Issue 322___Will you want to live in San Francisco - tomorrow ___September 2008
SFT Endorsements for Crowded Fall Election
San Francisco appears to take a generous view of the size of Barack Obama’s coattails! While we understand the reasoning for making a presidential ballot a bit longer, the good intentions of these lawmakers may backfire, as important policy measures will be lost on the huge ballot and as the City’s grassroots volunteers are pulled in too many directions.
Below is a sampling of SFT’s endorsements – just the positives!!!
Please go to our website at www. sftomorrow.org for a full list and commentary.
VOTE YES ON…..
Proposition A - General Hospital Bond Measure – it’s not perfect, but for once the City completed environmental review and design so we know the project we’re getting.
Proposition B – Affordable Housing Fund – setting a floor (a little over $30 million/year) for the City’s minimum investment in affordable housing allows more robust multi-year planning and investment.
Proposition D – Pier 70 financing incentives – needed to close the gap and reduce development density to pay for historic preservation at Pier 70
Proposition H – Clean Energy Act – we will never meet our goal of 80% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050 under the current system.
Proposition I – Creating an Independent Ratepayer Advocate. With our water bills expected to double over the next decade, this office (modeled after the California Public Utilities Commision) will ensure that ratepayers receive fair assessements.
Proposition J – Historic Preservation Commission – YES – We cannot have real preservation in San Francisco unless we build a firewall between the development community and decisions on historic resources. Creating and empowering a commission should do the trick.
Proposition M – Tenants Rights – incorporates protection from harassment into rent code.
Propositions O & Q – Proposition O restates our current telephone fee to support 911 service, while Prop Q closes a business tax loophole by requiring partnerships to pay the tax.
Supervisor Extravaganza!!!
It’s the biggest Supervisor Election since 2000! Please take the time to choose your candidates and work for their election – whether or not they represent your district! Here are our recommendations:
DISTRICT 1 – as an attorney, Eric Mar has a long record of protecting civil and immigrant rights. As School Board member and president, he is well suited to represent the family-friendly Richmond District. And his commitment to be the “environmental supervisor” warrants SFT’s enthusiastic endorsement.
DISTRICT 3 – Tony Gantner is an experienced environmental and neighborhood activist who strongly endorses virtually every SFT position.
DISTRICT 4 – Carmen Chu - Also a moderate candidate in a conservative district, Supervisor Chu will have a chance to prove her independence once she’s elected by her constituents. In a rookie season such as this, it seems only fair to give this candidate a chance to grow into her job.
DISTRICT 5 - Ross Mirkarimi’s first term was stellar, and SFT is honored to give him our strong endorsement. Ross has become a national leader on environmental issues, and is leading the charge to pass the Clean Energy Act, Prop H. His experience will be critical for this new board.
DISTRICT 7 – Sean Elsbernd and SFT differ on many issues – but he has shown himself to be a responsible and responsive Supervisor. In a conservative district with few contenders, he is the only real choice.
DISTRICT 9 ranked choice endorsement – the race to replace Tom Ammiano is full of qualified candidates, so we made use of the ranked choice system to pick our two top contenders;
#1 - Mark Sanchez – as a teacher and president of the School Board, Mark has proven an effective legislator and
caring member of the community.
#2 - David Campos – an experienced attorney and police commissioner, David has also shown himself to be
familiar with neighborhood issues.
DISTRICT 11 – John Avalos is probably the most qualified and experienced “rookie” running in the November elections. With decades of experience in labor organizing, children and family issues, and as a legislative aide at the Board of Supervisors, John will be operating at full speed on Day 1
.
The Central Subway: A Pause before a Precipice?
Déja vu All Over Again.
In San Francisco Tomorrow’s Newsletter dated January 2007, the article “Central Subway: Is Muni’s Proposal Boon or Boondoggle?” contained sage insights:
“Before plowing ahead with this venture, let’s at least get the facts straight. The Mayor should convene a blue ribbon panel and charge it with examining all financial and other aspects of the Project. In view of the bad advice so often given by so-called experts (e.g. ‘get rid of the streetcars’, ‘build a freeway through Golden Gate Park’, ‘rebuild the Embarcadero Freeway’, ‘eliminate the cable cars’, ‘six lane Market Street’, ‘shorten the subway stations’), the panel should be comprised of skeptics as well as proponents. San Franciscans are entitled to a reasonable basis for determining whether Muni’s proposed Central Subway is boon or boondoggle.”
