Category: Land Use

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Once it was hailed as a drought fix — but now California’s moving to restrict synthetic turf over health concerns

By Shreya Agrawal : Calmatters – excerpt (includes audio track)

IN SUMMARY: California cities can ban synthetic turf under a law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed. He rejected a bill to ban PFAS in fake lawns.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week passed on a chance to limit the use of the so-called “forever chemicals” in legions of plastic products when he vetoed a bill that would have banned them in synthetic lawns.

His veto of an environmental bill that overwhelmingly passed the Legislature underscores California’s convoluted guidance on the plastic turf that some homeowners, schools and businesses use in place of grass in a state accustomed to drought.

Less than a decade ago then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law prohibiting cities and counties from banning synthetic grass. At the time, the state was in the middle of a crippling drought and fake lawns were thought to be helpful in saving water…(more)

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San Francisco Marina Greens

Chris Kaplan, owner of Marina Greens Gas House Cove Fuel Dock Operator for 50 years Comments Upon the City’s Proposal to Rebuild the East Harbor and Add a New Boat Harbor in Front of the Marina Greens Promenade.

Play the Video produced by Joe Bravo on YouTube.

Outflow during December 2022 floods.

Christine has operated the fuel dock for 50 years – hear what she has to say

The fuel dock is vital to the marina’s operation. There is more than meets the eye:

  • The relocation strategy is deeply flawed, consisting of burying large fuel tanks into unstable ground.

  • The fuel dock provides emergency services that would disappear.

  • The bottom of the Gashouse Cove is muddy and sandy, unfit for recreational activities.

  • To top it off, the Laguna Street Outflow spills sewage into the harbor when the city sewer system is overwhelmed by heavy rains.

  • In addition, the question of decontaminating the area is still unsolved, and toxic residue still shows up on the surface.

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Supes take up community movement against new harbor in Marina

By Natalia Gurevich : sfexaminer – excerpt

City leaders are joining the Marina district’s ongoing fight against a plan to build a new harbor in front of San Francisco’s iconic Marina Green.

“On behalf of The City and County of San Francisco, I’m actually here to apologize,” San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said at a community meeting Wednesday night. Peskin called the Rec and Park department’s proposal “absolutely wrongheaded.”

Peskin also apologized for Rec and Park’s lack of transparency with the community. “It has been fixed from the get-go and it is the worst way of eroding trust in the government.”…

The supervisors shared Wednesday night that they intend to draft a resolution “to articulate clearly what the desire of the community is,” Safai said. Once that is introduced, it will go to the committee, and a public hearing will be held…

But ultimately, if push comes to shove, the supervisors can simply take the settlement money away from the project.

“There’s nothing in that settlement that compels us, binds us to build the West Harbor improvements,” Peskin said. “It’s a Rec and Park thing, it’s a Phil Ginsburg (general manager of Rec and Park) thing, it’s a mayor thing, but there’s nothing that requires us to do it.”… (more)

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50 Story Skyscraper Hearing July 26

Money Money Money as High as your eye can see!

City and Supervisor Engardio claim the project is a no go on San Francisco  Beach. Petition against skyscraper in SF’s Sunset District draws over 2,500 signatures. Planning Department will hear the matter on July 26. One other issue that has been raised is over who is  behind the caper.

By Joe Kukurta  wrote in sfist, ” There are other things that smell funny about this proposal. CH Planning “project consultant” John Hickey, the wife of listed developer Raelynn Hickey, was convicted on securities fraud and mail fraud charges in 2006. Plus, YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss has been doing a full-court press giving interviews on behalf of this project. That indicates this whole scheme may be a ruse to create Housing Element-related lawsuits, albeit lawsuits that could push the Overton window of San Francisco height limits up a little more. And that would benefit real estate developers pretty much across the board.… (more)”

RELATED:
Prison term for developer who defrauded investors / S.F. man ordered to pay $17.4 million in restitution as well

 

 

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Housemate From Hell Forces Elderly SF Artist To Move Across the Country

by Kevin Truong : sfstandard – excerpt

 

Why would anybody want to be a landlord in a city where landlords and master tenants have no right to remove a tenant, subtenant or guest who is not living up to their obligations and/or exhibiting abusive behavior? 

The city could open more rentable units by writing some new rules that tenants must adhere to. We believe that San Francisco could open up more rentable spaces in the city by changing some of the most oppressive rules and regulations that pin people into bad deals with people like the “tenant from hell” so aptly described in the above article. Everyone knows someone who has had a difficult tenant or roommate. Both landlords and tenants need protection from bad actors.

