shuttling over is not going to be feasible. we need a local residential recreation place to play tennis. this has been serving the neighborhood for the last 30 years. this is one of the reasons that i took up residence there. it was right near beit and i did not have to drive a car anywhere -- nearby and i did not have to drive a car anywhere. it was right across the street. if you demolished this tennis courts, you are going to lose a lot in the neighborhood. competitive tennis in san francisco as well. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening. i live in golden gateway. i realize the purpose of this meeting is not to review all the

details from all these meetings. i recognize you are looking at political considerations. i think you should consider the ultimate finding of fact in the eir that said there was no undue burden on recreation as a result of approving the development. the original eir stated that the club would be replaced by eight smaller facility -- by a smaller facility. we objected and said there is no restriction in the deed being offered. how do we know that will survive? we were told that was there was a letter? they responded that there is a letter. here is a letter. the letter states [inaudible] it is currently open to members of the public who purchase a

membership. some members of the community are concerned that the new health clubs and fitness facility would eventually be closed. this letter confirms, as owner of the property, the honorable consent to a condition of approval -- the owner will consent to a condition of approval. [inaudible] it's a means the transition, they could open a club, then close it, transfer to the homeowners' association. this is not a deed restriction. i ask adding minimum there should be a -- at a minimum, there should be a deed restriction for recreational use, and recreational use available to the public. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors. i am the vice president with the

neighborhood association, representing the thousands of residents and businesses. our association has long objected to be 8 washington street development for many of the reasons that have already been outlined. too much height, too much congesting talent to much bulk. -- too much congesting comment too much bull. what is disturbing is that the proponents have twisted the positions to those who object to this inappropriate development. if you read the opinion pieces, it sounds like we want to maintain the parking lots along the embarcadero. nothing could be farther from the truth. our association believes that the only comprehensive urban plan for the any waterfront, the vision plan offers something that has been vetted by the

community and is a viable document for the future. the sea wall lots should not be parking lot. they should be developed and they should be developed within the public trust doctrine, which permits a hotel sites, bicycle emporiums, senior centers, and so forth. these can all be developed consistent with the public trust doctrine. in conclusion, i urge you to bring this project into compliance with the standards by reducing the height, bolt, shuttling, parking. or better yet, stop this inappropriate development altogether. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors. i urge you to vote no on the approval of the 8 washington street eir.

i am a volunteer. i am not getting paid to be here. most people -- the proposed project is a disaster for recreation. this has been carried forward from the nes. we offered a viable alternative. we never had a fair chance. the fix was and. -- was in. as discussed in the er, reiterated below, the construction when not remove the recreation source. -- as discussed in the eir, reiterated below, the construction would not remove a recreation and source. this is the big dog in the room. destruction of active

recreation, and 80,000 square feet. what would be left is 21,000 aquatics center. not an expanded facility as advertised. what about policy 2.11? how can you folks possibly vote for this? if this were a fair fight, we would have won this year's ago. you can fix this. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors. you would think that with all the days compelling arguments against the project it would be a no-brainer to turn it down. i am and finance. let's talk money. that is really what this is all

about. with the number of condos that will be put in and the prices they will sell for, this could be a $450 million project. the profits on this, let's suppose it is a 50% margin, it could be $200 million that our developer wants to make on this. you would think that for that kind of profit and that kind of half a billion dollars worth of revenues, you would be able to -- he would pay a ton of money for the keys to the kingdom. he would be wrong. if you look at the document, which i have done, about two or three times, he is paying $5 million to get to the sea wall lot. he gets a $5 million public

finance district rebate for qualified development costs. it means the improvements to make the grounds beautiful for all of the people who will on these condos. take a look at the infrastructure finance district, the infrastructure finance plan, public use financing, i think the city is getting hosed. you really need to have someone who knows a finance take a look at this. president chiu: next speaker, please. >> good evening. i'm barbara stewart. in the eir, the planning department acknowledged the sea level rise poses significant

