Treasure Island residents and visitors are beginning to see the artificial place as a landscape where nature is quietly taking hold.
Category: Land use
Posted inCommunity, Food Systems, Land use, News
On Treasure Island, One Grocer and a Patchwork of Neighbors Keep People Fed
Treasure Island residents are food insecure because of their geographical isolation. Residents are feeding one another through a community garden, a food pantry and someday soon, organizers hope, an urban farm.
Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Land use, Parks & Open Space, San Francisco November 2024 Voter Guide, Transportation
Proposition K — Authorize Great Highway to Become Car-Free, Possibly a Park
NEW: Read our analysis of the likely traffic impacts if Proposition K passed and the Upper Great Highway closed to cars, published Oct. 31. See our November 2024 SF Voter Guide for a nonpartisan analysis of measures on the San Francisco ballot, for the election occurring Nov. 5, 2024. The following measure is on that ballot. Proposition K […]
Posted inCommunity, Land use, Neighborhoods
Cannabis Dispensary and Lounge to Open in SF Bayview, Despite Residents’ Objections
The dispensary will be on one of the Bayview’s less developed streets, near low-income and senior housing. Over a dozen cannabis facilities already operate in the neighborhood, nearly all of which are used only to grow the plant.
Many residents, especially Chinese Americans, have opposed the new facility, which will sell cannabis products, out of fear that it will encourage drug use and make the area less safe. Despite their objections, the city’s Planning Commission approved the project Thursday because it did not violate city laws.
Posted inCommunity, Land use, Neighborhoods
In SF’s Chinatown, Conflict Over Outdoor Events Resolved — for Now
A dispute among Chinatown businesses appears to be temporarily quelled, following a decision by San Francisco’s Board of Appeals to limit amplified sound at outdoor events along a major tourist artery for the next two months.
Merchants had objected after a local dance company obtained the amplified-sound permit. It was the latest point of friction resulting from a gradual uptick in events, which have disrupted some businesses in the neighborhood.
Posted inLand use, Neighborhoods
Chinatown Merchants Frustrated as Outdoor Events Disrupt Business
Since the start of the pandemic, Chinatown groups have closed pockets of the neighborhood to vehicle traffic, making space for events that might draw people. As the closures increased over time, local merchants began to bristle. Those frustrations have boiled over in response to the latest attempt, by a dance company, to potentially expand events.
Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Elections, Housing, Land use, San Francisco March 2024 Election Guide
Proposition C — Real Estate Transfer Tax Exemption and Office Space Allocation
Proposition C would change San Francisco’s tax policy to allow a one-time transfer tax exemption for owners of properties converted from commercial to residential use the first time they are sold following conversion, as long as the change of use is approved before Jan. 1, 2030.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing, Land use, Public Housing in Private Hands
Emergency Repairs in Public Housing Complex Are Behind Schedule as Owner Advances Redevelopment Plans
One year after emergency repairs were supposed to be completed at Plaza East, 39 units are still waiting on fixes. Meanwhile, in late May, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development gave the complex a failing score of 40 out of 100 following physical inspection.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Community, History, Land use, Neighborhoods, Reparations, Social Justice
SF Reparations Plan Nears Submission, but Funding Not Yet Secure
After 2½ years of meetings, community discussions, historical deep dives and policy generation, a panel tasked with proposing how San Francisco might atone for decades of discrimination against Black residents is ready to ask the city to step up and support equity rhetoric with action.
San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee is aiming to submit its final recommendations to the city by June 30, according to Brittni Chicuata, director of economic rights at the city’s Human Rights Commission. In the meantime, the city’s annual budget process is in full swing, which may affect funding and the timeline for whatever reparations policies the board decides to pursue.
Posted inClimate Change, Economy & Business, Housing, Land use, News, Sea Level Rise
Promising to Prevent Floods at Treasure Island, Builders Downplay Risk of Sea Rise
Sea level rise is forcing cities around San Francisco Bay to weigh demand for new housing against the need to protect communities from flooding. Builders say they can solve this dilemma with cutting-edge civil engineering. But no one knows whether their ambitious efforts will be enough to keep newly built waterfront real estate safe in coming decades.
Meanwhile, developers are busy building — and telling the public that they can mitigate this one effect of climate change, despite mounting evidence that it could be a bigger problem than previously believed.