tv Government Access Programming SFGTV April 19, 2018 3:00am-4:01am PDT
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montez. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, members of the planning commission and public. i'm reed colna and grateful for the opportunity to speak about my personal and professional interpretation of the design. to begin, i have a doctor in pharmacology and epidemiology and advanced practice pharmacist and certified specialty pharmacist and assistant clinical professor at ucsf and five-year resident and owner at bay crest. air pollution say serious health concern. one manner toxicologist and ep deem -- epidemiologists did studies on the mortality rate even adjusted for other health risk factors was associated with
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the level of air pollution. this study and many others clearly demonstrates statistically significant unfavorable health affects correlated with the particulate matter 2.5. the affects include lung cancer, infant mortality, asthma and other respiratory system diseases and has been shown to decrease your life span. this is death by air pollution. is they have presented the environmental findings and have concerns on the research and the bias in the presentation both of which have been unaddressed and
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after having no previous respiratory conditions in my life i'm concerned for myself and others vulnerable. we have young and elderly here. for the disease exacerbation and the implementation of the proposed design in its current form. this say public health environmental concern. to end, i encourage the planning commission to not only take our testimony to heart and understand we support the principles and public safety obligations and feel we still both want the same thing. we want responsible planning that results in an improved san francisco that doesn't jeopardize the health of the count community. thank you for your consideration. >> commissioner: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. i'm a resident at bay crest.
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been there about 18 years. i'm very concerned about building being proposed. i'm not against the building. i think something should be there. it's good for the neighborhood but what is being proposed doesn't make sense. it will impact the health of many people that live there. just come and be in our streets from say 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. you see what a traffic mess is the and with all the wind blowing all the exhaust will go into the bay and it's gone. with the brick in front of us it has nowhere to go other than me sitting in my room breathing it in. so i know there's been a lot of talk about outreach but the outreach after nine years of
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outreach they come with the same design. none of the proposals we have made and we asked to do it differently and none of that has been incorporate. the design seems to be in my opinion, a solution to the problem. yes, it may impact the profit margin of the developer but i think it will overall improve the whole neighborhood if they do it in a different design. i'm against the current proposal not against having a building there in the future. thank you. >> commissioner: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commission. i'm debbie gould. i'm a home owner at bay crest. to show you how important this is to all of us, my friends and residents were kind enough to let me go in front of them
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because i have to get to holy thursday service. at any rate, i'm in agreement with everybody else. we're not opposed to the building going up at 430 main. we especially encourage low-income housing, however, the air quality is extremely important to us. we live at the base of the bay bridge. we're already experiencing a lot of heavy congestion with idling cars during rush hour at any time of the day. sometimes into the evening. we're also dealing with toxins that are coming in off the bridge. and i don't think anybody's taken into consideration the fact that in addition to all the buildings that are surrounding 430 main, we're not even thinking about the people who are going to potentially be living at 4030 -- 430 main so
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they'll be inhaling the toxins. i'm a 65-year-old woman who is healthy. i'd like to remain healthy. everybody here wants to remain healthy or as healthy as possible. we're asking the design and plans be just altered so that we can all live in healthy environments. thank you so much for your time. [stand by for captioner switch] .
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the people i care about, and also those future residents that debbie gould just mentioned. and as things are now, i haven't seen those types of impacts really studied. this is the second time i've made this statement. we deserve better than a wall. thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners. my name is norm fung. i'm a property owner, and i want to echo everyone's sentiments. i totally agree with that, and i have concerns about the project from tidewater. i actually own one of the lower four units, they inherently have less light, so any light that does come into the unit will be blocked by that 84-foot building right in the middle of the courtyard, and basically render one of the features of
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my property useless, which is a patio, essentially. but talking about health effects, also being a ground floor unit, i think all the toxins will wash down and eventually settle into the lower areas at a higher concentration. and on top of that, i have patio doors which gives increased exposure to that potentially dirtier air, as well. so i want to urge the commission to send this back for additional consideration. thank you very much. >> president hillis: thank you, mr. fung. next speaker, please. >> commissioners. thank you. my name is connolly reed. i'm a resident at baycrest. i'm a supporter of housing in the city, affordable housing, and despite that, i find myself to be surprised at the current plan at 430 main. i find it's a front to the
