TLC Digital Newsletter

San Francisco, January 28, 2003

In this issue:

1. January's Livable City Agenda
a. Supervisors consider exempting SoMa parking garage from height limits
b. Follow-up: Legalizing secondary units waiting for environmental review

2. TLC focuses on economic justice and the car-free lifestyle
a personal essay about TLC's priorities for the year 2003
a. sales tax reauthorization
b. reform parking policy
c. educate and inform
d. develop a strong funding base

The Livable City Agenda This Month

Stop SoMa Parking Garage. The developer of a housing project in SoMa is seeking an exemption to height limits in order to build three levels of above ground parking. The 369-space parking garage for residents and retail customers would accompany a 330-unit housing project and cause the building to exceed the 55 ft. height limit by 30 ft. Although this proposal would make way for a project that is better than a project already approved on the site — 188 live/work units with 480 underground parking spaces — TLC opposes it as an unacceptable compromise.

The developer wants to change the project to build more housing and save money by putting the parking above ground. TLC and many of the neighbors agree that the additional housing density is OK. TLC opposes the project's above ground parking: it violates the Planning Department's draft SoMa Master Plan which calls for .5 parking spaces per housing unit; it's located less than 1,000 feet from the Caltrain station; its above ground configuration creates dead walls facing the sidewalk, making for dangerous and unsightly pedestrian conditions.

Contact your Board member and tell him or her to squash this terrible idea. Just like the plans for the Hastings Garage were put on hold until a community planning process can come up with a proposal that fits into the neighborhood better, this project should also be stopped. Here is the contact information for the Board of Supervisors: www.ci.sf.ca.us/bdsupvrs. There is public comment at the Board meeting, but don't miss the opportunity to at least call your Supervisor!

If you have questions about the project, call city planner Dan Sider at 558-6697.

Follow-up: Legalizing secondary units waiting for environmental review. Aaron Peskin's legislation allowing homeowners to convert unused building space into housing secondary housing units is awaiting environmental review at the Planning Department. Lisa Gibson of the Planning Department staff says that she expects to have it completed by the end of February. Although analysis is not complete, she anticipates the analysis will show that providing places for more people to live in San Francisco will not have a significantly bad impact on the environment. If the report is not ready by the end of February TLC will ask you to put some pressure on the Planning Department to make this happen, but we have no reason to expect it won't be ready.

TLC Focuses on Economic Justice and the Car-Free Lifestyle

Independence from automobiles for economic justice: that's a good way to sum up TLC's mission. While we're still working out the exact wording of our mission statement, the gist of it is clear after a powerful strategic planning session last December and a focused Board meeting in January.

These are the main questions we seek to answer. How do our transportation system and land use policies exacerbate economic injustice by imposing an unfair burden on the poor, and what can we do to redress those imbalances? And how can we improve the quality of life for those residents and visitors who can't afford to own or operate an automobile?

While TLC's partner organizations each work on a piece of the answer to that question, TLC will maintain a wider focus, zeroing in on the pieces of the puzzle that none of those groups is working on. Which pieces? That was the subject of our strategic planning session in December, ably facilitated by Carmen Clark, professional strategic planner and former executive director of the SF Transportation Authority. We chose three program priorities, and one organizational priority. The rest of this article is a quick summary of those priorities.

Lead the effort for a strong, cost-effective reauthorization of the citywide sales tax for transportation. San Franciscans pay .5 cents on every dollar purchase to pay for transportation improvements. Representing potentially one-fifth of San Francisco's total transportation budget for the next 30 years, the sales tax represents livable city advocates' best opportunity to influence transportation spending priorities. TLC will make sure that the demands and interests of this city's transit users, bicyclists, and pedestrians are well represented. Our goal is to spend tax money to free people from the necessity of spending their own money on automobile transportation.

Reform parking policy. Existing requirements to build one garage parking space with every housing unit are a big cause of rising housing costs and traffic congestion. Those requirements exist even for low-income units built on top of a BART station! The Planning Department has various proposals winding their way through their bureaucracy that would eliminate the requirement in certain neighborhoods, but still don't go far enough. In some neighborhoods, developers should not be allowed to build big garages that damage the pedestrian and transit-oriented character of a dense neighborhood such as that along Mission Street! Many other changes to parking policy are required. Why do city taxpayers subsidize parking in downtown garages throughout San Francisco? Why does the city give away more residential parking permits for a neighborhood than there are spots on the street? Why is precious city property being wasted in dozens of surfact parking lots across the city, as if San Francisco were a suburb? The questions are difficult, the controversy huge. Warren Hinckle even called proponents of reduced parking requirements "anti-car Nazis," an offensive characerization of people who would rather house humans than cars and ignorant of the fact that the automobilization of society was an important goal of Hitler's.

Through education create public awareness that de-emphasizing the automobile and improving alternatives will go a long way toward preserving economic justice and a high quality of life for residents. Through mass media, electronic newsletters, and personal visits, TLC hopes to inspire residents to have a bold vision of our future: a city with more lively neighborhoods, kids playing in the street, less traffic, more walking, and the greater housing density and transportation alternatives necessary to make that vision a reality. TLC hopes to connect the concerns of people who want more affordable housing with our perspective on parking to strengthen the movement for "housing for people, not for cars" — a slogan that was popular during the fight against Hastings University's mega-garage proposed for the Civic Center area.

Develop a strong funding base. The response to TLC's first-ever funding appeal was heartening. Thanks to all of you who supported TLC, and if you haven't written us a check but would like to support our work, please call Heather Thomson at (415) 431-2445, ext. 32.

•