New Director
The Green Benefit District for the Dogpatch and Northwest Potrero Hill neighborhoods appointed Andrea Banas to replace retiring executive director Julie Christensen. Banas also serves as board chair for the Bill Sorro Housing Program. Raised in San Francisco, where she attended public schools, Banas has a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning from San Francisco State University… Francine Brownell has been hired as the Dogpatch Hub’s coordinator, assisting Hub Director Sarah Charley Jones with programming, administrative, and operational activities. Brownell, who recently moved to the neighborhood, previously worked in international relations, customer service, and property management.
Lots of Expenses
District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton charged the City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) $29,411.87 since 2019, according to the San Francisco Standard. Among his expenses were an $89 white noise machine, $49 pair of “ceremonial scissors,” $14 desk calculator, and $391 storage hutch, perhaps to hold the acrylic lacquer and paint the supervisor purchased late last year. Walton’s total expenses were the highest of all supervisors, in part because charges he made in the final half of 2019, such as a $3,120 parking spot next to City Hall, were included in the tally. Those spaces, which can be shared with up to three staff members, consume almost half of most supervisors’ annual $8,000 legislative account.
Anchors Away
The two-acre property that was formerly home to the Anchor Brewing company is on the market for $40 million. The Anchor brand is being sold separately. Goodbye, yeasty smell of our youth. We’ll miss you…San Francisco earned roughly $52 million from its almost 23,000 parking meters between September 2022 and September 2023, according to the San Francisco Standard. Hourly rates at the City’s most expensive meters can be in the double digits due to demand-responsive pricing which raises rates on popular spots to incentivize turnover. Among the jackpots is 700 Mission Bay Boulevard South, adjacent to the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, a multi-space meter that netted nearly $88,000 last year. That ka-ching is likely because the meters run until 10 p.m. on the block, later than other parts of San Francisco, and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. prices skyrocket from $2 per hour earlier in the day to $10 an hour.
Mission Bay Bust
The amount of sublease space listed by life sciences tenants in Mission Bay has increased over the past couple of years, as has the area’s commercial vacancy rates. According to real estate firm JLL, laboratory vacancies in Mission Bay reached 14.6 percent in the second quarter of 2023. Counting space that’s still being developed, the community’s total lab space vacancy jumps to 33 percent. Still, Siren Biotechnology, a startup that merges immunotherapy and gene therapy, appears to be nearing a deal to lease space at 1800 Owens Street, the former headquarters of tech company Dropbox, once known as the Exchange. The 750,000-square-foot complex switched hands in a $1 billion sale in 2021 and now goes by the name “Icona” after its new owners converted the property from office to lab space…Last month the District Attorney’s Office charged Savannah Church, 24, with committing eight burglaries, stealing $34,000 worth of goods, last summer at various Walgreens, including stores at 1189 and 2494 Potrero Avenue… Apropos of nothing else in this item, according to the U.S. Department of Defense 77 percent of young people are ineligible to enlist in the armed forces because they’re overweight, have a disqualifying mental or physical condition, or issues with drug use. Setting aside the attractiveness of military service, the poor condition of our younger population is concerning.
Expensive Shelter
In 2022 San Francisco opened the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center at Candlestick Point, with a goal of accommodating 155 recreational vehicles, providing otherwise untethered occupants with support services. By and large, the program has been an expensive failure. Without a Pacific Gas and Electric Company hookup polluting diesel generators were deployed – later replaced by solar streetlights – limiting the number of RVs to 35, with an annual cost per vehicle of roughly $140,000, “by far the most expensive homeless response intervention” in San Francisco, according to a budget analysis prepared for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Still, last month the Board voted unanimously to extend the facility’s lease for two more years. Taxpayers will pay at least another $12.2 million to fund the site and its operations. “… it would be more cost-effective to provide each…client with a monthly rental stipend,” wrote Marsha Maloof of the Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association in a letter opposing continued site operation. “It is inconceivable that the City would continue to extend such a program with metrics of success at this level.” Apparently, it’s conceivable.
Starr King
Multiple readers took issue with last month’s story about Starr King Elementary (“Starr King: One Campus, Two Schools”), asserting that it contained errors and omissions, and was generally biased against the school. The View acknowledges that the article had a particular frame, one that focused on racial and educational disparities that’re systemic in San Francisco. Likewise, its treatment of the student assignment process wasn’t comprehensive, and could lead readers to believe that the school was largely responsible for the steady decline in pupils from Potrero Annex-Terrace…The Starr King parents who contacted the View love their school and are doing their best to make it a welcoming institution of excellence for all learners. However, not one of them was willing to submit an editorial or letter to the editor about the topic, nor were any willing to be quoted by name in the article. This follows a general trend in which municipal officials and the public either refuse to provide information or are loath to be “outed” on any subject that might be remotely controversial. Ironic, given the “anything can be asserted about anything” vibe of social media. The View is very far from perfect. Without active engagement from those who have essential information and insights, the paper won’t get any better.
PV Staff