in6 c1 beautiful in helping the kids. one of the things i don't like hearing is about african-americans. it serves all nationalities. and to see how the parents come in and see the smile because they're not outside like there was a time you could go to places and see smoking or something. those parents bring them in there and those kids are inside there and got them going with different things. you look today and see some of the students that's here. you will see, they are really beautiful. booker t. is going to be there and hope that they continue. [applause] >> my name is robert crispin. i've been a resident of san francisco since 1948.

i am now a retired college professor, editor and chief publisher and co-founder of the black scholar, journal of black studies and research which is now in its 41st year. san francisco has seen a drastic decline in its black population from 1948 on to the present as a consequence of the california redevelopment act of 1945. in the fillmore, 4,729 businesses were forced to close. 2,500 households were pushed out and 883 victorian houses were demolished, destruction was huge business. with the destruction of the fillmore, a powerful matrix of black arts and leadership also

perished and indigenous jazz scene, blues, maya angelou, danny glover, johnny mathis all have their routes -- roots in the western addition. the major vestige is the booker t. washington community center which has been in san francisco since 1917. the rec and services communities and in drafting 50 apartments into a new five-story structure. what seems to be the sticking point is 15 feet of height. laterally booker t. is a mixed area, which includes a muni, car barn, best buy, home depot and so on. compared with one -- >> thank you, sir. thank you.

rob costo, ronald cardin, tom radulovic, katherine carr. >> good evening, my name is rob castau, a neighbor of the proposed project and also a supporter of the community center and affordable housing in general to the extent it blends in with the character of a local neighborhood. you know, i'm a volunteer in san francisco and we do a lot of work with 18-24-year-olds in transitioning them into the work force and i'd be happy volunteering if the local community center would help out with that. my one issue with the project is simply the scale. i think it's grossly out of character with the victorians on sutter and the traditional nature of the neighborhood. there's been very little communication with the neighborhood thus far. in fact, i think some of the neighbors feel they've been ville find -- ville find --

vilified which is a very unfortunate situation. and i think for some of the neighbors, the parking issue has never been addressed. some other issues for certain neighbors, certain tax-paying, local property owners have never been addressed. you know, all that said, i support the project with the compromised proposal that was discussed earlier, and i hope we can reach that compromise pretty soon. thanks. >> the overhead, please. >> you want to start talking? >> my name is ron cardin, 2755 sutter street, directly east of booker t. and that's my house right there. thank you, commissioners, for providing a public hearing of my comments and i'm on record

of supporting the community center, affordable housing and emancipated youth programs and that hasn't changed to this day. i want to thank supervisor mark farrell who is working hard to build a compromise that's before you and i hope it's accepted by the project sponsors. i request refinements on a number of issues for the project. first, the building wraps around our property on two sides west and south. it has a pronounced impact and boxes us in. and i would request mitigation of this by simply having bright, light, natural colors, not dark colors like you see on the gym wall here or the row of concrete on the community center wall. i think that will alleviate the fact that south and west sun and light has been removed. these are suggestions of some colors. i'm sure they'll be different. second request has to do with replacing the south and west

sun and light being removed by working with the owner at 2745 sutter. next door to us to the east, removing a 40 to 50 foot avocado tree, replanting with smaller trees. the owner will furnish written permission when required by the sponsors and the city. i also have concerns about property line fence and property line retaining wall at booker t. this is the west wall of my house. and if the fence is replaced, i would ask that translucent materials be used to transmit and admit reflected light and provide a feeling of openness. there's no fence of the west wall at my house because these windows will remain and let light in and we have maintenance action to our wall including this waterproof cover which bridges a gap between our wall and booker t. this is a picture of my

basement of that same wall. looking west, the wall of our house was removed when the original retaining wall was constructed. and there's the concrete wall, the remnants and that's our wall. i would ask that either the existing waterproof cover i just pointed out be retained and maintained with durable materials or reconstruct and weather proof the basement wall. i hope to see this project go through. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners, tom radulovic, executive director of livable city. i'm here to speak in support of the project. i live in the mission district and you often see changes in scale in residential neighborhoods. we live in a victorian neighborhood but there are