danger to be 8 washington street site. it is unavoidable and then dropped the entire issue. it did not -- it not only ignored findings of the scientific panel, but also two major studies in the san francisco bay. now we have new research findings that cannot be ignored. a study reported in "the new york times on march 13 conducted by climate central calculated there is a high degree of probability that as early as 2013, san francisco bay will rise -- 2030, san francisco bay will rise 10 feet. almost there are major changes

in climate -- unless there are major changes in climate, the water levels will continue to rise and flood. i would like to take a moment to introduce my friend and spouse to give you some information about him so you have confidence in what he is going to say. he was insurance commissioner for the state of new york, general counsel of citibank, chief financial officer, and co- founder of storage economics -- stuart economics. i turned over to mr. stewart. -- i turn it over to mr. stewart. >> the water levels, which you

have just heard discussed, lead right to where the money is. we have not been given any specific information about this deal. we can certainly attest -- test the physical probabilities' against a normal financial structure. let's suppose that a one and six flooding event did occur, took the garage, but left the above- ground building standing. how was the sponsor, the working

capital lenders, make out? the short answer is very differently. take the top. the long-term lender would be gone. it would be wiped out. the middle level, the bank, might or might not be able to get some money out if it moved fast. the sponsor, however, having been paid as he went, would have all of his money in hand. he would be home free. against those different rewards, and against the interesting incentives they provide, what insurance underwriter is going to write the property insurance on this

thing? what pension investment officer is going to sign off on a 30- year loan? what a bank lending officer is going to sign for five years? finally, what are public servants supposed to do when faced with these -- with this kind of a situation -- [inaudible] president chiu: thank you very much. thank you very much. next speaker. >> i am the attorney.

i want to talk about the eir. there were too done for golden gateway in 1972 and 1975. both of them dealt with heights at the waterfront. neither of them are mentioned in the eir at all. i have submitted them into the record. the conclusion in 1972 was the heights of golden gateway would not comply with the urban design plan because it would obstruct views. the result of that was a reduction in height to 84 feet. the second eir, the project changed after the eir comments for done. it changed by eliminating the tennis courts. the elimination of a large chunk of the recreation opportunities. going to the conditional use, i

have a map of the land swap. it is a little hard to read because it is a very weird lancelot. this land at the bottom -- land swap. this land along the bottom is in the public trust. you have a planned unit development that basically says -- it does not apply to court property. the port property is what is providing the open space for this site. i do not even know that you can consider this until the port has voted and decided whether they will accept the rules. you're going to see a slide show. it will be like all the other slide shows. please understand, across the street from this is a big city park. across washington street, you should be ashamed that you do

not know what this is going to look like at street level from the park. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening. nice to see you all. i am speaking for the affordable housing alliance. one of the things i have learned is second chances do not come along very often. when you do get a second chance, you really do not want to blow it. when the embarcadero freeway came down, the any waterfront got a second chance. we are poised to blow that by making a bigger mistake. we are looking at building a wall of condominiums. 80 feet higher than the embarcadero freeway. condominiums that will go between 2.5 and $7.5 million. that has to be affordable to the

1%. all on the side of a community recreation facility. -- all on the side of the community recreation facility. we do not want to make this mistake. one of the benefits of this project is by the sponsors -- when they build it, they will provide funding for 27, 28 units of affordable housing costs side. we already have that housing and we have it right now at the golden gateway apartments. they are part of the development team. there are 1254 apartments at the golden gateway. we about the opportunity to survey 341 of those. of those, 46 are rented out to businesses as hotel units. if we could put those back into the rental housing stock, we would have more than the 27

units. we have a second chance. let's not blow it. thank you. president chiu: i am going to call the rest of the names that i have. [reading names]

please lineup if you have not had a chance to speak. next speaker. >> it is hard to believe there could be anything more to say. i do want to say that i do belong to the club, but i'd live in supervisor farrell district. this is a citywide issue. that is why i want to speak. the real estate in question, it belongs to all of us. it is one of our most processed -- precious assets. it is our grand, not -- grand promenade. this has been a grass-roots effort since 2005.

