about the environmental impact sustain these appeals today. report. i would like to note that at however, my experience with this type of prophecies is that least three supervisors have been absent while people spoke environmental impact reports are here. largely treated as some type of formality that needs to occur to that in validates your deliberations. i would suggest you have the full complement of the board for create an illusion that a any hearing on an eir. democratic process is taking place, and which will be largely that said, i have submitted ignored, to the extent that they written comment that delineates many of the legal flaws. raise serious issues, and will not all of them, but some of the more egregious ones in the eir. be taken into account to the i would know right now, because extent merely that they affirm time is so limited, that the eir pre-existing bias on behalf of makes no effort to mitigate the decision makers to go through or many identified impacts on not go through with a particular transportation, transit, and so project. on. of course, the human impacts, so i really find that objectionable. which have been spoken to so eloquently by speakers before there is a human impact of the me, are nowhere in the eir. project being proposed.

there is displacement of over a one of the biggest smelly white thousand individuals, many of whom are elderly, many of whom elephants in the room that everyone seems to be avoiding is have known this as their home the development agreement that for decades or more. is nowhere in the eir, since it there is a promise that somehow this housing will be replaced does require and ask for physical changes to this with a friend-controlled environment and is a principal housing. component of the product itself. but as we all know, there is no way to enforce that guarantee. it was required to be in the eir to the extent that that is being held up as a canard, any of you who go along with it should be and be subject to public scrutiny and comment and to your ashamed of yourselves. deliberations today. u.s. politicians need to have a it is not because it was not. backbone and standup in this it just in validates the -- invalidates the eir entirely. age, recede -- where we see -- the development agreement is a dangerous document. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker. we know the city just past $32 million for --

>> i am here to speak to you to supervisor mar: thank you very much. next speaker. >> lavigne preston, tenants together. thank you for your time and for looking through the stacks of material. i cannot believe this project has gotten this far. i cannot believe we are seriously considering it. imagine any other low-density area of the city, and imagine if we decided to carve out 152 acres and demolish all the single-family homes there because we need more density there, and we are going to bring transit there and increase tax revenues through that. you would vote 11-0 on the project. i hope you will on this one as well. anyone who proposed that would be left out of the city. we have not seen this since the

fell more redevelopment. if you want president, it is the film more redevelopment, mass demolition with unenforceable promises of replacement housing. the prior speakers covered most of the specific eir issues. no consideration of a no- demolition alternative. it is mentioned in the eir, which then states this potential alternative was considered but not selected for analysis. regardless of what mr. yarney tells you, no analysis. second, the comment letter is very important. the development agreement is not analyzed. it is the key to how the city says nobody is going to be displaced. it is not even analyzed in the eir.

the development agreement should have been finished with public input before you even finalized an eir. it is a fundamental problem. there are many others. i urge you to look at them. thank you very much. >> i am with san francisco tenants united. we also agree this should be sent back to planning for a thorough analysis of a non- demolition alternative, not a one-paragraph mentioned. it is not necessary to demolish. you can use some of the 6000 parking spaces that are going to put out there to build some housing, for example. rent-control housing stock in san francisco is too much at risk to risk losing another 1500 units. we have a condo conversions. we have mergers. we have demolitions.

we have tourist conversions. we cannot build anything new. we have to preserve for we have. it is way too risky to think that under costa-hawkins we can have some sort of protection for these units. you have heard from these people who are going to lose their homes. do not put this -- do not put them at risk. send this back to planning. thank you. >> i have been living in parkmerced since 1959. in case you don't know it, this is the eir. i suspect to probably have not seen it yet. i have emailed each of the supervisors and the staff of the board some comments with respect to this. i would like to emphasize certain points. one, one-third of the proposed

1500 units being demolished were not built in 1941. they were built in the 1950's, at that standard, when the towers were built. if the towers do not need to be replaced, than one-third of these units do not need to be replaced either. they are made of concrete, not lath and plaster. the muni reroute is probably one of the more bring was ideas i have seen short of the crosstown subway plan. any route of the m line goes one block inside parkmerced. it serves may be 5% of the population in that unit. it leaves the entire west side no closer to the station and then they were. somebody needs to rethink the entire process. it would be a lot cheaper if

they spend the money improving bus lines, and they can find that with a lot less money. auto congestion would be horrible on 19th avenue. it is bad enough now. it would only get worse. a rough year -- i refer also to the comments on earthquake safety. >> thank you for hearing us today. i am a long-time resident. i am a third-generation some consistent and a proud giants fan, of course. i am a high-school teacher. i teach high-school in san francisco. i would like to speak quickly to parkmerced as my home. the size and density of this program is huge, and way beyond the proper skill for the size of our neighborhood.