See http://www.sanfranciscotomorrow.org/jan07.html
Now is the time for a blue ribbon panel to evaluate the Central Subway’s design.
Responses to EIR Comments were published on July 11, 2008 for the Central Subway’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. After seven months review, responses to the publics’ comments lack substantial evidence and continue a pattern of ever-changing data projections.
Over the years, the project’s estimated cost has doubled. Claims of adequacy in terms of cost/benefit analysis have no evidentiary basis in the record. In late 2007, new ridership was projected at 93,000 per day; now, figures have been lowered to 18,400 riders---without evidentiary support or explanations for the precipitous drop! Projected savings of 76,400 bus hours per year have no substantiation or breakdowns of service cutbacks. Initially, the project was estimated to save 19,400 Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) hours per year; but after challenges, numbers reversed to an added 13,100 LRV hours per year. Initially, savings in Muni Operations & Maintenance (O&M) was cited as $23.8 million; but after challenges, O&M savings dropped to $3.18 million. Misleading comparisons of “in-vehicle times” rather than “total travel times” remain in the report.
The Planning Commissions “Approval” of the evironmental document was tepid. Despite political pressures, three of the seven Planning Commissioners voted against certification of the EIR. Others voted to certify with reluctance, expressing such concerns as unexplored impacts on adjoining neighborhoods. One Commissioner deemed the proposed project “totally deficient”, “short sighted” and “bad planning”. Another Commissioner was in total agreement. For a $1.4 billion project, the Commission’s narrow, reluctant support should trigger trepidation, followed by political and professional due diligence.
Appeal of the Planning Commission’s EIR Certification Rejected by the Board of Supervisors.
As a matter of law, criticisms of an EIR necessitate reasonable responses with substantive evidence. Otherwise, the EIR is deemed legally inadequate. A wide range of data was presented, probing the accuracy and veracity of the EIR’s conclusions. But without a single question, the Board voted 10-0 to reject the Appeal and affirm the EIR!
Our last chance to ponder bigger urban design issues. The distance from the Wharf to Downtown is two miles. Columbus Avenue is one mile long. Washington Square is one mile from the Powell Street BART/Metro Station. Chinatown is ½ mile from Market Street. In European and Asian pedestrian realms, these are distances opportune for pulsating street life. From an urban planning perspective, social and economic vitality is most likely if new transit is woven into the tapestry of urban life.
The Central Subway will not ease traffic congestion on Stockton and Fourth Streets. The vast majority of residents in the northeast quadrant, including Chinatown, will continue to rely on the 9X, 10, 12, 20, 30, 30X, 39, 41, 45, cable cars and F-Lines. Thus, Muni would bear the costs of both heavy surface transportation and the very expensive underground subway.
Surface service cuts would be needed to offset new operating and maintenance costs. Moreover, factoring in planned Muni operational improvements, total travel time for surface buses will be faster than that for deep underground LRV to Muni Metro and CalTrain.
South of Market Street, transit levels of service will be decreased. The existing T-Line Streetcars connect the Third Street corridor to King Street, the Embarcadero and Market Street---entering the BART/ Metro Stations of Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center, Van Ness, Church, Castro, etc. The proposed Central Subway/ T-Line bypasses Market Street and all its BART/Metro Stations, going northward instead to a Union Square Station---1,000 feet from the existing Powell Street Station. The large majority of transit riders would backtrack to reach workplaces and major destinations---undermining planning efforts for the Eastern Neighborhoods, Mission Bay, South of Market, Central Waterfront, Bay View and Hunters Point.
On the national political stage, with the focus on change and reform, how can San Francisco accept a flawed $1.4 billion transportation design that is founded on political intrigue and earmarking---rather than on sound transportation planning, fiscal responsibility and logic?
At a moment when political reformers have political legs, true leadership would design San Francisco for a visionary legacy---far beyond short-term temporary gains.YES ON 1A - HIGH SPEED RAIL
SFT asks for a major turnout of votes for Yes on State Proposition 1A – California High Speed Rail.
