San Francisco Bay Guardian : : Selling the Park : : Environmentalists oppose Lennar's effort to build condos on Candlestick Point parkland
BY SARAH PHELAN
Wednesday June 24, 2025
Arc Ecology's Saul Bloom appears in this article.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2025
Wednesday, June 17, 2025
article: Eliminating Dissent : SFBG
Eliminating Dissent
U.S. Navy dissolves Hunters Point Shipyard citizens' comments just as toxic cleanup enters critical phase
06.17.09 | Sarah Phelan |SF Bay Guardian
read the full article:
http://www.sfbg.com/2009/06/17/eliminating-dissent?page=0,0
http://www.sfbg.com/2009/06/17/eliminating-dissent?page=0,2
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U.S. Navy dissolves Hunters Point Shipyard citizens' comments just as toxic cleanup enters critical phase
06.17.09 | Sarah Phelan |SF Bay Guardian
read the full article:
http://www.sfbg.com/2009/06/17/eliminating-dissent?page=0,0
In February, Arc Ecology released a 133-report titled "Alternatives for Study" that recommended the removal of the Parcel E2 landfill and explored changes in land use arrangements in the current redevelopment proposal to avoid environmental impacts (see "Concrete Plans," Feb. 4). Unfortunately, they were largely ignored by the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which is working with Lennar on the public-private development deal.
Arc Ecology executive director Saul Bloom remains undaunted, recalling how 87 percent of voters citywide supported Proposition P, an advisory measure he wrote and that then-Sups. Ammiano, Leno, Michael Yaki, and the late Sue Bierman placed on the ballot in 1989 to establish community acceptance criteria for the shipyard, under federal toxic cleanup guidelines.
"The Navy had offered their opinion that voters in San Francisco, and especially in the Bayview, would accept a nonresidential industrial level cleanup for the shipyard because they were primarily interested in jobs," Bloom recalled. "We said that this was a mischaracterization and we'd go ahead and prove them wrong."
He believes the current struggle with the Navy over the RAB, and with the city and Lennar over Arc's alternatives, are "emblematic of the problem facing the Bayview with regard to accessing good information and being told the straight story on health and development issues."
http://www.sfbg.com/2009/06/17/eliminating-dissent?page=0,2
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Tuesday, June 09, 2025
Wednesday, June 03, 2025
Arc Ecology comments on SF Examiner article
Arc Ecology's Executive Director Saul Bloom comments on yesterday's SF Examiner article about Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.
Saul Bloom comments in RED.
original article text is quoted in black.-
Candlestick Point proposal takes heat from Sierra Club
By: John Upton, San Francisco Examiner
06/02/09SAN FRANCISCO — As California lawmakers consider shuttering state parks, San Francisco officials are pledging that state-owned parkland and nearby shorelines in The City’s southeast will be restored into parks and native habitat.
But the plan has come under fire from environmental groups.
Waterfront parkland is a highlight of redevelopment plans for the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Candlestick Point. Those redevelopment plans, which cover 750 acres, including 300 acres of parks and native habitat, new office buildings, stores, a potential new 49ers stadium and 10,500 homes, could take a decade or more to complete.
We would dispute the characterization that the waterfront park is a highlight. The current plans for Candlestick Point (CSP) and Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (CSPSRA) calls for the hobbling of the park’s capacity to support habitat, cuts the park into three and has a bridge traveling through it carrying game day as well as possibly daily commute traffic. The plan changes the character of the park which leads us to believe that were it not an existing factor, a very different plan would be offered.
A nearly continuous stretch of waterfront parkland would extend north from the state park and ring the redevelopment area, plans show.
Under the restoration, some 40 inland acres of the neglected Candlestick Point Natural Recreation Area would be transferred to The City for development in exchange for $40 million worth of restoration work on the remaining park, according to Stephen Proud, a project manager for master developer Lennar Corp.
We would also dispute the characterization of CSPSRA as neglected. The State Parks Foundation and CA Parks are working on a $20 million restoration project for areas surrounding Yosemite Slough. This project predates the current shipyard plan. The California Solid Waste Management Board also recently completed a million dollars rehabilitating a former construction debris field on the Park property as well. These two project, on the books for quite some time, are coincidental to the Shipyard CSP plan but not a result; therefore it would be a mischaracterization to call the park “neglected.” Furthermore of the forty acres in question, perhaps 20% lies within an area that is highly used by the public and contains the only piece of public art on the property - a pair of parallel walls designed by the much respected landscape architectural firm of Hargreaves Associates.
It is also interesting to note that the original figure cited as the contribution toward restoration was $80 million
It is also interesting to note that the original figure cited as the contribution toward restoration was $80 million
Some of the recreation area is currently used as a parking lot for adjacent Candlestick Park, which is slated to be demolished when the 49ers move either to Santa Clara or into a new stadium that’s planned elsewhere within the
redevelopment project.
The remaining area consists of the parking lots referred to above which admittedly looks like a gravel parking lot. However unlike the characterization offered in the article, the parking lot does serve an important park purpose. The leasing of the property for parking contributes around $800,000 toward CSPSRA park maintenance on an annual basis. As such it would be more appropriate to state that the public parking between the Beach Chalet at Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach are neglected (given City maintenance) and therefore deserving of sale for condominium construction that it would be to make the statement of the CSPSRA lots because they at least contribute to the maintenance of the park.