Continuing the eviction moratorium will keep more places off the market unless some protections are built into the rental system. Fear of loss of control of one’s property to a recalcitrant tenant is keeping a lot of rentable units off the market. 

Where is the support for small property owners who rely on rents to cover mortgage, maintenance and utility bills? The continued eviction moratorium is creating hardship for landlords and tenants who cannot afford to pay their bills to hold onto their own property. Increasing utility bills that cannot be collected from the tenants and subtenants add to the risks. 

When the master tenant leaves the landlord is left dealing with the recalcitrant subtenants. In some cases, the master tenant leaves rather than put up with a difficult roommate, leaving the landlord to handle the problem.

Foreclosures result in the evictions of landlord and tenants. The current conditions will result in more foreclosures and removal of more rental properties as the rental units are taken over by lenders who may take them off the market. 

If the eviction moratorium is continued there must be some way to protect property owners and master tenants from the abuses or subtenants.

Possible Solutions:

We could start with a good Samaritan Law. We could create a Good Samaritan agreement to be signed by host and guests for people willing to accept visitors on a temporary basis as a guest. The host should be able to end the arrangement with the guest at any time for any reason without question and without any obligation to finance the removal of the guest. 

We request a fair Landlord/Tenant Rights Bill. This could be included as part of the master lease. We need to describe a procedure by which landlords, tenants, and neighbors may hold “bad actors” responsible for their actions by setting up a means of reimbursement or evictions where they are warranted. If people know they will face consequences for abusive behavior, including loss of the right to remain, most of the abuses will end. We need to acknowledge a chain of ownership, maintenance and control of the property that is signed by owner, master tenant, sub-tenant, roommate, and guest.

We request that our city authorities come up with legislation or establish a process to review grievances. We need a neutral board to hear requests for evictions or removal of people who are creating a nuisance for owner, master tenant, sub-tenant, roommate, guest and neighbors.

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Breaking the SF Doom Loop: Convert Downtown Offices Into Student Housing

By Josh Koehn, Kevin Trong : sfstandard – excerpt

Since the start of this year, a rotating cast of San Franciscans have been gathering for dinner and drinks while discussing the city’s most pressing problems. Rather than the typical bitchfest, this discreet group of tech entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, elected officials and City Hall commissioners spends less time bemoaning what’s wrong and more time noodling on solutions…

Bilal Mahmood, a startup founder and neuroscientist who finished third in a state Assembly special election last year, designed the dinner parties after the Junto Club, a 12-member group of tradesmen and artisans formed by Benjamin Franklin in 1727…

But as Mahmood and his guests discussed the state of Downtown over karaage, sashimi and wagyu at Ozumo, an upscale Japanese restaurant near the Embarcadero, one guest floated an idea that seemed to linger. Zach Klein, the venture capitalist and co-founder of Vimeo, suggested San Francisco should create a new university, or at least a vast array of college student housing, in the downtown core…

The theory goes: Vacant commercial towers in San Francisco will likely never again reach capacity, but they could be converted to student housing by public universities, which are exempt from much of the red tape that otherwise stymies development. These schools also receive substantial tax breaks, making the cost of such projects “pencil out.” Large cohorts of new, young residents would not only make use of the buildings themselves but also reinvigorate Downtown by supporting local restaurants, bars and other small businesses…(more)

They might run some construction classes as they convert the office buildings into housing since the trades are having trouble finding trained professionals in those fields. Teach some real life skills that the students may use to pay their way through college. They might even be able to avoid taking out those high interest student loans.

RELATED:

Enrollment Data Just Dropped—and So Did the Number of CA Students

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Matt Haney Seeks To Eliminate Only-in-San Francisco Appeals

By Thomas P. Tunny : reubenlaw – excerpt

Housing developers in San Francisco no doubt recognize this entitlement moment of disbelief: after a grueling, years-long process of working with staff, neighbors, and policy-makers, with numerous concessions made to address the potential impacts of their proposed project, the project finally receives its entitlement from the Planning Commission (a recent study found that a multifamily housing project takes 627 days on average to obtain a building permit) when lo and behold, the Board of Appeals sends notice that the project’s site permit has been appealed; and/or the demolition permit is appealed; and/or the grading permit; and/or the tree planting permit…(more)

This comment was sent from a resident in Southern California:
I heard them discussing a bill on KCBS this morning that the governor is trying to use to build a high rise Residential in San Francisco by over-riding the Board of Supervisors. Is this the Mr. Haney bill, AB 1114, Introduced? If it is and the way KCBS was describing how the governor was planning on using it in San Francisco , it was really frightening and threatening…

My response is that California is not looking good to the rest of the country. The national press is not very sympathetic to some of the more radical ideas that target communities and single projects coming out of the state legislature. It appears the Biz Journal ran a story on this. Article attached: AB 1114- Sloat

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Can You Fight Bureaucracy With Bureaucracy? This New Commission is Optimistic

by David Sjostedt : sfstandard : excerpt

Members of a new committee overseeing SF’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing are optimistic that their recently formed watchdog panel will cut through red tape and ultimately speed up City Hall’s response to the crisis unfolding on the streets of San Francisco.

