We have a lame duck Mayor on his way out. We have a Supervisor who represents District 10 who lost her bid to become President of the Board of Supervisors. We have an Assembly Person Mark Leno who has introduced Assembly Bill 1187 to create The Hunters Point Shipyard Development Authority (HUPSDA). The Community at large does not want this bill. Some years ago the constituents of the City and County of San Francisco passed proposition P. They voted and sent a clear message clean or abate Hunters Point Shipyard to standards. Hunters Point Shipyard is on the Superfund List and only the worst toxic sites make it to the Superfund List. Being on the Superfund list brings with it certain mandates that the City and County of San Francisco are trying to circumvent. The City and County of San Francisco have been playing hard ball with the Navy and the Navy does not trust the City and County of San Francisco. The Shipyard closed in 1974! The Navy has NOT done a good job. Over 350 million dollars has been spent in the last couple of years with little abatement. One company International Technologies (IT) spent a lot of money and declared Chapter 11. Today, IT is still on the Shipyard but under the disguise of another company. Right now not one square inch has been turned over to the City and County of San Francisco. The Navy is very hesitant to turn over any land because it has serious cleanup issues. Radiological hot spots are found all over the Hunters Point Shipyard. Here, there and everywhere there are pockets of Methane Gas. The present Navy Cleanup Managers with the help of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) has been trying to do their best. At every RAB meeting we see some progress. I have never seen the Supervisor of District 10 at any RAB meeting. But, I see her plants that try to disrupt and stop the progress made by the Navy. AB 1187 has NOT been discussed at the RAB meeting and this is not fair. Some time ago the Mayor, the Supervisor of District 10, Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and some cronies of the Mayor of San Francisco like Linda Richardson met the Secretary of Navy. They tried to persuade him to turn over parcel by parcel to the City and County of San Francisco. Some agreement was reached but the world does not really know the details. Realistically speaking it should take 2 billion dollars to clean up the Hunters Point Shipyard. That would include building the infrastructure and other facilities like a Water Treatment Plant or Water Reservoirs, a Decentralized Raw Sewage Plant, Fire Stations, Police Stations, and some key facilities to cater to the need of the future residents so that they could live and enjoy some Quality of Life standards. Today, nothing much has been done. Some crooks are trying to initiate housing projects but none of them have a good track record. One has a deplorable record in Florida. Has established a Bayview Hunters Point Limited Liability Company with the aid of the City and County of San Francisco, the Supervisor of District 10, and the blessing of others who do not have the interests of the Community who live at Hunters Point, Bayview, Visitation Valley, Portola, Bernal Height, Potrero, and beyond - constituents who all worked at one time on the Shipyard. Proposition P was voted by the majority of the constituents all over the City and County of San Francisco. Today, AB 1187 wants the Mayor and ONE Supervisor to take the lead and appoint some crooks to control the destiny of the community. Much like has been done at Treasure Island and the Presidio of San Francisco. Are we setting a precedent by appointing a District Supervisor to appoint people to Authorities? Where are our other Supervisors on this issue? Hunters Point Shipyard belongs to all of the people of San Francisco. Just like the Presidio of San Francisco belongs to all the people of San Francisco. We must act now and stamp out this trend to divide people and pity one district against the other. Why does not Chris Daly have a say in the appointments of the crooks at Treasure Island? Why is the Community kept out of the picture? Why no Citywide hearing? Why is Proposition P not mentioned? Why is there NO mention of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe that exercised their right of First Refusal on the Shipyard in 1991? Right now the City Attorney's Office and the Mayor's Office wants to take the responsibility from the San Francisco Redevelopment Authority and give it to another Authority - HUPSDA. HUPSDA stinks of corruption. It clearly points to privatization of the Hunters Point Shipyard. Much like the Trust Board which control the Presidio of San Francisco and the Authority established on Treasure Island. Both with Treasure Island and Hunters Point very little deliberation and interaction with the community. Once the community finds out it will be too late to stop the crooks. For example under normal circumstances NO bill would