QUALITY OF LIFE STANDARDS IN SAN FRANCISCO AND SENIORS

San Francisco has a City Planing that has NO direction and with a Director missing in action NO vision - huge developers are making hay while the sunshines and there is NO one to take control of a department that has failed the constituents of San Francisco again and again.

The Housing Element is important and hand in hand the Transportation Document which should address housing and transportation corridor needs.

City Department has failed the constituents of San Francisco by failing to outreach and get the best information with a Work Plan in mind to address those key factors that should be addressed in any good Housing Plan. San Francisco City Planning has chosen to fall back to 1990 when the last Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was documented. Using this 1990 EIR and the baseline policy of that document as a false premise to address the current fake Housing Element. It has wasted our time and wasted taxpayer money.

Today we have serious impacts on the constituents of San Francisco affecting our Quality of Life Standards and San Francisco City Planning has failed to understand the very basis that should form the foundation of the Housing Element. It does not have a checklist by which it has failed to analyze the impacts that have eroded the Quality of Life Standards in this City since 1990.

The 1990 EIR was based on some false premises. The increased housing stock at that time was projected to be around 12,000 but the EIR for some reason chose 30,000. In 1990 we did not as many cars as we have today. Our City population today is around 740,000 and the average cars per hold today is 3. We have an aging population. We have a more diverse population. City Planning is working in a vacuum. We have more cars, diesel vehicles, polluting buses, and other traffic on our streets today then we had in 1990. Van Ness corridor is a mess.

Our Infrastructure has failed us and totally needs maintenance, repair and replacement. Right now we have a $1.6 billion major capitol investment with our clean water drinking system and our waste water system. We are looking at the Jefferson-Martin Transmission Line that will cost us millions. City Planning has not taken these critical factors and incorporated them into the Housing Element.

We are not Earthquake prepared and over 60% of our housing will fall prey to a major earthquake. No where does City planning address this very important factor. It is a shame that no Geologist was consulted.

There has been an increase of clean water and wastewater in our combined storm system since 1990. The last time the Phelps Raw Sewage Treatment Plant was upgraded in 1970. At that time there were plans to build the Cross Town tunnel which was passed by a Proposition. This Proposition has been shelved. The Cross Town tunnel would have taken all the treated water and flushed it in the Ocean.

Today more then 180 million gallons of half treated sewage goes into the Bay. When it rains this amount doubles. This was not the case in 1990. Polluting our Bay affects the Bay and our Quality of Life Standard.

We have runoffs from old Mercury Mines and other toxins dumped into the Bay. Added to this the radiological wasters from Hunters Point. City Planning is so far removed from these toxins that pollute the air, water and land that one is amazed what City Planning used as some of its principal factors to gauge impacts.

We have two old toxic polluting power plants that emit thousands of tons of toxins into the air. Most toxins from the two power plants, the Hunters Point and the Mirant power plants pollute the atmosphere today more then in 1990. By the way the last time any empirical data linked to air pollution was collected was in 1990. City Planning will get the true picture of the air pollution by collecting air samples on the ground level at various points not one or two stationary points. This is a crying shame in this day and age of high technology.

It is a shame that San Francisco City Planning does not give a damn to critical cumulative impacts that it does fully comprehend. City Planning has no idea about the over 800 serious toxic site that impact Quality of Life all over the City and County of San Francisco.

Most City Planners are busy catering to Developers who will pay them over time to focus on the plans that the Developers want to push ahead of plans that belong to the ordinary constituent that lives and pays taxes in San Francisco. Our Board of Supervisors and our past very corrupt Mayor has done little to bring some drastic change to the failed City Planning Department.

In the year 2004 we are worse off then we were in 1990. Today our air is more polluted. We have serious problems with our energy and have the various black outs to prove that. The air, water, and land in San Francisco is more polluted. There has been haphazard manner in which City Planning has permitted large amounts of live-work lofts to be built that are not occupied.

The dot.com crash has affected our commercial space and many commercial buildings have been vacant for years.

City Planning has not looked at the Housing Element and incorporated any Economic Measures. It cannot not because it does not know how. City Planning should consult an Economist because this factor is a key element in helping to stimulate growth of our economy that has failed us for the last 3 years since 2001.

The Mayor’s Office Economic Development has never function well in the last 4 years. Right now with Jesse Blout in charge we hope for the best. We have novices who do not understand the basic and fundamental factors of economic growth. Willie Brown and his cronies still can and have been manipulating the system.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority has come out with a document that addresses our Traffic needs. This document while doing some justice to some housing corridors and traffic needs fails in a big measure to address “ traffic congestion” in the over 90 congested traffic points all over the City and County of San Francisco.

There has been no through traffic analysis done on any the major traffic corridors and with that pollution air studies that should go hand in hand. Right now we get most of our fault air pollution studies from stationary air monitoring station like the one situated on Arkansol Street.

Daily hundreds of dangerous pathogens foul the air from the Phelps Rew Sewage Treatment plant. This plant tries to treat 80% of the raw sewage from the City and County of San Francisco. 100% of the raw sewage from Colma, Daly City, Brisbane and Burlingame.

City Planning has NO idea about this situation. City Planning is NOT aware that an EMERGENCY is waiting to happen with the already damaged FORCE MAIN near Pier 80 that is leaking right now. This Force Main pumps over 180 million gallons of half treated sewage into the Bay every day.

City Planning is in the dark about our population. In the future Senior Citizens will be in the majority. In fact they are now and growing. City Planning does not have the Seniors in mind when projecting the future needs of our City. This was not the case in 1990. I am referring to 1990 because the dumb City Planning for all practical purposes is using the 1990 EIR as a baseline policy and by doing so breaking all laws that CEQA mandates.

City Planning Commissioners do not understand the fundamental factors that help create the Housing Element. They do not understand the factors because City Planning has misinformed the Commissioners.

City Planning has misled the constituents of San Francisco by using old data from ABAG and not making an effort to use the current Census data and incorporate this empirical data into its findings. City Planning has the City and County of San Francisco by using focused groups and not have Public Meetings all over the City does failing to embrace those who most could have contributed to the failed and fake Housing Element that does injustice to the great City of San Francisco.

Agencies like SPUR have done more injustice to San Francisco and its citizens by participating in a nonchalant manner and going with the flow. SPUR should stand for what is right. SPUR continues to back the Developers because is more concerned about GREED and MONEY then the good of the constituents of San Francisco. No one is there right mind should respect SPUR for the injustice they have done over the years by siding with those elements that are filthy rich and non caring. We all should remember that SPUR sided with Proposition J that was defeated by a large measure by the constituents of San Francisco.

It is a shame in this day and age we cannot create a good Housing Element. It is a shame we cannot come up with a good Transportation Document. It is a shame that the San Francisco Planning Commission has misled us.

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