Thread by @_fruchtose

Hello San Francisco. I'm at the Park Branch Library for a meeting of the Coalition for a Complete Community. We're here to hear about plans for 730 Stanyan St, which The City purchased to build 100% affordable housing.

As always, the flyer tells the story.

Someone nearby is telling a friend that "HANC opposes everything." They explain how the group opposes upzoning near transit.

The friend goes, "Really? That's common sense!"

Tes Welborn, also President of Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council, is speaking. She's lived in the neighborhood 20 years, two blocks from 730 Stanyan. Speakers tonight are still en route, hence the late start.

People are here to make a plan for the site. The residents want something like a community center or childcare. CCC wants affordable housing where Haight St stores restaurant employees could live—"they're desperate for people!" Some commute from Sacramento. Bad for teachers.

You can have more apartments by putting people into smaller apartments [like SROs]. City bought site with federal HUD. "Instead of seeing new residents as different from us," we can help people in need like seniors and kids in foster care.

Tes: There are always some people who imagine that people of lower incomes are degenerates, but they are absolutely "assets of the community." There are some seniors making due on < $1500/month—she couldn't imagine doing that.

Asking audience how many have lost a friend to eviction or high rents. About a quarter of the audience raises their hand.

Each speaker will get a few minutes, and there will be Q&A. Speakers:

☑️ Johnathan Gagen, the site manager for 730 Stanyan from Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development
☑️ Dean Preston, Supervisor-Elect for District 5
Theresa Flandrich, Senior and Disability Action

Looking at February-Aprik 2020 demolition of McDonald's. Delayed by PG&E.

No developer to announce at this time. Need to review RFP responses. Will make an announcement before the holiday.

Jonathan stepping down.

Dean's here. "Not yet in office, I don't have all the answers for you." [Laughter]

His swearing-in is set for Monday, 5 PM, in Board Chambers [room 200]. He wants everyone to come, even people who didn't support him.

Dean: I'm sure many of you are pissed off that the site has been closed for two years without being about to provide any services.

He wants to see if interim uses are still possible.

Dean Preston: a couple quick thoughts. Talked to thousands of voters. "What you read in the Chronicle or the YIMBY blogs is not an accurate reflection of how people in the neighborhood feel about affordable housing."

Wants to show that "the narrative" around the Haight opposing affordable housing is not an accurate reflection of the community.

Neighborhoods should be part of designing what they want, but loud voices aren't necessarily most important.

Dean: "I embrace the community process. I'm not here to tell you what should be there."

He wants to find community consensus.

Has no city email yet, recommends people email his campaign email. Campaign manager Jen Snyder will also be here soon.

Tes introducing Theresa Flandrich [Tes 2?]

Flandrich: neighborhoods grow organically when neighborhoods have input. D5 data for Department of Aging from 2016 shows 11% of zip code 94117 are seniors. People have contributed to community are forced out due to no services/homes.

Theresa: the people who created Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic are now our elders. We can't expect seniors to climb the stairs on our Victorian homes. We need housing services like 730 Stanyan. We need walkable, livable neighborhoods.

Most seniors make less than $18K/year, which is not enough to qualify for housing meant for people making 30% of area minimum income.

Flandrich fought for $150M of senior housing in $600M Prop A bond—still not enough. There are 75,000 seniors.

President Yee is working on a Senior Operating Subsidy to make housing available for seniors at a 25% AMI level. There are 40 units at Casa Adelante in the Mission available now at 15/20% affordability levels.

Tes: for many seniors, being forced out of their neighborhood is death because their doctors/loved ones are near where they live.

Now taking questions.

Q1: nobody has been specific about if we're talking about permanent or interim use. Is the RFP for interim use?

Gagen: City runs the interim process. Paused RFP process because they counted on Prop A providing funding. Will work with developer to provide interim use.

Gagen: developer will work with the community to determine interim use.

Tes: City originally announced developer selection for Nov 30, which prompted this meeting

Q2: developers' needs were not specified in the RFP for 730 Stanyan. Why not?

Gagen: ORCD issues RFPs for housing proposals. In this case they just sought request for qualifications. Developer selects an architect, etc. RFQ says that developer must be responsive to community

Q3: It's not clear. RFP was for temporary use. That's been thrown out. RFQ from October 10 requests qualifications from potential non-profit developers and does not include seniors. They want low-income seniors in the neighborhood.

Tes: sign up for mailing list, send letters

Q4: Supervisor Yee proposing senior housing at Laguna Honda, could "soak up" funding

Gagen: RFQ has been posted. Can't speak to funding.
Tes: won't necessarily do this.

Q5 from same person: has anyone complained about building height?

Tes: could be 5–7 stories
Gagen: we haven't dictated a height
Tes: you can build up to 5 stories with wood only. Costs go up exponentially with concrete/steel, making it less cost-effective for affordable housing

Questioner: it seems like there's only 3 stories around it
Yes: Closer to 4/5 stories in neighborhood. You could also have a setback to make it seem smaller.

