ILLINOIS MOVABLE BRIDGE

If one is traveling on 3rd Street heading towards down town just after one comes across the first draw bridge near Cargo Way is a street called Marin, you make a right on Marin and then another right and you land on Illinois Street. A few feet away and you come to the edge of the Islais Creek, the last frontier, and last open space mentioned so many times at the many Public Meetings I have attended.

Now right on Illinois Street 20 feet away in the middle of the unpaved street is the Force Main that carries 80% of the secondary effluents of the City and County of San Francisco and a 100% of the secondary effluents from Colma, Daly City, Brisbane, and Burlingame. Raw Sewage.

Right at this very site the San Francisco Port Authority on City Property wants to build a movable bridge. A couple of hundred feet parallel to this proposed bridge is the already existing drawbridge. So why this proposed bridge?

The City and County of San Francisco is of the opinion that this brand new movable bridge will accommodate all the traffic that once plied on 3rd Street because the new MUNI Light rail will occupy a couple of lanes. The San Francisco Port Authority is pushing a theory that the new movable bridge will connect Pier 80 to Piers 92,94,96, and beyond.

They SF Port Authority claims that the bridge will accommodate a rail line and that this route with this bridge is the best choice they can make.

What impact will this Illinois Movable Bridge have on the immediate area?

The movable bridge if it is built will adversely impact endangered fish, plant, animal, human life, and most of all contribute to the already very polluted air in the area. Imagine thousands of diesel vehicle plying on the bridge. It will cause flooding and in an earthquake the bridge will sink.

This bridge if built will focus the attention of those who do not like us. People who did damage to us like the 9/11 incident. Right now we do not have any security around this area and we really do not have the money to maintain security in the future.

If this bridge is built some entity should bear the responsibility for liability. Who will that entity be?

There is no doubt that the Islais Creek will be polluted with the water retaining a lot of the pollution harming the life that now makes its home in this creek. There are only two free flowing creeks left one is the Lobos Creek in the Presidio and the second is Islais Creek by Illinois Street.

The Force Main, which is in the immediate area, will be adversely impacted when the digging begins and the vibration from the construction will surely damage the already weakened Force Main.

The area around Islais Creek will damage the Muwekma Ohlone Park and all the work that was put into it by David Erickson. Over $150,000 has been invested in the Muwekma Ohlone Park - most of it from funds and the remaining by volunteer work.

The Force Main caused spillage some years ago when conduits dug under the Force Main caused the Force Main to give way under the fill in soil that which did not have the foundation to hold the Force Main.

Right now a temporary Band-Aid keeps the Force Main intact --but experts tell me that secondary effluents much of it half treated sewage is seeping in all directions. The Force Main goes right under Pier 80 Warehouse - right in the middle and into the Bay.

When the Force Main was damaged the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) allowed half-treated sewage to go directly into Islais Creek. At that time the whole area was stinking this was two years ago - two days before Thanksgiving. Today after much haggling nothing much has come out of the fiasco.

No one gives a hoot about Islais Creek and nature. The authorities are interested in developing the area and making money. Where are the Sierra Club and the bogus environmental groups?

The Coast Guard and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) has read a lot of comments and BCDC has held meetings and listened to many constituents.

Some crooks or corrupt rascals are applying pressure to force the permitting authorities to sign the required permits. Very little attention is given to pleas of the constituents especially those living around 1800 Illinois Street mostly artists. If the proposed bridge is allowed to be constructed it will force the artists to evacuate the premises and bring the death of the last artists haven in San Francisco.

The fish, the birds, the animals, and many poor people who enjoy the Islais Creek have no voice. The crooks want to build the movable bridge to make money - it is part of the development tied to Mission Bay and the most corrupt developer Cattelus. Mission Bay was backed by the most corrupt Mayor of San Francisco Willie L. Brown Jr.

Can this proposed movable bridge be stopped? January 15, 2004 at 1 p.m. BCDC is having a meeting at MetroCenter Auditorium, 101 Eight Street, Oakland. Telephone (510) 464-7700. It is important that BCDC hear the voices and you never know they may listen!

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