the problems are solvable and can be fixed. it doesn't take a lot of money. it takes good faith and serious action. thank you. >> thank you, colleagues, any questions to the appellants. >> thank you, mr. eberling and miss brandt-hawley. i live near the project and experience the radical growth in the neighborhood and whether we as a city have done an adequate job of planning for this increased density in terms of impacts that we have seen, and certainly this project in and of itself will only be a piece of what we have seen in this vast development. i question whether in previous eirs we have really adequately

and completely reviewed what the impacts of all of this development has been on the neighborhood? i am curious. i know you have been really involved in neighborhood planning for the last 20 years and the last time the city reviewed the cumulative pedestrian traffic issues as you pointed out was in 1992 yerba buena eir. so from your perspective, what do you feel has happened or can you outline what you feel has happened over the last 20 years that has impacted pedestrian traffic and safety in the neighborhood? >> thank you, supervisor. the last time the city redevelopment agency looked at a list of actual projects and tried to estimate their impacts, was in 1992 and left out and could not have foreseen many of the huge projects that have been built or now pending. it did conceptually envision a new museum of modern art, but

certainly not the popular one built and the expansion approved a few months ago that would double its size again. it did not envision the construction of the moscone center and it's impact. it did not envision the westfield sister that was proposed and developed many years later. it did envision a meterone project. it did notice envision adding a subway station in the districting that would concentrate pedestrian travel in a different way than before. there is this long list and of course, hotels added, museums added, a great many other projects as well in the immediate area. all of these things were left out. i shouldn't say "left out, but but had never been looked at there the detail and quantitified with the

cumulative total. you cannot find a cumulative total of pedestrians in the district anywhere, just this model that treats it like any other parts of downtown. pardon me, i forget to mention the upcoming moscone expansion, which is yet one more. >> i noticed that the baseline that we used in our eir looked at certain hours, a.m. pm and peak hours and did notice exam weekend hours as far as i could see in the document. and i will ask this of planning. given the fact that this neighborhood is not just a monday-through friday neighborhood with the target meterone and weekend spaces? >> thank you, supervisor. because of the different events

and festivals that are very different from each other. there are times peak impacts are differing tremendously. sometime it's midday. some are weekend events. assuming that the p.m. rush hour time is when the bigest impact happens is certainly wrong. and developing a mitigation plan where where the park system, that the ways of getting around can actually handle that peak load. we don't have it today. there is not the capacity of the sidewalks today to handle the peak loads. we have crush conditions that our seniors simply cannot leave

their homes. >> and my last question and i am not sure if this is a we did for you or miss brandt-hawley, but i'm curious maybe in terms of the current levels of what we see, versus projects in the area. i am just wondering, first of all, your thoughts on that, on that kind of interpretation ever state law that we have here locally. and in terms of municipalities. >> thank you, supervisor. >> well, i don't have another

municipality examples to give you. mr. lippe may have that answer and deal with those. i deal with historic preservation, which is an individual impact. but i think that ceqa as a general concept and a benefit to the environment requires that the methodology be used in a way that truly looks at the relevant impacts and ways to mitigate them. what is consistent in the case law, whether it's about an airport expansion or gravel mining or any other kind of project, you need to use a methodology that will, in fact, assess the impacts and assess and allow the proper mitigation to occur. so any kind of choice, whether it's a list or plan or the way that whatever is chosen needs to provide a good, safe basis for environmental analysis. when you have a unique situation, what does happen statewide is that the courts find that you need to fairly

look at the environmental issues in away that fits the process and there is no ironclad rule about cumulative impacts. and it's a confusing area with a considerable cumulatively considerable -- it's hard to say and certainly not an easy thing to put in practice. so when you look at the commonsense approach of what works, i think courts ea spooned responds to that. i'm sorry it's not as clear as answer for you supervisor. >> from your perspective, a question that i asked mr. eberling. the recreation-based area and if you could speak to that in

terms of your thinking, the completeness of our eir document. >> downtown you do see monday to friday activity for the most part there are offices and businesses and can't be evaluated in the same way. normally it would be fair to look at week day analysis, where the peaks are, rush hours and coming and goes to the offices in downtown san francisco. so this doesn't fit into the standard model and so not including weekends when, in fact, this is an area, there are residents that live there all the time as you know, but the peak traffic loads often occur on weekends because that is when a lot of people are free to go to the museums and recreation areas that are offered. so that prevents the eir from providing a good-faith effort at full disclosure. >> thank you. >> thank you, supervisor. >> supervisor kim, any other questions to the appellants? at

this time, why don't we hear from members of the public who wish to speak in support of the project appellant. each member will have up to two minutes and if you could line up on the chambers facing up and why don't we hear from our first speaker. >> good afternoon, president chiu, and members of the board. my name is sabrina, as a member of the future generation of leaders of our community, i am here to speak on behalf of our support for the 706 mission street mexican museum project. >> are you speaking in support of the project or in opposition to the project? >> support. >> okay. we are hearing from the members of the public that are opposing us granting the environmental impact report. there will be a time for supporters of the project to speak later on. let me ask if there are members