large apartment buildings and they're all over and from the 1920's and everyone loves them and if you tried to tear them down everyone would scream but you put something similar up and of course people scream. there have been points raised, and i think they're valid about the gym. and i think looking at sort of the color of that, looking at the scale of it, it is a big box so i think in a residential neighborhood you need some articulation. you need to break down the scale of that thing visually so it looks like it belongs in the neighborhood. but otherwise i think it sounds like there's been some good work done to try and make this fit into the neighborhood. so we commend the planning staff looking at the earlier rendering, the stepping up is much, much better. just wanted to speak a little bit to transit. i was chair of the sales tax committee and we put together prop k. one of the biggest investments we'll make is in the geary b.r.t. and might be the biggest investment we make in the city's rapid transit network. commissioner an tony, i wish it could be rail but probably will

be bus and hope it carry as lot more people and this project is about a block, block and a half from the geary street corridor, and i can't think of a better place to put a project like this. there will be very good 24-hour public transit access to the folks who need to get to and from this center. so, you know, maybe some design refinement but urge you not to knock stories off this project. we think the urban design plan said buildings should step up to the top of hills. it is pretty good. and we urge you to go forward but also urge you to think how we do density bonus. it's a one by one thing and drives project sponsors crazy. we need to do better. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners, katherine carr here representing the laurel heights improvement association as well as representing myself.

i am a neighborhood. we sent a letter to you all earlier today and don't know if you need copies. i have some extras here in case. to join our nonopposition to supervisor farrell's reduced height plan. some of you might know -- might not know where laurel heights is and many people talk about the bus yard right across the street from 800 presidio. we're just on the other side of that bus yard, about 100 yards to the west. so we are right next door, in essence, to this neighborhood. the reverend mentioned earlier, and i think you might have gone back to the other room, but he wants us to be ready and willing to be somebody in the neighborhood and we definitely are. the community wants to be that somebody in the neighborhood who rights the wrongs we talked about. we want to right the wrongs

within a reasonable size building. we definitely support booker t. washington and the project that they do in our community. it's a wonderful organization for several decades it has been around and coming up on their centennial year. we wanted to be a part of the community and not the institutionalized building that it looks like right now. we'd like it to be a four-story building and we definitely support the 24 units. if you do the four-story building, that would be 17 units for the other residents to total 41 units. and what better more the young lady from the radio station also mentioned it would be fabulous to be the national model. and i agree but what international model could you have than to show full community support of a project. you don't want to show communities being torn apart by a wonderful project like this when it could be great for san

francisco and the youth commissioners here as well. and i'll leave you with one term, less is more. thank you, commissioners. >> thank you. chris jackson followed by john kaufmann, regina davis, james mccray jr. . i'll keep calling names. if you're in the other room, just keep coming in. gail gilman, elaine lugo. huroshi fakuda. >> my name is john kaufmann. thank you, commissioners, for listening to us this afternoon. there's no question about the need for housing for emancipated youth and there's no question about the important

mission that booker t. washington center is embarking on. we support that. but there is a question about the compatibility of this project as it now stands with the neighbors. remember, the neighbors we've been talking about are on the block. they are the houses on the block. they are below, down the hill from the projects, so the impact of the project on them is greater than the 55 feet that the project currently stands. i also want to salute supervisor farrell for taking the initiative to try and put together a compromise that respects the need for emancipated youth housing, respects the mission of the agency, plus also respects the values of the neighborhood, the people that live on the block. and he's come up with a compromise which i think is a reasonable one. that's what address is all

