i'd think just not building there is how you avoid it. [applause] i'm concerned about the densely populated east side. most of the housing on the east side, and i love the idea of dense housing, and i did live in new york, and i like an urban lifestyle, but i do have a car. i take transit most of the time to work, but my family has one car, and we do use it. i'm concerned i'm not even going to be able to do that, that with so much more population, in addition to the muni the train coming in, which i assume will remove some of the parking where the station is going to be, i think there will be a lot of pressure on fewer spots, and i'm concerned that when friends and family come to visit, they will not be able to park. i do support urban development and creation of affordable housing. i love the green aspects of this

plan. i'm willing to live with the inconveniences of construction, but i'm not willing to completely sacrifice my quality of life right losing my view and light and parking. i think parkmerced is ignoring the real issues of tower residence in its current plans, and i urge you to breast and to consider the issues of tower residence. we are not losing our unit, but we are being seriously impacted, and i have not heard anything with regard to how the plan to deal with us. until i see that done, i will have to withhold my support for this plan. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. [applause] >> i am a resident of parkmerced. i moved here in 1983 from casper, wyoming. i have learned a lot -- first of all, i want to thank the members of the commission for coming here tonight to hear these

folks. there is a lot of emotion going around. i've heard a lot of very good arguments. i've also changed my position somewhat. i'm opposed to the project, although not as opposed as i was a little earlier. when did the man said we need to upgrade. from what i've heard here about another 9000 people, that is hardly an upgrade. that is something else -- the word escapes me, but it is not upgrading. my understanding is that san francisco is the most densely populated city in the state of california. over 1 million people in 49 square miles. parkmerced you might say is a historic unique development. the planning that went into it in the 1940's i think was unique. i would not like to see that concept of green that came from those times completely

destroyed. when i came in, there was a presenter talking about making the neighborhood more walkable. i almost choked. i would invite you, commissioners, to come sometime to parkmerced on a foggy day, sunday, leave your staff and everyone behind, and walk around this neighborhood. the garden apartment -- [applause] the garden apartments are open. children run and play. neighbors interact. they say let's have new designs, bring porches and community back. we have a community here. it may need to be improved or upgraded, and i think it can be done, but it should not be destroyed. if you look sometime at the map behind you, where do we go in this city to see a bird? we go to golden gate park.

most of this green space is privately held if you are not a member of that golf course. it is a very unique experience, and i just urge you from the decisions you make in the next couple of months or years will impact and effect san francisco for hundreds of years to come and you will not be able to withdraw your decision once it is made. thank you very much for your time. commissioner miguel: [reading names]

." -- >> thank you. i'm part of the pack their coalition. we had to found a sister organization because management took over pro and we were not able to get a voice for residents, but as you see, residents are here, so please recognize us. in the comments and responses, it says there are no physical or environmental effects identified as a result of the displacement of residence. therefore, a separate socio- economic study is not required by ceqa. two years ago, i received toxic

poisoning. i have hypersensitivity to chemicals, and i'm sure you know all about sensitivity if you do not, but i may never be able to move to a new unit because of upgraded electrical synthetic carpets, construction, pollution, and we have many babies here and elderly who may also be sensitive to this. in my own garden apartment, i'm able to function. with the twin peaks, we have very clean air. my gas is shut off at my meter, and i'm able to live in my apartment without gas. ceqa should not be suspended for the residence because there can be a substantial environmental impact. it also states no impact physically for the moving. one of the residents told me that if she had to move -- she has lived here 35 years -- that

it would kill her husband and. i have two letters from my neighbors, and i'm going to start to read one. "i look at the developer agreement. i'm not an attorney. i also looked at the vision plan. the plans and promises parkmerced -- the developer agreement in no way matches with the plan promises. "i'm a resident of 316 to reynaud. i've lived here 15 years. my life actually started back in 1972. my grandmother moved to parkmerced when i was two years old. i cannot remember a time when parkmerced was not part of my life. when i got married, my husband and i knew this was where we wanted to live. we started our family here. we have two young children who have known this as their only home. we loved living here.

this is our home. please do not demolish our home. it would be a terrible financial hardship on our family to move. parkmerced is a wonderful place in san francisco to raise children, to build forces many units would ruin a wonderful neighborhood. many things can be done to improve parkmerced in its existing state. there is no reason for it to be demolished. please consider the families of the elderly who will suffer the most. thank you for your consideration." thank you. [applause] >> my name is dr. terence faulkner. i have been an elected member of the committee 1974 cents, representing the western side of

san francisco, and i have also been a member of the board of directors parkmerced residents' organization. unfortunately, for the first time in my life, i had to sign an impeachment order against our president when he tried to purge our board of directors. sari in happened, but he forced it. we did not. when i last appeared before your board, i handed out some copies of this geologic map. it is from the united states geological survey. it basically shows the western side of sand and cisco, basically the format of their is the most vulnerable area of san francisco. means the most susceptible area to look for vacation and everything else. the whole western side of san francisco has historically been low rise. because it can take a good hard hit with an earthquake. remember, the san andreas fault is right off the coast.

