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tv   [untitled]    May 18, 2011 2:00am-2:30am PDT

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but many who are for it. i have this year, and i will pass this out a synopsis of 9% -- >> supervisor mar: thank you. next, please. >> thank you so much supervisors. i am helaniting. i am part of the action combs. we want to say we are opposed to this development. we know it will not be any good, especially to all of us long-term people there. as far as trying to speak to other people that want to tear down park merced, they are brand new people there, hardly been there at all. no, i think if park merced wants to make a big splash and wants to help make more families, they can reopen frederickburg elementary
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school, which has been closed for 30 years. no, i don't think that is their great calling in life. all they want to do is tear the place down, cram as many people into a small area as possible and charge the highest amount of represent that they can. that is all that is going to happen. as the san francisco city and county attorney said, there are no guarantees, and the rent control discussion absolutely will not be upheld because it is not part of the law or anything. if they want to change their mind later, they can. thank you very much. supervisor mar: i am going to call several more names. jim cook, elizabeth cook, bill blackle weapon, and hirkuda.
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that is the remainder of the cards i have. >> good afternoon, honorable supervisors. i am speaking as an arc at the time and the father of two children here in france -- san francisco. i support park merced. this is an opportunity to confront head on the crushing responsibilities we will be facing as a city, state and region for the next 100 yards. horrible housing, environmental sustainability and rent control make this is a response inproject in a local sense. but adding 5,700 units to the city's housing stock will be a huge benefit over time. an earlier speaker spoke about the history of this place as a plan from the garden city. if this is approved, it will
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become historic as a moment in time when the city of san francisco and the bay region got serious about living in a sustainable manner. thank you. >> what was your name again? >> owen kinnerly. supervisor mar: thank you >> my name is mike smith. i am an eight-year resident of park merced. i have enough brain cells to know things are not quite right in the garden home i live in. most recently a continuation of the plumbing problems i had nearly cost an injury in my home when a pope broke, and it started leaking through the kitchen fixture. the lens came down and almost crashed on my wife's head. i have put up with this for a long time. i am in favor of the vision. i think park merced is old,
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tired, and i think it needs some rejuvenation. it just is getting to be one thing after another. i, too, have talked to a lot of people on my block. some of them were against it at first and have changed their mind, a lot of them for the same reasons as i. when you are ill, you for to the doctor to get fix. i think park merced needs to get fixed. it is old, tire and dying. i like what arnie said. if we do nothing, what is the future going to be there? is it going to turn into a ghetto? are they going to piecemeal it off? i am concerned about those things. the city attorney convinced me about rent control. i think it is going to take affect, and we are going to be ok. i am in favor of the vision, thank you.
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>> hello, i am elizabeth keith. i have been at park merced for 17 years, and most of the people i know that are for this project, including me, have been there a long time. so that statement about us being short-term is not correct. these apartments are far from sound. they need constant maintenance. there is an incredible waste of space. the parks require hero water and maintenance than makes sense. the construction is three minutes away from me. i barely notice it. i don't think the people against this are going to be happy with the alternatives to this project because no one is going to want to pay or put money into fixing these apartments up as they are. i had the same experience as jeannie. when i went door to door, people were asking questions,
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and they appreciated the information and the visit. for the people against this, i just want to say this i am sure there were people against the original park merced plan, and in the end there are people that are resistant to it now. but the result in the end will be more convenience for everyone, especially the elderly, nicer apartments with dish washer, washers and dryers with no rent increase, better use of the space, rent control, recreational space, shopping, picnic areas, et cetera. the reason i trust this plan is because they have kept their word all along, and they have changed their plan according to our needs. thanks for listening. supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for your time. my name is jim cook, and i am a 14-year resident of park merced, district seven, and
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supervisor elsbernd is my supervisor. park merced recently has been going door to door, as mentioned by elizabeth and others, to speak to every resident in the garden units to answer their questions and concerns, and to walk them through the tenant relocation process and tenant protection. park merced will comply with the current housing ordinances, which will provide 800 units in addition to the other units. there will be 25,000 jobs created and 1,600 permanent on-site jobs and 550 sbrenth permanent jobs. this brings significance improvements, including safety for pedestrians along the 19th avenue corridor, much needed
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transportation improvements, and this opens the door for tier five improvements. i have watched owners sell off parcels of the property. i am concerned that if the vision doesn't go through as presented, that will happen again. you can look at what is happening over at the university with their changes in the area. the cost of future renovations without this vision will be passed on to the residents. i am a current resident, and i support the project, and i urge you to do so as well. supervisor mar: i am going to read a couple of names. matt preston, dean chamberlain, george woodalling, carroll coppell, nikollo. >> good afternoon, my name is bill blackwell with the plumbers and pipe fitters in
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san francisco. just to reiterate what some of these tenants have said, this is a property that has lived its life. some of the areas are 60 years old. the infrastructure for this property is failing. we can walk any days you would like to, and i can show you gas lines, sewer lines and water lines in the walls that are failing. when we have redone it, they have passed the construction on to tenants. i understand the concerns the tenants have about being relocated and no rent control, but this owner has kept its word every step of the way. if not, they are going to get all these pass-throughs put on to them, and it will be worse for them. i hope you support this project. supervisor mar: thank you.
