Summary of Goals for 2003 and Beyond
I. TRANSPORTATION
Board Members: Bruce Balshone, Norman Rolfe, Richard Mlynarik.
Goal: Successfully implement San Francisco's Transit First Policy. Expand and improve public transit and alternative transportation as an attractive, most-often preferable alternative to the private automobile – as a service to city residents and commuters and as the best way to reduce auto congestion. Aggressively seek funding and work through various City and Bay Area transit agencies.
II. HOUSING
Board Members: Victor Marquez, MaryAnne Miller.
Goal: Create new funding sources and increase current fees to provide funds for development of affordable housing, including apartments for families and children as well as one-bedroom and single-room apartments that are affordable for single persons, seniors, and the disabled, including low-wage workers.
III. CAPITAL PLANNING
Board Members: Bernie Choden, Jennifer Clary.
Goal: Implement as required by the City Charter a capital plan that includes a comprehensive, prioritized list of all capital needs. The bill for the City's unmet capital needs is now estimated at $16 billion. Capital planning is currently planned almost entirely within the mayor's office.
IV. CITY PLANNING
Board Members: MaryAnne Miller
Goal: Reform city planning and regulatory agencies to protect city residents from arbitrary political judgments. Update the City's General Plan to make it enforceable and more accountable to the public and the Board of Supervisors. Coordinate the Plan with the City Planning Code to enable implementation.
V. REDEVELOPMENT
Board Members: Victor Marquez.
Goal: End the misuse of Redevelopment authority that allows private developers to profit at the taxpayers' expense and enables developers to avoid compliance with San Francisco's General Plan and Planning code. Give precedence to public benefit over private profit. Redevelopment projects should be continuously monitored and evaluated by the Board of Supervisors.
VI. SAN FRANCISCO WATERFRONT
Board Members: Jennifer Clary, David Hayes, MaryAnne Miller.
Goal: Ensure that development on San Francisco's waterfront is reserved for maritime and other water-related uses – and for uses that increase public access to and enjoyment of the water and the shoreline. Improve the health of San Francisco Bay by reducing the number of pollutants entering the Bay and by protecting and increasing wildlife habitat.
VII. OPEN SPACE/PARKS
Board Members: Chris Duderstadt, Jim Houillon, MaryAnne Miller.
Goal: Ensure that all San Franciscans have access to clean, usable parks and recreation centers. Increase public transit and reduce auto traffic around and in parks. Protect and preserve the last remnants of San Francisco's unique natural history, and educate the public on their importance.
VIII. HOMELESSNESS
Board Members: Jane Morrison.
Goal: Make it a priority to reduce and end homelessness in San Francisco, by providing housing that is affordable for low-wage, low-income people, as well as mental health care and drug treatment for ALL who need it.
IX. SFO EXPANSION PLANS
Board Members: Jennifer Clary.
Goal: Block plans to fill two square miles of the Bay for airport expansion, while seeking environmentally safe travel alternatives.
X. PUC REFORM & REBUILD
Board Members: Jennifer Clary.
Goal: Ensure that bonds approved by voters in November 2002, as well as those that may be approved in the future by the Board of Supervisors, are expended in the most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner. Guarantee that the planning process for both the Water system and the Clean Water (sewage) system provides for maximum public participation.
DETAILS OF SAN FRANCISCO TOMORROW'S GOALS FOR 2001 AND BEYOND
I. TRANSPORTATION
A. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES
1. Proceed with voter-demanded Caltrain electrification and extension to downtown Transbay Terminal at First and Mission to allow immediate transfers to Muni and other Bay Area transit, thus reducing the need for automobile trips within and through the City.
2. Extend Muni Metro light rail, subway or surface, on Geary to Ocean Beach, as originally planned, pursuing BART money from Santa Clara County buy-in funds, from San Francisco BART sales tax, and from renewal of the City's transportation sales tax. Geary is the most heavily traveled Muni bus route.
3. Extend Muni Metro light rail, subway or surface, on Van Ness to Bay Street.
4. Plan immediate Muni expansion South of Market, where Caltrans' reconstruction of Bay Bridge on-and-off-ramps will create severe traffic congestion and parking problems for 7 to 9 years. Demand that Caltrans provide money to San Francisco to mitigate the impacts. Use the money for more buses per hour, with new bus lines, to connect with the Transbay Terminal to make easy transfers with other Muni and all regional transit, including a downtown Caltrain. Convert out-of-town and San Francisco drivers into permanent transit riders who will continue to use transit once the construction delays are over.