it is literally only a few hundred feet off the coast. in any event, what we are doing with parkmerced -- if they tried to build large towers, there will be an extreme danger of failure. this is why we are handing out these maps. this could end up in court at some point where there is wrongful death suits and/or manslaughter charges. things come down and people get killed. this whole issue i think is going to be a major issue. this is one that is not going to go away. there is too much money, too much power, too much of many things. building on some of the most prickly vulnerable land in the city and county of san francisco highrise is borderline insanity. they call it the park merced vision. i call it insanity.

thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. my name is dennis snoring 10. i want to thank you for the privilege of being allowed to speak before you today. i am the longest term tenants in parkmerced. i have lived in parkmerced longer than anyone else. i moved into my current apartment in 1957. before that, my family and i lived one block away for 11 years. that is a total of 64 years of residency in parkmerced. [applause] i have read the plan over as much as one can do with such a

huge document, and it appears to me that there are two very grave of missions, both of which have been spoken to by a number of the speakers tonight, and i appreciate that. the first is in response to one of the early speakers who asked what the rights of tenants are with regard to this plan under the red control laws, and the answer is as far as the event control laws as amended by the ellis act, there are not any rights. if you are a tenant in parkmerced and your unit is demolished, under the current rent control laws, you have no rights. however, this can be dealt with, and i think it is important to know back -- note that a special dispensation bill must be added to the plan to protect the

rights of tenants. without this, any verbal or written promises by the landlord are legally unenforceable, so that is the first omission, which i think should be corrected in the plan. secondly, mr. faulkner spoke to the other omission, which may be corrected eventually, but that is the seismically unstable nature of the soil in parkmerced makes this one of the most earthquake-prone sections of the area. the soil in parkmerced is of a sandy nature and is subject to immediately qualification in any kind of severe earthquake. the loan will create a quake, which was not centered anywhere near parkmerced -- it was 60 miles south -- there was enough shaking so that one of the old tower apartments almost came down.

it appears to me that while the plan itself discusses the problems of a seismic threat to parkmerced in the case of an earthquake, the plan itself has no provisions for specifically dealing with this situation. i find it very problematic that in addition to the old tower apartments, which were never retrofitted after the law will create a quake, the plan calls for putting up numerous other 13 to 15-story tower apartments in one of the most seismically unstable pieces of land in the bay area, so these are the two major points that i want to make tonight, and i appreciate once again the privilege of being able to speak before the commissioners, and i hope you will take these omissions of the plan into consideration when you deal with whatever action you

are going to take. thank you very much. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. do not start yet. i have a tenant for about 15 years. my wife is chair of the health education environment san francisco state. she gets to walk to work. i am an artist and a teacher. i have to drive. but i love living here. i have raised two and a half kids here. i have spent close to $25,000 on the courtyard where i live. i planted 15 rose bushes, trees, and i have invested a lot in this community because it is a real community. i have four yale degrees, and i

studied in the master of architecture program. my teacher has been called -- just retired in his late a.d.'s, and has been called the four most critic and historian of architecture in the indebted states. he is the rally against this project. he is a good friend of the head of the national historic register, and he is determined to recommend this to his friend to be on the national historic register. the architect for the courtyard is the godfather of landscape architect to design, the man who laid out the plan, did the plaza hotel in new york. if it is not broke, do not fix it. this is an incredibly successful housing development that mixes high rise garden apartments, and the court of where we live is like a miniature italian hill town. it is a fortress for the safe raising of children.

they run around free and secure in a courtyard like you will not find any place in san francisco. these apartments are going to be bulldozed, and we will move -- we will be moved into apartments lined up on a straight line. what kind of courtyard are you going to raise kids there? it is not going to work. how many people on the panel here have read the late, great, jane jacobs book "the death and life of american cities"? can i see a show of hands? if you have not, please read it. what everybody is speaking here tonight is directly relevant to that book. she was revolutionary. she says when you bulldoze a community and build a new community and move strangers into it, you lose the fabric of community. it integrates into a slum. i fought a project like this when i live in a silk mill in massachusetts. they wanted to turn this

beautiful building -- an art historian wrote a beautiful book about it. they wanted to turn it into 26 apartments. the little village got a lawyer. we fought at city hall. we came close to stopping it. i got them to reduce its to 19 apartments. it is now an incredibly depressing slump. one of the most beautiful buildings in massachusetts. it is going to happen here again. we can keep the community that is here and not destroy it. please do not do this. [applause] commissioner miguel: before the next speaker, because we have been here this length of time, we are going to take a 10-minute breaea

commissioner miguel: if you'll pardon me, with this brightly shining, i cannot necessarily read this correctly. >> hi like to introduce my next- door neighbor at two years, nellie delaware bottle. >> thank you very much. i have lived here for 21 years. my husband, my two children, and me move from a two-story apartment. we ran away from there, and we

found this beautiful community. where we live, it is so happy here, so beautiful. now we are living in panic. people knock on my door and asked me when we have to move, when we are going to tear down the apartment. people are living in panic. we are also concerned about how much of this is going to be in the area. we do not know when they are going to start actually, and we are very concerned about this. i invite you to come to parkmerced any day and go to the gardens and the apartments. it is just beautiful. i am completely opposed to this. thank you very much. [applause]