If the restoration plan moves forward, the parkland would eventually be developed into part of the proposed Candlestick South neighborhood — likened in development documents to San Francisco’s swanky Marina district — after being transferred to The City.
The comparison with the Marina Green is also problematic and demonstrates a lack of understanding between the purposes of a State Park and a City Park. While the Marina Green is a lovely City Park with a great view that is all it is. The green in the Marina Green is a lawn approximately 180 feet by 1,700 feet. CSPSRA is a 150 acre park. The purpose of CSPSRA is to preserve and provide access to the natural environment whereas the purpose of Marina Green is to provide for a wide range of public uses providing little contribution for preservation of natural environmental assets. Furthermore much of Marina Green is taken up with parking, active recreation, and the marina itself. At its narrowest point CSPSRA is as wide as Crissy Field at this point and that is not adequate for meeting the Parks mandate for the preservation of natural resources. The City is proposing to push a swath of the south basin side of CSPSRA from a width of in excess of 700 feet to one 150-200 feet from the waterline, taking 80% of its width in this area. As such the comparison with Marina Green is a bit misleading.
The broken line denotes the existing park border. The yellow housing boxes and other features to the right of the line are proposed for construction within the border of the CSPSRA.
Friends of Candlestick Point Park, the defunct but being revived original community based organization that fought to create the park wanted a different experience for residents of Bayview Hunters Point. The goal with CSPSRA was to create a more natural setting akin to the one enjoyed by San Franciscans neighboring the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Lake Merced, Glen Park, Lincoln Park, China Beach, Baker Beach, Ocean Beach and Fort Funston. There is no similar park on San Francisco’s eastern waterfront and the goal was to give neighborhood residents a place to escape the grind of living in the City’s most industrialized neighborhood.
The broken line denotes the existing park border. The yellow housing boxes and other features to the right of the line are proposed for construction within the border of the CSPSRA.
Friends of Candlestick Point Park, the defunct but being revived original community based organization that fought to create the park wanted a different experience for residents of Bayview Hunters Point. The goal with CSPSRA was to create a more natural setting akin to the one enjoyed by San Franciscans neighboring the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Lake Merced, Glen Park, Lincoln Park, China Beach, Baker Beach, Ocean Beach and Fort Funston. There is no similar park on San Francisco’s eastern waterfront and the goal was to give neighborhood residents a place to escape the grind of living in the City’s most industrialized neighborhood.
The existing state park, which extends across 122 acres, is grossly underutilized, said Michael Cohen, senior economic adviser to Mayor Gavin Newsom.
This is a grossly inaccurate statement. CSPSRA is 150 acres in size and while it is not chocked with tourists and City residents, it is nevertheless well used. Probably more than the expanse of the Bay fronting Lincoln Park. People take walks, walk their dogs, windsurf and the facility is actually quite active for its location.
“A part of the development plan is to turn that into the Crissy Field of the south,” Cohen said.
Crissy Field is a series of marshes near the Marina district that were restored in recent years by the federal government.
As stated above, the idea of the Crissy Field of the South predates this plan and can be seen in materials generated by the State Parks Foundation and Arc Ecology dating back to the late 1990’s early 2000’s.
However, the state legislation needed to facilitate the $40 million land deal, which was recently introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, has been formally opposed by the Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club is against the sale of state parkland for development, according to John Rizzo, political chair of the nonprofit’s Bay Area chapter.
“The idea that, if we have a nice development going on, we can just build it on a state park is a bad precedent,” he said. “We’re never going to get back the state parkland.”
Like Bayview Hunters Point itself, it is interesting to note that historically the City has placed virtually no value on this park. If you were to look at the City’s plan for the Olympics of 2005, you would see that plan also called for building on even more of CSPSRA. CSPSRA was promised to the BVHP community as compensation for the loss of Griffiths Park to the construction of the original stadium site and it has remained a promise the City has been bent on reneging on ever since.
Additionally, Arc Ecology, an environmental consulting firm paid by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to serve as a communication bridge between developers, The City and residents, recently criticized the openspace and parkland plans in a 133-page report about the redevelopment project.
This characterization of Arc Ecology is wholly inaccurate and we request that an errata be printed. We are not an environmental consulting firm and take some umbrage at the Examiners ongoing characterization of us as such. Arc Ecology is a public interest nonprofit organization focused on the environmental, economic, social and security implications of government policy. We are one of the largest providers of environmental, economic, and urban planning technical expertise to grassroots and environmental/social justice organizations in the Bay Area. Like many nonprofits who are not consulting firms, we do have a contract with San Francisco. In this case it is with the Redevelopment Agency and its purpose is to provide independent environmental scientific technical monitoring, support and education for the Bayview Hunters Point Community and San Francisco generally on the toxic/ radiological cleanup of the Hunters Point Shipyard. The contract does contain language stating that we are to serve as a communication bridge between the Navy, City, Developer and residents, but that is specific to the Shipyard’s cleanup and environmental issues alone. That contract is due to expire on the 21st of this month.
Thank you,
Saul Bloom
original SF Examiner article (02 JUN 2025) : http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Candlestick-Point-proposal-takes-heat-from-Sierra-Club-46778937.html
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