you know that is a pretty tough thing to top. you can get citizens that interested and caring that much. this is spot zoning at its very worst. it will open the floodgates for further high-rise development along the embarcadero. today, -- tomorrow, it will be a another developer that can outspend, out-lawyer in the resistance. the previous speaker said what i wanted to say, too. what happened in 1989? we had an earthquake. let's not blow the opportunity again. thank you. >president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors.

there is no need for a super luxury condo. it is all about greed. this is the height of corruption and architectural atrocity. san francisco is a transit first city. cars are discouraged in europe and even in portland, oregon. space is available at the golden gateway center.

the golden gate slam and tennis club -- recreation is in the shortest supply, at the worst and the city. do not cut it out. do not be an accomplice to corruption. the planning department has no idea about real-estate trade that was my game. you do real estate with a balance. location is the important thing. this weight -- this goes all the way down to the sidewalk. there is no need for retail, there is no foot traffic. empty stores all the embarcadero. take a walk. take a hike and see what is going on. do not give in to this corruption. let us have more open space the

way it should be. thank you so much. do not be an accomplice to all the corruptions. by the way, we vote. you are here to serve us. that is what we pay you for, so listen carefully. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, supervisors. i am with the golden gateway tenant association. our members live in a residential rental complex of 1254 units located across the street from the proposed construction sites. our association opposes be project. a parking garage will increase traffic congestion at the bottleneck or washington street feeds into the embarcadero. it is contrary to the city's transit first policy.

there will be traffic congestion, especially during the seven months of excavation. the noise will be earsplitting for most residents, especially in the 440-unit building 60 feet away. this project proposes the first height increase on the northern waterfront in 45 years and will set a precedent for other developers. you did it for them, why won't you do it for me? the result could be a concrete curtain along the waterfront. please vote no on the 8 washington street plan. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening.

i am with the san francisco tenants union. on items 8 and 12, the eir is flawed. i will try to give 25 years of my personal experience in 90 seconds. i moved in in 1987 as a starting student. i had been practicing law, but i went back to the it mightmba. -- my mba. i moved into the golden gateway 25 years ago. after that, i started to organize with the tenants' association. i was the president of the association a few times. i can confirm that by the time i moved out last year, flanking both sides of my apartments were empty hotel units. the one i vacated is forming a bloc of convenient hotel alternatives.

i did not know that the landlord was engaging in a questionable tax strategy. one thing i have seen before, i got a real education by looking at the developers on the prior project proposals. one of the things i learned, you see how labor states and a lot of people make their pay whether the project goes forward or not. but i learned something about the planning fiasco is co, a wall of condos. now you see it, now you don't. it is very easy to look at a community plan that honors the planning principles in reality. the developer might say that times have changed. in many ways, they have. we now know better. we note what is going on here and we really should not miss our opportunity to do the right thing.

supervisor mar: i want to ask about the two units on the other side of you. they were turned into hotel units? could you explain who you think owned them and what the rest -- what the rents owere? >> i would see the holiday littered with the notices. they would be -- i would see the hallway littered with the notices. they were supposed to be providing security for the complex is. -- for the complex. these notices said things like check out time, leave the keys on the counter. sometimes it included a bill. people were rarely there.

the organization that seemed to be renting them seemed to be abrogating actual tenants for less than 30 days. -- abrogating actual tenants for less than 30 days. one of the companies was bay city suites. there was at least one company involved to in these hotel alternatives for people visiting on business. we know that hurts the hotel tax fund. it hurts grants for the arts, which hurts the cultural life of san francisco. it is completely intolerable. the landlords who is now one of the partners has the knowledge that this is going 9. finally, they are acknowledging publicly, they are admitting what they have always known because they advertise it online. they have always known that this is going 9. they denied it, but now they are acknowledging that this has been going on.

wire report this landlord? it was horrendous. -- why reward this landlord? it was tremendous. i had neighbors once upon a time. i worked with seniors and families for 24 years. the only reason -- i loved the community. i think it is a great community. i think you have for a lot of wonderful voice is rising in civic spirit. i am happy that i am not paying your rent check to a landlord that has a questionable tax dodge strategy. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. if there are any other members of the public who would like to speak, please line up now. >> good evening, supervisors. i am the former president of the telegraph hill dwellers.