Sophie Maxwell: In the thick of it
A town hall meeting with Sophie Maxwell was held at the Thick house this past Saturday, and representatives from several city departments were on hand to field questions.
Sophie kicked off the meeting with an update on some of the projects she's been working on:
• The Potrero Hill & Bayview / Hunter's Point power plants should be closing in 2007, and last efforts were underway with the port to do underground wiring.
• Sophie was able to 'hijack' money from Prop 63 (mental health fund) and divert money for kids in youth guidance centers who are waiting for placement in mental health facilities.
Greg Asay, one of Sophie's Aides, provided updates for issues affecting Potrero Hill
• Interim zoning controls were passed for land usage. Current zoning is like the 'wild west', and there's a desire to bring sensibility to the planning process to protect the neighborhood. The goal is to create permanent zoning controls.
• Esprit Park's irrigation dates back to the 1800s. Bids are currently coming in for the park, and if they are within budget, work can begin in August.
Next, Sophie moderated questions to the panel of city representatives. Here are some highlights:
Water pressure for residents on the upper areas of the Hill drops considerably at times. What are the plans to address this in light of all the development in the area?
Sam Murray from the SFPUC mentioned that the PUC was working on capital improvements and fixing the system. He thinks the problem will be solved with the new infrastructure.
Streets lights around Deharo and 25th are dim and yellow. There are lots of car break-ins and rocks being thrown by kids due to the area not being well lit. What can be done?
Sam mentioned that some of the lights in San Francisco are owned by PG&E and others by the city. He would check to see if the lights were owned by the city, and if so, look at changing the wattage.
Residents of Potrero Court (23rd & Rhode Island) were experiencing auto thefts from within their underground garage. Was there a neighborhood watch?
The number for San Francisco SAFE was given out: 415.673.SAFE. Officer Ernst, a Potrero Hill beat cop, mentioned that the problem with complexes with garages was that people leave before the gates close. About 50% of these type of auto thefts occur because the criminals wait outside of the gate and enter before the gates close.
The trash container on Connecticut at the end of 22nd are oftentimes not getting emptied (a similar problem was occuring at Wisconsin & 25th). Who's responsible?
This is an issue that the DPW would look into. The city has a contract with Sunset Scavengers to empty the city trash cans.
What's happening with the huge hole (previously S&C Ford) on Rhode Island between 16th & 17th?
Greg Asay said that space was fully entitled for mixed use. The project has changed hands a couple of times, and they are waiting for the developers to develop, which should happen soon. There are plans for a 35,000 square foot Whole Foods within this development.
3 Comments:
You might want to press a little harder for info on the power plants as you expand your blog. Sophie’s office and Greg Asay in particular, have been very squishy on this subject.
As I understand it, the current 2 plants are scheduled to close (I had heard by the end of 2006). BUT - Sophie has bowed to some pressures and is opening up another location (1/3 of a mile down the road) for a brand new power plant. IN ADDITION, the one in Potrero isn’t actually being closed, but rather it’s being shut down. It’s owner has the right to retrofit and re-open, which they plan to do. That means SF which has a very limited land mass will still have 2 power plants, right where they’ve been, polluting the same neighborhood as always. We should be focusing on better transmission lines from outside the city AND renewables. This is a BAD deal for Potrero hill residents who already have the highest incidence of lung problems in SF due to power plant pollution. While the new plants will be cleaner, they won’t be clean. I don’t see any other supervisors volunteering their neighborhood for power plant development.
ALSO - Greg Asay’s spin on the moratorium Sophie put on housing development is completely bogus. The owner of the Anchor Steam building wanted to buy the building next to his and got Sophie to do the moratorium so there wouldn’t be higher offers on it from developers who could put housing there (making the land more valuable). The moratorium is yet another bad move on Sophie’s part.
Its good to hear that the grocery store will be a Whole Foods (does seem a little close to their SOMA location though).
Anyone know what is coming up on Texas and Sierra ? There is some heavy construction going on there.
RE: Sierra/Texas--there is a 67 unit condo project currently under construction, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Many neighbors had gotten together as far back as 1999 and 2000 to address their concerns about such a large project and were able, finally, to reduce the number of units from over 120 and to reduce the height of the bldg by one floor, thereby preserving at least some of the views. There is also a large--towering--development going up btwn Missouri and Connecticut at 22nd, which is even a bigger eyesore and will allow those occupants to peer into our bedrooms and cast shadows on our homes.
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