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Board of Appeals [agenda]

• This normally sleepy body has a real live one this Wednesday. The infamous Sunset Skyscraper project is up for a decision, with the board hearing an appeal of the Planning Department’s rejection of the project.

  As we reported this month, there are some red flags with the project. It’s also become a major lightning rod in housing debates, both locally and statewide.

  Given the likelihood of impassioned commentary, the skyscraper hearing is at the end of the agenda. It’s also been delayed multiple times, at the request of the developer.

New information regarding the attorneys and the proponents of this case are turning this into quite a saga. We anticipate this hearing is the first of a few to come.

By Calmatters : ocregister – excerpt (includes audio track)

Losing income is the No. 1 reason Californians end up homeless – and the vast majority of them say a subsidy of as little as $300 a month could have kept them off the streets.

That’s according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that provides the most comprehensive look yet at California’s homeless crisis.

In the six months prior to becoming homeless, the Californians surveyed were making a median income of just $960 a month. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is nearly three times that, according to Zillow. And though survey participants listed a myriad of reasons why they lost their homes, more people cited a loss of, or reduction in, income than anything else.

The study’s authors say the findings highlight the idea that money, more than addiction, mental health, poor decisions or other factors, is the main cause of – and potential solution to – homelessness.

“I think it’s really important to note how desperately poor people are, and how much it is their poverty and the high housing costs that are leading to this crisis,” said Margot Kushel, a physician who directs the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, which conducted the study.

Already the study – which the authors say is the most representative homelessness survey conducted in the U.S. since the mid-1990s – has drawn attention from high places…(more)

By Mike Ege : sfstandard – excerpt

Legislation to bring “gentle density” to many of San Francisco’s neighborhoods by allowing single-family homes to convert to smaller-scale apartments got a stiff arm from city lawmakers.

The bill, sponsored by Supervisor Myrna Melgar, was expected to clear the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee and be approved by the full board on Tuesday.

Instead, it was hit with last-minute amendments that postponed the recommendation of the bill for another week.

The delay and hostile public comments from neighborhood groups that followed illustrate how getting the city’s more affluent, suburban-flavored neighborhoods to accept more density is still an uphill battle, even after passage of legislation in Sacramento to boost construction…

Eric Brooks, an activist with Our City San Francisco, conceded that “this conversation sounds better than the ones we’ve had in the past,” but also said that “part of the reason folks are so on about this is that we do not trust anything the Planning Department staff would do.”…(more)

As I recall Calvin Welch described the difference between affordable housing that many fear will be demolished and rent controlled market rate housing, which he determined will be the results of passing Family Housing Opportunity Special Use District Ordinance #230026, as it is currently proposed. Because as we know, any housing we build today will never be as affordable as that we may be tearing down.

by Joe Eskenazi : Missionlocal – excerpt

Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, 50, is punctual, showing up at a west side cafe located conveniently near both the things one must do and people one must meet when one runs for mayor, and the places San Francisco parents need to be to pick up and drop off their kids during the summer months.

The second-term District 11 supervisor was the first serious contender to announce his intention to take on Mayor London Breed in 2024. While, as we’ve written in the recent past, it’s a good bet that most San Franciscans cannot spell “Ahsha Safaí,” that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t vote for him: He narrowly edged the beleaguered incumbent in a June poll.

Mission Local met with the man who would be mayor on Friday, July 14. Safaí, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard and a Teamsters jacket — from a rally he’d attended that day alongside the mayor questioning the expansion of autonomous vehicles — spoke of his competition, his city, and what comes next…(more)

RELATED:

SF Mayor London Breed will reportedly face another 2024 challenger: a Levi Strauss heir

By Maryann Jones Thompson & Liz Lindqwister : sfstandard – excerpt

“I still love this city but it’s so much worse than it used to be…”

As San Franciscans struggle to untangle their frustrations about homelessness, crime, housing and post-pandemic work and life, voters are angry at city leaders and increasingly support law-and-order policies.

In the charts, videos and stories below, the second San Francisco Standard Voter Poll explores the shifting mindsets and priorities of residents in the run-up to the November 2022 General Election.

Overview

Voters place the blame for the city’s complex and intertwined problems squarely on the shoulders of elected officials. READ MORE…

“San Francisco city leaders need to get their act together and start to make some real changes in the city because this is not a place that I’m proud to call home anymore.” (more)

RELATED:

Daniel Lurie—Nonprofit Founder and Heir to Levi Strauss Fortune—To Run for San Francisco Mayor in 2024, Sources Say

By Emilio Garcia-Ruiz :sfchronicle – excerpt

When I started as editor in chief in September 2020, the pandemic lockdown was in full force and the streets around The Chronicle’s downtown offices were strikingly dystopian.

Like many newcomers, I asked about all the signs of drug addiction I was seeing on my daily walk to work. More than one person, as part of a casual conversation, told me that drugs in San Francisco are sold by migrants from Honduras who are victims of human trafficking and forced to sell on the streets of the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

Has anyone written that story? I asked.