potentially 25,000 to 30,000 people in that little corner of the city is unimaginable. not to mention that the traffic and congestion issues that have already been mentioned. i would urge you to look carefully at the eir and look at the size and density issues, the hazardous materials issue as a result of 20 to 30 years of demolition. i would also urge you to look carefully at commissioner moore's report once again. she has made a lot of careful remarks i think are very relevant to this discussion and to deciding on whether or not this proposal should go through. also to be considered is the finances and who is financing this project. porkers development. i suspected several documents yesterday, several documents about fortress development and their previous projects in new

york and vancouver. finally, and this is -- it is hard for me not to get emotional, because we are talking about my home, the only home i have ever known. the people that our funding this do not live here. there are a lot of people interested in this form and the reasons who do not live there. but it is my home and the home of many others. thank you for your consideration. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is john kim. i have been living in parkmerced for 35 years. thank you for this opportunity to speak. i respect all of you for your integrity and hard work. i have trust in you.

you will come to an informed decision eventually. thank you. supervisor chiu -- when he last visited parkmerced, i had a chance to meet him. he said san francisco is a great city. we can do better. we can do better by keeping san francisco -- let's keep san francisco beautiful. people all over the world visit san francisco and spend money, making tourism the number one industry in san francisco. they come because san francisco has unique beauty and characteristics some other cities do not have. unlike other cities, san francisco is not a complete

concrete jungle. san francisco will lose its beauty if the residential area becomes another concrete jungle. let's preserve the beauty of san francisco that we all love. as far as the environmental impact is concerned, my main concern is 19th avenue, between floyd and holloway, one of the most congested highways. supervisor mar: thank you very much. if i could ask daniel mccormack, mickey hemacheck, and michael belazi to also join

. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i do not live in parkmerced, but in 2001 i did an analysis of the historical landscape of the st. thomas church of parkmerced. you have received a really excellent letter from the national trust for historic preservation and other preservation organizations in the city, state, and nationally, which lays out the importance of the historic importance of parker said -- of parkmerced. the supervisor elsbernd: -- the eir has not done a good analysis of the preservation alternative. i live in the outer sunset.

i am very concerned about the traffic impact this project will produce, and that i will not be able to easily go to the airport. it will be very congested. also, there is a lot of foot traffic going over the great highway down the peninsula that will bunch up. the third point i would like to make is that i cannot understand how san francisco is considering to demolish the affordable housing in favor of market-rate housing. this is so religious. thank you.

>> i am a new resident. sorry. i am not used to public speaking. i am a new president. i am part of parkmerced action coalition. i want you to stop this eir. it is a scam. protect and serve. this is the both peace officers take, and hopefully keep with them throughout their lives. protect and serve all residents -- plants, animals, humans. and birds. our bird population at parkmerced -- we are part of their specific flyways known as the migrate up and down the

coast. they need to rest near our homes. please stop this. please save our community and keep our town houses. the backyards are wonderlands with beautiful birds. please server community well by protecting our beautiful homes. more maintenance, less lies. stop this eir. thank you. >> my name is sarah manofee. i was not going to speak, but i got emotional listening and i wanted to put in my 2 cents. just as somebody who cares about the city that i love and who has lived through a lot of

displacement of friends and seen what happened in the fillmore -- this seems like the same to me. it is whole communities destroyed and displaced. i really think that ordinary people without a whole bunch of money deserve to have roses and open space and decent housing that is affordable. they should not be run out of the city because the politicians are bending over for the developers. our last mayor was in their pocket. i really hope that is going to change now. please do not let this scammed go through. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker.

>> if i cut off, i am going to go over. i wish supervisor mirkarimi was here. i fought alongside him with the green party to keep progressives in this town and to keep our voice heard. i am a 20-year resident of parkmerced. many people have talked about the traffic and all those concerns and the decimation of the community. let us make no bones here. this is about killing went control for 1500 garden apartment dwellers and the rest of the community of parkmerced. i am no stranger to displacement. i was part of the arts exodus of 2000. i got kicked out of my second home of third street. i do not know if you have all been here long enough for that.

