so far, -- some parts of the embarcadero have this. in other places, chain-link fences for the border for this magnificent boulevard. the 8 washington project will replace one of the stains. i have learned that in politics there is nothing more powerful than the status quo. however powerful current conditions may be, we have learned to live with them. president chiu: thank you very much. >> good evening, supervisors. danny campbell, workers' union #104. the hour is late. i will get straight to the point. this is a smart, and urban design that meets the standards that the planning department and ceqa -- it complies with ceqa and as the planning department demonstrated earlier, it meets the standards under ceqa. it also has -- we have heard the great benefits that this project -- the public benefits, the revenue to the city, the beautification of the waterfront, the open space. what is not to like? like i said, the hour is late. i urge you to reject these appeals and move forward with this eir. thank you. president chiu: next speaker. >>

that began when the embarcadero freeway in them. it took several years and involved a number of stakeholders, including the telegraph hill people. it recommended a mixed use development that combined see what -- seawall lot 351 and the golden gate side. u.s. is seen at the time that it recommended that the tennis courts go away. otherwise, there would of been a possibility of combining the sides. you have heard all kinds of bemoaning how planning has been ignored and how the heights are a problem, but the planning process at the time is being ignored by the very people who were doing the complaint. that is one thing important to point out. some of the arguments you ever, although you will not. up front, how does this serve the city? some of the arguments of talked about the difficulty of building. it was done and the embarcadero center. the city itself did so successfully on the muni metro. this is not an unexpected challenge and is one we can deal with. we have also heard a great deal of issues about housing. this project will disp

it will add vitality and new housing, restaurants along the embarcadero. this project will make our city a better, more beautiful place to live. i urge you to uphold the eir and c.u., which are for an accurate, and move ahead with eight washington. thank you. >> good evening, president chiu and members of the board, supervisors. my name is john. i have been a resident of san francisco for just about 40 years. i am here tonight to urge you to support 8 washington. i am also here to read to you portions of a letter that susan mccowsky, who is unable to be here this evening, had addressed to the board. i will be very brief. "it is certainly laudable that golden gateway is hosting summer camps for lower income families, although i do wonder where the funding comes from. possibly the affluent families paying $460-$525 for a five-day session. i also find it somewhat ironic given that when our kids were little, the residents did all they could to limit children's access to the two pools. members are not being truthful when they say that thousands of middle income

so far, -- some parts of the embarcadero have this. in other places, chain-link fences for the border for this magnificent boulevard. the 8 washington project will replace one of the stains. i have learned that in politics there is nothing more powerful than the status quo. however powerful current conditions may be, we have learned to live with them. president chiu: thank you very much. >> good evening, supervisors.

here we are, in front of the building, walking along the embarcadero. the tower is the golden gate with apartments. 70 feet in the fraud -- in the front, and it requires extraordinary bonuses. a 200% increase in the bulk of the building. a football field across. so developers can build 134 luxury condominiums, and this tower in the back would be 80 feet higher than the old embarcadero. this is what it looks like without the old, a double decker freeway. this is a foot narrower than the current sidewalk, shadowed by the big buildings. the stunning rendering, as you have seen before. up next, the green wall, a certified i of the wall, and this is a lot like be a lovely green that is there now. this is what it would look like to the right. this is the new athletic facility. so now, we're walking north along the embarcadero. the green fence is about 12 feet high. this is about 10 feet higher. this is a video that is done for the planning department that was included in the back of the appendices, with the comments for the eir. it was not done by supporters

i am excited to open up the west side of the embarcadero. i think the city is fortunate that we have a private sector developer that has an excellent track record on piers 1, 3, and 5. to join forces and continue our revitalization of the waterfront. thank you. >> i am a resident of district 1. i'm here to read -- i am also a member of the golden gateway club. i am here to read a fellow swimmers comments. she was year earlier but she had to go. she is a resident of district 6. she is a member of the club now known as the bay club at the golden gateway. she has long enjoyed swimming outside in the pools. when she first heard about it, of course she was concerned. "i did not want to lose my oasis. i believe the project would destroy our club. that is simply not true. i have since learned that this project will make the tools and the fitness facilities at the club much better it -- much better. here is the rendering. swimmers will have more lap lanes and it will give them the option to swim 25 meters or 25 -- or 50 meters. the space will be dou

