Large crowd blasts plans for Mission development
Neighbors, activists seek alternative to ‘Monster’
Opponents of the proposed development at 16th and Mission streets delivered a blistering message to the San Francisco Planning Commission on Thursday night at Mission High School. Speaker after speaker ripped the project as a luxury complex that would worsen the displacement and gentrification that have become as synonymous with the neighborhood as burritos and murals.
The lopsided public meeting, six years after developer Maximus Real Estate Partners proposed 331 units above the 16th Street Mission BART Station, allowed Mission District residents and activists to air their complaints about the project in a formal setting.
One after another, more than 100 speakers said they supported an alternative they call “the Marvel in the Mission,” a play on the “Monster
in the Mission” moniker that has branded the project. Their vision for the site at 1979 Mission St. calls for a 100 percent affordable development with a community center, on-site social services and green space.
The meeting resembled a campaign event, complete with slogan T-shirts, buttons and signs. The Plaza 16 Coalition, the umbrella group fighting the project, provided child care and free burritos in the high school cafeteria — food that was enjoyed by both supporters and opponents of the project.
“It’s the first time we have had decision-makers come into our turf — it’s pretty good,” said organizer Oscar Grande, a co-founder of the Plaza 16 Coalition. “I give it up to the commission for being bold like that, having the faith to bring the debate to the people.” It’s the first time since 2011 the Planning Commission has held a meeting outside City Hall.
Earlier, Maximus had introduced a new proposal promising to buy and dedicate two fully entitled sites in the Mission to the city for affordable housing. The sites, at 2675 Folsom St. and 2918 Mission St., are currently approved for 192 units, which could be increased to 306 units if local density bonus laws were to be invoked.
“This historic new deal could bring nearly 650 total units of housing to the Mission,” said Seth Mallen, a Maximus partner. “Providing these two important sites to the community is a win-win for all.”
But Plaza 16 Coalition representatives were more than a little skeptical, and Maximus has not presented the plan to Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. Unlike other controversial Mission District projects, there is no development agreement between the private builder and the city.
“They can’t offer what they don’t have. They don’t own the ... land.” said Roberto Alfaro, executive director of Homey, a Mission youth empowerment organization. “An empty-handed offer is just that — empty. If they want credit for the affordable units, they should build the affordable units. The dirt is not useful to us.”
If Maximus’ plan was to try to rally residents around the potential for hundreds of affordable apartments on the two sites, it failed. The developer’s 10-minute presentation was difficult to hear in the large auditorium and did nothing to address the complaints that project opponents have been making for years.
Supporting the project was a cross-section of the city’s building trade unions, as well as members of the group Mission for All, a pro-development nonprofit aligned with Maximus. The group bused about 20 people to the meeting and paid them $30 each to testify, according to one homeless woman who said she opposes the project but needed the money.
Representatives of labor unions, which would see construction jobs at the project, said that, taken together, 1979 Mission and the affordable units promised on the two sites represented a good deal for the community.
“Housing is the biggest crisis next to health care in San Francisco and the country,” said Tim Paulson, who leads the San Francisco Building Trades Council, an organization of labor unions.
And housing advocate Tim Colen, the former executive director of the Housing Action Coalition, said that the strident opposition to the project is “the poster child of the efforts in Sacramento to take jurisdiction away from cities that can’t meet their housing obligations.”
The meeting was informational — no vote was on the table — and planning commissioners had just 15 minutes to weigh in after nearly four hours of testimony. Several commissioners pointed out that both the supporters and opponents of the project are in favor of housing on the site — the question being what kind of housing it would be and how much it would cost.
Longtime neighborhood activist Roberto Hernandez said that building market-rate housing at 16th and Mission streets would transform that area, much as Valencia Street and the area around Dolores Park have been transformed by new market-rate housing, much of it occupied by tech workers.
“This used to be part of the Mission, you know,” he said, referring to the Mission High location at 18th and Dolores streets. “Little by little, they have shrunk our neighborhood.”
Commissioner Myrna Melgar said she is not impressed with Maximus’ latest proposal.
“I remain skeptical as to what was presented to us — it didn’t come up to my standards,” she said. “I would expect a developer coming to this commission to present an alternative already vetted by the Mayor’s Office of Housing. I would expect to see plans.”
Commissioner Rodney Fong thanked the Plaza 16 Coalition for the burritos, calling them “a clear gesture that you guys take care of community whether you are supportive of the project or not.”