Q7: are RFQ responses publicly available?
Gagen: not yet

Q8: how do we force developer to listen to community input? We want mechanisms in the process to ensure the community gets what it wants

Gagen: [not sure] we'll work with Ted, have public meetings

Tes: there's a mix of factors: cost, funding, but community input is important.

Q9: when will construction start?
Gagen: 2–3 years. Need funding sources locked down. Potentially the state could help.

Q10 (same as Q2): why were seniors left out of the RFQ?
Flandrich: "they're ALWAYS left out." Nobody wants to acknowledge aging population. Greatest return on investment in housing is for market-rate housing [for people with income]

Tes: in the past, City would construct buildings only for seniors. This is "pushing the envelope" by integrating populations

Q11: I don't want to parcel out populations like lesbians, seniors in proposals for housing

An audience members responds that it's affirmative action

Q12: RFQ is perspective. It's not clear what the Mayor's Office is asking for developer to do. Seems "back-asswards" and wishy-washy. Who's going to be on the committee to review RFP?

Gagen: the RFQ is the process. There won't be an RFP
Speaker: there's something wrong here

Q13 (same as Q11): will the housing be rental?
Gagen: yes
Tes: people will rent from a non-profit
Speaker: will they need ongoing funding?
Gagen: mix of that and other income

Missed a question or two to get water.

Q14: will developer decide retail use?
Gagen: yes
Speaker: I'd like homeless services.

Wants to know what Dean wants.

Dean: I don't know if there's support for permanent homeless services in the Haight. Maybe, sounds like a good idea.

Dean: I'm open to being proven wrong, but I've found that when you do open engagement beyond public comment that they'res overwhelming support

Q15: who are the prospective developers?
Gagen: we won't do that out of respect to the applicants

Q16: I live next door to a senior complex near Buena Vista Park. I don't want the management of that building to manage this new building.

Q17: this process has been going on for years. It's a waste that we put parking over people. Once RFQ is accepted, is there a way to still do interim yes?
Gagen: we want to do something beyond parking. We can push the developer.

Tes: when the city bought the site with HUD money, it specified that interim uses must serve low-income neighbors

Q18: we do have some senior housing in this district. Mercy Housing, etc. Area has been drug-ridden since the 60s, so it might not be a good place for transitional housing. Area attracts people from all over the country who want to live in the park. More stable parts of The City.

[I think they're referring to the gutter punks of Buena Vista Park]

Q19: 730 Stanyan website says that the RFQ must be a non-profit developer with experience developing housing for low-income seniors. Is that in the RFQ?
Gagen: yeah, that's straight from the RFQ

Q20: if the McDonald's is torn down, what could be there? You can't have drop-in services on a parking lot. Will city put money into temporary building? Or can you have street soccer?
Gagen: we can't use the building
Tes: McDonald's said The City could use the building

Q21: what's the latest on demolition?

Gagen: PG&E working on it for a couple weeks.

Dean: quick comment on interim use. I hope we can turn up the heat to pressure The City to use the space. Tragic lack of critical thinking led to this. City could do the plan differently than having the RFQ, interim uses decided one at a time. May not be easy, but it's tragic.

Dean: there's a lot you can do with modular or temporary buildings. Look at navigation centers, which can be built relatively quickly/cheaply. Huge missed opportunity when RFP for interim use was pulled—it wasn't for lack of money. Prop A argument makes no sense.

Q22: is there city money for an interim use?
Tes: not from the Housing office, but from other departments

Q23: an interim use which would cost no money would be a parking lot where people living in vehicles could park

Q24, Calvin Welch: we wanted to get an indication of where folks are. CCC formed to make what "we" want clear. Without our proposal, non-profit may not do what we want. We were trying to address oversight in RFQ which doesn't address senior housing.

Welch: I've lived here for 50 years. We've pretended that young people won't come here—never true. Youth come to Haight-Ashbury for many years. We can't pretend that housed people don't use drugs. Interim use should embrace the populations that exist here.

Welch: I'm convinced after tonight's meeting that we should have another meeting about interim use. McDonald's no longer says we need to demolish the building, so it's the City's decision to demolish the building.

Welch: They said there was no money for an interim use, but demolition isn't cheap. We don't want the site to be an empty lot for 3 years. CCC should have another meeting next month to decide what we want for interim use.

Q25: has money been spent on demolition?
Tes: a contractor has been decided

Tes: like Calvin has said, City has promised demolition for quite a while. I'm happy people showed up tonight. If you're interested in continued participation in serving the neighborhood, make sure your email is on the sign-ups sheet. Separate email list for senior component.

Q26 about RFQ: language around seniors does not exist in the RFQ, just in the website.
Gagen looks neutral, sitting in the audience.

Tes: that's it, thanks for coming.

I'm out!

Before I go, here's contact info posted for the speakers.