come before a Committee for hearing so quickly as has been with AB 1187. But some one in San Francisco who played ball in Sacramento for over 15 years has the clout and ability to accomplish most anything asserting the right political pressure. Yesterday, Espanola Jackson, Kevin William, Andrew Bozeman, Ahimsa Sumchai, Willie Ratcliff and Francisco Da Costa met with Assembly person Mark Leno. Present were the City Attorney Michael Cohen and the person from the Mayor's Office of Economic Development Jessie Blout. Nathan Purkiss Assembly Person Leno's aide and also Lisa Williams who works at Mark Leno's office in San Francisco. Speaker after speaker spoke against AB 1187. We hope the City Attorney will change the language and that better sense prevails. We hope the Board of Supervisors stops this faulty bill from going anywhere. Let us wait for the Navy to give some assurance about the general abatement of the Shipyard. Let us make sure that as and when any conveyance is affected that the City and County does not accept the liability linked to the environmental concerns which are very serious. Which are related to a Superfund site. Let us wait for the lame duck Mayor to get out and the new future Mayor of San Francisco to address this serious long-term situation. The present Mayor has been for himself. He has not been for the community. The recent victories by Jeff Adachi and Mabel Teng point clearly that grass roots constituents deplore the present Mayor. The sooner he and his crooks leave the better for the City and County of San Francisco. Let us also rid the over 1000 Special Appointments that have constrained the City's Budget. The Restoration Advisory Board linked to Hunters Point has not been consulted about Assembly Bill 1187. The Community at large has been kept in the dark. There has been no hearing before the Board of Supervisors. The Supervisor from District 10 wants to introduce a Resolution and thinks that all will be well. Well, she has sold her constituents out and will face a recall if better sense does not prevail. The Hunters Point Radiological Report is not out as yet. Just a few months ago a Scientist who worked at Hunter's Point was working on a book about his work at Hunter's Point. His work, after his death, was transferred to the Navy and the Navy admitted that some serious issues not addressed before had to be investigated. Right now Mariner's Village where people live on the Hill is an affected Radiological Site at Hunters Point. There are other sites all over the Shipyard that needs serious cleanup. Of the 200 million appropriated over 31 million were spent in just a couple of months by the Navy for radiological cleanup. Not one cent went to the community. The Community has always suffered. Suffered from the adverse impacts on the Shipyard. Suffered because practically no money has filtered to the local community. In just the last weeks the Coalition First Committee (CFC) has been working with the Navy, the Truckers, some contractors to see that the Community gets some of the millions spent on the Shipyard. Just when some practical change is being made. Just when the community is empowering itself the Supervisor from District 10 has come out with this ploy to privatize the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The Supervisor from District 10 Sophie Maxwell does not enjoy the support of the majority of the people from her District. Even the yuppies from Potrero Hill are beginning to see her true colors - she is selling out the community. And she told me at City Hall in a frank discussion that she can be bought. That is after I told her that she has sold out the community. I requested Assembly Person Mark Leno to shelf this AB 1187. On April 23, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. many of us will go to Sacramento. We will go for this hearing on this faulty bill - we will speak against it and will NOT vote for those who are for this faulty bill in the future. This bill invites crooks to exploit the community. It is time the community with the help of good leaders help the community and not sell out to large corporations like Tetra Tech, Bechtel, Mills Corporation, Lennar BVHP LLC, and a host of other corporations who do have the interests of the Community. The Community has had enough and it is time to vote in good leaders and vote out those leaders who are selling out the community for greed and vested interests. Much before the strangers came to this land there were the First People in this case the Muwekma Ohlone. At Hunters Point Shipyard were two large burial sites - two large shellmounds. Just like the shellmounds at the Bayview Hill near by. Can you believe in this day and age - with all the State, local, and federal mandates in place - not one square inch of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been archeologically surveyed. Shame of our ignorant leaders!

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