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MINUTES OF THE
SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY FACILITY COMMISSION
MEETING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2008 – 6:00 PM
ALEX L. PITCHER, JR. COMMUNITY ROOM,1800 OAKDALE AVENUE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124
1.0 CALL TO ORDER AND SUNSHINE ORDINANCE
ANNOUNCEMENT:
Commission President Bobbrie Brown called the Wednesday, January 23, 2008 meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. in the Alex L. Pitcher Community Room at 1800 Oakdale Avenue and announced the Sunshine Ordinance.
1.1 ROLL CALL
6:07 p.m. Commission Secretary – Carla Vaughn
Commissioners Present: Brown, Churchwell , Kennedy, Sampson
Commissioners Excused: Jones
Staff Present: Toye Moses, Executive Director
Joseph Singh, Management Assistant
Carla Vaughn, Commission Secretary
1.2 CONSENT CALENDAR
Kennedy moved to accept the consent calendar and the minutes of January 10th and 23rd. It was seconded by Commissioner Churchwell.
2.0 PUBLIC COMMENT
Francisco DaCosta of the BayView community commented on the ADA improvements to the facility and noted the building was built as a mitigation to serve the young people of the community. He stated that reports had been requested as to the amount of scholarships provided to young people in the community. He commented on the number of youth hanging on the corners of Third Street, which lead to arrests and the lost futures of many in the community.
He noted that City College was occupying a greater amount of space in the facility. He asked if there have been any meetings with the community so the community fully understands why City College is here. Mr. DaCosta noted the high numbers of incarcerated African-American youth and encouraged the Commission to focus on the youth of the community.
3.0 COMMUNICATIONS
Carla Vaughn, Commission Secretary announced the following:
A Letter of Commendation for Richard O’Neal the Southeast Community Facility Stationary Engineer.
A Certificate of Recognition for Ms. Espanola Jackson in celebration of her 75th birthday.
A Letter of Invitation to PAC to address the Commission regarding their 2008 goals.
A memo regarding the ADA compliance upgrade construction at the Southeast Community Facility.
A reminder message from the City Attorney regarding the Sunshine and Ethics Training scheduled for Commissioners.
A notice of the 27th Annual Black Cuisine and Street Festival to be held on Saturday, March 1st, 12 pm – 5 pm at 1706 Yosemite Avenue and Third Street.
4.0 AD-HOC COMMITTEE REPORT
None.
Chair Brown reminded the Commission of Commissioner Jones’ absence and stated the Ad-Hoc Committee Report would be unavailable until her return.
5.0 PRESENTATIONS
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown welcomed Fred Blackwell, Executive Director, SF Redevelopment Agency.
Mr. Blackwell introduced himself and thanked the Chair and Director Moses for the opportunity to address the Commission.
Mr. Blackwell spoke of the current context in terms of the land use changes and the investment opportunities in the BayView. He advised he would talk about some of the things he felt were important as a philosophical approach to the work, and about some of the specific things on the horizon in terms of projects, initiatives, challenges, and next important steps moving forward.
He provided some background on himself and advised he brings to the agency a notion that our investments in housing are investments in community and economic development, infrastructure and open space and need to be put in to the context of a broader vision for what community development is and should be in the neighborhoods that we work in. Mr. Blackwell stated it was the agency’s responsibility to deploy the expertise, background and tools to support the community vision.
Mr. Blackwell stated he was aware of the history of redevelopment in African-American communities in this city, and aware of the acrimony out there. However, he said it was an incredible opportunity for reinvestment in communities that have been neglected and disinvested for a number of years. He stated he believed he could make a difference.
Mr. Blackwell advised that over the next several decades there are more than ten thousand housing units planned for development between the BayView Hunters Point Community and the shipyard. He stated there are hundreds of acres of open space on the horizon and tens of millions of dollars planned for infrastructure, and land use planning efforts that range from area C to the shipyard, to the northern gateway, to thinking about what will happen with the power plant.
He stated the importance of an intergrated vision and the initiatives should not be implemented in a silo. Mr. Blackwell said it was clear that what happens at the shipyard has tremendous impact on what happens in the broader community.
