Haight Ashbury Supervisor Harvey Milk To Be Honored With Memorial Sculpture In City Hall

Photo courtesy of Danny Nicoletta

By Joey Cain, HANC Board

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A sculpture of former District 5 Supervisor Harvey Milk will be unveiled in San Francisco City Hall at a free public event on May 22, 2008. The doors will open at 6 PM and the program will start at 7 PM.

Milk served as the Haight’s Supervisor from January 1978 until his assassination, along with Mayor George Moscone, in November of 1978. Harvey was elected under the first iteration of District Elections. He was part of the movement that sought to change City Hall politics from
one dictated solely by big downtown corporations to one that took direction from and addressed the needs and desires of the neighborhoods. Nationally, he is best remembered as one of the first openly Gay elected officials in the United States and is internationally recognized as an important LGBT civil rights figure. Locally he is remembered as, along with Pablo Heising, a co-founder of the Haight Street Fair. He is credited with helping to create a broad based coalition of San Francisco’s disenfranchised that to this day is still the leading force for progressive social and political change.

Harvey will again make history with the unveiling of this sculpture. It will be the first time such a memorial to an openly LGBT person will be placed in a seat of government in the United States. It will also be the first statue in City Hall honoring a member of the Board of Supervisors who did not also serve as Mayor.

For more information go to www.milkmemorial.org.

Update on Cala Site

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

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It has been about two months since the public hearing on the Environmental Impact Report on the proposed condo and Whole Foods development proposal at 690 Stanyan, the site of the old CALA store at Stanyan and Haight Streets. The massive seven floor (including the three floors of underground parking for 176 cars), 205,000 s/f development will be nine times the total size of the previous CALA with nearly four times the off-street parking space of the existing use.

The overwhelming size of the proposed development, its covering of nearly the entire surface site of two lots, its continuation of the Frankenstein design used by the owner at his Haight and Cole Streets property, and the estimated 2,000 car trips a day it will generate, was the subject of a full EIR and also the subject of HANC’s and neighbors testimony about the failure of the EIR to adequately and completely discuss the projects impacts, especially its horrid design and its traffic and parking impacts on public transit, Golden Gate Park and the immediate neighbors, seven of whom provided testimony, along with HANC, opposing these impacts and asking the developer (and the Planning Commission) to change the design and reduce the size of the project.

The approval process for the project requires the approval of a “final” EIR, then the approval of the project and then the approval of a demolition permit for the existing CALA building. For the “draft” EIR that was heard on February 28th to be made “final” all of the comments submitted at the hearing and/or in writing must be answered by the project sponsor.

According to the Planning Department, they have yet to receive these “responses” to the public “comments”. They cannot process the EIR until the developer “responses” have been received. In addition, Ms. Jones of the Planning Department has said that “additional analysis necessary to respond to some of the comments” has also been requested by the department and the developer’s consultants have yet to provide this analysis. The progress on the EIR is thus somewhat stalled, with no time certain as to when the developer will provide the required information.

The question of the project’s design also seems to be in flux with two Planning Commissioners and a senior Planner telling the Voice that the design has been the subject of continued discussion between the department and the developer and that changes can be expected.

Proposition 98: This is a measure that has been funded by wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners. It contains the eminent domain reform, that we need, but is loaded with poorly-written “poison pills” that we don’t need or want.

If passed, Prop 98 could prohibit important environmental protections:

•  Regulations to protect sensitive wetland areas;
•  Urban limit lines and other growth control measures intended to stop sprawl and uncontrolled development, and to protect open space;
•  California Environmental Quality Act mitigations that cities, counties and public agencies require of developers to mitigate environmental impacts of developments;
•  Protections of endangered species and their habitats;
•  Protection of coastal areas, farmland, and ranchland, as well as cultural and historic sites;
•  “Smart growth” regulations designed to promote compact, walk able, and transit-oriented communities that combine residential and commercial land uses;
•  Ordinary zoning regulations, such as restrictions on the development of polluting industries, adult businesses, and “big box” mega stores;
•  Regulations intended to protect old growth forests by limiting timber harvests, and
•  Prop. 98 could threaten water quality and supply. The Association of California Water Agencies says Prop 98 “could derail needed groundwater and surface water projects around the state”, and calls this flaw in the measure “cause for alarm.” If passed, Proposition 98 would eliminate rent control and other renter protection laws:
•  Jeopardize laws requiring the fair return of rental deposits
•  Jeopardize laws requiring 60-day notice before forcing renters out of their housing
•  Outlaw local affordable housing and “inclusionary zoning” requirements
•  Jeopardize laws that protect seniors and the disabled from drastic rent increases and that require landlords to give them ample notice before forcing them out of rental housing VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 98!

Proposition 99—the Homeowners Protection Act—will prohibit the government from using eminent domain to take a home to transfer to a private developer.

Prop 99 is supported by a broad collation of homeowners, business, labor, cities, counties, and environmentalists who want straightforward eminent domain reform that gets right to the heart of the infamous Kelo decision.

Can’t you smell it? It is the time when the flowers are blooming and people are sneezing. It is the time when the days are getting longer. And you don’t mind so much if you have to work late into the evening. It is the time of hopes and promises. It is the time when City officials roll out their budget and service plans for the next year’s cuts.
   Yes, it is time for the Annual MUNI Budget and Service review. For this year MUNI will start its annual event with a series of community meetings and reviews entitled: “Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) Draft Proposals to Transform Muni”.
   In the words of MTA planners: The TEP is the first comprehensive review of Muni in over a generation. The project is a joint effort of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates Muni, and the Controller’s Office. The TEP’s preliminary proposals aim to transform Muni so people can get where they want to go quickly, reliably, and safely. The proposals would also help address Muni’s structural budget deficit by making service more efficient, and would reduce traffic congestion and pollution by attracting new customers to Muni. Under the TEP’s draft recommendations, virtually every Muni customer would experience some amount of change, with the majority of Muni customers benefiting from improved Muni service, in particular on the system’s most heavily utilized routes. The preliminary TEP proposals are the result of countless conversations with Muni customers and will be further refined through continued dialogue.
   Some of the proposed changes for the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood are discontinuing the 7 Haight, rerouting the 6 Parnassus, and shortening the 21 Hayes route.
   For the April 10 General Meeting, HANC will host an open discussion with residents and merchants of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and MTA planners regarding the proposed MUNI changes for the neighborhood. The General Meeting starts at 7:00 pm at the Park branch Library, 1833 Page Street.

Muni Route Proposals at a Glance
For the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood