Jackson Square Historic District Association
News - Our Three Current Goals
#1 WE LOST the battle for the
On March 18, 2010, the San Francisco Planning Commission voted 4-3 to approve the Environmental Impact Report for the project. This vote was followed by a unanimous vote of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks commission to approve the plan.
But on Monday, April 5, project opponents appealed the Planning Commission's approval of the EIR to the Board of Supervisors. The primary opponents are Aaron Peskin and his wife, Nancy Shanihan. They hired a land-use (no-growth) attorney, Sue Hestor, and are worked with the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association (controlled by Aaron Peskin and his wife) to stop the project. Jeff Ente from the Jackson Square Historic District Association called the Supervisors to task and projected an image of the $500 check that Aaron Peskin wrote to the City to appeal the EIR.
We supported the project because we felt strongly that it was an appropriate use of the available land; it would have been a high-rise in the high-rise district of San Francisco. It would have brought new residents closer to where they work. It would have brought long-term vitality and a much-needed shot in the arm to
The opponents attacked the project on the basis of minutia. They capitalized on EIR procedures which made it easier to stop a project than to bring one forward; barely measurable shadows, the concern for birds flying into the building, and personal aesthetic preferences should not have been the primary reasons to overturn our well-informed and experienced Planning Commission and to rob the city of “green” housing, an expanded park, construction jobs, $12,000,000 in affordable housing and much more in tax revenue.
In 2009 we had a historical tour to brain-storm about ways to promote the neighborhood and our group. The walk resulted in a plan to restore the International Settlement Arch at the entrance to the 500 block of Pacific Avenue.
Click here to read about it.
Since about 2005, the Jackson Square Historic District Association has been lobbying City Hall to force the property owner to finish the abandoned renovation of the famous old building. We staged a protest where almost 100 of us marched through the streets wearing yellow hard hats. We received some press attention and the renovation resumed. But the developer ran out of money (again) and the building is once again a boarded up eye-sore. The owners continue to flout the law and ignore the demands made by City Hall. Now we are in search of an Angel Investor who will finish the project and restore one of the most important buildings in Jackson Square.