of the public that wish to speak on behalf of the appellants, who do not want us to finalize the final environmental impact report today. if we could hear from the next speaker. >> president chiu, i'm sorry. >> okay. again, if there are members of the public who wish to speak on behalf of the appellants. >> yes, my name is diane and i am a senior citizen. >> if you could please bring the mic a little closer to you. >> i live in the yerba buena area. the public safety is my concern. they have a lot of cars turning, even though the signs are posted, no signing on red, they are still turning on red. three times in last two week issues came close to being hit by a car. and that is not fair. i know it's not your responsibility to go after the

people illegally turning, but the pedestrian safety in our area is not working. and when you have all of these big conventions, and the people block the sidewalks, nobody can walk down the sidewalks. and there is no way to get around it. you need to do something about it. public safety is important, especially for the seniors. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> eliana bloomberg, i am 80 years old and i live next door to the moscone center, for 14 years, when i first moved in, it was a vacant lot. today the yerba buena census data are 3252 people who are 55 years and older living in the south of market. this is 32% of the population

here. the yerba buena seniors need pedestrian safety now, today. the years ever promises are not enough. we are here again and again. our sidewalks are being narrowed down. there are more restaurants and restaurants, coffee shops, target, everybody is here for the moscone conventioneers. bike riders on the sake are everywhere, everyday. traffic is terrible. you can see very common seniors are knocked down and fall on the sidewalk. this is very common. please build more crosswalks. please fix the problem. please enforce the law. please finish the job now. you will see everyday mothers

pushing their strollers, one hand holding their child, crossing the street to the moscone towers there. this is everyday. please help us. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. can you hear me all right? >> we can. thank you. >> i am alicia duke. i now live in one of the senior houses, mendelssohn house. i have always been involved in the area since i moved to the city in 1988. and even though i didn't live in the area for a while, i have always come back to it to do what i could. one of the main problems i see is the huge groups that are

there, the conventioneers who do not realize that when they are walking five abreast down the sidewalk, it's very difficult to get by them; let alone someone in a wheelchair. if they had more ramps coming and going off of the sidewalks, so that if someone is being driven, they could get out of the car, get onto the sidewalk. things like that are not being done, and the museum that is proposed, wonderful, but in the various drawings they don't show -- like at the end of the block eh they have a ramp and it's a long block there. and cab drivers have said, what can we do? how do we drop people off here? there are no

ramps to get off the sidewalks and that is just for ordinary people. so please think about us. >> thank you. let's hear from the next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors my name is john, and i am a representative and also president of the african union. i wanted to make some reference in regard to fear or to reverse fear certification for the mexican museum and the residential tower. in november 6,2012 i made some statements here, regarding the presidential elections while there was a public comment period. i would like to refer to you to a federal form publication 55 7 it reads tax exempt status for your organization, perhaps 94600 or 1385, something like

that. these shoes represent something of a model of voting in some countries. in 1993 george bush had a shoe hurtled at him as he was visiting in iraq that started the first and second gulf war and rockport, called capital and i would like you to consider calculate when capital when you are doing this project. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> [tkpwao-frpls/], my name is joe fang, president of the homeowner's association at 765 market street. i will leave the legal issues to the lawyers. as a resident of san francisco

ask any tourist what is the single important issue why they keep coming back and back? and they will tell you that the city has character. the city is unique and in this country and in the blend of the old and new, the traditional and the modern. i live here because of the sunshine, the clean air, safety in the streets, and the environment. as a developer myself, i know that barely three years ago, the city encouraged low-rises, buildings with a bit of class and character. now all of a sudden three years later, the pendulum has swung completely around. and in its effort to promote height and density, the city is actively encouraging

skyscrapers, glass buildings, common in cities like shanghai, et cetera. with little concern for air quality and shadowing. do you want to turn this city into another manhattan, shanghai or hong kong? thank you. >> thanks. next speaker. >> greetings, president chiu, members of the board of supervisors, my name is paul sedway and i live at 765 market street. i have served on the boards of heritage, contemporary museum and spur. i also led what at one point was the largest urban planning consulting firm in the united states, including over 100

environmental impact reports. our firm always tried to prepare eirs that were helpful as an evaluation tool, focusing on two things, alternatives and cumulative effects. and i would like to use that experience to address quickly the eir we have today. first as to alternatives, the eir offered two con flicting reasons why the original design was supersedeed offered considerable light and few shadows on jesse's square.