>> can you hear me? ok, commissioners, i'm on your list. the lady behind me let me go ahead of her because i have to get back to my sick wife. my wife and i are decent residents. we moved in in march. what can i tell you accept i hear all this talk about the environment. let me tell you -- since i moved here, i have lost about 60 pounds. my health and energy has gotten a lot better. same for my wife. one thing i will say is i will just tell you this that i had a conversation with my wife recently, and she did not understand -- i do not know either -- why the plans are to destroy such beautiful, durable places like garden apartments. i will tell you that when we moved here, we sought and we

still think this is a little slice of heaven, so i find myself distressed to hear about the project plans to demolish and garden apartments. as we live in 100 block of gonzales, if they go through, we will probably be one of the first ones to have to leave. that is my guess. i could be wrong. another thing i would like to bring to your attention -- a small matter, perhaps not germane to your decision, however, what is decided in this matter concerning division plan will be utilized in not only local law, but state and federal matters across the country to help decide similar issues. i think it has something to do with the good faith clause in the constitution. i'm not going to take any more time because so many people have spoken and have said things so much better than i can, so,

commissioners, i want to thank you for your time. please have a good day. commissioner miguel: thank you. [applause] >> hello. in a lifelong resident of san francisco and a five-year resident of parkmerced and a former intern with the department of city planning. for three and a half years of my residency here, i fought for rent control. i'm proud to say, successfully. why did i fight? because i love my home. i like the quiet street, the individual town house had occupied, and the view from my kitchen window. i cannot imagine ever living in the ken hill of the town towers. i'm afraid of heights, and i am ever vigilant of the earthquake

san francisco will one day in door. rent-controlled, relocate? what about the quiet enjoyment of my home? after three and a half years of fighting simply to retain the basic amenities i first signed my lease for, i find that once again, i must extend my time, energy, and money for the same period as an environmental planner, the proposal to triple the density of parkmerced seems ludicrous to me. triple the congestion of the a new transportation solutions? triple the parking hassles the of proposals for parking light satellites? mirror and sheer volume? trimble the crime be a high- density and rerouting of public transit? outside the window dressing of the publicity campaign, residents are well aware of how management solves problems. just one example is parkmerced's answer to the city's legislation to hide garbage cans here rather than direct small view blockers,

the remedy was to create large dumpsters located 50 yards away from a tenants' home. behold. for once, let the needs of the many residents of park merced out with the greed of the few. imagine the richmond district or sunset district -- one here? because it is privately owned. [applause] >> thank you. my name is kevin murphy. i have been at parkmerced for five years, and we have been fighting them for four years. thank you for letting us talk, and thank you for everyone that has given their input on both sides of the issue. a couple of issues -- for those of you that think that this plan is going to work -- there is a basic principle. corporations are not out for

people. they are out for profit. the landlord is a corporation. the landlord wants san francisco to change the rules for their benefit, not for our benefit. i think a lot of you think we are being intransigent here. we are not being intransigent against change. we are intransigent against corporate greed. [applause] we do not want that. the choice before you all is this -- on one hand, do you side with the rich, the powerful? or do you side with the people? that is your job. do you guys side with us? you are charged with protecting us from predatory developers. this is not florida. and i'm sure each of you have made your decision already. i have seen people tapping their pencils. no one is taking any notes. i know you guys already made your decision, but i want to ask you right now -- whose side are

you on? [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i'm a 20-year resident of the sunset district and also a member of st. stephen's parish, and i'm going to use my time to read this letter from the leaders of the parish. the letter is signed by 55 or more than that, i think, parishioners. there are many more people in our parish in support of the project, but i will just read this letter. dear planning commissioners, as a long time neighbor, the parish has a vested interest in the development plan the central commission is reviewing today. we had the largest san francisco school, church, and organization

in the immediate area impacted by the development. when we first ran, we formed a committee to track the project and inform the parish of the impact it would precipitate. as you may be aware, several development projects have met with considerable opposition from our parish, and many ultimately failed. our organization works closely with the supervisor's office to ensure that any proposed development impacts are mitigated to community consensus. with 5000 679,000 new units, relocation of light rail, new retail schools and traffic improvements, the task of discerning the impact laws is overwhelming. a final evaluation hurdle to account is the 20-year phased deployment of various project components. our parish committee consists of several experienced developers and environmental assessor's employed by government agencies

in the area. the committee has attended over 45 meetings regarding the project. we have also held many meetings for the interested members of our parish to discuss their concerns in private. after all our analysis, discussion, and efforts, even a pair -- st. stephen's parish supports the new development for the following key reasons -- the relocation of light rail to the west side, addition of traffic signals in 19th avenue and seven adjacent intersections, high level of green building technologies employed throughout the entire project, and a retention of rent control units and the addition of new affordable housing units. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. [applause] am i good evening, commissioners. i'm the committee chair for st. stn'