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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors narrowly gave initial approval today to a plan to add thousands of apartments and demolish others at the Parkmerced complex near San Francisco State University.

The board voted 6-5 in favor of certifying the environmental review of the project at the large complex at 19th and Holloway avenues, where developers are looking to expand by adding about 5,700 new residential units and replacing about 1,800 units in the next two to three decades.

Discussion between supervisors on the project was interrupted by two women who said they were residents and yelled angrily in opposition to the plan.

The plan has drawn strong opposition from residents who say it will displace and inconvenience them and create traffic gridlock.

While sheriff's deputies were removing the women from board chambers, one flailed wildly at a deputy while cursing out the supervisors.

She was taken out of City Hall and released without being arrested or cited, sheriff's spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who represents District 7, the southwest part of the city that contains Parkmerced, said he was "solidly behind this project."

He said he was confident that amendments to the agreement proposed by Board President David Chiu at a committee meeting earlier today would help protect the rights of Parkmerced tenants.

Chiu's proposals, made at a special meeting of the board's Land Use and Economic Development committee, included allowing residents to petition for compensation for construction impacts or a loss of patio open space, and imposing penalties on the developer if rent control provisions are not honored.

The supervisors who voted against the plan were David Campos, Ross Mirkarimi, John Avalos, Jane Kim and Eric Mar.

Campos said although the developer and other supporters have done as much as possible to assuage residents' concerns -- Elsbernd estimated there have been more than 200 meetings on the issue -- "there are times when going as far as possible is simply not enough."

The San Francisco Planning Commission had approved the final environmental impact report on the project in February, but the next month it was appealed by opponents.

Supervisors delayed their vote on certifying the plan while considering the appeal.

The board's vote today gives initial approval to the plan, which will come in front of the supervisors again in two weeks for final approval. There is no board meeting next week.
 
CONTACT: P.J. Johnston for Parkmerced (415) 731-3304, Terence Faulkner, Parkmerced Action Coalition (415) 286-8687

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San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and several city officials gathered at City Hall today to announce a measure for the November ballot that proposes widespread reform to city workers' pensions and health benefits.

The proposed charter amendment -- the result of months of negotiations between city officials and labor and business leaders -- would cap pension benefits and raise retirement ages for city workers, and require them to contribute more to their retirement and health plans.

Lee said the proposal would save the city between $800 million and $1 billion over the next decade. San Francisco's pension costs are set to increase by more than $125 million in the next fiscal year, and by more than $100 million in each of the next three years, according to the mayor's office.

Lee said "we needed to fix our financial house in the city," and called the measure "a consensus, comprehensive plan that we believe will fix this problem for the long-term."

Among the details of the proposal are the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 65 for most city employees, and from 55 to 58 for police and firefighters.

The plan would create additional cost sharing of up to 6 percent for future and current city employees, and all elected officials would be required to begin paying into their retirement plans.

Lee stressed that the proposal was developed with the input of labor unions and the business community.

"We're proud to say that in working on this, we were making sure we talked to everybody and allowed every voice to be heard," he said.

The measure will be introduced at today's Board of Supervisors meeting, and will be discussed by the rules committee next week before being considered by the full board, which could vote to place it on the November ballot.

The proposal appears to have the support of a majority of the 11 supervisors, nine of which were at this morning's news conference.
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who has been one of the board's strongest backers of pension reform, said, "This is real reform ... that every San Franciscan can be proud to support come November."

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has proposed a separate pension reform measure and is gathering signatures to get it on the November ballot.

Lee said he met with Adachi on Monday to discuss the two measures, and said, "I think the consensus approach is the right way to go."

Adachi was not immediately available for comment this morning.

CONTACT: Mayor's Office of Communications (415) 554-6131

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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will consider today whether to certify the environmental review of a proposal to add thousands of apartments and demolish others at the Parkmerced complex near San Francisco State University.

The developers at the large complex, located at 19th and Holloway avenues, are looking to expand by adding about 5,700 new residential units while demolishing and replacing about 1,800 units in the next two to three decades.

The Planning Commission approved the final environmental impact report on the project in February, but the next month it was appealed by opponents of the plan, including the Parkmerced Action Coalition, who say it will displace and inconvenience them and create traffic gridlock. Parkmerced spokesman P.J. Johnston has said that while many residents will be relocated within the complex, the new apartments will be
built before the old ones are demolished so people will only have to move
once.

The new apartments will be similar to the old ones in size and configuration, and residents will pay the same rent and have the same rent control status, Johnston said.

On March 29, supervisors delayed a vote on the project while they considered the opponents' appeal, but are set to vote today on whether to affirm or reverse the commission's approval of the environmental report.

Along with the adding and demolishing of some units, the project would also realign the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Muni Metro M-Ocean View line and establish a free shuttle service to the Daly City BART station.

CONTACT: P.J. Johnston for Parkmerced (415) 731-3304, Terence Faulkner, Parkmerced Action Coalition (415) 286-8687

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