csfn newsletter 4 august · 2019-08-21 · csfn newsletter august 2019 with the cost of liability...

CSFN Newsletter AUGUST 2019

CSFN NEWSLETTER

PG&E AND WILDFIRES BACKGROUNDPG&E has a service area of 70,000 square miles from Eureka to Bakersfield, servicing 16 million people. PG&E controls more than 125,000 miles of power lines and nearly 50,000 miles of gas lines.

CSFN Newsletter, Volume XLV, NO.7. August 2019

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One tower by PG&E, was built and left untended for nearly a cen-tury.


LARGEST FIRE IN CALIFORNIA HISTORYMost recently, it has been determined that a tower built in 1919 was responsible for the Camp Fire. Asked if this tower had been inspected recently, there was no immediate reply by PG&E. It seems this tower was built and left untended for nearly a century. 1

Besides neglect being responsible for forest fires, oth-er causes have been an unwillingness by city, county and state officials to change fire codes. The Hanly fire in 1964, which covered roughly the same land burned in the Tubbs fire of 2017, seemingly provided no new fire code legislation. Today, areas in Sonoma County are being built exactly the same way they were before the Hanly and Tubbs fires.

Wildfires are different today than from the past. Histor-ically, wildfires would move 6.7 mph through a dense forests. It is worth mentioning, that a fast walk is 3 mph. With 147 million dead trees in the wild lands of California, it is easy to catch these trees on fire. Today, wildfires move on top of the canopy of

the forest fueled by “Santa Ana” or “Diablo” wind. These winds can move as fast as 40 mph. When a 10 degree slope is present, fire can grow even faster than on flat land. In this way, fire can move as fast as one football field a second. 2 With fire damage occurring this fast, it is said the PG&E could be responsible for as much as $80 billion in liability.

HOW WILL PG&E PAY FOR IT’S LIABILITYTo pay for these expenses, some believe ratepayers could be paying as much as double what they pay today. Therefore,


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A wildfire on a slope can grow faster than a wild-fire on flat ground. Today, wildfires

move on top of the canopy of the forest, fueled by “Santa Ana” or “Diablo” wind.


with the cost of liability so high, PG&E filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 29, 2019. In this way, they can dodge some of their liability burden.

HOW DO WE FIX PG&EPG&E told a Commission on February 13, 2019 that shareholders, with a profit mo-tive, allow the company to provide the service to improve the company and “make in-vestments that improve safety or quality of service.” But the California Municipal Utili-ties Association has objected to this logic, stating on February 28, 2019, that PG&E “does not need a profit incentive to promote safety, providing, reliable, affordable and sustainable electric service…”

Another way to fix PG&E has been suggested to have it divided up. A benefit of this would be, the private interest in profit, would be removed from the “public interest of reducing carbon emissions and meeting the statewide goal of carbon neutrality by 2045” the Sierra Club believes.

It has been suggested PG&E could reduce forest fires by shutting down power at crit-ical times of the year and with fire danger high. Oakland and San Francisco could be affected and could be without power for up to 1 to 5 days. Those that need machines at home, with serious health issues, could be required to go to the hospital


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for care. The next question is, who will pay for these fire related medical visits to the hospital and would PG&E pass the charge onto the ratepayer? In the past, PG&E could pay for food damaged by power outages. Will PG&E continue this practice in the future.

Of the proposals to stop wildfire, under grounding the main transmissions lines would seem to be the best solution. However, of the money that was available for this pur-pose, almost half of it has been diverted. “They can divert it to corporate bonuses, to more shareholders’ dividends, anywhere they want,” writes Candace Nguyen, KTVU news on July 24, 2018. 3 Under grounding transmission lines can cost about $2.3 million per mile. 4

Recently, improvements have been made by PG&E. Today, PG&E has 230 weather stations. Eventually, they claim they will have have nearly 600. This year they claim to have inspected 750,000 power poles for failure. PG&E claims to have identified 1,000 high priority problems and nearly all of them were addressed by the end of May 2019. By June 2019, PG&E will have 150 cameras looking for wildfires. This is an increase of 300%. For the first time, PG&E is using satellites to monitor fire. 5

