Wiener called out by Coastal Commissioners

Report By State Liaison Eileen Boken, (SPEAK) with comments by Mari Eliza

Link to CAL-SPAN Video of California Coastal Commission Meeting Dec. 14, 2023 Agenda Item #5 document : Informational Briefing on Housing (no vote)

Link to recording : https://cal-span.org/meeting/ccc_20231214/

Bochco is the outgoing Chair of the Coastal Commission who resigned from the Coastal Commission effective this month. This is her last meeting.. Hart is the incoming Chair of the Coastal Commission. Commissioner Katie Rice represents the North Central Coast District which includes San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and San Mateo counties.

Wiener was the first to call in during Public comments (around 2:54:50 on the tape) after the Key Takeaways presentation. His blamed the Coastal Commission for slowing the pace of building on the coast. He accused them of taking 9 years to process one of the sites in their jurisdiction. His manner was rude and his claims were refuted in a calm and casual manner by commissioners when they responded after public comments. They claimed other parties held up the project for 9 years before they received the application they needed to review and process and that once they had it they turned it around in 5 months. Scott’s bullying manner did not appear to phase them but he looked like a bully.

Commissioners Bochco, Brownsey and Hart mentioned Wiener. Commission Vice Chair Escalante didn’t mention him, but she did request friends in the Bay Area join in a discussion with SoCal. Commissioner Rice, who represents San Francisco,did not mention Wiener but referred to Bayview / Hunters Point as being in harm’s way.