5. Pursue rail access on the Bay Bridge, as approved by San Francisco, Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland voters in 1999 - an important connection for high speed rail between downtgown San Francisco and southern California.
6. Explore more BART stops in the City, such as one at 30th & Mission.
7. Reject proposals for "toll tunnel" freeways, whose broad in-and-out-portals would be a hazard to surface street traffic. (See Broadway tunnel for its effect on housing and the neighborhood.)
8. Ask voters to reauthorize the transportation sales tax, which expires in 2010 - perhaps on the 2004 presidential election ballot for maximum voter turnout Once the tax is renewed, the City can borrow money against it to proceed with priority transit projects.
9. Enact a 20-year transportation plan that prioritizes transit, alternative transportation and environmental protection.
B. SERVICE PRIORITIES
1. Increase number of Muni runs for increased frequency, on-time schedules, and reduced crowding to encourage ridership.
2. Run more express buses, especially from the edges of the City - the west end of the Richmond and Sunset, Outer Mission, Visitacion Valley, Excelsior, Bayview, OMI, Lake Merced and Parkside.
3. To increase the efficiency of Muni and improve on-time performance:
a. Establish more transit-only lanes and enforce current transit-only lanes.
b. Increase enforcement to stop parking in bus zones and double-parking on transit routes.
c. Ban private automobiles on Market Street from Van Ness to the Embarcadero. Open it only to Muni buses, streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians, taxis, and essential delivery services.
d. Increase the time of rush-hour traffic enforcement by at least 30 minutes, to 9:30 AM and 6:30 PM.
C. ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION
1. Complete network of bicycle lanes to connect throughout the City. This will improve safety and encourage more people to commute by bicycle.
a. Establish traffic calming on major streets to improve pedestrian and automotive safety.
b. Build traffic bulbs at busy intersections to reduce the time it takes to cross the street.
c. Make pedestrian safety a priority for all relevant city departments and require them to submit plans to enforce pedestrian right of way. Enforce rules against parking on sidewalks so pedestrians, especially the elderly and disabled, don't need to walk in the street. Encourage walking as a travel alternative.
d. Set traffic lights to give pedestrians time to cross intersections.
e. Crack down on scofflaw motorists who exceed speed limits, run red lights and stop signs, make illegal turns, fail to stop for pedestrians, or drive in any reckless, inattentive manner.
D. PARKING
1. Ban new parking garages downtown and in SOMA. The streets aren't big enough for more cars.
2. Don't provide parking in outlying areas that will encourage commuters to drive into the City rather than take Caltrain, BART, A. C. Transit, Golden Gate Transit, Samtrans, or other public transit from their homes. The residents of these so-called "outlying areas," in particular Candlestick Point, already suffer severe health problems caused by airborne pollutants.
3. Set time limits on parking in public parks and neighborhoods so that commuters will take Bay Area transit into the City rather than drive here to free all-day parking and take public transit downtown.
II. HOUSING
1. Raise the Real Estate Transfer Tax fee to 10%.
2. Increase set-aside for affordable housing units to 15% for all projects of more than 6 dwelling units.
3. Charge fees, to be applied to affordable housing, on all construction for live-work, offices and market-rate housing.
4. Subsidize mortgages for low and moderate-income people in new co-op housing. For example, use silent second to subsidize down payments. Study ways to expand the cooperative housing model.
5. Make all housing on city-owned land affordable. Use ground rents from developers to subsidize housing on the site.
6. Demonstrate how more housing can be incorporated into development projects for other uses, such as housing above commercial space on transit corridors.
7. Reduce or eliminate parking requirements for housing constructed on transit corridors, while requiring builders to give a portion of their savings to Muni for capital improvements to meet the increased need for transit there.
8. To avoid private land speculation that pre-empts potential affordable housing sites, conduct an internal government survey of potential affordable housing development sites as a precursor to public action, including the acquisition of public land banks and development rights.
9. Develop new ways to increase and protect rental units in the city. Encourage home ownership.
10. Investigate ways to keep affordable housing affordable.
III. CAPITAL PLANNING
1. Create an inclusive process for planning and funding our capital needs. This could be done by creating an independent citizen's advisory committee, and/or by expanding the current Capital Improvements Advisory Committee to include Supervisors and/or their designees.
2. Require that a six-year capital plan required by the City Charter include a comprehensive, prioritized list of all capital needs.