In August of 2019, a number of California residents have complained of the pruning practices by PG&E crews to inhibit wildfire. PG&E has hired 40 contractors to do this pruning in California, hiring contractors though out the nation, some as far away as North Dakota, to eliminate or prune problem trees. After these trees are pruned, the debris is left on the ground, creating its own fire hazard. 6

Glenn Rogers, RLA is the Vice President of CSFN.FOOTNOTE 1. https://wildfiretoday.com/2018/12/10/why-did-a-99-year-old-power-line-fail-igniting-the-camp-fire/2. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/california-wildfires-superlatives-wcx/index.html3. http://www.ktvu.com/news/money-slated-to-put-pg-e-power-lines-underground-was-divert-ed-for-years-2-investigates4. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Wine-Country-fires-PG-E-often-diverts-mon-ey-for-12742239.php?psid=6dauR5. https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/PG-E-made-big-plans-to-reduce-wildfire-risk-14093844.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=sfc_-morningfix&sid=53ba5f9f9dbcd4ec6e000221#6. https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Radical-tree-trimming-Critics-say-PG-E-s-14305225.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&ut-m_campaign=sfc_morningfix&sid=53ba5f9f9dbcd4ec6e000221&psid=iDSgV


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https://wildfiretoday.com/2018/12/10/why-did-a-99-year-old-power-line-fail-igniting-the-camp-fire/



https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/california-wildfires-superlatives-wcx/index.html

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Wine-Country-fires-PG-E-often-diverts-money-for-12742239.php?psid=6dauR



https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/PG-E-made-big-plans-to-reduce-wildfire-risk-14093844.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=sfc_morningfix&sid=53ba5f9f9dbcd4ec6e000221#





FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK (Remembering Milestones) We have been celebrating the achievements 50 years ago this month of the launch, moonwalk and splashdown of Apollo 11. Its mission was simply stated: years before with the President’s challenge to land a man on the moon and bring him home safely. He further added “ We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. “ In just a few years we will be noting the launch of CSFN: on Sept. 11, 1972, Martin MacIntyre,, the President of the Planning Association of Richmond, convened a meeting of 47 Neighborhood Groups They gathered to fight a city hall that had rebuffed community amendments to planning, elections and policing . The two ideas that brought them together were sharing information and hav-ing a citywide coalition. More meetings over time led to he incorporation of CSFN in 1991 as a 501(c )4 non profit civic organization with a Board of Directors made up of representatives of member or-ganizations. Our mission statement begins with the following two Articles of our Bylaws:

I. The name of this organization shall be the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods. II. The Purposes of the CSFN shall be:

A. To bring about information exchange, cooperation, and united action among the geo-graphically based Neighborhood Organizations in SF .

B. To endorse or oppose, and lobby for or against, proposed issues and measures which directly impact SF neighborhoods .

C. To support the principles that: 1. Existing neighborhoods are a valuable resource to be protected, maintained and en-

hanced, and 2. Stable, healthy neighborhoods are the key to healthy cities;

D. To monitor the actions of city governments and other public agencies… E. To take stand on critical public issues … F. To share information with…neighborhoods and public agencies.. Note that the name means we’re FOR SF Neighborhoods, dealing with the concerns of ALL of them, not just OF current members in the Coalition. Also take note of how our cosponsoring of the DA candidates forum August 7 is an example of Purpose A; how the Ballot Measures General Assembly this month illustrates letter B; and how our committee work and resolutions on subjects like SB 50 exemplifies letter E. We will talk about our Mission Statement in our next meeting.

