Cronies vie for huge salaries and grants tied to San Francisco Redevelopment Agency

It is a shame that the San Francisco Redvelopment Agency (SFRA) is always seeking dubious means to hoodwink poor constituents in the Bayview Hunters Point.

The SFRA is poised to control huge areas in the Bayview Hunters Point area and beyond. Now, they want to take large tracts of land in the Visitation Valley to build very high density units and make large amounts of money for developers and earn TAX INCREMENT.

The SFRA under Marcia Rosen has not served the constituents of District 10 well.

She has a good relationship with Jesse Blout the Director of Economic Development and Workforce in San Francisco and City Hall. She also has a very good relationship with Michael Cohen. All the Commissioners sitting on the SFRA are in for the money. This corruption even pours over into Treasure Island. The same folks are out to ruin Treasure Island by giving developers access to land to build high density units.

The plan is very simple these huge developers will make their money on land that will be leased to them for long periods of time - and then leave San Francisco with billions of dollars. Some politicians will get money and this is very wrong.

Innocent folks own the units but not the land. This has happened in New Mexico, Florida, in Sacramento - folks invested in units built on toxic land.

The same developers are found at Hunters Point on Parcel A where over 1600 units are planned to be built. There has been no concrete plan with time lines for clean up of the surrounding Parcels B,C,D, and of course the very toxic Parcel E contaminated with Radiological Elements.

Parcel E is very toxic and will not be cleaned up. Yet Arc Ecology brags that they will work to make it a wetland - complete with Open Space areas comparing the site to Crissy Field. This is the best radiological joke that I have heard in a long time. Arc Ecology is NOT from the community but has poised itself to screw the constituents and is headed by Saul Bloom.

The Parcel E wrong concept is backed by Bayview Hunters Point Advocates and Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) both organization get millions from the City and County of San Francisco and San Francisco Environment to tow the line. The SF Controller office can investigate these entities but has chosen to look the other side. So has Mayor Gavin Newsom who has not done a good job on Environmental Issues. True he had some Dog and Pony shows during World Environmental Day - mostly White Folks from Rich Neigbborhoods and no one representing the neighborhoods where people of color are in the majority.

Saul Bloom is a consultant for Lennar BVHP LLC and White. Saul Bloom does not live in the community but in Marin and yet heads the Environmental Group that is part of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) linked to Parcel A on Hunters Point.

The CAC is supported by SFRA. T he CAC is not trusted by the community at large. No one attends their meetings and many a time - meetings are announced and cancelled. This goes on all the time. Some few cronies of the SFRA control everything. The same folks that organized 40 meetings in a month to push for the Disposition and Development Agreement linked to the conveyance of Parcel A on Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.

The SFRA uses the Bayview Opera House as its fiscal agent.

The SFRA works with the Bayview Project Area Committee (PAC) which it funds. How can the PAC and the CAC linked to Parcel A and SFRA bite the hand that feeds it.

The Bayview Hunters Point, Visitation Valley and surrounding area is the last frontier. SFRA is working with the worst type of crooks to take over huge parcels of land like the Schlage Lock Company and other areas without proper doing clean up and develop them.

Under SF City Planning all sites demand a higher standard of Clean Up of Toxic Sites. All project are mandated to have a good Environemental Impact Report.

Once land comes under the SFRA and under the so called Survey Area - the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency will do anything and everything to cater to developers and SELLOUTS. The units built on toxic land is sold to constituents of San Francisco with minimum abatement and clean up of toxic hot spots. This is wrong and a CRIME.

The SFRA has done this before in a big way at Western Addition. It has done it at Mission Bay. It will do it at Hunters Point. It continues to adversely impact thousands in the Bayview. It will do it in Visitation Valley and beyond. The common denominator Marcia Rosen, Jesse Blout, and Michael Cohen.

Another common denominator the SFRA Commissioners - 3 are under investigation by the FBI for taking bribes. Mayor Gavin Newsom knows about this and does nothing much. The crooked Commissioners must be fired or sent to jail.

Again and again the constituents and the very few good Community Based Organizations that are not on the take are ignored and have to fight these crooks.

Please attend the SFRA meeting on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 in Room 416 at 4 pm and protest the huge grants and salaries that have been set aside for folks that are inept, arrogant, and have not come to the community for a meaningful dialog.

Why is over $283,500 given to a White person that lives in Marin County to do outreach in the Bayview Hunters Point and Visitation Valley? Where are you Mayor Gavin Newsom on this one? Where is the Chronicle and the Examiner on this one? Call the Mayor and ask him what is happening?

Call the President of the Board of Supervisor Aaron Peskin: 415-554-7450

Call the Clerk of the Board, Gloria Young : 415-554-5163

Call Sophie Maxwell the District Supervisor: 415-554-7670

Call the Ethics Commission: 415-554-7724

This is your opportunity to fight for the children of Bayview Hunters Point. This is your opportunity to call and make good stuff happen. If you attend the meeting you will get a clear picture of the corruption pushed by SFRA and Marcia Rosen.

Now the world knows why some areas in the Bayview Hunters Point are so poor - millions of dollars are given to crooks to pocket the money in broad daylight and in open defiance of the community at large.

The outreach money should be spent to uplift the poor and not to be pocketed by one who worked at BART and retired as a Board Director - makes tons of money and does nothing.

By one who live in Marin County and yet has the audacity to steal the money from folks from the Bayview Hunters Point and District 10 all in the name that this one person knows better then the community about Environmental Issues.

Please attend the SFRA meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, December 20 in Room 416 at 4 pm.

You can access the agenda go to http://www.sfgov.org then Agencies - go to Redevelopment Agency and find the agenda. It is all there. Please support the constituents of Bayview Hunters Point - this is your opportunity and also of those folks that talk the talk but cannot walk the walk.



Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy