Potrero Hill Neighborhood House 953 De Haro St. (at Southern Heights)
6:45 PM Social
7:00 PM Business Meeting
7:40 PM Revised Booster bylaws discuss/vote
Workforce housing letter ratification
8:05 PM Break
8:20 PM Presentation from SF Center for Economic Development: The Bioscience Industry in SF and on Potrero Hill - discussion
9:00 PM Adjourn
Tony Kelly
As I’m writing this, I’m working at home, with the doors locked and the windows closed . . . and if I choose, I can sing along with the Springsteen concert more than a mile away at Pacific Bell Park. I don’t begrudge the Boss, or the Giants, a chance to have concerts at the stadium, but after three attempts at addressing neighborhood concerns about concert noise, it is probably time for the Giants to do proper research on the best way to set their venue up for rock concerts for the benefit of their audiences and their neighbors. We’ll discuss this problem, and find out exactly how much of a problem it is, at the next Booster meeting next Tuesday.
Other updates on other issues:
Revised Booster bylaws: The Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association bylaws have been basically unchanged, and in many ways unreviewed, since the mid-1980s. We’re proposing a revised set of bylaws, to be adopted (or amended and adopted) at the next Booster meeting. Chris Cole, lawyer and faithful Booster, proposed a number of amendments to the proposed bylaws dealing with management procedures, and an important distinction between members who own rental property. We have made those amendments to the proposed bylaws available at the Booster website, potreroboosters.org, and we’ll discuss the proposed changes at the membership meetings this month. We hope to vote on the changes this month, since some changes affect membership categories and dues for 2004. Check it out when you can, and feel free to ask questions or raise red flags about anything you find at any time.
Workforce Housing: Earlier this month, during the last week to get local initiatives on the November ballot, Supervisor Gavin Newsom and the SF Chamber of Commerce tried to create an initiative designed to pre-empt zoning changes and quickly build a large amount of dense housing along the Third Street corridor and the Central Waterfront. The effort failed, due to a lack of support among the other Supervisors. Supervisor Sophie Maxwell asked the Boosters to quickly take a position on the proposed legislation at the time; we studied the initiative and wrote a letter opposing it. Since the position was an emergency action by the Executive Committee, it is subject to membership approval at the next meeting on August 26.
Here’s the letter we sent; we hope you’ll agree with its intent and reasoning.
Dear Supervisor Maxwell:
The proposed Workforce Housing legislation currently being pushed at the Board of Supervisors by the Chamber of Commerce certainly appears to be an end run around the community planning process that has attracted so much effort and time from the neighborhoods of District 10 over the past five years. The Potrero Boosters, along with other organizations in the affected neighborhoods, strongly urge that you delay consideration of the legislation until it has undergone thorough community review and substantial amendments to bring it in line with other City planning initiatives.
This initiative reinforces the need to:
The neighborhoods of District 10 are being asked, now more than ever, to solve all of the city's problems. That can ONLY happen with proper planning on a district-wide scale across city agencies with community support, not through piecemeal legislation promoted by single agencies and special interests.
We look forward to talking more about this issue in the future.
Bioscience and Potrero Hill: At next Tuesday’s meeting, the San Francisco Center for Economic Development will join us for a presentation discussing the efforts by Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and the SFCED to attract and develop bioscience businesses in San Francisco. The presenters will also shed light on how the bioscience industry will affect our neighborhood. Or at least, they will if we ask the right questions!
The SFCED writes: "San Francisco has a rightful claim to be called the birthplace of bioscience and, in UCSF, has one of the premier biomedical research institutions in the world. And yet never before has San Francisco tried, from the grassroots upward, to assess support for, and perhaps develop a broad-based strategy to attract, more bioscience firms."
If we are to create a home for this new industry in our neighborhood, we need to do it right, and to bring our ideas, concerns, and thoughts to the table. Please join us for this important discussion, and share what you hear at it with your neighbors.
Membership: Next month is the start of the Boosters 2004 membership drive. One of the simplest things we can do as members is the most effective – bring a neighbor to a meeting, or show them the list of Issues for 2003 at our website, potreroboosters.org. There’s gotta be something on the list that you can work on with us – so GET INVOLVED! Contact me or Pat Cleveland, Vice President for Membership – our contact information is on the flip side of this newsletter.
Thanks for thinking about our organization, and our neighborhood.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.06126903: 722 VERMONT/20th Sts. Propose front horizontal garage expansion, adding a tandem parking space to existing single family house in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Julian Banales, Planner, ph: 558-6339.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.05305898: 898 WISCONSIN/23rd Sts. Proposed 2-story rear addition w/deck & stairs to an existing single family house in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Jon Purvis, Planner, ph: 558-6354.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.06247772: 691 KANSAS/19th Sts. Propose horiz rear addition 3 ft deep & 3 ft wide side addition plus rear deck and stairs in a RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Kate McGee, Planner, ph: 558-6367.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.07159472: 712 DE HARO/19th Sts. Proposed 7'-9' front bay, rear addition & stair to duplex in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Julian Banales, Planner, ph: 558-6339.
BLDG PERMIT APPLICATION #2003.07018453: 1477 KANSAS/25th Sts. Proposed 3 ft deep x 16 ft wide rear horizontal addition to existing single family house in an RH-2, 40-X zone. Contact: Kate McGee, Planner, ph: 558-6367.
ZONING VARIANCE APPLICATION Case 2003.0116V: 341 ARKANSAS/18th Sts. Variance is required to add a 2nd unit on the 3rd& 4th floors without the required 2nd parking space. Public Hearing is Weds, 27 August '03 after 9:30am at City Hall, Rm 408. Contact: Larry Badiner, Zoning Administrator, ph: 558-6350
RECEIVING ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Case #2003.0832E: Large (Big Box) Retail Conditional Use Ordinance. Board of Sup.s sponsored resolution adding & amending zoning controls that require Conditional Use for large (50,000+ sq ft) retail uses in C-2, C-M, M-1, M-2, RSD, SLR, SLI, SPD and SSO zones. Public comments concerning "environmental effects" are welcome to Planning by August 20th. Contact: Paul Lord, Reviewer, ph: 558-6311.
PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING Case # 2002.1306C: 1155 TENNESSEE/22nd Sts. beginning at 1:30pm Thurs, 28 Aug. '03 Requests a Conditional Use converting a Residential (1st flr over garage) use to Office use in a NC-2, 40-X zone Dogpatch. Contact Jon Purvis, Planner, ph: 558-6354.
PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING Case 2002.0418T: City-wide Ordinance amending the Planning Code to authorize the addition of a secondary unit up to 750 sq ft (note: not legalize existing illegal units) within 1250 ft each side of Primary Transit Street or transit center or Neighborhood Com'l or Com'l Zones. Hearing is 1:30pm, Thurs, 16 Oct. Contact: Paul Lord, Planner, ph: 558-6311.