Charles Head, President of CSFN


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CSFN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday, July 24, 2019 / 5:35 PM / Northern Station

Present: Charles Head, Glenn Rogers, Gregory Scott, Claire Zvanski, Maurice Franco and Richard Frisbie (left before the meeting ended). Absent Cindy Beckman. 5:35 pm I Call to Order / Ascertain Quorum / Quorum Met (4)5:35 pm II Officers Reports A. President: See Report B. Vice President: See NL. C. Recording Secretary: See report. D. Corresponding Secretary: Absent. E. Treasurer: See spread sheet.5:50 pm III Committee Action Items A. Open Space: AB 68, Ting legislation allows new development from property line to property line. Fee increases for Jap. Tea Garden and Coit Tower.Outside Lands will allow high decibels for years into the future. B. Land Use and Transportation: Will provide a report. C. Government and Elections: Will provide report. D. Media and Outreach: D6 and D10 needs to join CSFN. We need to find new organizations. We need to ask Monterey Heights to join. Mari to do website. E. Newsletter: Whether we have a hard copy NL to be decided at next GA. F. Holiday Dinner 12/4/2019: Have speakers and Honorees by August. Have GA approve a deposit for Holiday Dinner.6:15 pm IV Approve July, 2019 General Assembly Meeting Agenda A. Approved as amended. 6:15 pm V Unfinished Business

A. DA Debate to be on August 7, 2019 at Hall of Flowers, doors open at 6, 6:30 pm to 9 pm meetings start just off 9th street. B. LHIA Resolution to be 15 minutes Power Point Presentation. C. How to Improve CSFN: Maurice suggests logo improvement, have website improved, use Zoom instead of “face to face” meetings. 7:00 pm VI New Business

A. Ballot measures for August Program. B. Navigation Centers September Program. C. SAVEMUNI needs to be approved by GA to be included in website. D. Decorum in GA speakers or program director. GA not allowed to interrupt a meeting with outburst.

7:20 pm VII Adjourn CSFN Newsletter, Volume XLV, NO.7. August 2019

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CSFN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, August 20, 2019 / 6:30 PM / Northern Station

6:00 pm Sign in and refreshments.6:30 pm I Call to Order / Ascertain Quorum A. Introduction of Delegates and Guests B. Host OMI-NIA6:35 pm II Program - Ballot Measures A. Proposition A, $600M Bond, Maya Chupka B. Proposition E, Anabel Ibenez and Maya Chupta C. Proposition D, Tim Hester 7:15 pm III Officers Reports A. President B. Vice President C. Recording Secretary D. Corresponding Secretary E. Treasurer7:30 pm IV Committee Action Items A. Executive B. Bylaws C. Government and Elections D Land Use and Housing E Open Space D. Newsletter E. Holiday Dinner F. Media and Outreach8:00 pm V Approval of June & July 2019 Minutes

8:05 pm VI Unfinished Business A. DA Debate to be on August 7, 2019 at Hall of Flowers, doors open at 6, 6:30 pm to 9 pm meetings start just off 9th street. B. LHIA Resolution a Power Point Presentation. C. The Conversation Continues to Improve CSFN. D. George Wooding CSFN President Emeritus vote.9:00 pm VII New Business

A. Navigation Center September Program B. SAVEMUNI to be approved by GA to be linked in our website. C. Decorum in GA.

9:15 pm VIII Adjourn


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GOVERNMENT & ELECTION JULY MEETING

President Head (SHARP) called the meeting to order at 6:10 at the Taraval Station. As he had been the previous Chair, the prime order of business was the election of a new one. Past President Wooding (MTHA) was unanimously elected to be it. Discussion included which ballot measures not to consider for the August GA: the Juul Vaping Initiative and the Alcatraz Declaration of Policy were thus selected, with the Dark Money one already vetted when it was the Ethics Commission submission. This left the Affordable Housing Bond and the reconciled Mayor-Supervisors initiative to be heard by the committee in its August meet-ings prior to the GA, which will also probably have a traffic mitigation ordinance from the last BOS meeting and a Charter Amendment about renaming Adult and Aging Services .

CSFN LAND USE COMMITTEE & TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETINGS WEDNESDAY JULY 24, 2019 4pm NORTHERN POLICE STATION

Land Use Committee

4:00 I. Call to order. Present: Boken, Hillson, Head, Franco, Wooding and Mari 4:05. II. Election of new Chair. Boken nominated by Hillson. Second by Head. A. Vote unanimous. Franco requested 2 committees. 4:10 III. Local Land Use Issues

A) Planning Commission SB35 on 7/25/19. PowerPoint no online prior to meeting. Will be posted afterwards. No injunction. Per Hillson, SF not excluded from from streamlining and RHNA for low and low-moderate goals. B) Advance Calendar TBA.

C) BOS LU Legislation - AB68 (Ting) continued. Would take away local control and DR.

Much of 25% open space could be built on within 4ft of property line.190757-30 day rule (Mandelman) Residential care permitted in RH1, RH2 and RH1-D for 7+ people. No longer density limit. Change from


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illegal status to legal status with ministerial review. - 2019 Bldg. Code DofE

- Proposal for all electric new construction. Mari ref solar. - Building Code by State Dept of Energy. - Next steps: DBI Code Advisory Comm, BOS in September/October. - Paul Wormer wants no gas in SF. - Franco remarked re no new gas in Berkeley bill. Asked re % GhG sav-

ings if no gas. - Wooding remarked re GhG emission from concrete and construction. Infill

will save GhG but construction of infill will create GhG - D) Neighborhood Issue- 3333 California St. (LHIA) - Resolution introduced at July GA. - 669 Marina Blvd (MCA) - Convert home to 13 bedroom,13 bath for extended family. MCA met with

lawyer and Planning. Second Pre-App, but sponsor not accept changes. - 33 Capra (MCA) - Two story bungalow. Proposed demo for 4 story condo. Two DR25 filed.

25 Toledo Way (MCA) - Vintage residence. Proposed remodel to 4 stories. Franco circulated let-

ter and attended Pre-App at Planning Dept. with staff present. Two neighbors brought own architects. Residence vacant for a number of years.

- Motion proposed by Hillson to reverse prior resolution which took neighborhood issues out of LUTC purview. Mari seconded motion. Discussion that LUTC bombarded by state and SFMTA etc so prior choices made due to limited manpower. Mari commented SoMa, Mission and Dog patch under fire so don’t come to CSFN. Boken commented re uneven work load e.g. State, BOS and PC August recess. Franco commented MCA paid for 33 Capra DRs and MCA following own neighborhood is sues. Wooding commented there would be no time for issues other than DRs.Motion passed with 5 ayes and 1 no with Wooding voting no. Flexi- ble time amendment added prior to vote. - 1850 Bryant St (EMIA) - Question per Mari, if 100% PDR changed to mental health, would this be a Change of Use. Per Hillson, check website and Pre-App.


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4:40. IV. Regional Land Use Issues A) ABAG (7/18/19) - AB1487 (Chiu) and SB330 (Skinner).

- AB1487 is regional finance authority. - ABAG voted to support. - SB330 is streamlining bill. - ABAG voted on opposition. SF PC staff report cited in opposition.

4:45. V. State Land Use Issues A) Legislature on recess

- SB50 (Wiener) - Wooding commented on protest at SPUR presentation included

himself. - SB592 (Wiener) - Wooding commented re gut and amend. Change barber and cosme-

tology bill to housing bill. Would change housing affordability. Would also make it easier for developers to sue cities and harder for cities to sue developers.

- Chair Boken made closing statement re comments by SF Director of Housing Delivery re Westside event on housing being sponsored by CSFN. Boken corrected Director that was sponsored by SFLUC. Wooding responded that YIMBY and HAC present and were source of incorrect info. Wooding commented on event.

5:12. VI. Adjourn

Transportation Committee 5:13. I. Call to order. 5:00. II. Election of new Chair. Motion to combine committees and chairs by Mari. Second by Hillson. Wooding friendly amendment to add Gembinski of MPNA to LUTC continued until next meeting. Vote on motion 5 ayes and 1 no with Wooding voting no. Boken accepted as de facto LUTC Chair.

5:05. III. Local Transportation Issues A) SFMTA Tom Maguire new Ed Reiskin. No discussion.