about, compromise. so that's why we're here today. i understand that because of the relationship between the project and the mayor's office and housing that if you reduce the project by picking off the top floor there will be no financial impact on the project. it will be allowed to proceed on a financially sound basis. so i believe the compromise is a reasonable one, and i urge you to accept it. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is james mccray. i served as pastor in the western edition in fillmore for 25 years. we just recently asked the tabernacle community development corporation completed 21 units of affordable housing in this same community. but i want to say parenthetically during the 1960's, i would run up the hill from my church to booker t.,

for that was the place to be for that community as far back as i can remember. i simply stand to say this is a good project. it has a great vision and mission. it brings before you a solid development team, a noble purpose. it comes before you in a critical time when those of the western addition and other parts of the community are facing the outmigration from this city. i come, therefore, to urge you and celebrate with you the approval of the calendar item. with booker t., the city and county of san francisco rises again to demonstrate we are the city that knows how, that knows how to do justice and to love righteousness.

>> good evening, commissioners. my name is gail goldman. i live in district 2 and i support the project. i also have dedicated a good part of my work life in helping to match up developers and service providers to build housing for youth aged out of foster care. let me tell you, it is not easy. in today's financing environment, it takes many sources of financing to build this kind of project. also, it's very difficult to find a developer willing to build housing for this population. principally because of the fact that communitys would like to see nice, quiet seniors living there instead of youth. so in this case we found a site in a safe community.

we found a developer willing to take the risk. we found a community that has access to public transportation, a community that has good role models for these young people. and i understand that there is an issue with the height. but let me tell you this. this is a problem. homelessness of youth aged out of foster care is a world social problem that we can solve and we can solve it here in san francisco. as was mentioned earlier, about 150 young people age out of foster care each year in san francisco. 60% of them will become homeless unless we intervene with housing and supportive services. surely people of goodwill with the help of government and

private financing sources can help 150 young people a year. thank you. i urge you to keep it the way it is. >> thank you. >> i have to give you these letters of support. thanks. >> hello, commissioners. i'm sorry, but it's my turn. you had your turn. >> ms. avery, if you could -- i don't know. >> i thought i was up next. good afternoon. i do reside at 2651 post street. i've been in the neighborhood for quite a long time. i really appreciate the need for the emancipated youth. i support booker t. and the wonderful service they provide the community. i myself have been mentoring a child for six years from big brother, big sister who lives in a very at-risk neighborhood. so i really appreciate the

compromise that's been brokered by supervisor farrell, and i appreciate, also, the spirit of the community to come together and find something that will work for all. i do like -- i would like to see the commetion of the -- the completion of the project in due time. the building needs to go and would love to see something appreciative by all and provides services to the community and falls within the height limitation for the zone as it is. i would like to see further reduction in size and scale. please bear in mind we're adding 41 units where there are zero housing units. the impasse on the traffic is already evident by the coming and going with the youth gymnasium and will become a little bit more of an increase, we all understand that but do believe there is further room to find a sweet spot that everybody would be happy with. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> mr. fakudo. wanted to speak and their parents are waiting. would that be ok with you? ok.

brittany scott and sarah -- ok. thank you, mr. fakuda. i'd like to have -- the youth to have the opportunity to participate in the process. but sometimes they have school constraints and whatnot. and don't worry, we're only taking two. >> they all want to be seen. >> exactly. i guess we can start the clock for one and then the other. >> my name is brittany and i've been at booker t. for a year now and what i like about is

how they take us a lot on field trips and do a lot of activities like girl scouts that we are in, most of us. and they sometimes take us on trips to six flags and stuff. >> thank you. and our second speaker. >> i've been going to booker t. for four years and the past four years, all the staff members, they've been respectful, taking us on good field trips, having good snack. and i -- that's all i got to say. the new building means to me more kids get to come because it's bigger and we got two gyms to play more basketball.