we were lucky to lose the embarcadero freeway from that earthquake. this is a return back to just destroying it. thank you. president chiu: are there any other members of the public who wish to speak? ok. why don't we go to the planning department for your presentation? you have 20 minutes. >> good evening, supervisors. i am the manager of legislative affairs for the planning department. i am joined by our chief environmental review officer, senior planner, and project planner. i would like to take a moment to note that there are some ordinances that are related to this project that will not be enacted by any action you could take tonight. if the board chooses to certify the eir and asia the conditional use authorization, -- and issue the conditional use authorization, you will year later -- you will hear later amendments. we would be happy to provide additional information if you have any questions. we begin first with the appeal of response. >> good afternoon. can you hear me through the microphone if i'm standing? good afternoon or good evening. i

focusing on the embarcadero sidewalk, the proposal narrows the walk from 15 feet to 16 feet. since the nes uses this as a guideline, the 15 feet will continue all along the walk, including a kids' playground 15 feet from embarcadero traffic. this illustrates the sidewalk. the mission street entrance to the planning department is actually 15 feet. i wonder if they know that. the planning department wants a grand boulevard. because of the mess between circular references, the eir should be dismissed. it is an insult. look at the details of this project, as i hope you will see in the next few presentations. president chiu: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is janet. i live 2 blocks from the proposed site of the development. i am very concerned with a great deal of what is in the proposal. why would we replace amazing, affordable outdoor recreation with a 400 car parking garage? it is mind-boggling for those of us who love this city. we are average citizens, and do not understand what can happen with money and politics. i can honestly say as a bay area n

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

of an impact, so it is about restoring the urban edge of letting people walk on the side of the embarcadero. it is competing with foot traffic. people do not have a compelling reason to walk past something interesting on the west side of this block because there is not his condition. >> i am struggling with a huge height increase. >> it is 250 feet in height. -- 230 feet, so those really do depend on the viewing perspectivessupervisor mar: andw that supervisor chu was asking about the heights, but can you tell us about how it scales down? >> the urban design principle that is within our general plan, sloping down to the waterfront from the financial district, so if you consider the embarcadero center the high side, that is about 550, and then the next transition dam would be the golden gate way towers, and then the tallest portion of this project, which is situated closest to the golden gate towers would be at 136, and then kind of moving around the site would drop to a height, the low was tight with in the residential buildings would be a height of around 60 feet, and in the northern porti

that area does not front directly on to the embarcadero, so they locate the tallest portion set against existing buildings and the golden gateway center immediately southwest and to the west of the site. goothe residential building woud be lower than the height limit. this would be a new open space, so there is a transition so that if is sympathetic to the residential buildings along the embarcadero, fulfilling the needs of the heights of the financial district down to the waterfront. and we do not believe it would set a precedent for height increases along the waterfront. any other would be evaluated separately on its own merits considering the character. this site is unique and located at the edge of downtown, in addition to the neighboring buildings with a high of 500 feet. the second requirement is that it needs and planning codes. youwithin global district theres a maximum horizontal dimension of 105 feet and when hundred 40 feet for the building, so these are quantitative limits that are obsolete and do not scale and proportion to the size of the property proposed. acknowledging t

namely, the removal of a vital left turn lane off the embarcadero on to west on washington. because of that, 8 washington would have eight serious adverse environmental impact. the level of d would drop to f, which is unacceptable. despite the gridlock it would cause, the only mitigation measure suggested would be that the staff recognizes that it is not want to work at all. not only that further mitigation measures were examined and there were no alternatives that would alleviate this severe environmental effect. as a matter of fact, on the recreational point, there is a specific provision of the ceqa guidelines that requires a mandatory finding of significance in mitigation when there is a determination as evidence before you tonight that there is a profound adverse affect on the recreational resources and access. that finding is absent. no mitigation is provided. for all that the planning department and mr. manley, who i respect greatly as a lawyer, have tried to do to rehabilitate this, it remains deficient. outdated traffic information, fails to assess cumulative develo