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SF Connect at Save MUNI. No discussion. B) SFCTA (7/23/19) Plan Bay Area 2050 (#9). No discussion. LRV4 (#16) No discussion. C) BOS legislation Traffic mitigation added per Mari. Per Mari, SFMTA budget passed at BOS.

5:15 IV. Regional Issues A) MTC (7/24/19) SB330 (#8a) TBA AB1487 (#8c) TBA 5:20. V. State Issues A) Legislature on recess.

5:25. VI. June NL A) LU minutes but not transportation minutes. VII. Additional Forum A) Wooding comment re wants additional transportation forum. 5:26. VIII Adjourn.

EXCOMM. - HOW TO REACH US: President: Charles Head, [email protected] President: Glenn Rogers, [email protected] Secretary: Charles Head, [email protected] Secretary: Cindy Beckman, [email protected]: Greg Scott, [email protected] at Large: Richard Frisbie, [email protected] at Large: Maurice Franco, [email protected]


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mailto:[email protected]








RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company Home Office and integrated

landscaping are listed on the California Register of Historical Resources;

WHEREAS, for-profit developers have acquired the site and proposed construction which would destroy the historical resource and revoke the 40-foot height limit and the legislated setbacks that are now landscaped in natural green plantings and used by the public as open space;

WHEREAS, substantial members of the community support use of the site for hous-ing but oppose rezoning the site to allow retail uses, inasmuch as the Draft EIR states that the proposed 54,000 square feet of retail uses would bring 8,642 vehicle trips to the site and also because of concerns that the new retail would place the ex-isting shops in the adjacent Laurel Village at a competitive disadvantage;

WHEREAS, the developer’s proposal would have 896 underground parking spaces, and its Variant proposal would have 971 underground parking spaces, and the devel-oper would excavate 40 feet down in portions of the site to construct three under-ground levels for parking, thereby removing over 2 million cubic feet of soils and rock;

WHEREAS, the developer is requesting 7 to 15 years to construct the project;

WHEREAS, the Community Alternative and Community Variant would have the same number of residential units as the developer, 558 or 744, respectively, maintain the existing café and childcare center space on the property, use the existing natural green landscaping as open space for the project, designate the Eckbo Terrace as pri-vately owned publicly accessible open space, and have approximately 460 on-site parking spaces (see attached conceptual site plan);


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WHEREAS, the design of the Community Alternative would conform with neighbor-hood scale and character and could be constructed in approximately 3 years since it would involve much less excavation;

WHEREAS, Nancy Goldenberg of TreanorHL has issued an evaluation finding that the Community Alternative is clearly superior in that it complies with all 10 of the Sec-retary of Interior’ Standards for Rehabilitation whereas the developer’s proposal complies with only with 2 of the 10, and the Community Alternative is more compati-ble with surrounding neighborhood development.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT the Coalition for San Francisco Neighbor-hoods (CSFN) supports the Community Alternative and Community Variant and op-poses the developer’s proposed project and variant, including the rezonings request-ed by the developer. CSFN further opposes the 15 years requested by the developer to construct the project and the opposes the conditional use authorizations and planned unit development approvals, because the developer’s proposed uses will not provide a development that is necessary or desirable for, or compatible with, the neighborhood or community, and the commercial uses proposed by the developer in this RM-1 zoning district are not necessary to serve residents of the immediate vicini-ty; and also because under no circumstances may a planned unit development be excepted from any height limit.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that members of the CSFN are familiar with the Laurel Village shops and restaurants immediately adjacent to the project site, the Sacramen-to Street and Presidio Avenue shops and restaurants, the Trader Joe’s grocery store one block away from the site, and the Target in the City Center, and finds these exist-ing commercial uses sufficient to serve the residents of the immediate vicinity of the project.

DATED: July 29, 2019 Respectfully submitted,

Charles Head,President of the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods


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csfn newsletter 4 august · 2019-08-21 · csfn newsletter august 2019 with the cost of liability...

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