Following a two week continuance that came about at the request of Supervisor Jane Kim, a proposal for an 11 story hotel at 250 Fourth Street will be considered by the Planning Commission this Thursday afternoon. Commissioners agreed that the project sponsors needed more time to conduct adequate outreach to the nonprofit organizations serving the Filipino population in the area. Continue reading
Category Archives: planning
Proposal to raze I-280 linked to train and real estate deals
by STEVEN T. JONES
San Francisco Bay Guardian
It’s a bold idea, discussed for years behind closed doors and recently announced in a strangely understated and pro-growth way: Tear down the last mile of Interstate 280 and replace it with an wide boulevard – reminiscent of the removal of the Central and Embarcadero freeways – in order to facilitate the extension of electrified Caltrain and high-speed rail tracks into the Transbay Terminal. Continue reading →
Filed under economics, planning, politics, transportation
“Suburban-style” Orchard Supply store heading towards February 14 Planning Commission showdown
The nationwide Orchard Supply Hardware chain will bring a “suburban-style” big box retail development proposal before the Planning Commission on February 14. This retrofit of an existing structure at 975 Bryant Street puts most of its design features into a main entrance opening onto an adjacent parking lot and would have a minimal presence on the sidewalk side of the building. Continue reading
Filed under planning
Western SoMa Plan adopted
On Thursday, December 6, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to adopt the Western SoMa Community Plan. “Building a Complete Neighborhood” is the formal title of the Plan. Continue reading
Filed under planning
Western SoMa Plan faces little opposition as it moves towards December 6 adoption hearing
More neighbors – fewer land use attorneys – participated in helping to create the Western SoMa Community Plan at one of three Town Hall meetings held at Bessie Carmichael School
Following two informational hearings before the Planning Commission, the Western SoMa Community Plan moves relatively unscathed towards its December 6 adoption hearing. Following that Planning Commission action, the Plan will still require approval by the Board of Supervisors and the signature of the Mayor. If all goes well, the Plan could go into effect early next year. Continue reading
Warriors arena compromise with some positive outcomes for neighbors
Published on November 14, 2012 by jamiewhitaker
The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee heard the group of CAC members and those neighbors who emailed and asked that the CAC be able to do its job and get a chance to review important details prior to the Board of Supes. Our Supervisor Jane Kim amended today’s resolution to require that the CAC have at least 2 meetings about the final term sheet and provide a written report of advice to the Board of Supervisors before the BOS can approve it this spring. Read more →
Filed under entertainment, events, planning
Kim ponders radical realignment of 11th Street neighbor/nightclub zoning
More nightclubs?
To hear tell, business would be booming and we’d all be dancing in the streets if it were not for “the purple building” and “that lady on Norfolk alley who keeps complaining.” Such is the state of denial the California Music and Culture Association (CMAC) lives in as they plot to foment another war between neighbors and nightclubs in South of Market.
The purple building represents the threat of new development adjacent to existing nightclubs and the Norfolk neighbor has been driving the club owners crazy because she keeps asking the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to enforce the law. Continue reading
Filed under entertainment, meetings, planning, politics, quality of life
Tech industry posts “soft-sell” pitch for Gross Receipts Tax ballot measure
The San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation (also known as “sf.citi”) has posted a video that shows proposed tech solutions to make San Francisco “smarter.” The video also advocates for passage of San Francisco’s Proposition E, a business tax reform measure.
It ends with an advertisement for Proposition E, a ballot measure on the November ballot that’ll be the subject of next week’s SoMa Leadership Council meeting. Prop E proposes to reduce the payroll tax paid by San Francisco firms and replace it with a tax based on gross receipt sales.
“The biggest gift the tech community today can give San Francisco is passing Proposition E to create jobs in San Francisco and small business,” angel investor Ron Conway said last month at a tech industry event. Conway is also chairman of sf.citi.
How much tech can one city take?
By David Talbot
San Francisco Magazine
“… ever since his Twitter awakening, [Mayor Ed] Lee has been moving quickly to align his administration with the booming technology industry, shrugging off complaints from the city’s powerful progressives that he’s gotten too cozy with tech moguls, such as investor Ron Conway. The mayor’s proposal to shift business taxes from a payroll-based plan to one based on gross receipts will be on the November ballot, with wide backing from the Board of Supervisors, labor unions, and, of course, Conway. Progressive gadfly Aaron Peskin tapped a deep well of distrust on the left last month when he told the San Francisco Chronicle, ‘The Koch brothers are trying to buy the president of the United States, and Ron Conway has bought himself a mayor.’” Read more →
Filed under art, community services, economics, planning, politics, social justice
SOMCAN decries micro-unit legislation as an assault on “our right to live in this city with dignity and respect”
The term “SRO” freaks people out. They associate it with rundown hotels in the Tenderloin and the tawdry housing found along the Sixth Street corridor. A few years ago, when developers were trying to build projects that at the time were called “market-rate SRO housing,” they were fighting an uphill battle against public perceptions. They’ve found a new champion in Supervisor Scott Wiener and he has come up with new terminology that makes these tiny studio apartments seem less threatening. Continue reading
Filed under community services, open space, planning, politics, quality of life, social justice
soma leadership council 