president chiu: that was set at that height, as of my understanding, is because of the embarcadero freeway that is there. is that correct? >> that is my an internal understanding. i have not seen that kind of formally stated anywhere, but i have certainly heard that is the case. president chiu: and then just to conceptualize it, while you do have the high heights in the financial districts, all of the parcels north of that are at 40 feet, right? >> i believe so. president chiu: collings, i just wanted to contextualize this, because we are looking at two depending on what you look at. as we all know, 1.5 years ago, we had two buildings, and then essentially the front building went down 14 feet to 70 feet, and be back building went up 52 feet. right? >> below is portion of the front building is at 60 feet, and the highest portion of the back building is 136. president chiu: and then there was some questioning about the green fence. i am not sure anyone here like that, but my understanding is the fact that the green fence is there is under the control of the management of that company of the

it was based on incomplete study of peak power embarcadero traffic on a single weekday afternoon five years ago. the revised eir include similar incomplete data. a real transportation study has not been done. i urge the supervisors not to approve this project. thank you. president chiu: thank you, next speaker. >> hello. michael taylor, long-term resident of the neighborhood and tennis player. the demolition of the club will erase outdoor tennis on the east side of san francisco. sftc is indoors. conditions are very windy. competitive tennis needs maintenance of tennis courts. and also reservation times. the only other possible reservation times in golden gate park, those courts tend to be very clustered together. a lot of the balls are running back and forth. these are not sufficient to alternatives to the destruction of the golden gate tennis club. 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

what would be the more appropriate way to deal with this side, and this led to this east north embarcaderos study, so it delayed the project further, and the recommendations that came out of that where along the lines of what was described today. when you think about the context, you have very, very tall buildings, the 550-foot tall buildings of the embarcadero. they are really quite tall. golden gateway center, immediately adjacent to this site, and then you do step down as you get towards the golden gate, , down to the 40-foot height limits, such as was said, it slows down. it was very much the thought of the planning department in terms of urban design, not only is this side but citywide. you see it in the transit plan and other initiatives, to slip this, to respect this love of the city down towards the water, and so the thought was this is a graceful transition to go at that height and transition it down and to step down across the site. we think that is an appropriate treatment. we thought, we believe, not only did we think it was the right way to go, it was the recommendation of the

this is one on every two minutes in the embarcadero. what would be significant, 30,000? and on the conditional use, we have the housing numbers. you all set to the budget analysts report. the only area we are meeting our goals is for this housing. you saw the chart, and i have this. we are at 158% with the market rate and above. this is the high end of the market rate. what they talk about is the 27 units. 27 units of affordable housing with 134 of these units. they don't build 27 unit projects. to pay for this, we need 500 market rate units. and if we want to hundred units, we need 1000 units. what kind of the city would this be. 20,000 people are low income, with these -- there is nothing for the rest of us. this is the kind of city you are setting us up for if you except this bargain. the only way to save this bargain is to replace these redevelopment's, and to double it. this is a distraction from the need. thank you. >> i have the power. and like to make these copies available. my name is zane gresham. with the appeal for the planning commission, our client is a ste

whereas the project is inappropriate for the location along the waterfront at the edge of the embarcadero and immediately adjacent to the park. whereas the product will build a wall on the waterfront and diminished the pedestrian experience but hawking views of telegraph hill and deny locals and tourists alike of some of the city's iconic use. -- iconic views. swim club, a recreational amenity that is part of the redevelopment plan, it serves as not only the residents of the golden gateway, but all san franciscans. and washington street, we urge the board of supervisors to uphold the appeal of the fdir and deny the c.u. for this project. the are only a certain number of sites in san francisco and if we wish to this valuable land for what we need, what we need is a moderate rate housing in a low- income housing. please deny this. >> thank you for favoring the old-timers to go home and have better to go to sleep. i come before you as a concerned citizen, 56 years in the construction business. and i come to you in full support of this project and i urge you to approve the eir. president chiu