The $9.95 billion dollar bond measure will get High Speed Rail under construction as an
alternative to increasingly crowded freeways, spiraling fuel costs, and overloaded and delayed air flights.
HSR will take us between northern, central and southern California, downtown to downtown, in more comfort and
safety, and in less time at a lower fare. High Speed Rail reduces global warming by using 1/6 as much fuel as
airplanes per passenger seat – with 1/10 as much emission of air-polluting CO2. Federal funds and private
participation will share the cost – less per passenger than more freeways and airports that otherwise will be
needed for California’s booming population. Worldwide HSR has an accident-free record and California will
achieve that with its own rail tracks. More delay will boost the cost.
NO vote on State Propositions 7 and 10.
San Francisco Tomorrow, along with the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, recommends a NO vote on state propositions 7 and 10.
Prop 7 -- Renewable Energy -- contains serious, inherent flaws that get in the way of the goal of 50% renewable fuels by 2025 – and it decreases environmental review of power plants.
Prop 10 – Alternative Fuel Vehicles – would put California on the wrong road to cleaner vehicles by setting up faulty programs.
The first Presidio sighting of the Western Pygmy Blue!
On a butterfly survey of the Presidio, the first Presidio record for Western Pygmy Blue butterfly was sighted by Liam O'Brien. Matt ZlatunichI was able to photograph two individuals. The Western Pygmy Blue, the smallest butterfly in North America, is a salt marsh species that has somehow found its way to the restored Crissy Marsh! The larval host plants include pickleweed (Salicornia virginica) and the endangered California sea-blight (Seaeda californica). Other sightings in San Francisco are from the extreme southeast part of the city. Three cheers for habitat restoration!
A Day at a Presidio Oasis
SFT picnickers enjoyed delicious food and fellowship in one of San Francisco’s hidden gems, El Polin Springs in the Presidio National Park. This peaceful oasis, site of year-round flowing spring waters, is about to enter the first phase of restoration of the Tennessee Hollow watershed. Tennessee Hollow is a creek system whose three tributaries are almost entirely contained within the Presidio, and which was buried in culverts by the Army over several decades. When the restoration is completed, park visitors will be able to walk from the headwaters near Julius Kahn playground to the creek’s mouth at the Crissy Field Marsh.
On SFT’s picnic day this August a number of intrepid picnickers joined Ruth Gravanis on a hike to learn about the upcoming first phase of the restoration and see the variety of natural resources that will be enhanced. The group learned that, starting this month, sixty non-native eucalyptus and pine trees will be removed from around the loop road that surrounds the current picnic area. They walked the area uphill from the springs where two landfills will eventually be excavated and an historic dam revealed. They walked through a remnant of San Francisco’s ancient dunes and noted a number of native plants hanging on in spite of the non-native tree cover. Finally, the group toured the area below Inspiration Point (along Arguello Boulevard) where the restored serpentine grassland plant community hosts the largest concentration on earth of the rare and beautiful flower, Presidio clarkia. The clarkia was not in bloom that day, but there were many California poppies, native buckwheat, toyon, and other native plants.
Finally, some members of the group visited the site of the Briones’ and Miramontes’ adobe house. Stanford archaeology students have been conducting “digs” at the house’s foundation for the past four summers, unearthing evidence that has already revealed much about these early residents’ lives. More on these early San Francisco residents can be found at http://www.stanford.edu/group/presidio/juana.html.
Once the non-native trees are have been removed, the Presidio Trust will be hosting an El Polin Springs Inaugural Planting Day on Saturday, Nov. 22 from 9am to 1pm. Volunteers need to register by calling 415/561-5333 or contacting volunteer@presidiotrust.gov. Long-term plans call for removing the existing asphalt loop and replacing it with a foot trail and boardwalk, restoring wetlands near the springs, and installing a garden of medicinal and food plants used by the native Indians and early Spanish settlers.
The Mournful Duskywing
On September 23, Matt Zlatunich and Liam O’Brien found another Presidio first! The Mournful Duskywing is a fairly common butterfly in the Bay Area, but this is only the second San Francisco sighting, the first being a specimen in the California Academy of Sciences dated September 24, 1910.