FOGG Open Letter – August 1, 2010
The response to our last two OPEN LETTERS has been reassuring. The donations sent by many of you mean a great deal to the success of our Coalition’s work to provide a real NE Waterfront Plan for the benefit of all, and at the same time preserving the Community’s Open Recreation Space.
As you will read in the following paragraphs, however, there remains a need for continual financial support. Your tax deductible donations have been and will continue to be used in a most prudent manner so that our cooperative efforts with Asian Neighborhood Design (AND), our professional consultant, attorney, and volunteer community organizations can move forward without delay.
Please send your tax deductible donation by check to PDF/FOGG, mailed to Jim Eggert, Treasurer and CPA, 550 Davis Street #46, San Francisco, CA 94111. In writing your check, please enter on the memo line “tax deductible donation.”
Or you can donate online by clicking on the ‘Donations to FOGG’ link on this website.
Pacific Waterfront Partners (PWP) has revised their design for the 8 Washington Street luxury condominium project based on the SF Planning Department’s so-called NE Embarcadero ‘Study’. The ‘Study’ increases the size of the proposed buildings to heights greater than before, and that is the exact opposite of what the community asked for at the SF Planning Department’s workshops!!
You can now view PWP’s plans on the ‘PWP Revised Drawings July 2010’ link on this website.
You will note that the proposed towers are nearly 150 feet tall and will require an “upzoning” that would also be required in the Planning Department ‘Study’. This will give the Board of Supervisors another opportunity to turn it down as they did to the 555 Washington and 110 Embarcadero projects, that also exceeded by more than 50 feet the height limits allowed by code.
It now gives you the opportunity to write to your individual District Supervisor with strong objections to this type of planning; increase in heights, density, and the destruction of the family friendly Community Recreational Center, an anchor in the neighborhood for over 40 years.
We urge you to write as soon as you can. You may see your Supervisor’s address by going to this link. SF Board of Supervisors
We ask that you send a copy to Board President and District 3 Supervisor David Chiu at David.Chiu@sfgov.org and to us at coaches@fogg.us.
We are sure you can see why we must continue our efforts, and the need for your critical financial support. The AND NE Waterfront Plan is comprehensive and is not driven by one ill-advised development. It has sought consensus on the best uses of the Seawall Lots, along with connections to the waterfront, Chinatown, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, and the Gateway.
In closing we must again thank all of you for your support and financial contributions. Please note that we have temporarily removed the Alternative NE Waterfront Plan ‘Draft’ from our website while it is being updated from a recent Steering Committee review. We will advise you when we have it on this website again.