1500 musicians were sent packing. many of them moved. many were gone. i want to keep my home here. i want to keep my dreams alive here and to pursue what i want to pursue as a musician and beyond that. san francisco's 49 square miles -- there is unlimited demand to move here. we are not opposed to change. just work with residents in the community to keep some of the existing features, and basically let us continue to live there. add some density, if need be. as a progressive democratic body, you should protect our socio-economic diversity. this is san francisco's middle- class. i have lost my second home. i do not want to lose my first home. san francisco is touted as a european-style city.

european-style cities have working middle and upper class is. this is the last stand. if i get kicked out of san francisco, i will move. thank you very much. supervisor mar: thank you very much, sir. next speaker. and if there are any other members of the public who wish to speak on behalf of the appellant, now is time to get up. >> i am a 28-year-old native san franciscan. i grew up across the street from lake merced. i took classes at san francisco state, right next door. i strongly oppose the demolishing of affordable housing in san francisco. >> good afternoon.

my name is maria elena. i am a resident of parkmerced since 2003. i used to live in manhattan. one of the biggest reasons i moved back to san francisco was because of parkmerced. maybe you don't understand, but i actually pay $2,017 a month of land. that is for me, my partner, and my dog. i live in a home where there is rugs, a bathroom, a living room, a dining room. if you could please just looked at me, because i am actually a resident and i have a home there. if you could come to parkmerced one afternoon, i would love for you to come with me and i will take a tour with you and you will understand why there is so many people here opposing this

eir. i know many people have spoken and actually have said much of everything i wanted to say, but i am just asking you for a chance, since i am a boater. the developers of this plan, which is a hedge fund, just got an office in san francisco once they purchased from the management company that went into default at parkmerced. i am just asking you to please remember that i am human and i have a home, and i would love to stay there and not be surrounded by demolition, asbestos, and maybe lawsuits against you later on. i am just asking you to please may become to visit.

>> good evening. i am here on behalf of the president of the professional property management association. there have been numerous informational hearings from the planning commission and countless meetings for san francisco city agencies. the impact report is before the board for your review. there will be significant impact on this project. i am not going to kid you. all these issues have been fully addressed. supervisor mar: these are folks that support the appellants, not the project sponsor. >> i am sorry. supervisor mar: thank you. you can speak later on in tonight's presentation. >> my name is nellie delgado.

i am going to talk about the 10 members of my family, and we completely oppose the expansion. >> my name is gail meadows. i have lived in parkmerced for 30 years. i am a middle-class person and an african american person. the demolition takes away middle-class people in the city and african american people, 3% to 5%. i urge you to think about your legacy. do you want your legacy to be forthright and honest people, or people who took the deal because there was money involved? thank you very much.

supervisor mar: are there any other members of the public who wish to speak on behalf of the appellants? please step up and you can speak. >> i apologize. i am a resident of parkmerced. supervisor mar: speaking to the microphone? >> i understand the reason you are holding this hearing, to cover your back. and to elicit more information. i understand this. also, i think the american public should stop voting for politicians, because politicians are the ones who are destroying this country. they are only interested in pursuing their own interests,

like our president. so we will retake the country back. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is bill herbert. i live in parkmerced. but i am are regionally -- am originally from pittsburgh. i just asked supervisors to see what happened in that area on the defaults, and especially the crime. the crime is just out of control, probably second only to richmond. my point is please give this your consideration, and consider what you are building.

give these people at home. thank you. supervisor mar: are there any other members of the public who wish to speak on behalf of the appellant? at this time, why don't we proceed to the next phase, the planning department. you have up to 25 minutes for a presentation. >> -- you have up to five minutes for a presentation. >> and majored in environmental analysis i am with the environmental review officer for the planning department, as well as the number of our presentation -- our preservation staff. the item for you is the appeal of the report of the eir for the parkmerced, approved by the

planning commission. you may reverse by a majority vote of all members of the board. the board may overturn if it finds -- the board may accept it as well. if the board reverses the planning department certification, it will make specific findings and remanded to the commission for further action. the question at hand is the adequacy of the environmental documents according to ceqa, and not the merits of the product itself. the board will have the opportunity on another date to consider other aspects of the project beyond environmental effects. parkmerced is an existing residential