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community that's there, simply putting profits over health. the proposal, it's a brick or a wall as some others have mentioned, and it just, i think is intended to initially fill all the air space that it possibly can. if you look at it from the harrison street side, it will simply look like a prison wall. you know, in its history, the project project ignored the department's request for a two story design and has ignored the statements that you've heard here today. there are many other two tower concepts that pay respect to the community as they've developed. but most concerningly, i read the development report and saw that 430 main has been required
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to install merv-13 level filtration. interestingly, our home at bayview is 13 years old and home to many elderly and families, and it doesn't have merv level 13 filtration, so there's an undue financial burden if because of the effect of this building, we were required to install it. in closing, i'd just hope that you all will help to ensure the health and safety of our building and its residents, and the residents of the buildings in the community, and i can only hope that the developers will be encouraged to follow the planning department's requirements and request -- deny the variance that is requested, core conditions for our future neighbors, since they're not here to defend themselves. and finally, in closing, the developers should work with
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their neighbors on a healthy compromise. thank you very much. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is evan horrigan. i'm a member and resident of the community at 403 main street. i have several objections to the proposed project. my first is a significant adverse affect to the air quality, for which there's been no study to this project. this project will cause significant undue financial burden in order to reform our current system. furthermore, this project is not respecting the planning process or community, they ignored the recommendation of the planning department for a two tower concept. next, for a proposal that includes a relatively considerable percentage of entry level and below market rate apartments. why are they being placed in the most polluted space in the city? and finally, this building site is inadequate. instead, the site could be combined with a cal transsite
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to build a transit site. as a member of the port side, we want responsible planning. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is dane entz. i'm a member of bay crest, and i'm also a member of the committee for healthy housing. at one time, it was thought the highest and best use of the land was to build a canal for shipping, and they did that. and it was a profitable canal until there was a recession, and then, when there was a recession, they couldn't get shipping on the canal anymore, so they decided that the highest and best use for the lapd at th land at that point was to fill it in and use it as a land dump. then at some other time in history it was decided that the best use for that land was residential use, so they built
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houses. then the people that lived there got sick, got -- died. i hope that we're not going to allow our planning process to create our very own love canal right in our neighborhood. so there's a couple of things i want to turn to. we had a study of the rambo report done by alternative consultants, and they mentioned a couple of things that were problematic about it. it was 1-19-2018. it was a technical report from ramble dated october 19, 2018. the pm 2 concentrations in the neighboring court regard is already above the threshold. any additional impacts will deteriorate the air quality further and deteriorate the air
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hazards for the local residents. as displayed in table 13 and summarized in table one, there was an increase in pm 2.5 concentrations in the center courtyard, and an increase about 14.5 to 15% in the inner courtyard. t [ inaudible ] -- however, the cumulative 3-2.5 levels are higher than considered reasonable for residential projects. going on further, there was no review of the construction impacts and according to trinity, that makes this incomplete. so i just want to just, if i could just show you quickly -- does this turn on?
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>> john. >> what -- what this picture shows is from the ramble report, and this is with the building, and you'll notice that there's a lot of yellow and stuff, and that indicates increase in pm 2.5. here is the -- before. there's a lot less. >> clerk: thank you, sir. your time is up. >> one last thing -- >> president hillis: that's all, sir. unfortunately, we only have -- >> all right. >> president hillis: three minutes perspeaker. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. cathy turnquist. 201 harrison. eight years ago, a different developer presented a plan for 430 main. it was turned down by the city. now, a similar plan with the same flaws is being presented
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for behind baycrest. one suggestion to tidewater was to design a two tower building so that baycrest would not be put in a dark, cave like environment, with tidewater's large flat back wall causing us to lose light and air. a 100 foot tall building would block air flow, push exhaust from the bridge to our units from our air vents coming from the outside. our units and our gardening will be buried in darkness. tidewater didn't really change anything from that original plan. i urge you to turn down this project and to advise tidewater please go back to the drawer board. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is kayla espinoza, and i'm a neighbor at 430 main. i live at 300 beale street. i'm here today, and that's a
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sentiment to tidewater's engagement in our community. they've reached out to us, they've talked with. i'm excited about the project. i feel that the design is shriek and pleasant to look at. because i am at 300 beale street, i understand the concerns around loss of views, as i had something built in front of my view. but i have to say the pros absolutely without weigh the cons. i -- outweigh the cons. i think it will bring a greet feel to the neighborhood. somebody mentioned the h manhattan of san francisco. i'd love that. currently that space is dirty, rundown, a horrible eye sore, and i think this project would definitely bring some vibrancy to our neighborhood.
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>> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is margaret gunn, and i've been a part of the south beach community and a bay crest homeowner since 1995, and so i'm aware of what it means to live in a densely populated urban neighborhood and know the growth of south beach that continued development is necessary. i'm also aware of the need for more housing in san francisco and applaud any effort to create more affordable and viable housing in our city. i'm my best testimo i'm memory a member of the -- i'm a member of the committee for better housing. we concur that most bay crest homeowners and homeowners and residents in nearby buildings believe that the current brick design is not the right one for this parcel. we believe that the current -- we believe there will be dire environmental conditions to the already existing affordable
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housing that baycrest provides. i know that some of the neighbors would like a pretty building to look at, and we would like that, too, but we would like the right development to go in there, and a building that will not cause harm. this is a singular situation because it's very unusual and alarming that 430 main is actually so close to the bay bridge, but also is attempting to fill this small parcel with so many units, and it will completely block baycrest courtyards. we're not talking about views, we're just talking about our health and environmental concerns. so please know that baycrest is looking for a win-win situation. we believe a two-tower design will allow lite and air flow to our current courtyard, which would solve or environmental issues. we vehemently oppose the
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current design because it will create unhealthy air quality for residents, and that it's already challenged because of its location very close to the bay bridge. and we're 300,000 cars travel across it daily, so that's a little different than another neighborhood that we even heard about in this hearing today. so my hope is the planning commission will send this design back to the planning department to create a design that mitigates the worst case scenario of creating more and more pollution for baycrest homeowners because very simply, our lives depend on it. we invite the planning commission to come and visit baycrest so you can see the effect the tidewater building will have on your community. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is adam masry. i live at bay crest. i have since 1995. i have a written statement from our general manager.
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is it okay if i give that to the commission? >> president hillis: sure. you can leave that right there. >> leave that right here? okay. and i have a statement from -- from marlene smith, who is a resident of bay crest that had to leave a little while ago. she gave me her statement to make for her. she has an apartment on beale street. this will force my windows and vents to be sealed. sealing the windows will create stagnant air in my unit because we have no central air in our units. stagnant air is hazardous to our health. it will also create mold issues in my unit as there would be no way moisture created from showers, laundry and cooking could reap wait. i already have health issues. this project will only enhance my health issues. she wrote a second letter to the commission, as well. thank you very much. >> president hillis: thank you.
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next speaker. i'll call some other names: gary winters, hue mclaughlin, cathy turnquist, rihanna miranda, cameron noburg, george with a z, darcy kovak. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is kristin hall. i feel very lucky to are a resident and worker? san francisco. i agree with the residents that this area has a lot of crazy bridge traffic but at the scene ae a transit rich neighborhood with the unit right there and b.a.r.t. right there. i'm really happy that they've done a big outreach effort in the neighborhood, including neighboring buildings beyond those immediately adjacent but also including my office building and other residential buildings around.
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they've been incredibly thoughtful and engaged, and they're a very sensitive development group, and i believe they've really give their best to make a project that would be sensitive to the context. our main concern as workers in the neighborhood is that retail is really starting to come on-line but there's not enough people to support it, so we're seeing some of these retail establishments close. it's sort of a food desert. as a woman who often works very late, i can say i'm really excited to see some ground floor units, some ground floor activity and some other things happening in this building as we haven't seen in a lot of building in this area. i think it's quite an elegant design, and i'd love to see that it's really fulfilling the intention of the rincon hall plan, to create the lively
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district, active street frontages that create a residential rhythm and scale in this neighborhood. it's no surprise to you we need more housing, and i think this is a great place to do it. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a san francisco resident. i also have a professional relationship with tidewater from working as a structural engineer here in the city. as a resident in san francisco over the last ten years, i'm well aware of the need for affordable housing, and housing in general in the city of san francisco. not to mention as a structural engineer i'm aware of the issues in the city of the accommodation of residential units that are now becoming deteriorated and dilapidated, it's important to have modern construction that's going to be resilient for the future. construction of this project will not only create newhouses but it's also going to create
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new jobs, both in construction and the operation and maintenance and the lifestyle of the building. once again, i have the utmost respect for tidewater and their attention to detail and care in the projects they do. thank you for the opportunity to speak, and i strongly urge you to support the 430 main project. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is richard leiter. i live at 1235 baker street. i serve on the board of directors of the union square business improvement district, mercy housing, and the american cancer society. i am a cofunder and ceo of anvil builders. they're a general engineering construction company and it has been involved with tidewater capital for a number of years. we are a members of the laborer's operators, and a
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carpenters, and i'm also a member of the ibew. we completely support the development at 430 main and urge you to vote positive with regard to its zoning and approvals. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners and the public. my name is dale sseymoru. i chair the local homeless coordinating board, so whenever the word affordable housing comes to my ear, it's gold. we should always encourage more builders to include affordable housing in their parcels. i first met tide water capital when they initially opened a business called the hall on market street. one of the first things they did was hire five kids who was hanging out selling weed in front of their place and employed them right way. that's the kind of guys these
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are. the other codeveloper, war horse cities is actually based in baltimore. my daughter lives in baltimore, and i met war horse and took a door of their properties. they just opened a couple of new buildings in downtown baltimore, some of the roughest neighborhoods in the united states, and they're great neighbors, they look out, they went and did a lot of reports and talked to neighbors, and i just feel they're a responsible builder, responsible developer, we are concerned with a lot of the issues that were brought by the residents. i don't live in that building next door, but i get their concerns. but i just want you to consider these guys on the basis that things that they've done in the past, cities of baltimore, they are great guys and i'm sure they'll address and compromise on whatever issues you bring up. thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon. >> president hillis: thank you so much. next speaker, please.
