Dems’ feisty meeting on housing ends early
The monthly meetings of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee — the D- triple- C — are usually pretty staid affairs. But Wednesday’s meeting came to a raucous end, shut down early by shouts of “shame on you” and one committee member calling the police, saying she had been physically assaulted.
The tempest was over whether to support Supervisor David Campos’ legislation to impose a temporary moratorium on the construction of market- rate residential developments in a 1 ½ - square- mile area in the Mission. Depending on where one stands on the measure, the meeting was an example of civic activism at its best or overzealous activists attempting to intimidate opponents.
Roughly 100 people showed up to show their support for the moratorium and 50 people against it, people at the meeting said.
“It was the largest crowd the Democratic Party has seen in a long time,” Campos said. “It was people who feel disconnected from the party. So it was a big deal for them to be there.”
But Campos’ frequent sparring partner on the Board of Supervisors, Scott Wiener, described the moratorium supporters as scary. “It was going well beyond passionate advocacy and attempting to intimidate and silence people who oppose the moratorium.”
“Some of them got in my face,” he added. “I had a concern I was going to be assaulted.”
By the end of the night, one committee member said she had been assaulted.
Leah Pimentel said the meeting had ended minutes earlier when she felt someone shoving her. Pimentel said the person — who she identified as Rosario Cervantes, a consumer affairs representative at the California Public Utilities Commission — told her, “You’ve shown your true colors.”
Pimentel had voted against supporting the moratorium legislation. “To aggressively do something like that because you’re upset — I was in shock and I’m still in shock,” Pimentel said, adding that she plans to press charges against Cervantes.
Asked for a comment, Cervantes said, “I’m not going to give you any other information, but thank you for letting me know,” before hanging up.
The actual vote on the moratorium legislation was closer than many expected. While the D- triple- C declined to support it, the 13- 10 tally surprised even Campos, who said he thought it would fall short by a bigger margin. The legislation will next go before the Board of Supervisors for a hearing and vote on Tuesday.
— Emily Green A pair of islands: San Francisco on Friday will take control of nearly 300 acres of Treasure and Yerba Buena islands from the U. S. Navy.
The transfer paves the way for large swaths of the islands to be redeveloped. Some 8,000 homes are planned for construction there, with 25 percent of them earmarked as affordable housing.
As payment for the land, the city and the Treasure Island Development Authority will pay the U. S. Navy $ 55 million over the next 10 years. The Navy could receive additional money based on how much revenue the development projects generate.
In a statement, Mayor Ed Lee hailed the transfer as a milestone. “It’s taken almost two decades to get to this point, and we’re eager to transform this former naval base into a vibrant community with more housing, jobs and economic opportunities for our residents,” he said.
— Emily Green