San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Civic Auditorium could become homeless shelter
The sign on the marquee of San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium reads, “Stay safe and healthy — Back Soon!”
In the meantime, however, city officials are eyeing the 8,500seat music and events venue as a possible emergency homeless shelter to house up to 175 people for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
Quite a switch for a hall that has hosted everyone from the Who to Radiohead, and these days packs in thousands of young fans with EDM — electronic dance music — shows.
“We need to reduce the population in our shelters and Navigation Centers all across the
city in order to achieve 6 feet of distance between beds,” said San Francisco Human Services Agency Executive Director Trent Rhorer. Six feet is the recommended safe distance between people to prevent the spread of the virus.
With time ticking down toward a possible explosion of virus cases, the Civic Auditorium offers three advantages for quick conversion to a shelter.
It’s big, it’s owned by the city, and, under the terms of the city’s lease with concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment, the city has the right to take the building back in an emergency.
Another Planet declined to comment on the possible conversion.
And the Civic isn’t the only big building being considered.
The huge Moscone Center North convention hall downtown is also being studied. Other possibilities include the historic Old Mint at Fifth and Mission streets, plus some school auditoriums, church halls and stateowned properties throughout the city.
Rhorer said the goal is to house about 1,500 homeless people and reduce the number at current shelters and Navigation Centers by about twothirds.
For a while, city officials were even looking at using the giant cruise ship terminal on the Embarcadero as a temporary shelter.
“But we need to keep the terminal free for the Navy hospital ship that may be coming here,” Rhorer said.
Instant exit: Rather than face an almost assured dismissal, Department of Building Inspection chief Tom Hui pulled the plug himself.
“After such a long tenure as a civil servant, I believe it is now time to shift focus to my family,” Hui said in a March 11 letter to Building Inspection Commission President Angus McCarthy.
Hui’s resignation was effective the next day, before the commission could take up Mayor London Breed’s request that Hui be removed for misconduct. The commission, not the mayor, has the power to dismiss the DBI director.
Hui, a civil servant for 31 years who was made DBI chief in 2013, allegedly abused his position by providing “intentional preferential treatment and access to Walter Wong, a permit expediter who regularly conducts business with the DBI,” Breed wrote in a letter to the commission seeking his dismissal.
The allegations of Hui’s misconduct stemmed from the city attorney’s investigation into certain city departments after the arrest of former Public Works Director Mohammed
Nuru on federal corruption charges.
The commission quickly selected Chief Building Inspector Patrick O’Riordan as the department’s interim director.
“We know that O’Riodan is clean,” said one senior city official close to the situation. “We can’t say the same for some of the possible candidates in the depart
ment.”
Gabby Gavin: Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a shock through the state Tuesday when he told parents, “Don’t anticipate schools are going to open up in a week. Please don’t anticipate in a few weeks. I would plan, and assume, that it’s unlikely that many of these schools — few, if any — will open before the summer break.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond later tamped down Newsom’s comments, telling educators in an online call that while schools may stay closed for the rest of the year, no decision has been made.
Speaking on her own, Alameda County Office of Education spokeswoman Michelle Smith McDonald’s response to Newsom’s bombshell was more direct.
“It was his opinion. “He has not ordered anything.
“It is premature to know what’s going to happen.
“It was off the cuff. “Everyone who works for him and the entire California Department of Education wants to kill him.
“It could happen “But we DON’T KNOW YET,” McDonald posted on her personal
Facebook page. When asked what prompted the posting, McDonald said: “The governor has been very supportive of the schools during this time. It is greatly appreciated. I was just trying to calm the anxiety those remarks seemed to spark,” adding that she was not speaking for the district.
“It was my attempt to be something of a ‘voice of reason.’ ” Something we could use more of, even though the post is no longer there.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGOTV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 4157778815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle. com. Twitter: @philmatier