ALERT, BATTLE STATIONS!… Better Neighborhood Plan Implementation Process will be heard again at the Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee on Wednesday November 16. All CSFN member organizations need to be there to protest this proposed ordinance! After many months of thinking about it and hearing the opinions of many individuals, it really becomes clear that this is an ordinance written by special interests for the benefit of special interests.
     One of the points raised by the sponsors of this ordinance is that community and neighborhood input is crucial for this ordinance to proceed. When was the last time neighborhood people asked or demanded the City or Planning     Department to increase height limits, increase density, and reduce parking requirements? It’s the special interests i.e. for-profit developers, non-profit developers, land-use attorneys, expediters, and SPUR who want these things!
     This ordinance is a win-win proposition for the for-profit developers because they get certainty in developing their projects, and the non-profit developers get their payoff in the form of affordable housing units, community benefits, and impact fees paid by the for-profit developers. Everyone benefits, except the residents of the neighborhoods. We get increased heights, increased density, and reduced parking. This is a back-room deal made palatable because Robin Hood steals from the rich (the neighborhoods) and gives to the poor (the non-profits).
    The ordinance speeds up the process and removes or limits obstacles i.e. Discretionary Review and requirements for Conditional Use. Discretionary Review is one of the most important processes that any individual can utilize to fight code-complying projects which

can have a negative impact on the community/neighborhood. Under this new ordinance the Planning Commission may not require a reduction of more than 5% of the volume of the building envelope in the new Discretionary Review process. This is outrageous!
      Several of the sponsors pointed out that the ordinance was for the undeveloped industrial areas of the city that needed to be rezoned for residential use, and that it was not for the developed residential areas of the city. If that is so why is this ordinance not limited to the rezoning of the industrial areas then? And why was it presented to us as the Geary Corridor for its first Plan Area?
      Perhaps the most importance issue is trust. People do not trust the federal government to keep us out of an unwarranted war in Iraq and help after a natural disaster. On the local level, neighborhood activists do not support this ordinance because they do not trust the for-profit developers, non-profit developers, the Planning Department, and the Board of Supervisors.
      The 2000 Board of Supervisors election was an overwhelming rejection of the “special interest” incumbents. Now in 2005 neighborhood people are getting the feel that our trusted neighborhood Supervisors may be developing their own “special interests,” and that the neighborhoods’ interests are once again being ignored.
      This ordinance is not needed city-wide, and if any area of the city needs a Better Neighborhood type plan, it should be developed for that area using this as a template.

…Hiroshi Fukuda (RCA)