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>> my name is cam ran nogard. i'm a san francisco resident. grew up in the mission and lived in the soma for about 13, 14 years. i ran a rack center for kids for about 15 of those years down on 6th street, and over the years, i've seen developers come in, and being that we were a nonprofit, they would constantly come in, and they have to do their due diligence and stuff like that. so i became kind of wary of people over the years. i got to know tidewater and the people there. i didn't feel that way with them. i've worked with them on a number of projects. now i'm a full-time artist that still lives in san francisco, and that is partly because they support me, and they've been there. and i see them work on a number of projects, and they're smart people, and they do care about the community. and so when i hear the things being brought up, i don't think
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it's something that they just took in one ear and let go out the other. i do believe they listen, i do believe they hire smart people that try to work on solutions. so i believe they have character, outstanding character, and i support this. i've seen a number of my friends have to leave the city, especially artists, and so knowing that there is a more affordable housing coming in, that speaks volumes to me, and just housing in general. this place is bursting at the seams, so we need more of it. so i support the project on 430 main. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is killian mcgowan. i'm a resident of bay crest. if tidewater are such great fellows, how come they're going to build a 100 foot building right next to my building, as well as my neighbors, and knock off the light and free flow of air. these guys say they're interested in community.
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they're not interested in the community. they're interested in their name which is capital and money. they can't make as much money with a two tower design. so if you want to pass their proposal to make more money, it will be on the backs of our lungs. here is my ventilator. >> president hillis: you've got to speak into the mmic. >> here is a regular ventilator that comes out of my apartment, and i by these filters, and replace them every 90 days. here's one here. it's nice and white, it's nice and clean, and here, you can see what it looks like after # 0 days. this is before -- this -- afte. this is before this project. the air quality down there is disgraceful, and just look at
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it. that's after 90 days, and we need that air. so when you go downtown, you see the millenium towers, and you see the infinity, and you see all the light and air around them, and they share them. we are interested in sharing. we have told them we will share our light and our air, and we will support a two tower design. but they don't want that design because they want more money. there's 200 and something apartments in my building, and those people including me are suffering as well. there's a young man that's been here four years -- here's my asthma medicine, here's my inhalers. i need to keep them in the car, keep them in my work, keep them in my home. i need to take this one when -- daily, i need to take this one when i have an issue, and i also have tablets, as well.
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it's inconceivable that so called good doers in the community want to build a great big 100 foot wall right up against my air flow, and this is my air flow at present. and what's more, they are fools because what my colleague was trying to show you and ran out of time, also showed they're increasing the particulate matter in their own space. there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. >> president hillis: thank you. >> this is how it stands, and that's how it should be. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is gary winter approxima. i am a resident of the bay crest building, long-term owner and resident, and i oppose the 430 main project as proposed.