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>> good morning, supervisors. i am the chair of the coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. nine years on the housing committee. this is recommend says ent of redevelopment of the edition in 1950's. this displacement of thousands i guess is ok because they are just renters, not homeowners. they don't have to be treated with much respect. now, it is my understanding that rents at one point were $1,600 a month, and they went up to over $2,000 when they were renovated, and now the new minutes might be $3,000 a month. now that is a brilliant idea to get by rent control. we can just have these agreements, displace the people, have them move back in, and the rent is going to be
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quite a bit higher. this process is really flawed. this is a very important project, and here at the beginning of this meeting we were told of all these minor changes, and here we were given documents that are 32 pages long. i don't under -- understand why this is being rushed through when this is a 30-year project. i think we need to study this and evaluate it thoroughly and not just rush through this so they can get their 20% profit. now this developer from way understand was involved with the vancouver olympics, and they left voon with $700 million in debt. is this what is going to happen to san francisco? there an answer to that? is there some kind of assurance that we are not going to have
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the same debt? you can fool me ones -- once. you can't fool me twice. please allow more time for this project. >> good afternoon supervisors, adrian -- supervisor mar: did you fill out a card? >> i did not. supervisor mar: you are jumping in front of people who filled out cards and others as well. people should fill out the cards so that we are hearing people as they come in. >> thank you. supervisor mar: since you are up here now, please go. >> thank you, supervisors. field representative adrian seemie from kearpt's 22. i will tell you about what i know about disorganizing and
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misinformation. i'm hearing a lot of that here. this job is progress. the whole backbone behind it is not to misplace or mistreat tenants, raising their rent. this is about helping tenants out, a good project on the west side of san francisco that we haven't seen for decades. this job has to go through. it is a good project, and local 22 stands behind it. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. paul, and kathy. >> dean preston, tenants together. good afternoon, supervisors. a 30-year project to demolish over 1,500 rent-controlled housing units occupied by tenants. who decided this project was a good idea? as we dive into the details, let's step back and ask who decided this was a good way to
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develop and to create denialsity? who has approved it? certainly not this board, the voice of the people of san francisco. in fact, the three planning commissioners appointed by the board all vote thed against this project because they recognized this was a bad idea. this project is a bad idea from conception. ask yourselves would you approve the demolition of 1,500 homes occupied by people living in your district? would you approve the demolition in a 152-acre area of your district to serve the purpose of densification? of course you wouldn't. this stuff was built 50 years after a lot of the housing in all of your districts. are we going to start knocking victorians down? that is what we did in the western edition as a prior speaker said.
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if they are old, submit a soundness report. if someone wanted to demolish one unit on my block, they would have to come before the rent control commission. but they don't have to do that because they are rezoning the whole area. if they did, you would see this is undersound housing. we may get cut off on time. i am very disappointed in what barely qualifies as the analysis of this los angeles case that was provided to you. i will be happy to discuss that with any supervisors. all it does is require that the units -- if they are offered for rent in a five-year period, that it is subject to rent control. it doesn't stop the owners with holding the units vacant or any other. supervisor mar: thank you.
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please don't yell out from the audience in the future. sir? >> good afternoon. my name is matt chamberlain. i am a ress sent not of park merced but close to mark merced along the west side. i am active in several neighborhood organizations, and i have spent a huge amount of time thinking and breathing housing in san francisco. i spent over a year and a half of the housing element 2009 community advisory body. so i have been thinking about that a lot. generally speaking, i find myself tending against development. however, in this case i find myself very clearly in support of this project. there are a lot of reasons you have heard probably 10 times, and radio i am not going to repeat them here. the thing that opened my eyes for the need for this project is the opportunity for a huge
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amount of planning. we are talking about a development effort that will take 30 years. it is not like we will snap our fingers and see something radical happening overnight. probably the single biggest gold star on the resume of these developers is the commitment and involvement in the long-term traffic plan, the tier five traffic plan along 19th avenue. i drive it a lot. it is practically a parking lot now, and it will only get worse. this project does give us an opportunity to improve things in a large area of san francisco that i think has been ignored for a long time. i support it. please support it as well. thank you. >> tim and danny campbell.