In closing, Mr. Blackwell stated the question must be asked, who benefits? He said a way must be found to make sure the people currently invested in the BayView benefit from the times of increased investment.
Mr. Blackwell announced the Mayors initiative HOPE SF a program to replace the current public housing system.
Mr. Blackwell stated there must be a way to invest in current homeowners in the BayView. The example he provided is the “Model Block Program”. The location is the 1700 block of Newcomb Street. It is a pilot program. A million dollars has been set aside for that block so the homeowners have access to capital to reinvest in their homes.
Mr. Blackwell said the Third Street Corridor needs investment to make it an area where existing businesses are proud to be and can attract people that live in the community to take business opportunities.
Mr. Blackwell provided the Commission with several examples of under utilized parcels that were turned into community beneficial opportunities in the BayView, which include a senior housing project in conjunction with the Providence Foundation where a parking lot was turned into fifty units of senior housing.
Mr. Blackwell stated one critical challenge highlighted by the community was the issue between the agencies’ investment and jobs, not only construction jobs that are created as a result of investment, but the permanent jobs that are created as a result of the construction, as well as the contracting opportunities. He stated this was absolutely critical and for that reason the agency was working with PAC to create an employment and contracting policy specifically for the BayView.
The employment and contracting policy has a 50% local hiring goal on the construction site and was adopted by PAC and the Commission in December. It requires any developer working with the agency finance project or with a significant investment that doesn’t have an agency investment in it must have a good faith effort to reach that 50% goal.
Mr. Blackwell advised the Commission the Redevelopment Agency will continue to work on the issue of good faith.
Mr. Blackwell said the Fair Housing Laws created a challenge and the lottery process sometimes excluded the very people the housing was initially provided for. He commented that the Certificate of Preference Program needed to be expanded. Mr. Blackwell advised a pilot program was created to attach a down-payment assistance program to the Certificate of Preference Program so that once you were selected you have access to a resource to provide a down-payment.
In closing, Mr. Blackwell stated that important pre-work must be done to assure people are prepared for the employment opportunities and the housing opportunities regardless of what is done on the Certificate of Preference Program. He continued stating a strong employment and job training infrastructure was needed, along with people on the streets making sure that housing opportunities are communicated, made available, and the credit work, home counseling work, home preparation work, first time home-buyer work must be complete to get people into the pipeline sot they are prepared to take advantage of the opportunities.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown thanked Mr. Fred Blackwell for the information he provided and opened the floor for questions from the Commissioners and the audience.
Commissioner Sampson had a question regarding the model block program and the possible exclusion of his parishioners if the streets are narrowed.
Mr. Blackwell acknowledged the challenges and said the ideas for the redevelopment of the block were initiated by the people living on the block. He agreed to meet with Commissioner Sampson to work on the issue.
Commissioner Churchwell stated he was concerned about the lottery.
Mr. Blackwell said the lottery process must be utilized, however the agency is working with the City Attorney and their own legal staff to look at the Fair Housing Law and determine how to work within the law to create the kind of situation where the folks already in the community are given a fair shake.
Commissioner Churchwell noted a lot of residents who received the Certificate of Preference could not afford to return to San Francisco.
Commissioner Kennedy thanked Mr. Blackwell for addressing the Commission and noted there are various programs designed to prepare people to qualify for housing, but when the lottery allows people who have not gone through the program to be selected it gives the people a false sense of ownership. She stated that the shipyard has been offering these programs for three years and a lot of people have been coming to the meetings and they have a hope of owning a house up on the hill. Commissioner Kennedy acknowledged there was no way around the lottery system because federal funds were being used and it might be good to a certain degree, however it leaves out a lot of people who otherwise would qualify for housing.
Mr. Blackwell stated this was the challenge being set forth with the City Attorney and the agency’s legal staff. He noted that some ethnic communities have a grapevine strategy that has people being bused in to get involved with the lottery, that has people prepared at a much different level than folks are otherwise prepared, and there is a little bit of hustle that is going on within some ethnic communities.
Commission Chair Brown invited questions from the audience.
Minister Christopher Mohammed of the BayView community expressed concern regarding the decline of the Black population in the city and challenged the Redevelopment Agency to call a moratorium on all development until steps were taken to address the issue of the decline of the Black population in the BayView.
