. first, to speak to the rent control issue, nothing has been guaranteed in writing, as the previous speaker mentioned, we are not even sure if that is allowable. there is nothing guaranteed, and i'm what you would consider a working-class person in san francisco. i'm a high-school teacher, and rent control is what allowed me to fulfill my dream to teach for the last 18 years or so. without it, i would have had to do something else. the relocation process is an enormous undertaking as well. 20 or 30 years of construction -- imagine having to live side- by-side with that every day for 20 or 30 years.

and having to deal with being relocated. there is a lot of elders in our community that would be very upset by that whole process, including the noise and traffic and so forth. speaking of traffic, 5700 new units that according to this plan, they are going to be environmentally friendly and so forth, and that is commendable, but any environmental gains realized by this project will be completely wiped out just by the massive size of this thing. it will be huge, and the traffic is already gridlock on 19th and lake merced boulevard. i invite you to drive by any night with all the residents trying to get in the same place. finally, second to last, just

the face of the residents had chains. so many students are living here side by side with seniors, and they want to party because they are young. three weeks ago, there was a big party i woke up to a 5:00 in the morning, and it was still going on in the building across the street from my house, and there was a fight in the window. what -- parkmerced cannot even manage the residents we have now. there is no way. i would invite you to look behind you. this is the only home i have never known. it is not a frat house or a dorm. it is my life and my livelihood and all i have. thank you very much. [applause]

>> good evening. like my brother said -- i do not know whose pipe dream this is, but it is very disturbing. i have lived here for -- it will be 40 years this coming february. i'm 43. i grew up on these streets. this is my home. i cannot believe whoever is coming up with this stuff. this is not planet krypton. i do not know if you have seen all that, but it is unbelievable. i cannot believe it is even being presented. the environmental concerns we are all for. we are for a lot of the things. we are not for the demolition of the beautiful garden apartments. parkmerced should be a national landmark. absolutely. [applause]

this is peace and solitude. this is late merced -- lake merced. this is bigger than golden gate park. imagine them doing that to golden gate park. it is the same idea. there is natural beauty in our surroundings. we do not want to bring in an unwanted populations and disruption to our streets and neighborhoods. right now, there is graffiti in the streets, party going on almost every night. there is littered everywhere. nobody can manage it. they cannot even manage it now. how are they going to manage it later? it is wrong. it is un-san francisco-like. it is appalling, the whole plan. i beg you to take into consideration all our thoughts

and concerns about the project. thank you for listening. [applause] commissioner miguel: [reading names] >> good evening. i'm the former director of the san francisco and 4 for 15 years. i heard some of the concerns the tenants are speaking out about tonight with regards to safeguards and assurances as to the viability and longevity of any agreement that is entered into with respect to rent control going forward over the course of this project.

i would just like to say that i can speak confidently in my 14- plus years working with the city attorney's office, that they have always first and foremost with the concerns of the rent ordinance and those of the tenants in their minds when they worked on any ordinances that we have dealt with, brock, or in force. i'm quite confident based on what i have read there is a lot of safety items and points in the agreement that i have read, that track, that speaks to this issue. this is, besides the issues i know are concerning some, about the law and its ability to upset the apple cart, and there is also the matter of contract law,

and that has also been addressed in the agreement i have seen, and i think that the tenants, regardless of what happens with rent control, there is still contract law in this country, and this contract law will govern and control the lives and destinies of any agreements that these tenants into into because there will be a written contract that will be signed by the developer. i think we also have a blueprint in terms of trinity, where we had a situation with tenants that were also subject to moving inton -- into an un-rent- controlled building. [inaudible]

[applause] commissioners, my statement here is printed. commissioner miguel: if you want to present it, just leave it in the basket. >> good evening, commissioners. i have been a garden apartment resident since july 1993. i'm speaking here tonight to oppose any plan to demolish over 1500 beautiful garden apartments in historic parkmerced, including my own.

these are my reasons -- one, the current garden apartments are more than adequate to meet san francisco's need for affordable, sustainable housing and urban open spaces. they should be preserved as a historical landmark along with the rest of parkmerced and sold to the tenants as a co-op. [applause] two, any plans to demolish our current garden apartments would interrupt our quiet enjoyment of living in parkmerced and could be legally challenged as a constructive the eviction action, leaving both the owners and city liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation costs from lawsuits. [applause] 3, the owner was a purported

plans to relocate tenants is illusory at best. any new units offered to current tenants under this scheme would effectively be controlled by both state and local laws, leaving renters with no protections and no viable housing options. finally, it is no secret that the current equity holder, fortress investment group, have major financial problems, as to their minority partner. it would be highly irresponsible for the city to issue development in titles to applicants who cannot financially guaranteed that their project will be built or even completed. thank you. [applause]

