UCSF and the Haight Ashbury: 120 Years of Struggle

The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood existed before the University of California opened in the fall of 1898 on Parnassus Avenue. It is important to understand that the continued existence of the neighborhood’s access to transit and housing has been an ongoing issue between the neighborhood and UCSF for much of its 120 year history on Mt. Sutro. And as the UC Regents ponder a new expansion plan for the campus, which will remove a forty-five year old agreement with the community, the neighborhood’s future is again to be decided by an unelected body advised by unaccountable campus administration.

UCSF is a state entity exempt from local zoning controls and possesses the power of eminent domain. Thousands of units of housing were condemned and demolished to make room for UCSF’s expansion. By 1975 the surrounding neighborhoods, led by HANC, drafted the "Mt. Sutro Community Master Plan." UCSF, facing a lawsuit from the community, agreed in large measure to implement the Master Plan. The agreement included a growth cap of 3.55 m/s/f at the Parnassus campus. UCSF then expanded off Parnassus resulting in the new UCSF Mission Bay campus, with TWO new hospitals, and the acquisition of the old Mt. Zion Hospital in the Western Addition. In short, the community agreement has meant UCSF could grow away from Parnassus and provide critical health care to otherwise medically underserved areas of the City.

All of that is now at risk with the current UCSF administration proposing to break this historic agreement and go back to unlimited growth at the Parnassus campus. Community organizations have already "lawyered up" and a new round of law suits are on tap.

Joining Calvin Welch, HANC Land Use Chair, for the February meeting will be two long-time UCSF Community Advisory Committee Members Tes Welborn, former HANC President and current Board member, and Dennis Antenore, former San Francisco Planning Commissioner. We have also invited former Mayor Art Agnos, the Sierra Club, San Francisco Chapter, and representatives of the Parnassus Neighborhood Coalition, all opposed to the planned expansion of UCSF at Parnassus Heights.

The February 11th HANC meeting will provide information and insight on this critical issue simply not available anywhere else. Please join us.