Sabrina Hall, a BayView resident asked the Commissioners to speak in terms the audience could understand.
Mr. Blackwell responded to the question of the moratorium by stating the next housing development in the pipeline for the BayView would not be open until 2010. He noted the city’s affordable housing needs are to acute and severe to cut off the pipeline of affordable housing development. Mr. Blackwell advised there are ways to stop the bleeding that are reasonable and within the law. Mr. Blackwell acknowledged the issue of the decline of the Black population and agreed that something needs to be done. However, he stated the strategies that needed to be placed go beyond the issue of affordable housing. He noted economic development and the intensity of violent crime in the neighborhoods as a deterrent to Blacks moving into the BayView. He stated that when you talk to African-American people that have lived in San Francisco and have left, or those who are currently here now they acknowledge that while the city has a reputation of being very progressive it is not that friendly to African-Americans. So, when people are making decisions about where they want to live they make decisions to move to places other than San Francisco , and that takes more than just a symbolic moratorium on affordable housing development.
Mr. Blackwell noted the real issue of the decline of the Black population is not that people are moving out, but that nobody’s moving in. He advised the migration rates are the same with other ethnic groups, such as Asian and Latino. However, the situation is tempered by the fact that the other ethnic groups have people that are moving in so you have a replacement population. He advised of the need to have strategies in place that attract African-Americans to the city.
Community activist Mr. Abdul Rahid, had questions regarding the expansion of the Southeast Community Health Facility.
Mr. Blackwell responded there are a number of approaches to improve community health through land use. He noted there was no full service grocery store where people could access affordable food products and one should be included in the revitalization of the community.
Minister Christopher Mohammed had a question regarding the levels of asbestos and toxins in the community specifically as it relates to Lennar Construction, the developer of the shipyard.
Mr. Blackwell stated the agency responsible for monitoring the levels of toxins within the community is the Department of Public Health.
Mr. Francisco DaCosta, community Director of Environmental Justice Advocacy stated Lennar Construction had no asbestos or dust monitoring equipment, and in any other community they would have been penalized.
Ellouise Patton, Director of Youth Community Development stated the Department of Public Health, U.S. Navy and everyone involved in the shipyard project should meet on the health issues facing the community. Ms. Patton spoke regarding a huge problem with workforce development. She advised with the city and Prop 209 and with the Redevelopment Agency being signatory to Executive Order 11256, which indicates there must be community hiring and affirmative action hiring. Ms. Patton noted the city or state mandate was in direct conflict with the order. She said the first level of economic development is employment and the second piece of that is having substantive wages for employment. She went on to say the issue was huge and they were legal issues. Ms. Patton said the state was against a governmental executive order. She continued stating this was something that needed to be discussed and brought out. Ms. Patton said she understood opposition, however the community needed to find ways to work together to solve these issues. She suggested all the responsible parties should be present to respond including the Navy, the main group that should be sitting at the table, in addition to the fact that they should be responding to the clean-up issue. Ms. Patton stated workforce had been discussed for quite some time, and now there is a state issue that will dilute the process from Executive Order 11246. She advised the Commission and audience she spoke to the Director of the Redevelopment Agency about this and it is something that he must deal with the City Attorney regarding, but as a community we must rally around his efforts so that the Executive Order can supercede the racist Proposition 209.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown introduced Mr. James Blanding from the Providence Foundation.
Mr. Blanding, President of the Providence Foundation and Providence Senior Housing thanked the Commission for the opportunity to provide an update on the Providence Senior Housing development. He stated the development was a 50- unit housing development being developed by Providence Foundation of San Francisco and Christian Church Homes. He reported the 50 one-bedroom units consisted of 49 units for seniors and one for the manager. He said the development included 10 parking stalls for the tenants and 40 stalls for the church.
The residents will have a computer room, community room, two-levels of landscapes with furniture, patios, and decks. Mr. Blanding reported the ground floor houses the administrative offices of the Providence Foundation at the corner of Third and McKinnon. He advised the managing agent is Christian Church Homes. Mr. Blanding reported the construction is 98% complete. He stated there were tremendous delays caused by PG&E not being able to provide permanent power. He reported that tenant selection had been completed, however, because of the delays the tenant list would have to be updated. In closing Mr. Blanding announced the anticipated grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony would take place in May, on a Sunday after church with some tenants already housed.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown asked how tenants could move in with no PG&E.
