complete but it is there. They say within a week those portions left out will be printed for review.

The Mayor Willie Brown tried to intimidate the CAC and the few community members by submitting a letter, which stated that those reviewing the DDA should try to review the draft DDA within 30 days. What gall!

Then Jesse Blout who has made his new nest at the SFRA arranged for Mayor Willie Brown to talk to those present via telephone from Sacramento where Willie was at a CALPER meeting. Three times Willie from far away Sacramento faded on the speakerphone. Jesse Blout saw to it that he brought his guru back to lecture to the CAC, the SFRA, and to those in the audience.

It is amazing how Willie Brown pompous as he is talks down to everyone. He told those present to listen to him from a distance and advised that they distance from the details and focus on some of the elements of the DDA. Willie is a Mayor but Willie is no dictator who can give his marching orders as he does his cronies. The sooner Willie leaves San Francisco the better. The DDA belongs to the people and they will decide how best to review, comment or shove the DDA away.

There was a time when before Willie came to be Mayor, the Hunters Point Shipyard had a CAC linked to the Hunters Point Shipyard. Mayor Willie Brown ascended the throne at City Hall and chose Lennar to be the sole developer without consulting the CAC. When the CAC protested and some resigned including Shirley Jones - Willie chided the CAC and told them now that he had appointed Lennar, the CAC should deal with the details and process linked to the Hunters Point Shipyard.

Today, Willie Brown and his pompous self chided the CAC and told them to focus on some elements, review the DDA and see that it is approved much before his watch in a month. He failed on his promise.

Willie Brown fails to understand that the Hunters Point Shipyard is a Superfund Site. Any Superfund site brings with it mandated laws and regulation that are very stringent. The laws and regulation favor the constituents who live in the vicinity. To date the constituents have NOT been treated fairly by Willie Brown who is a black man and has done his black sisters and brothers great injustice. He has failed San Francisco and all the constituents who live in San Francisco.

Thousands on the Hill we call Hunters point detest Willie Brown. The sooner he leaves town the better. Willie is for himself and a disgrace to the community that vouched for him twice only to be betrayed.

The DDA is an important document and since only Parcel A is involved in the Disposal and Disposition Agreement - the reasoning and logic behind this process is all the more convoluted. Only the worse of the worst toxic sites are termed Superfund sites. At the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard the Navy indulged in all sorts of activities in the making of the Atom Bomb - polluting the water, the land and the air.

Polluted ships were sand blasted and many an employee died from the ill affects of radiation and other respiratory diseases. Cancer and other adverse health ailments hit many a family member that worked on the Hunters Point Shipyard.

Today in the year 2003 there are some cronies who do the bidding of the Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco to the detriment of the constituents who live around the Hunters Point Shipyard and all over San Francisco.

Willie should remember the Hunters Point Shipyard belongs to the Muwekma Ohlone. He knows this and the SFRA should remember this too. The Hunters Point Shipyard belongs to all of San Franciso. It belongs to the Chinese; the Maltese, the Italians, the Germans, all Americans and it also belong to the African Americans. Not to left out the Samoans.

It is a shame how Willie through the CAC has divided the community. He is always telling us what to do. He is always telling us how to work it. He is always promising us this and that and never ever - delivering. He talks the talk and a good talk but he never, ever walks the walk.

Willie made a statement that he helped Catellus and worked with them on the DDA at Mission Bay. Mission Bay is polluted. The brand new UCSF Campus is polluted. The brand new UCSF campus cannot use the basement because of the pervasive toxicity.

It is a shame that Willie Brown used the Catellus example and mentioned Mission Bay. Lennar Corporation has a bad track record. It has built homes over toxic sites in Florida, New Mexico, and Sacramento. Now, it wants to do the same at Hunters Point. It is wrong.

The draft DDA tied to Hunters Point Shipyard should be very carefully reviewed. It is important that the constituents get a hard copy of the DDA and that Lennar pay for it. Let us not chide ourselves by saying that the DDA is online and will be the only method to access the draft document.

This sends the worst signal to the community at Hunters Point and Bayview. Most people do not have computers and it is wrong to belittle them and tell them to go to some computer and review the documents. Some copies of the DDA should be kept at the Revere Public Library on 3rd Street. Some should be kept at the Main Public Library. Most importantly those who attended CAC and RAB meeting all these years should be given a hard copy to review and submit their comments on behalf of the community and constituents of San Francisco.

San Francisco belongs to the First People from whom it was stolen. Then came the others Italians, Germans, Irish, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Pacific Islanders, Maltese, Arabs, African Americans - all of them are Americans and the Hunters Point Shipyard belongs to all of them. Let us not divide the community by saying that the African Americans have a greater say and that the others have to pay.

I say that it will take more then 6 months for the DDA to be reviewed properly and ratified as final. In the mean time we should use our experience and expertise from within and outside to contribute our best to the process.

This will not be easy but it can be done. Let us not rush into reviewing this document just because the Mayor says so. There is NOT one thing the Mayor has touched that is not corrupt. The Mayor should stay away. Simply because he has failed San Franciscans and he is a Lame Duck Mayor who should go away.

We in San Francisco look forward to a new Mayor with a vision and compassion for all San Franciscans. We look forward to a SFRA with new leaders and a staff that will follow in the steps of fairness and the law. That time will come and it comes on January 8, 2004.

I see a good DDA minus Lennar BVHP who will leave and cut off its losses. I will see the Navy making it hard for the present administration to consent to any type of meaningful conveyance. I see crooks and cronies fleeing away from San Francisco because they have done wrong.

The draft DDA is here but not all the materials are there to review and comment upon. In a week or so all the documents will be there, so they say - we have heard the promises and they have not been kept before.

Let us be vigilant and face the evil that we see before us and on the horizon. City Hall has ruined the lives of many. City Hall has had its day in Court - January 8, 2004 is not far away. Right now we need the fortitude and patience to face the evil and defeat it. After all the TRUTH always prevail and the good always win over the evil ways that is a NORM in City Hall today.

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