It would be very difficult to get, I was told. Obviously, investigating a drug network is hard enough for police, much less journalists…

Despite concerns about their safety and the threat of contracting COVID, the two spent hundreds of hours in the open-air drug markets in the Tenderloin and SoMa over these past 18 months. They watched how the business was done, interacting with everyone they could: dealers, users, residents, community activists and the police…(more)

Megan Cassidy and Gabrielle Lurie should be commended for putting so much effort into this investigation that resulted in multiple storites that document the characters and their work that produces what we are seeing on the streets of San Francisco. One may choose to belive it or not, act on it or not, but the work to inform the public has been done and it is an amazing story. The issues are immense and complicated, but, if we are going to solve the problems we must understand the situaltion we are dealing with, and the work Megan and Gabrielle did gives us a lot to work with. Our sincere thanks. (read the articles and you will see what I mean)

By Bay City News : sfstandard – excerpt

Doctors at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco have launched a campaign to preserve its unique services amid reports the facility and another of the city’s hospitals, St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Nob Hill, may be acquired by UCSF.

A group of the hospital’s most senior physicians said in a statement this week their “Save St. Mary’s” campaign is to ensure that the medical center maintains its accessible and patient-centered care and most cherished programs and services.

St. Mary’s, on Stanyan Street near Fulton, is San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating hospital. Established in 1857, it was the first Catholic hospital west of the Rockies…

Among the services the physicians are especially concerned about are the Sister Mary Philippa Clinic, which provides care to the homeless and uninsured, and the St. Mary’s McAuley Institute, which provides acute inpatient psychiatric care for youth and young adults…(more)

By Michael Barba : sfstandard – excerpt

San Francisco’s disgraced former utilities chief Harlan Kelly was found guilty of various fraud charges Friday after a dayslong trial.

Kelly, the former general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), was charged in connection with two alleged schemes.

One involved benefits he accepted from a businessman and expediter, Walter Wong, who was seeking contracts from his department. The other involved Kelly misrepresenting debts to a loan company in an application filed with the help of real estate mogul Victor Makras.

RELATED: Ex-Building Inspector Bernie Curran Gets 1-Year Prison Sentence…(more)

By Dave Osgood

It wasn’t expected, but Rincon Annex was the only appeal considered at the meeting and it lasted 4 1/2 hours! And it’s not done. The matter was continued to September 6.

Board of Supervisors President Peskin sat through the meeting in person for over three hours in order to speak during public comment. He said the planning department had erred in approving these permits.

Obviously we’ve raised an issue of some importance.

Actually the meeting devolved into two related subject matters:

• The Rincon Annex building and the proposed signs.
• How the planning department processes permits involving historic buildings.

Annex: This remains an uphill battle. Three board members are appointed by Breed. Two are appointed by supervisors, and one of them indicated he has considerable interest in Rincon Annex and was ready to deny the four permits. The other was absent last night, so we would have had to get the votes of all three Breed members to prevail.

Process: The process of preserving historic buildings in the city is a real hodgepodge of confusing ordinances that allows developers and planners to pick and choose how permits are issued. Numerous areas of the planning code apply with vague exceptions and subjective requirements. President Peskin stated this matter should’ve gone to the historic preservation commission, but it appears that recent efforts to streamline planning means that step is no longer required. Despite pages of code, it was stated that there are no limits on the size and number of signs that could go on Rincon annex. It remains unclear why other historic buildings, such as the old federal reserve, remain sign free. Concern was expressed about the precedent the Rincon permits would set.

The appeals board’s minutes are already out and indicate:

“The Board continued the matter to September 6, 2023 so that the department and parties can submit briefs addressing the following topics:

• How the Planning Department arrived at its decision to approve the permits, including the determinations it made; and whether the Planning Department could provide written findings of a determination under Planning Code section 1006.6, including any resource implications that would have for the Department.
• The applicability and conformity of these permits with Article 11 of the Planning Code.
• Whether the issuance of the permits complies with the 2018 legislation (Planning Code section 1005(e)(6)).

The City Attorney will provide an opinion to the Board on the legal issues raised by these topics.”

I believe they were also to report why the matter didn’t go to the historic preservation Commission . Briefs will be submitted by the parties on August 24. As the appellant, we obviously have a seat at the table. It was suggested that we get an attorney involved. City officials often make that recommendation to activists without seeming to appreciate the burden and cost involved. Mr. Peskin left after public comment, and officials said during the subsequent discussion that they didn’t completely understand why he said the planning department had erred. It has been suggested that it is critical for Peskin to submit a document to the Board of Appeals.

Hopefully this could lead to some reform, and we should encourage that. We should get a better idea at the upcoming general assembly meeting about what groups and organizations are most involved in historic preservation. Any thoughts people have on how we can best use this unique opportunity to encourage reform would be welcome.