[TLC News & Alerts] Smart Growth seminar featuring TLC

[Tom Radulovich]

The Green Party Housing and Land Use Seminar Series Presents:

Smart Growth: What Does It Mean For San Francisco?


Monday, August 8th, 7 - 9 pm
First Baptist Church

7 Octavia Street, at Market St. (on the historic F streetcar line)

With:

Tom Radulovich, Executive Director of Transportation for a Livable  
City, a grassroots activist organization working to balance a  
sustainable transportation system with complementary land uses; and  
Ninth District representative to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)  
Board of Directors

Chris Durazo, Community Planning Director, South of Market Community  
Action Network (SOMCAN), a community organization committed to  
supporting the neighborhood improvement of the South of Market  
neighborhood.

Gilda Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer of The Unity Council, the non- 
profit community development organization responsible for Fruitvale  
Village, a transit oriented, mixed-use development located in the  
heart of Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood.


This seminar will look at the growing movement defined as “smart  
growth”, a series of development policies aimed at minimizing  
dependence on auto transportation, reducing air pollution, protecting  
open space, and making more efficient use of land resources and  
existing infrastructure, to determine how its concepts and practices  
can best be implemented in San Francisco

Smart growth is most commonly discussed at the regional level,  
frequently focusing on directing growth towards urban areas that are  
well-served by mass transit, bikeways, and a strong pedestrian  
environment. In the already urbanized neighborhoods of San Francisco,  
smart growth often means directing development into existing  
communities where people already live and work. Regional discussions  
of smart growth often lack the scope necessary to address  
neighborhood level impacts. Our panelists will discuss how the broad  
concepts of smart growth can be applied to the already urbanized  
neighborhoods of San Francisco.

About the Panelists
Tom Radulovich is an activist promoting better environmental,  
transportation, and urban design policies in the Bay Area. He has co- 
authored several “transit-smart” initiatives and ballot measures,  
including the Octavia Boulevard Alternative, Proposition E,  
Proposition I, and Proposition H. During his nine year tenure on the  
BART Board, he has promoted the creation of area plans and access  
plans for BART stations, encouraged closer coordination between BART  
and other transit agencies, worked toward BART’s series of 'transit  
villages' located at Fruitvale, Hayward, and Pleasant Hill, and has  
secured grants for the neighborhood plan process and renovation of  
the Balboa Park Station. He will be discussing why smart growth is  
appropriate for San Francisco.

As Community Planning Director for SOMCAN, Chris Durazo represents  
the community perspective on smart growth. Chris has worked with  
local communities to address the impacts smart growth development can  
have on existing neighborhoods and their residents, and has worked  
with them to remedy those impacts. Her viewpoint will present the  
significant affects new development can have on those who already  
live in the areas identified for this new development, and will offer  
lessons in how the needs and concerns of existing residents can be  
addressed in the smart growth process.

As Executive Director of The Unity Council in Oakland, Gilda Gonzalez  
directed the community-based redevelopment process of the Fruitvale  
BART Station. Fruitvale Transit Village includes mixed-use retail and  
residential development, community services, a public library,  
several community organizations, a computer technology center, and a  
seniors' center to the region’s transit network, linking residents,  
commuters, services, and businesses via intermodal transportation.  
Building on her experience with the Fruitvale Transit Village, she  
will provide insight into how The Unity Council was able to build and  
maintain community, and political, support for the project while  
negotiating the regulatory hurdles smart growth projects often face.


About the Housing and Land Use Seminar Series

This is an ongoing series on housing and land use issues hosted by  
the San Francisco Green Party Housing and Land Use working group.  
These workshops are a great opportunity to educate yourself, share  
your thoughts and get involved with local advocacy groups trying to  
create a better San Francisco.

The seminars have included a diverse range of topics and speakers--SF  
Supervisors, activists, attorneys, developers, nonprofit builders and  
city planners--policymakers and advocates from all sides of our  
housing and development battles. Here's a chance for you to consider  
diverse, frequently contradictory opinions, and make up your own mind  
on important issues facing the city. The previous seminars have  
proven informative, lively and entertaining.

For more information about the Green Party Housing and Land Use  
working group, see: Housing and Land Use Working Group, or go to the  
SF Green Party website (www.sfgreenparty.org) and choose the Working  
Groups link.

The seminars are free and open to the public.

Contact: HLU Co-chairs Jennifer Donlon at junipers.hill(at)gmail.com  
or David Wilbur at drwsf(at)yahoo.com for additional seminar details.
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