An Element of the San Francisco General Plan

It is important for the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods (CSFN) to state to the San Francisco City Planning and the State of California that the Housing Element document has NOT been presented to the CSFN and to the constituents of San Francisco is a fair and equitable manner. The document was not presented in time with sound basic information. It had not realistic time lines and it has been rushed without proper deliberation and sound process. The document as it stands fails to provide the reader with current factual statistics. Statistics provided by ABAG are false and misleading. Maps incorporated at part of the documents are misleading and not properly captioned. The San Francisco Planning Department fails to provide the constituents an Environmental Impact Report linked to secondary units and the transits lines and housing sites linked to Housing Element with present and future development in mind. It is important that the authorities consider as a primary goal Quality of Life Standards. As the present document stands it completely lacks Quality of Life Standards. It does that by totally ignoring the Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) or Environmental Impact Studies (EIS). Substituting false information in place of current factual statistics. It is paramount that we consider the Infrastructure needs and the present condition of what the City and County of San Francisco has to offer. As our infrastructure stands today it cannot accommodate thousands of secondary units and new housing without burdening those residents who live in the Bayview and Hunters Point. It is important the Mitigation Processes be mentioned and that those constituents who are adversely affected be made good. Today the Raw Sewage Treatment Plant at Phelps Street in the Bayview takes over 80% of the City and County's Raw Sewage plus a 100% from Colma, Daly City, Burlingame and Brisbane. Over 100 million gallons of secondary effluents are pumped into the Bay by Pier 80 on a daily basis. It is totally uncalled for that the Housing Element does not address this major factor. This factor impacts the San Francisco Bay and the environment surrounding large areas in the Southeast Sector where most of the pollution is generated. This pollution can readily affect those constituents living around a 6-mile radius. The City and County of San Francisco proposes to add for Combustible Turbines (CT) to address the shortage of energy or electricity during Peak Hours. Right now it proposes to place the 4 CTs in the Southeast Sector that already has many pollution factors that hinder any Quality of Life Standards. The two aging Power Plants plus the NOX generated by the CTs will adversely affect all San Franciscans. It is fair that City Planning carefully works with San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) to address the Transit Corridors, which caters to the needs of the present and future constituents of San Francisco. While Paul Ward from City Planning does attend the SFCTA meetings the transit needs should be addressed in a more intelligent manner. MUNI has done next to nothing to address the Environmental Impact Reports. MUNI wants to put the burden on SFCTA. SFCTA wants to put the burden on Planning. City Planning has failed the constituents of San Francisco on the Transit Corridors and a comprehensive EIR. I have attended the SFCTA meetings and see the finger pointing and lack of leadership and vision. City Planning with Gerald Green and Amit Ghosh lack accountability and transparency. The Secondary Housing Units have been review and some arbitrary comments mentioned in the two documents the white and green document. The comments of the Planning Commissioner address the tip of the iceberg. There is no comprehensive comments on the Infrastructure, direct EIR on the various proposed housing sites, Energy, Raw Sewage, current population statistics, current realistic vacancy statistics, nor any information on proposed new housing at Hunters Points by crooks such as Lennar BVHP LLC., future energy consumption by Lucas Digital Center and other corporations. Some of San Francisco's City Supervisors have been pushing for a Housing Policy, which is biased. Neither City Planning officials nor the City Planning Commissioners have addressed the biased policy. It is right for the CSFN to point this out to City Planning and to the State officials. CSFN is in a unique position to bring the above points I have mentioned to Mark Leno and Leland Yee who have worked with us and will support us. John Burton and other officials in Sacramento who have a good relationship with the CSFN members and officials. While is it recommended that we go and speak our concerns to the Planning Commissioners it is better to bring our concerns to the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, the State officials, and even the Federal Government. We after all represent a large constituency in San Francisco, we represent the various Neighborhoods and most of all we have a good and fair track record. I am recommending the CSFN sub committee on the Housing Element formulate a Resolution, which we can send to the Board of Supervisors and the City Planning Commissioners. In conclusion I see a document lacking current and factual statistics based on some wrong ABAG statistics. I see failed a failed document with no Environmental Impact Reports. The transit corridors and related documents do not jive with the Housing Element and hence do the constituents of San Francisco injustice. I see no transparency and no accountability on the part of City Planning. The document in its present state most of all does not address Quality of Life Standards for the present and future constituents of San Francisco. The CSFN is in a unique position to represent the San Francisco Neighborhoods and expose City Planning once and for all. This is time to bring the Mayoral candidates on board and work with them to educate them on issues that have impacted and adversely affected many constituents who live in San Francisco. We have been empowered and it is left to CSFN to do the right thing Ð represent the constituents we work for diligently. Francisco Da Costa Environmental Justice Advocacy Member Bayview/Hunters Point Coordinating Council Member at large - CSFN

top - back