3. Require that all major city departments retain a grantsperson whose responsibility is to research and apply for grants and other funding to pay for some capital and service needs.
4. Approve bond issues first for priority needs in conformance with and in enforcement of the City's General Plan. No bond issues for otherwise worthwhile projects (zoos, museums, etc.) until top priority capital needs are met.
5. Review city's current and future needs for office and service space, consider public ownership of buildings to reduce growing rental costs.
IV. CITY PLANNING
1. Consider charter changes
a. Change rules for the appointment of Planning Commissioners and the Appeals Board that will provide for the Board of Supervisors to make a majority of those appointments. Terms should be fixed for four years, with commissioners removable only for cause.
b. Change the appointment of the Zoning Administrator back to a fixed 10-year term.
2. Enforce Prop M and legislate an improved version of November's Prop L to control commercial development and protect neighborhoods. Remove loopholes, such as those that allow construction of live-work and office buildings in inappropriate locations.
3. Create and enforce community planning process to enable neighborhoods to be heard before an action is brought up for decision.
4. Require Planning Department to strengthen the draft reservation element of the General Plan.
V. REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
1. Require conformance with State Redevelopment Law AND the City's General Plan, whose policies are administrative directives intended to be enforced. Among current and proposed redevelopment areas are the Forest City- Emporium-Bloomingdale site, Catellus' Mission Bay, the Bayview survey area, mid-market, and closed military bases: Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island, and Hunters Point Shipyard.
2. Require development to conform to San Francisco's Sustainability Plan. For example:
a. Implement the City's resource-efficient building ordinance with state-of-the art solid waste management, composting and source separation of recyclables.
b. Develop renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.
c. Develop on-site sewage treatment and water reclamation alternatives to reduce sewage overflows in Bayview-Hunters Point into the Bay. End discharge of untreated stormwater into the Bay.
3. Reverse the October 2000 vote of the Board of Supervisors that authorized transfer of the Emporium site to Redevelopment. Require a new agreement which preserves the historic Emporium building, retains Jessie Street as a public thoroughfare, and meets requirements of the Downtown Plan and Planning Code.
4. Implement Proposition P from the November ballot - and approve a transfer of Hunters Point Shipyard to the City only if and when the Navy agrees to fully clean the hazardous wastes there.
5. Make Treasure Island as seismically safe and as car-free as possible.
a. Make maximum use of ferries, water taxis, and Muni.
b. With a rail line on both sides of the bridge, create a station stop on Treasure Island.
c. Require bicycle transport on ferries, buses and trains, with low-cost bike rental on the island.
6. Create Treasure Island wetlands for stormwater treatment, wildlife habitat, environmental education and visitor enjoyment.
VI. SAN FRANCISCO WATERFRONT
A. THE PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO
1. Require compliance with 1990's voter-approved Proposition H asking waterfront be reserved for maritime and water-related uses, with no hotels on the waterfront.
2. Require that the Port's 6-year capital plan and annual budget identify the capital needs of maritime and public access separately from development and non-maritime and commercial budget items.
3. Before approving any long-term non-maritime Port leases, require that the Port complete its Maritime Industrial Plan, as well as a strategic plan to preserve and expand the fishing industry at Fisherman's Wharf.
4. Develop transportation plans on all projects, individually and collectively, to reduce parking, mitigate transportation impacts and encourage transit use. Require capital funding from developer to improve Muni service to the project.
5. Require new development projects, including those on piers, to treat stormwater on-site, rather than adding to the central system and exacerbating the problem of overflows in Mission and Islais Creek, and in the streets of the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.
6. Require the Port to fully mitigate the air and water quality impacts of its proposed developments in the Southeast Waterfront. Consider phased approval of projects to ensure performance goals are met.
7. Work with the Port to set aside land near Mission Bay, Pier 70, and/or the Southern Waterfront, on which to build a plant for on-site sewage treatment and water reclamation.
8. Enforce the public's wish, as expressed in Prop R in November 2000, to establish the educational Bay Center at Pier 45.
9. Protect and enhance the wetlands north of Pier 94 and provide significant buffer in the form of uplands habitat and open space.
10. Strengthen and enforce rules prohibiting commercial signs on vessels on the Bay.
B. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
11. Require the next PUC budget to set aside funding for completion of studies of alternative sewage and stormwater treatment options.
12. Require that the PUC budget for a minimum of quarterly meetings of the Technical Review Committee (TRC), a committee of alternative treatment experts, set up to help the PUC staff review studies of feasible alternatives to centralized sewage and stormwater treatment.