>> in the basket. commissioner miguel: yes, thank you. >> i live in parkmerced for 19 years. i'm standing here to oppose the proposed development. if any of you have visited, you would appreciate the open space and it's uniquely designed architecture that all the tenants have enjoyed, but what the developer wants is to destroy this beautiful place. they hijacked the term green or sustainable to make it sound good, as though they really care about the environment, but the bottom line is this place as many people as they can to maximize their profits. [applause] what they are going to build our those ugly gray concrete boxes housing that have absolutely no character. the people would be forced to

live on top of each other so that the developer can squeeze as much money as they can. they do not care about how the tenants -- their lives are being impacted. do you think this is really green when they attacked three times as many people in the same area? [applause] although i want to point out that the developer has not adequately address the issue such as pollution, dust, and noise issues coming from demolition and construction that all the residents have to endure. think about the seniors back here and the low-income working family that cannot afford to move away and also people with illnesses. think about what kind of health

impact they would have to suffer. so i strongly urge you to say no to these proposed developments or to any of the developments in the future, and fees preserve this beautiful place. thank you flow. -- please preserve this beautiful place. thank you. [applause] >> hello, good evening. unlike some of the people here, i have only been a resident for the past five years. work brought me to the city, and i absolutely love this community. it is one of the best places i have ever been and lived at. i am a richer. i do not see it as a formidable future to be owning in san francisco, but this is one of the best areas i have ever lived in. i live in one of the townhomes. i'm opposed to the destruction of my home. i'm not opposed to the

advancement for the opportunity to make our home better, our neighborhood better. that is all fine, but i do have some huge concerns. first is parking. we have little or no parking. i have a car for. my husband and i have two vehicles. it is very hard to find parking with the university, which is expanding as we speak. the parking is insane when students are in town and in school. the other concern is crime. i do not get any updates from parkmerced management, but i do get updates from the police department on crime in the area, and we do have escalating crime in the area. assault, robbery, occasionally sexual assault. you put another 30,000, how many

widows are you going to attract? i have a father-in-law who live here for many years. he had concerns about firefighting then. he said that the fire fighting apparatus in san francisco will not reach past the 10th floor. i have seen what happens out here when there is a fire call. there are six or seven units that respond, and that is great, but you put 30,000 more people in this place, what is going to happen? that is scary to me. the other problem is traffic. you come around here it 6:30 in the afternoon and tried to get at 19th avenue for parkmerced boulevard, it is insane. i drive all over to go to work. the traffic is getting increasingly bad. you put another 30,000 people, 53,000 units in here, what is going to happen? that is my concern. my other concern is the rent

control. if you are going to improve it, fine. you do what you want because you own the place. it is your right. but the rent control is a huge concern. our neighbors are our best friends. let us keep our neighborhoods intact. thank you very much. [applause] commissioner miguel: to thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i used to be a resident of parkmerced. i do not live there currently. i am concerned and have been for a number of years about the issues regarding parkmerced, longer than many of you may have known about the issues or have served on the commission. some of the issues i have been involved in include the preservation of parkmerced. i have submitted numerous comments, letters, and drawings to both the planning commission

and the planning department and the san francisco historic preservation commission. i did not see anything going on right now that currently indicates that the current plans in any way shape or form after all the meetings i have attended, and i think it is critical that the planning department and planning commission begin to listen to the people that are out here. i'm amazed to see how many people are sitting here behind me tonight. i'm glad they are here to speak to you. i thank each and every one of them for attending tonight, and it helps me speaking here tonight. i do not have time anymore to fight this issue, but i feel very strongly about it and have fought for a number of years on it. i have taken time away from my child and my wife to fight for this. i do not care any more.

i have the drawings here i have submitted to the planning department, and those drawings i feel strongly about. i'm concerned that they have not looked at these things. i think you should all be looking at them seriously. there are ways to improve transit. there are ways to improve open space throughout the district. demolishing parkmerced is not one of them. [applause] i have submitted the letter on tuesday, november 18, on some of the. i hope you do raise those issues and have that as a discussion topic on whatever future meeting you can discuss it. i can view these copies of that in color. i hope you will take the time to look seriously at it and go back to the drawing board. go back to the architect.