and it would have a reasonable amount of air around it. as for cumulative effects, i believe that if we consider the level of spot-zoning that we have today, the city is going to be seriously damaged, and we will be reducing the human scale and unique qualities that make san francisco so great. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> >> good evening, supervisors. i amount actually speaking on behalf of the mexican museum and i'm sorry to be speaking out of order, but my grand daughter has a soccer event. >> colleagues if we could allow the speaker to go out of

order without objection. okay. >> we have been in business for over 40 years. i fully support the 706 mexican museum project and all the benefits it will bring to the yerba buena area. millennium partners has proposed to considerably improve the pedestrian experience in the area, but rebuilding the sidewalks along 3rd and mission, adding audio and visual notifications for pedestrians and including wind comfort near the project. i urge you to reject the pales of appeals of the eir and allow this project to move forward. thank you very much. >> hi, i am coming here with my grandmother and i am here to

support the mexican museum project. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon, my name is matthew schoenberg and i am the president of the friends of yerba buena. >> could you bring the mic closer, please. >> thank you, good afternoon i am here today to ask to you reject the 706 mission street eir, because it is inadequate. one of the major inadequacies of the eir is the fact that the city is not looking at the cumulative effect of creating new zoning rules for every major project that comes along for the purposes of achieving greater height and density.

looking at the downtown zoning map can you see this process is well underway and the result will be increasing what one might call an manhattanization of san francisco. with all of the environmental effects that go along with that, the loss of sunlight pedestrian congestion, loss of skyline , the loss of historic character of neighbors and all of the pressure from the public utilities and their use. these are the characteristics of a poorly planned city and should not be the characteristics of san francisco. i often go for walks early in the morning at union square and i cannot imagine any additional shadows cast upon this area. if i look at these issues and relate them to the 706 project,

i am even more bothered because the approvals that are being contemplated are just not necessary. i do understand the importance of the mexican museum and i support that as a great addition. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hi, my name is richard and i'm a resident at 765 market and i just want to talk about one small issue, which is the traffic. which doesn't seem to be sufficiently recognized or mitigated in the eir. i commute to the south bay and everyday i have to go in and out through stevenson or the one-way road under jesse street and i can tell you right now that is quite difficult.

there was a large fedex truck blocking it this afternoon as i came home. sometimes is there is a traffic logjam of cars, even on stevenson or 3-d and sometimes 3rd and jessie try they close down the access. it seems to me there are lots of things that could be done about this one thing is in and out traffic. and i know this is an exception to either the bus stop nearby or the policy on mission street, but it seems so many exception are being made to create the eir, we could make some exceptions to make mitigations as well. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker.

. >> chairman, supervisors, my name is ron wornick and i live at 765 market and i'm pleased to have a couple minutes of your time. i recognize fully that this issue will be adjudicated ultimately by those who sit over the nuances of the particular issues that will distinguish the case being made by the developer versus those who think this is not a good idea. and i will leave that to you and to all of them. the one thing that i would add to your list of things that i would ask that you might be asked to do is to look at this issue from 10,000'. picture the yerba buena gardens with your magnificent fountations at one end, the beautiful lawn that gets hundreds if not thousands of visitors everyday, the contempt jewish museum, looking across

this. the plan is to put a behemoth of a building with a shadow across union square, across the yerba buena gardens and changes the whole character of that neighborhood and while i cannot argue the subtleties of each law, this will change the way we have live there had and makes it a non-san francisco place. please consider carefully. >> thank you, next speaker. >> hi, my name is deana rigs and i'm the ex-president of clementine towers. i have live

in the yerba buena neighborhood for 27 years and every time a new restaurant comes into our neighborhood, the first thing that they do is put tables and chairs out on the sidewalks. we have built that neighborhood up so big, with all of these conventions and everything, that there isn't room for tables and chairs on the sidewalks. so those tables and chairs need to go,because for safety's sake, when people are coming down and going to the convention, they are all the way from the building to the street coming down the sidewalk. and they are talking to each other, and they practically fall over those tables. they have to stop and walk their way back into the lines of people to get around the tables and chairs. we would like those tables and chairses off the sidewalks. also, putting a-frames on the sidewalks. some of the a-frames are so

small you can't seem them until you fall over them. we have people on skateboards and one man had a skateboard and another one in his hand to break his fall, in case he fell down and he had the wheels turned right to me. he came right up to my wheelchair and jumped off his skateboard and let the skateboard go underneath my wheelchair, and he went around my wheelchair and chased his skateboard and got on and kept going. and we don't need that on our sidewalks. we also don't need people riding bicycles on our sidewalks. and the sidewalk between shipley and harrison street, on the north side of the street, there are places along there, four places, the sidewalk is only -- [ inaudible ] >> thank you very much.

>> good afternoon, president chiu and members of the board. my name is edward colins and i live at 765 market street and i am here to comment on the public safety issues that have not been addressed. stevenson street is already jammed in large portions the day and if police and fire were to try to get through, it would be a difficult thing for them to do. this building and the way it's being planned will only radically exacerbate this problem that we have on stevenson and access to where we live to that area. so we ask you to focus on that specific issue that