LITERACY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MEETS DEFEAT AFTER DEFEAT
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Readers who are familiar with the Precautionary Principle which the City and County of San Francisco embraces clearly see that no children should be allowed to go to Pier 98 which a toxic dump. The near by power plants that spews toxins and the land, air, and water laden with mercury, lead, pathogens, and other deadly toxins is very harmful to human beings.
Much more young children that should be protected from harms way. The San Francisco Port Authority has just granted Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) an extension tied to their former contract which expired in June, 2004 for another 3 months. LEJ has held the contract without any previous bid and has been making money off the backs of poor children from neighboring schools who are dumb enough to send children to Pier 98 which is a toxic dump. LEJ spent over $350,000 of taxpayers money trying to build a Living Classroom at Pier 98 which is Heron Head Park. It found out the site suffered from serious soil stability being filled in from the previous dump that it was for decades. The toxins and other elements like lack of transportation and parking made LEJ shy away from the site but it still feels NO remorse for wasting over $350,000 of taxpayers money. The San Francisco Environment (SFE) with Jared Blumfeld favors LEJ. SFE and Commissioners who sit on the SF Environmental Commission will accommodate LEJ and its sweet talking director Dana Lanza when she wants her work done. But you dare tell Dan Lanza the truth then all hell will break loose. A false e-mail address was created in my name and disparaging stories e-mailed about me. My friends know the truth and told me to stay way from Dana Lanza and her cronies. I do. Take her one and be prepared to have most of your free time taken away from you. Plus the false stories that are spread without foundation. Be prepared to have the patience of San Francis of Assisi! I went before PROSAC which is group that monitors Open Space in San Francisco. The Living Classroom and LEJ wanting to build a Living Classroom at McLaren Park came up for discussion. I thought Nancy Wuerfel from PROSAC and SPEAK; another good organization did a good job but not Dana Reid Lanza. Dana attacked Nancy and demanded that she recuse herself and that at Nancy Wuerfel's own meeting. LEJ was a guest making a presentation full of half-truths and yet Dana Lanza had the audacity to attack Nancy Wuerfel. When I heard and saw this behavior - I knew I was doing right and something was wrong with LEJ. The same thing happened at the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods (CSFN) meeting July20, 2004. I had to introduce a resolution as an emergency measure so that it would meet the deadline set by Recreation and Park which is looking to discuss the matter without any input from advocates and constituents who really know about McLaren Park and Open Space and an infringement of infrastructure and a building such as a Living Classroom which makes no sense. The General Plan linked to McLaren Park forbids any buildings. A previous article on this site addresses this clearly. The San Francisco Port Authority has been duped with Diane Nishimoto and Carol Bach listening to Dan Lanza. Many closed-door sessions were held at Pier One and the public was not invited. The project is funded by Public Money and Sunshine Laws should be applied when it comes to the Living Classroom. The Brown Act too but LEJ when it suits their projects favor to keep the Public out and when they do have Public Meeting control the meeting. You write your question and Almighty Dana Lanza then interprets it as she wants and answers it, as she deems fit. The Bay Conservancy is ready to give LEJ $400,000 linked to wetlands. I like to know what really are wetlands at Pier 98 and at Yosemite Sough. If ever there were two Superfund Sites with very high concentrations of PCBs, lead, and mercury the above two sites would make the best candidates. Of course the Bay Conservancy has its heart in the right place but does not take the time to go to ground zero and do its homework. Money should be give to good project with full Accountability and Transparency. At yesterday's Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods astute members like Joan Girardot, Ramona Albright, Barbara Meskunas, Doug Comstock, were asking all the right questions. Dana Lanza, her husband former Chair of the Environmental Commission Parin Shah, and LEJ supporters were confusing the issue at hand. The resolution simply asked LEJ to find a site in the Bayview Hunters Point and serve the constituents who were really adversely affected. Dana has maligned my name but that had nothing to do at yesterday's CSFN meeting. Dana had no right making false statements and distributing e-mail sent to me by San Francisco Environment Anne Eng. Dana Lanza is pathetic when she does not get her way. She becomes belligerent, loud, abusive, and a force that is destructive. Her subjective policy - "my way or no way." In a democracy one has the right to dialog. Dana Lanza does not live in the Community. Some say the East Bay others Daly City - the fact is she does not live in San Francisco. She makes big money from grants and wastes it as I have indicated. She takes our children to a toxic dump and sees no harm doing that. She has closed sessions makes deals as she did with the former director of Recreation and Park, others at the SF Port Authority - and thinks that all that is fine. I say no. Our children deserve the very best. Our children should not be harmed. Please do not expose our children to PCBs, lead, mercury, the worst pathogens - take them to safe, clean, and healing places. Do not take them to sites that slowly kill them. This is wrong. Now I know the SF Port Authority will not say so. The SFE will not say so. The Mayor's Office will not say so. Those who stand to gain fiscally by LEJ projects may not say so. Corrupt people like District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and her cronies may not say so. The right thing to do is not allow our children to go to toxic sites. Toxic sites that are very harmful and adversely impact our children who are innocent and follow the direction of those who are older to them. The right thing to do is fight those forces that harm our children. It was not right for Dana Lanza to attack me because I had to read the Resolution as a delegate from the Bayview Hunters Point Coordination Council. Some other group could not address the issue at stake and the resolution was about Bayview Hunters Point and a member who belonged to the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods had to perform the honors. I did the other member was Espanola Jackson. LEJ was a guest and they did not behave well both inside the meeting hall and out into the hallway. Dana Lanza set a very bad example. As when she created a fake e-mail in my name frandecosta@yahoo.com and spread malicious information. Yahoo acted and brought severe sanction. I have other yahoo e-mail handles but not like the one Dana Lanza created. When any human being goes so far as to attack anyone creating a fake handle - something is really wrong. We all can disagree and agree on issues but to hit below the belt that is not fair. LEJ meets defeat after defeat and will soon sink in a hole it has dug for itself. The hole is black and it is very deep. In the interim our children should be protected and taxpayers money well spent. Dirty politics shelved and good stuff put on the table. Only persons of good character with proven ability to deliver should be around our children. SFE, SF Port Authority, SF Recreation and Park, other organizations, our children should not be manipulated and that is what I see again and gain by Community Based Organizations. The leaders do not live in the community but want to make big money on the backs of poor children and those constituents who are suckered in. Enough is Enough. |