anyone who drives the embarcadero knows what a relief it is to exit 2 washington street, especially during rush hour or if the giants are in town. it will become level f gridlock. my last comment is san francisco commitment to the america's cup and all the construction that is going to be happening -- i urge the supervisors to vote against this project. thank you for your time. >> hello. my name is mary baldwin. i have been a city resident for i think 20 years. i started playing tennis i think 10 years ago. we need more recreational opportunities in this city, not fewer. we are facing an obesity epidemic. surely, everyone understands that a diverse range of recreational opportunities is what makes the city a vibrant place that people want to live in. it is not enough to fill the city with housing. we have to have something for people to do once we lived there. golden gateway is part of a vibrant tennis community that spans across public courts. thousands and thousands of players come to the city to play at golden gate why -- gave way. golden gate with yields for the teams in itself -- gold

these historic street cars on the f line which have already helped transform the northern embarcadero, enabling the star attractions, will help mayor lee in his initiative to revitalize mid market. streetcars are a colorful connection between the mid- market neighborhood and vibrant communities elsewhere along the route. with some creative promotions, they can bring more people to bid market, which i call the heart of market, and helped drive the artist and technology communities now getting established there. our nonprofit pledges of our help to you in helping put the existing service to work to help you meet your mid-market goals. we also look forward to the permanent implementation of additional streetcar service along the whole wing of the embarcadero, the e line that mayor brown foresaw as being a powerful tool to help develop the unmatched waterfronts of the poor. finally, we look forward to expanding on the original vision of senator feinstein from her days as mayor. leveraging this investment, we have already managed to attract maintenance facilities any historic street cars l

they reopened the embarcadero a little after 2:00 this morning. >>> they won't budge. protesters occupying a university of california-owned parcel land in albany said they plan to stay past a 10:00 deadline this morning. the protesters have been on gill tract since april 22nd, earth day. the plot of land is used for plant research. occupy protesters want the university to turn it over to use as community farming. on wednesday u.c. berkeley police sealed off the parcel. >>> this morning volunteers will once again search for clues in the suspected abduction of sierra lamar. as the same time the morgan hill's case is getting national attention on the show america's most wanted, sierra's mother is sending a message. it is going to be a painful mother's day. >> sierra was last seen in santa clara county two months ago. and now everybody in the country is asking the question, where is sierra lamar? >> molly lamar is most hopeful that the story on "america's most wanted" will lead to the ending she's wanted. meanwhile, divers searched the reservoir in south san jose. at one p

essentially the embarcadero to the east side of the district. this plan that we feel is the pinnacle of transit-oriented growth and development in the bay area. the city has been engaged with the regional agencies and other jurisdictions for quite some time, and crafting plans to accommodate the next several decades worth of growth in a responsible, sustainable manner. this plan is at the forefront of all of that. this plan has very carefully tried to balance the considerations for growth with insuring that we prefer -- we preserve and enhance the quality is in place that makes an francisco special place. at the skyline and at the street level with widened sidewalks and the necessary infrastructure to support transit, and vibrant street life. looking closely at urban design considerations for the sculpting in buildings and creation of in beijing street walls, the preservation of buildings and the expansion of concentration -conservation are. it also would provide funds over $12 million for investment and open space improvements around the downto

this will align the embarcadero. it will create another great place for people to come and create and interact with the day. it's funded from numerous sources, including gl bonds. this is another seawall project up in fisherman's wharf. that project is underway, funded by g l bonds. this is what it will look like when completed. all told, we have public finance projects going on at 14 years and that another going on at 15 and 17 publicly fund -- privately funded by the exploratory and. -- by the exploratorium. hopefully we will realize the value after the america's cup by renting this improved space as well as the public spaces we were already working on. supervisor chu: with regards to capital, does it include any thing not potentially in the 2012 spot? >> nothing is in the 2012 parks bond per say, but we do have a proposal that it would help us pay for the new plaza which is part of the cruise terminal project. it is more for the terminal itself than for the park. we feel like one of the main things we contribute t