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>> hello, my name is nikolo. good afternoon to everybody. i have been lived in park merced for a few years now. i am excited to see their perhaps for the new park merced. i am happy to be able to live in a community that i will be able to call home for many years. current deparned units are reaching the end of their useful life. the park merced division addresses the issues in park merced without burdenening the residents or the city. please, listen to us residents who actually want the community to survive for years to come. people against the addition don't understand that by keeping the units the way they are not will only result in more maintenance needed, more pass-through, more financial
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hardship for any company. change is needed to survive. thank you. >> thank you, chairman mar. tim on behalf of the san francisco housing coalition. this project represents the largest investment in affordable housing in the history of the west side. it is the largest investment in transit infrastructure on the west side since the l and n lincecum went in, and it doesn't cost the tax payers a nickel. we believe it is on sound footing. and three, the project's opponents believe if this project is rejected, everything will happily return to how it is today. we believe this is the least likely of all the outcomes it faces today. change is coming to park
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merced. the only question is whether the city contains the investments. this is a highly under utilized property. the result, no rebuild of the aging garden apartments. no building of retail open space or gardens. no investment of transit, but certainly likely sharply increasing rents from capital pass-through. a second unpleasant outcome might be the piecemeal sell-off of chunks of the property. as happened with previous owners in the past. including six blocks containing 262 rental units bought by san francisco state. this permanently took them off the rental market. i would remind you that san francisco state is a highly
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motivated buyer or acquirer of housing. they are r.i.p. calls for new housing units. is there anything that would prevent them from buying up chunks of the property. i think this is a good project and deserves your support. supervisor mar: thank you. >> hello, supervisors. my name is george. i am the president of twin peaks central council. i am here briefly to say the west side needs planned intelligent growth. i have attended at least 12 meetings regarding park merced. i have written extensively on the deir, and much of it was negative in terms of the neighborhoods have gone to subsidize things like water, schools, the transportation
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aspect with a tier five element is a big plus. 19th avenue as stated earlier is going to become a parking lot. park merced is a planned development, and i want to stress planned. it has been planned and discussed by the neighborhood, the developers and the city government. tangible benefits have been negotiated for the neighborhoods, affordable housing, you name it. although the park merced project represents many changes , costs and problems, and i feel bad for some of the residents, the project is preferable to the chaotic third element that represents uncontrolled density growth on the west side. you have a clear look at what can be done with planned growth whether you like it or not.
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and you have a clear look in the future about the disaster that is coming with turning housing into density zoning. the west side needs planned intelligent growth. thank you. >> hello, board of supervisors. my name is carroll coppell. i have lived at park merced for 21 years in a two-bedroom garden apartment. i support them. i have spoken many times here at the hearing about the dilapidated apartment, and i want to take this team to speak from my heart. i don't know how else to put it any other way this time but for us to move along. these places are in such disrare, and i would love for
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stellar management, the best company we have evered had to rebuild. i can't take the neighbor's dirty bath water coming up, the long walk to the laundry room in my older years. and i can't keep calling maintenance every day to keep my fuses from broken. sweff spoken and spoken, and i beg you, please for the future of seniors in park merced, help us. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is katherine wong, and i have lived at park merced for a few years. i am happy with the community and the current management company. i am excited to see their plans for the new park merced. i am happy to be able to live in a community that i will be able to call home for many, many years. i am grateful that they are promising to continue my rent
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control rate even after the construction is complete instead of just passing down pass-throughs as past management used to do. in today's age community is key. we need a place to gather, to celebrate, to build a community together. the project offers a community center, neighborhood parks, community garden, coffee shops and restaurants, missing today. currently open space is unuseable for recreation since most of it is in the middle of busy streets. it is highly con surf tiff of water. the project will provide over 68 akers of green -- acres and parks. they have guaranteed any person affected will be moved to a brand new unit with the current rent at the time of the move.
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park merced is beautiful. thus the reason i moved there, and many people i know. but it clearly can't survive unless we pass this. if it doesn't pass. i am scared to see what would happen. i can't imagine any future company would want it since it needs a lot of work and not economically sound. supervisor mar: thank you. >> hello, supervisors. thank you for holding another public hearing on this very important issue. my name is ann marie bratton. i live in merced. i have been in my garden apartment for 18 years. i am in phase one, and i will be one of the first people to move out. i don't want to particularly live in a high rise apartment. however, i think that each one of us, everyone, has a responsibility beyond our individual lives. i think the park merced plan
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speaks to that responsibility. san francisco needs housing. san francisco needs affordable housing especially on the west side of the city. san francisco needs, as well as the earth needs, environmental development. and this plan is a very sustainable plan. high density urban housing near transportation is becoming the best development for sustainable living. san francisco needs economic development. the jobs that will be provided, the construction jobs, the electrical jobs, the union jobs. i have talked to my neighbors as well. i have a neighborhood who was scared to death. they are going to tear down my apartment. what am i going to do? my daughter had to move in because she lost her job.
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when i explained that he was going to be moving into a brand new apartment much more energy efficient, water efficient and all of that, he was very happy. i'm sure that there are many people in the residents who do not understand because they have been misled by misinformation. one of the things i think is important about these hearings is that good information comes out from people like michael varney and some of the union people, the people who support the plan. so i urge you to support it. thank you very much. supervisor mar: please do not yell out from the awed yelps. next speaker. >> good afternoon, danny campbell with sheet metal workers 104. this is a good project. it is a smart project. time to get this off the drawing table. time to break ground. the city needs this, and the community does. you have heard before we don't
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-- if we don't do anything now with the traffic situation, we know it is going to get worse. but this project addresses that and a lot of other factors, too. green sustainable standards that they are going to build this project to. so i ask you to move this forward and thanks very much. supervisor mar: thank you. i will call the last card that i have from the box here. manuel flores. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is hall of fame -- javier floors. i am here to support the project. one of the things i want to minx, laborers are the lowest paid compared to any other trade. we do have members. we represent members