go back to the architect and say this is not appropriate. we need a new plan. we need to reinvent this design. we need to go back to square one on this and really, with something that the planning commission, the community is involved with, the surrounding community organizations are involved with, not just a development organization that says this is the only thing there is. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i was the one who asked you to come out here. i felt that it was a good idea for you to come here. [applause] most of the people here are working people, disabled, and not able to get downtown, and they most certainly could not stand getting there at 12:00 noon and having you bring

parkmerced subject of at 11:00 or 12:00. it would just be too hard to wait 12 hours. i wanted to address two issues. one was the rent control. i understand that under the rules and regulations in san francisco city and county that anything built after 1979 is not covered by rent control, no matter what happens, no matter what a landlord would say. the bottom line that the california supreme court looks at is if the building was built after 1979, it will not be covered by rent control. we are going to just take the blows as they come. there is nothing to say that they could not come right back in the following month and say, "i thought i could handle giving you the rent control, but as it turns out, i cannot, so everybody's read will be raised

to $4,000 a month." we will be definitely pushed out. where are all of us going to go? many of the individuals here work -- were born in parkmerced. they have been here for 25, 35, 45 years. where are they going to go? one, they cannot find housing at the price they are paying now. that is out of the question. relocation? they would relocate as. does that mean they would buy as homes somewhere else? i think some of us could go for that. we could have our very own homes somewhere. we could stop being renters. maybe it means being cashed out. we have paid month after month, year after year. we have made them rich.

we have made them where they stand now. they could not be redeveloping now if they did not think they could get some of the little people to keep paying. i guess each and every one of them, no matter if you have been here 10 minutes or 67 years, i think and $1.5 million been cashed out to all of us will do it. they can get rid of us and then build whatever they want. they can do whatever they want here. [applause] $1.5 million for each individual whether you are a master tenant for a roommate. that is what we want in order to leave here. how about $1.5 million for everyone? [applause] commissioner miguel: thank you, your time is up.

[unintelligible] laura traveller, lee, pallejo, howard strassner, larsen. line up in the aisle in order that i am calling you. garfield cpowell, michelle diamond. >> we are ready. good evening. i am lara traveller.

i have been in parkmerced for over 26 years. i have made presentations to the planning commission before. i can start off with the same statement. i am totally against this developer's idea of redevelopment. anytime you are going to stand up and demolish 1596 town homes that are the homes of people who live here, something is wrong. i think we have heard one of the major reasons that is wrong. it is about greed and money only. [applause]

people who are seniors, as myself, people who are disabled, people who are trying to raise their families here because of the horrible rent that exists throughout the city. they are living here. somewhere along the line, this board has to recognize that we're talking about human beings. we're talking about human beings as well as their homes. these developers think they can be destroyed in one fell swoop. is horrible. -- it is horrible to even think

that way. it is far from the loud beaches where he goes fishing and crying. why is the sea gulls flying the decline as he flies over -- why is the siegel crying as he flies over parkmerced? he is crying for the same reason we are. routes and homes are being possibly destroyed. there the very places that the sea gull can land. these are our homes. we are not going to stand by and see them destroyed for greed. that is the only word that covers it. thank you very much. [applause]

>> good evening, commissioners. i am speaking for the sierra club. we wrote you a long comment on the eir. our main concern is the way you evaluate those eir's. people drive from land-use to land use. that is not true. they drive from parking place to parking place. you cannot drive if you do not have a parking place. when you evaluate the project in this way, it gives developer no incentive for building less parking. based on land use, even have so much driving. we have so much congestion on 19th avenue and around. nothing happens. we have issued an alternative that would have much less parking and impact.

then you and the board of supervisors could see that the alternate project does not have these impacts. the way you analyze the project, there are so many units that will dry. you cannot do business that way. they were providing a big commercial center. it would draw people to drive there. we said it should be smaller. you have to provide enough commercial for the residents to walk and have shuttles. we made comments about allowing other people to use the shuttle. people who get off on the bus or the lrv can use the shuttle to visit relatives. they do not need all the parking. we tried to add more green space. we said you did not need all of the curb parking. you need more green space. this is very hard to do because of the way that you evaluate

these projects. we have the same problems going on in other places. all of these crazy things happen. there is so much housing, therefore there is so much riding. they look to the table and say there is a much driving. no, that is changing. as san franciscans get wealthier, they have fewer cars. there are more families without cars. start the future right now. all of these projects that you are looking at welcome back to you sometime soon for t.i. with less parking and less impact, people will be walking around their communities with all the good improvements. we hope that we can get bthe developers t