SF Labor Council ED Supports Partial Privatization Of Candlestick Point Park For Lennar

SF Labor Council Executive Director And Pelosi Flack Supports Partial Privatization Of Candlestick Point State Park For Crooked Developer Lennar

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/11/EDIP196K3K.DTL

Land swap to improve Candlestick Point park
Sophie Maxwell, Tim Paulson,Arelious Walker
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

In an era of deep cuts to state spending, the budget ax is falling on California's parks. One of the most vulnerable is Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has repeatedly identified this San Francisco park - admittedly underused and in great need of repair - for the chopping block.

Fortunately, for San Francisco and the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, there is a source of needed funding. Senate Bill 792, authored by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would reconfigure the state park boundaries at Candlestick Point in exchange for tens of millions of dollars in developer-generated fees for needed improvements. Under this bill, the state would transfer between 20 and 30 acres of underutilized land to the city, leaving 120-plus acres for the waterfront park. Most of the acreage identified for transfer is located away from the bay shore and is predominately weed-filled parking lots.

As a result of the exchange, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area will have the funds to build new walking and bicycling trails, boat launches, picnic areas and other park amenities that one day could allow Candlestick Point to easily rival the open space experience of San Francisco's northern shoreline park, Crissy Field. SB792 provides a guaranteed funding source from fees generated by the surrounding development to operate and maintain the improved state parkland and open space.

SB792 is an essential part of the broader Bayview jobs, parks and housing initiative, Proposition G, approved by voters in June 2008. SB792 allows for the land to be used in a manner consistent with that initiative, including new city parkland and housing offered at a wide range of income levels, and the rebuilding of the Alice Griffith public housing development. It also paves the way for a new United Nations Center for Global Climate Change.

SB792 is the product of collaboration among many interested neighbors, the state Department of Parks and Recreation, statewide environmental organizations and City Hall. After listening to these groups, Leno has significantly amended the bill to further protect the well-being of residents, habitat and wildlife. As a result, the legislation requires a level of environmental and public review above and beyond what is required by state environmental law.

Yet, in spite of the expressed will of San Francisco voters, and the desires of the neighborhood for better open space and new jobs, a small but vocal band opposes the bill. Well-meaning concerns about potential effects on local wildlife was the basis for some opposition - concerns that the amended SB792 fully addresses by requiring that habitat values not be harmed.

Sadly, much of the rest stems from entrenched political opposition to the advancement of southeastern San Francisco, clearly expressed earlier in the debate over Proposition G and now to SB792 - a stance that totally disregards the will of the voters.

For the Bayview-Hunters Point community, time matters, and voters and the city have made promises to this neighborhood. We need to deliver on those promises. SB792 helps achieve the vision of a sustainable, environmentally friendly recreational resource for the neighborhood and the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It deserves support.

Sophie Maxwell represents Bayview-Hunters Point on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Tim Paulson is the executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council and Arelious Walker is the pastor at True Hope Church of God in Christ.