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you know i -- i tell my friends that there's going to be a building that's going to be put up 5 feet away from our building, and uniformly without exception, they say, are they crazy? i mean, it may be legal, but i want to comment to the -- to the architect, who was that? yeah, sir. you pointed out that, well, gee, we're not covering your windows. they're going to be 5 feet away. is that supposed to make me feel better? and if -- they had lots of meetings, lots of community meetings, but -- you know, lots, but have they listened? have they changed the plans for
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the courtyard? no. they say that they're going to include us in the courtyard design moving onward. they sure haven't done a good job about that so far. so please take this into consideration, and on an aside, long live city college of san francisco, an amazing resource. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is rihanna miranda, and i've been a proud bay crest homeowner for the past five years. i'm here today to let you know that i am in support of a thorough, unbiased environmental review of the project and formally request
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that the items brought forward by the committee of public housing, including the bay crest residents that you've listened to today receive serious consideration to protect the residents of bay crest and the surrounding community. thank you for your consideration. >> good afternoon, commission. my name is george disciatis. i'd just like to speak to my time working an inordinate amount of time at 1026 market street, also another tidewater building. as somebody what's spent a lot of time there in a building that is very similar to the current building on the site, i've just seen the personal benefits of having activation and street traffic in that area and making use of that space, and i've seen personally the --
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the tidewater's involvement in communicating the plans for that site and for that process going on, and then seeing their investment in that specific community there. i just want to speak to my personal experience as an artist working there over the past 1.5 years, and i can't speak to the current site, as well, but that's my experience with 1026 market street, and with tidewater, and seeing how that's been handled and invested over the past several years. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm joe keenan, m.d. i'm a psychiatrist. i'm also a member of back on my feet and code tenderloin. what we do is help people become the workers of this
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district. they're t right now, we don't have filters, we do have inhalers. i feel for you. i wouldn't want a building like yours going in next door. the second development company, they come up with the same proposal, they don't want to spin their wheels, either, i'm sure. these guys, i know that they have been great supporters of organizations that -- that i love, like code tenderloin. and, you know, i want workers to be able to support this city, to have a place to live, i hate the particulate matters,
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but we need spaces for our workers to live. >> president hillis: thank you. i'll call other names. >> as luck would have it, i'm the first name. andrew scott. i am in support of the project. i live and work in san francisco. i recently relocated my office from the financial district to 375 beale, which is on the block. we brought 60 employees, and only two of them drive, so we brought economic benefit without bringing traffic. upon moving, i was struck that the area has not achieved critical mass. i think the project will bring the diverse residents in the commercial spaces and active ate the streets. i believe this project will bring the type of residents, not that will drive, but will walk, bike and transit to work.
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additionally i was at the chamber of commerce recently and heard a presentation about a $6 billion unfunded liability to address our seawall. we need to bring economic activity and stakeholders to the waterfront. i think this project does that. i'm also an engineer. i specialize in existing buildings and their problems. i certainly appreciate the problems that the adjacent neighbors are dealing with, and thea with the filter, that indicates to me there is already a problem to their building. they need a modern solution to their air quality problems, and this project will do the same. i think this project addresses multiple needs, and i encourage the commission to support it. thank you. >> vice president richards: thank you, next speaker, please. >> a couple of the comments. we talk about value or increased use of the land.
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it's currently a warehouse. it is not nearly a utility that we could get out of housing. another thing i want to point out, from an environmental perspective, we are well aware that dense urban in-fill housing getting people out of their cars is the best path forward for our planet and with a pending central soma plan, this is where future employees will live. want to spend the rest of my time from rebecca peacock who was an organizer in the community. i'm a coorganizer with the new soma coalition. i support this project and urge the planning commission to entitle it as recommended by the planning department. unfortunately i cannot be here today in person. she's watching and live tweeting approximate, i'm sure. to give comment because i work during the day because i need to be on-site at my office, and it's a real shame because i would love to participate in the public process to speak out for more housing in my neighborhood. i have many friends who would
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be here today if not for the same constraints. as for the project, 430 main is exactly the type of development we need in this area in the midst of the housing crisis. the surrounding area is not a complete neighborhood but it could be with more resident dos. tidewater will bring in more people and jobs created for the soma plan. my husband and i have been residents of san francisco since april of last year. we love this city and want to continue to live here. we hope to raise children here someday. i worry almost daily about the state of this housing shortage. it's easy to give up hope, but when i see projects like 430 main street, i do feel hopeful again. i can see my family making a life here. i can see my friends staying in
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the area instead of leaving the state. i want more projects like this so that everyone can have a home like us, the city of st. francis. please approve this project as soon as possible. >> vice president richards: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is david hatfield. i'm representing a nonprofit in the city called illuminate. there have been a lot of important points brought up today, not the least of which is the dire need for housing in san francisco specifically below market rate housing, and i'm excited that this project addresses that, but i want to talk to you about our experience at illuminate as a partner to tidewater. some of you may be familiar that illuminate is the organization behind the creation of the bay lights project. as soon as those lights went on-line, we turned our attention to our next project, which was a two mile project up and down market street. and as a nonprofit that struggles to stay funded,
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doesn't even have an office, we were desperate for some space on market -- on market street so that we could show off our next project. we were fortunate to be introduced to craig young and tidewater who were just in the early stages of arthur projeth at 1028 market street. they were busy creating an incredible space on the first floor called the hall, and other speakers have referred to that. it was really a remarkable place for the community. what craig and his crew did was donated the second floor of that building to illuminate. so for over a year, we were able to use that space, convert it into a demonstration space so that we could bring another art project on-line into san francisco, public art project. our success is directly related to their generosity, and so i can speak specifically to that, but i can also talk about what we saw on a regular basis
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