The seven-member Homeless Oversight Commission, approved by voters last November, was initially criticized by Mayor London Breed for introducing yet another layer of bureaucracy to the city’s cumbersome homelessness response.

But some members of the newly formed oversight body—which is scheduled to meet for the first time in May—told The Standard that they hope to reduce the obstacles the homelessness department faces in quickly moving people off the street.

“What we don’t need is another grenade landing in everyone’s lap,” said former president of the Small Business Commission Sharky Laguana. “I don’t want to tie everybody up in a lot of long meetings, and I don’t want to go on a lot of wild goose chases.”…(more)

Looking forward to seeing who else is on the commissin. We hope they are able to clear up the mystery of where the money is going and set up a new system that replace the current DAHLIA that has failed to fill the emtpy spots for years. Where are those empty units and why are they so hard to fill?

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State Won’t Cut Homelessness Funding—but Demands Results

By Sarah Wright : sfstandard – excerpt

Despite a massive budget deficit, California won’t cut funding for homelessness programs but sent a clear message to cities like San Francisco: Use it wisely, or else.

“People are dying in the streets in the name of compassion,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday morning, a statement echoed by his Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Elliott later in the afternoon.

“At some point, the money can no longer be an excuse for inaction,” Elliott said. “We need to muster the political courage to match that investment.”

On Tuesday, the governor came through with his promise to keep funding the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program, adding $1 billion to the pot after pausing funding late last year as a warning to cities to get serious about getting more people off the streets and into more permanent housing.

But the state doesn’t currently have the tools to do much more enforcement than that…

Though homelessness funding will remain intact, the governor announced $350 million in cuts to housing. Those cuts affect three homeownership programs that provide grants and loans to low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers and support the production of Accessory Dwelling Units… (more)

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Marc Benioff Calls To ‘Restructure’ SF Downtown, Adding More Housing

By Kevin Truong : sfstandard – excerpt

The walk up to the Moscone Center on Day 1 of Dreamforce had a sentimental air, with winding registration lines of techies in Allbirds or t-shirts advertising their favorite enterprise software under Patagonia vests…

The 20th iteration of Dreamforce tried to create a feeling of a return, underscored by the keynote presentation theme of “The Great Reunion” delivered by Salesforce co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor. As usual, Benioff played a starring role in the day’s events and used the stage to tout his commitments to the city and its recovery.

“This needs to go well so we attract more business back to San Francisco. This will be a key way of reopening downtown, reopening these areas and giving everybody a big boost,” Benioff said in an interview. “We invested a lot in Moscone, and this is the first time Moscone’s really being used. Everything is open for the first time so let’s see if this can be a great convention city.”…

Benioff said that as he traveled the country and observed the economic recovery in major business centers, San Francisco’s downtown stood out for its overwhelming reliance on office space…

“If you go to a city like Philadelphia it looks like it’s a lot more open. Why is that? Because you have office, residential, university, arts, all these things mixed in the downtown,” Benioff said, calling for “a lot more housing” in San Francisco’s downtown. “You have to rebalance, restructure, refill your downtown if you want it to feel alive.”…

And return-to-office mandates are not on the horizon: Benioff said recently at an event in New York City that “office mandates are never going to work.” …(more)

RELATED

Benioff Speaks  about a number of subjects during Dreamforce week.

Being as he is one of the only tech titans standing who holds much sway in San Francisco since the out of office exit turned the downtown into a deserted nightmare of streets and sidewalks with a threat on every corner, he is one of the few people who may be able to knock some sense into City Hall. We will share a few pearls of wisdom that he handed out from a number of media sources.

““There’s no finish line when it comes to security and social engineering,” He was commenting on Uber hack and the social engineering is puzzling but, perhaps it lack context.

“Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on quiet quitting: Do what makes you happy”

Benioff Says San Francisco homelessness is improving as City’s performance scorecard shows 3.5% decline. He backed Prop C to fund homeless projects by taxing gross receipts on corporate revenue above $50 million.

The market ‘doesn’t fully appreciate how committed we are to growth and margins’, which means acquisitions of other tech companies are on the horizon.

Marc is inspired by Patagonia founder’s giving away his company. will he do something similar?