When will the second tower of One Rincon Hill get built?
Jamie Whitaker - RHNA President
Just a friendly reminder that the Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association
is meeting this evening starting at 6pm at the Sailors' Union of the
Pacific (450 Harrison Street, at First Street) in the Library Room.
Michael Yarne from the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce
Development and Steve Kuklin, representing Fifield Companies (owners
of the 399 Fremont Street lot), will be our primary speakers.
Michael will discuss two pieces of legislation recently introduced and
working their way through City Hall that could have a huge impact on
Rincon Hill. One piece of legislation, the "Developer's Stimulus"
legislation, could influence how soon the second tower at One Rincon
Hill, a "sister" development for The Infinity at 201 Folsom, and other
currently approved projects get built in San Francisco because it
would delay the payment of fees for neighborhood infrastructure and
affordable housing from the point in time when construction begins to
the point in time when occupancy permits are issued. The second piece
of legislation, the "Green Development Agreement," was introduced last
week at the Planning Commission and offers guaranteed development
entitlements (upon approval by Planning and the Board of Supes) in
exchange for agreeing to improve an empty development site in a manner
that provides certain public benefits.
Steve will discuss some of the "Green Development" ideas Fifield
Companies is proposing for 399 Fremont, such as creating a street tree
nursery to grow trees for Friends of the Urban Forest to plant in and
around San Francisco neighborhoods.
Please do join us at 6pm ... I'll try to tape up signs to help you
find the meeting space if you haven't been inside the Sailors' Union
building before.
On Thursday, March 4th at 6pm at City Hall, Room 400, the Planning
Commission will discuss the Draft EIR for a proposed new 350 foot
office tower to be located at 222 Second Street (where a surface
parking lot currently exists). You can read more at
http://www.sf-planning.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8070
Our neighbors at 199 New Montgomery, One Hawthorne, and other
residential buildings have concerns about the disproportionate size,
additional traffic congestion, and other issues it may create. If
you'd like to support or criticize the project EIR, please plan on
attending. The RHNA has no position on this particular project other
than we'd prefer that "Alternative C" with no on-site parking garage
be selected so as to deter additional cars adding to pollution and to
dangers for pedestrians and bicyclists in the area. I personally
applaud any chances we have to re-purpose downtown land used as a
surface parking lot - what a waste of land.
On Monday, March 8th, the South Beach/Rincon/Mission Bay Neighborhood
Association meets at 6pm at the South Beach Harbor Services Building's
Community Room (between Pier 40 and AT&T Park). Jay Primus, Director
of the new SFPark Program, will walk through the development of the
new technologies currently being installed in Rincon Hill and nearby
neighborhoods to help the City better manage street parking. "Circle
less, Live more" is the motto of the program. They will also host
some speakers who will briefly discuss the earthquake safety bond
measure on the June 8th ballot (Register to vote - and preferably to
be a permanent vote by mail voter!).
On Wednesday, March 10th, there will be a Mission Bay Parks
Coordination Meeting from Noon until 1:30pm at the Mission Bay Park
Pavilion (301 Channel Street, the glass/brick building just a block
west of 4th Street Bridge). You can see the agenda online at
http://rinconhillneighbors.org/events/?event_id=137 Please RSVP via
email to Carolyn Weir at CW...@missionbayparks.org if you plan to
attend so that she can buy enough sandwiches for the meeting!
On Saturday, March 13th, the Second Saturday volunteer clean up day
and dog off-leash playtime event happens at the future Bryant/Beale
Street dog park site. I believe the hours are 9:30 am until 11:00am
or thereabouts - please help support Marty, Josh, and Bob to keep the
site looking great while we await Caltrans approving the project plans
and taking the next step in the process to begin construction later
this year or next.
Also on March 13th, the San Francisco St. Patrick's Day Parade happens
from 11am until 2pm.
On Sunday, March 14th, Sunday Streets returns to The Embarcadero where
it all started in 2008 as two pilot events. The event runs from 10am
until 3pm (5 hours - as opposed to 4 hours in prior years). It is a
great opportunity to get some exercise, have fun with neighbors and
friends, and appreciate the beautiful SoMa waterfront (and northern
waterfront too .... if you go past the Ferry Building towards
Fisherman's Wharf). Several neighborhood groups are hosting a couple
of information tables at the event. If you'd like to volunteer to help
out (help us collect information from interested folks to add them to
our email lists or just talk about the neighborhood groups to folks
who are unaware of the community groups), please send me an email at
JamieW...@gmail.com to let me know.
I can't remember if I mentioned this last go around or not .... I'm
happy to say that the infamous parking meter on the north side of
Harrison Street between Fremont and Main streets has been removed.
The pole was removed last week and a double-headed meter was installed
so that the City can still collect parking revenues from the parking
space. A big thank you to the Mayor's Office on Disability, the
Department of Public Works, and the SFMTA for removing this physical
impediment to the free flow of wheelchair users, baby strollers, and
folks who run/walk their dogs along Harrison Street's northern
sidewalk.
If you noticed the Community Patrol public safety information I posted
from Ken Craig the other day (see
http://rinconhillneighbors.org/2010/03/community-patrol-crime-activity-report-7/
), you'll notice the Patrol Specials hired by our neighbors around 1st
Street and Clementina (and Lansing?) have been pretty busy. At RHNA's
May 2010 meeting, it might be a good time to talk about the
experiences with Patrol Special. I along with many neighbors are a
little worried about where all of the folks who set up tents and sleep
along side the Transbay Terminal are going to move to once the
demolition of the Terminal begins in May or June, and I'm not
necessarily advocating Patrol Special Police as a solution if problem
behaviors end up close(r) to our homes, but it is worth a community
discussion I think.
One more fun thing ... Join Hornblower Cruises & Events and The SF/
SPCA on June 6 to benefit the homeless dogs and cats of San Francisco!
Visit http://www.hornblower.com to learn more about Dog Day on the
Bay!
Thank you for reading!
Follow RHNA on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RinconHill and Join
Us on Facebook at http://www.Facbook.com/RinconHill
Salud!
Jamie Whitaker
President
Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association
www.RinconHill.org