13. Urge the PUC to expand the role of the TRC to allow it to advise the PUC commission on how to improve the City's water treatment program.
14. Require the PUC to develop a plan within two years to eliminate all CSO's (combined sewage and stormwater overflows).
15. Require the PUC to look at alternative locations for new sludge digesters, currently located at the Southeast Treatment Plant in the Bayview.
C. REDEVELOPMENT
16. Support development of wetlands at Treasure Island and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
17. Require the Redevelopment Agency and the PUC to actively assist Catellus in development of its on-site stormwater treatment plan for Mission Bay South.
VII. OPEN SPACE/PARKS
1. FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION: Preserve Ferry Park on Lots 202 and 203, site of former freeway ramps off Embarcadero between Clay and Washington - the only park of trees and grass in the financial district. Transfer lots 202 and 203 to the Recreation and Parks Department, banning construction of any buildings on this open space.
2. Oppose construction of a parking garage beneath open space block 202 or 203.
3. Monitor expenditure of 2000 park bonds and open space funds to ensure improvement of neighborhood parks. Inventory parks and park services to be sure all neighborhoods are served.
4. Reduce auto traffic in and around parks. Increase public transit access.
a. Urge Muni to step up service to and into Golden Gate Park and other parks.
b. Create streetcar line G on the N Judah route to Ninth Avenue and into the park.
c. Institute a shuttle bus or motorized cable car in the park between Stanyan and Ocean Beach, which is accessed by several Muni buses.
5. Negotiate a compromise for Saturday closure of a portion of JFK DRIVE to permit people of all ages to enjoy that small area (11/2 miles of 14 miles of roads in the park) without dodging cars.
6. Implement road closures identified in the Golden Gate Park Master Plan.
7. Close unnecessary roads in parks.
8. Minimize or block construction of garage in Golden Gate Park's Music Concourse. At the very least, enforce the requirements of Proposition J, which states that no public funds will be used to build or operate the garage, and that a portion of the money raised to build the garage will be used to fund transit improvements in Golden Gate Park.
9. Monitor Presidio Trust Implementation Plan for best result in preserving open space, recreation areas and public access.
VIII. HOMELESSNESS
1. Find and expedite solutions to help all who need help. Establish the difference between people who can become independent and self-sufficient and those who need long-term care or assistance, such as the disabled and mentally ill.
2. Construct more one-room and one-bedroom apartments for low-wage and low-income singles. Purchase rather than lease SRO hotels and bring them up to code.
3. Expand residential drug treatment both on request and as needed instead of jail, as required by the November 3000 state ballot measure. Lobby the State to transfer funds from planned construction of more prisons to establish more drug treatment centers.
4. Provide adequate supervised or residential MENTAL HEALTH CARE for all who need it. Give police officers guidance to properly evaluate and direct the mentally ill to treatment and care.
5. Set definite guidelines for compassionate treatment of street people by police and other public authorities.
6. Provide more transitional housing to make sure no one is turned away to sleep on the streets.
7. Provide guidance and job training and placement to help people get back on their feet.
8. Until adequate housing is available, open drop-in centers in more neighborhoods with lockers, toilets, showers, and washing machines. Site street toilets where needed.
IX. SFO EXPANSION PLANS
1. Demand environmentally safe alternatives to SFO's plan to build runways on Bay fill.
2. Establish a regional airport system, so San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco can work together to handle trips into the Bay Area.
3. Use SFO's money and political strength immediately to pursue high speed rail from San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley to San Francisco and Sacramento. This will reduce short-distance flights that now take up so much runway space and hours and which pay the airport much less money than the national and international flights. Estimated rail time from downtown Los Angeles to downtown San Francisco: two hours and 40 minutes. With Super Shuttle picking up airline customers two hours before flight time and the one-hour flight to LA, travelers will find rail faster, cheaper and more convenient. (Even better than the popular Washington DC-New York City-Boston regular-speed rail, which saves time over air flights.)
4. Seek use of decommissioned military airports in the Bay Area and northern California for commercial freight and many other flights.
5. Consider other locations for siting regional airports that will be less susceptible to the weather than the current location of SFO.
X. PUC REFORM & REBUILD
1. Put a measure on the November 2001 ballot to establish a Municipal Utility District for reliable, low-cost electricity.
2. Follow original Congressional law to reserve Hetch Hetchy water and power generation for operation by San Francisco.
3. Work to restore regulation of electricity service and rates in California.