Mr. Blanding advised that PG&E said permanent power should be available by the middle of March.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown requested information regarding the ethnicity of the successful occupants.
Mr. Blanding said he did not have a complete list, however there was 30% African-American occupancy. He reported that before the tenant selection process started they worked within the community to invite local people to participate and get on the list. However, after working with the churches, local organizations and everyone they could when applications were sent out people on the list said they were not interested. Since then local people who were selected have withdrawn their names.
Commissioner Sampson said his church was two blocks away from the development and never received a communication.
Mr. Blanding assured Commissioner Sampson that over two hundred letters had been mailed to local churches.
Commissioner Sampson said there would have been a better result if the mail-out had expanded further than the 94124 area.
Mr. Blanding said it was not only the fault of the developers but the community as well because it’s everyone’s responsibility. He stated the development has been in process for about 10 years and there have been many meetings. He noted that people wait until the last minute before getting on lists, so if we want our people in we need to work with our people to make sure it happens.
Mr. Blanding stated that other communities work with their people to make sure it happens. In closing, he said when we don’t work with our community and the opportunities don’t happen we look for someone to blame.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown requested questions from the audience.
Minister Christopher Mohammed stated Mr. Blanding was a man he respected and he worked with him in the past and he was a sincere man who was committed to ownership and development possibilities in this community. He stated this spoke directly to the problem facing the African-American community. Minister Mohammed noted here was land owned by an African-American institution, Providence Baptist Church, on Third Street with a parking lot. He said he met with Reverend Jones who thought he was going to be able to get many of the elders, especially those in his church, into that development. Minister Mohammed noted that there would be only 15 or 16 African-Americans in the 50-unit development. Also, he noted there was a waiting list of over 300 persons and none were African-Americans. Minister Mohammed suggested bold creative leadership was needed from the Redevelopment Agency to take a stand for the people.
Mr. Charles Jones, a community member, stated he grew up in Providence Church and there are over 50 seniors in the church. Mr. Jones said he would like more specific information regarding redevelopment.
Mr. Blanding stated there were African-Americans on the list and there were only two Providence members denied because their income exceeded the designated limit.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown thanked Mr. Blanding for his presentation.
Dr. Parker, a community member, thanked the audience for attending the meeting and invited them to continue to attend Commission meetings held twice a month.
Commission Chair Bobbrie Brown announced the end of public comment.
6.0 STAFF REPORT
7.0 INTRODUCTION OF NEW BUSINESS BY COMMISSIONERS
Commissioner Kennedy asked that individuals responsible for the clean-up of the shipyard be invited as soon as possible.
Director Moses reported meeting the new police captain of the BayView precinct and suggested inviting him to provide a presentation to the Commission.
Commissioner Kennedy suggested inviting someone to speak to the community regarding Prop 209 possibly Fred Jordan who has been fighting the proposition for a long time, Ellouise Patton, or someone from the City Attorney’s office.
8.0 PUBLIC COMMENT
Katii Hawkins Ocourie’ commended the Commission for the new flooring and suggested new chairs should be next. She offered to do a fundraiser for the purchase.
9.0 ANNOUNCEMENTS
Commissioner Kennedy announced the following meeting which has four workshops: Shipyard/Stadium Project
1) Saturday March 15th, from 10am – 12pm at Brete Harte Elementary School
2) Monday, March 17th, in the Alex Pitcher Room
3) April 2nd at the Evans Campus/1400 Evans Avenue
4) April 5th at the YMCA on Lane Street
Commissioner Kennedy also announced a meeting on Thursday, March 6th at the BayView Opera House which is an agreement signing ceremony to celebrate the first community developer working with Lennar Construction to provide revitalization to the community.
Commissioner Kenneday announced a request for a proposal seeking an operator for the International African Marketplace. She stated the RFP would be available on March 5th and the deadline for submission is April 3rd.
10.0 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted
Carla Vaughn , Commission Secretary