>> thank you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for bringing them out. a hard act to follow, mr. fakuda. thank you for your patience with that. >> no problem. [inaudible] >> i find myself in a very difficult position between a hard place and a rock because i used to play ball at booker t. and my older brothers were very active in booker t. with mr. yuri wada. and i know how important this

project is, but yet on the other hand, if you look at it from the scale of the project, it is somewhat massive and i think this is a good opportunity, for example. we ask to pass the resolution to remove the top floor and change the facade to make it match the neighborhood. and also to increase parking. speaking on a personal note, i know the commission has always said, the planning department has emphasized that reducing -- exchanging parking spaces for units was a good thing. well, here you are, we have a project with 22 spaces, take them out and put in 23 units and take out the top floor and as far as the parking, we have parking right next door and they ought to do their share and come up, pony up and pay up. and i think this is a good opportunity. here you have, you know, you

want transit first, you want muni and take away the parking, do that but remove the top floor and everyone wins. also, it's been stated there's great need for housing for youth in transitioning from foster care. why not increase the number of units? you have 41 units or so or whatever, increase the number of build units for those youth transitioning. and i think that's another consideration that might be made. thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, my name is eric toliver, a member of the board of directors of booker t. washington community center. but more importantly i'm a product of booker t. washington community center. i have three generations of my

family that have been impacted and made better citizens by participating in the events and activities that take place in that center. my parents became members of the booker t. washington community center back in the late 1940's. and i joined the booker t. washington community center as a youth. in the 1950's. so when i look at what we need to do in terms of the support of this project, it goes far beyond just the brick-and-mortar, and i think a lot of people talk about the human capital that's developed by helping our fellow citizens and that's one thing i was taught at an early age through a lot of the programs that were conducted by the booker t. washington community center. i'm in full support of this project at its present state. i don't want any reductions to

the project, but i want to make sure that we have a really solid relationship with the community at large and that's one of the reasons why the alumni of the booker t. washington community center will play a real valuable role in helping the transitional youth newly emancipated youth transition back into the mainframe of the society. so again i really fully endorse this and i would hope that you would, again, support it in its present state and not reduce it at any cost. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. vanessa manzanaris, ty wynn, chanelle williams followed by gail goldman. you spoke already. kevin sinclair. and i'll keep calling names.

>> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is kevin sinclair and live at 880 presidio. i think it almost feels like this is a save booker t. rally and it certainly isn't because the whole -- as a neighbor, in that community, we're all behind a new center and absolutely for it. i think it's going to make our neighborhood a better place but it's zoned for 40 feet, and in working with the community, going above and beyond that and asking for an approval to add on more floors doesn't make sense of what the whole community work process does. and, you know, i also think that adding 41 units is no small feat itself. that is the improvement rate there. if it's 41-50, you know, you're dealing with a small increment versus 0-41. and as also a neighbor of another project down the

street, we're very accepting of reaching out to the community and i mean more so than probably most neighborhoods in san francisco. but i think you do need to take into consideration the people that have purchased homes there over the years and to keep the neighborhood the way it is, certainly accepting the new plan but not to go above and beyond what's already within zoned and to take in consideration the people that are residents there. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is chanelle williams and in support of booker t. washington's proposal. i'm a former youth commissioner, juvenile justice commissioner and actively organized to inform service providers and public officials nationwide about the needs of youth in foster care and the juvenile justice center for 11 years. in addition to community activism i am also a foster care youth and when i transitioned out of the system at 18 years old, supportive

housing was one of my main concerns. having an environment where i could focus on gaining employment and going to school was critical. but unfortunately i didn't have access to the services and had to struggle on my own. i wholeheartedly believe this is a no-brainer as reverend townsend said earlier. booker t. washington community service center is a gem in the western addition and helped thousands of young people and their families get access to services. also, too, i don't see what the issue is and the concerns from the neighbors. it's not coming out clear to me. i think the cost of reducing the amount of units available to transation will -- transitional aged youth is too much to bear given the issues we have with homelessness. i think this is really about young people and the neighbors have concerns. i really want to hear what those are because it isn't clear to me at this point. i heard someone mentionsu