Green Options

Two hearings are being held this week at San Francisco City Hall so that the public can register their comments on the massive Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) document for the proposed Bayview “redevelopment” project. The first opportunity to voice your comments is today, December 15, at the SF Redevelopment Agency Commission meeting at SF City Hall, Room 416 (the meeting starts at 4:00 PM). We all can also make an EIR public comment this Thursday, December 17, at the Planning Commission meeting, also at City Hall (this meeting starts at 1:30 PM).

The Draft EIR is a behemoth document, at well over 4000 pages. Scores of groups and citizens are demanding a ninety day extension to the public comment period, in order for all of us to be able to actually be able to read the massive volumes. You can download the entire EIR document here on the SF Planning Department’s website. The plan is entitled: Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Project (formerly known as the “Bayview Waterfront Project”) Draft EIR.

We spent a few hours today at Arc Ecology, slowly trying to comprehend 4000 pages of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that was recently released for our Bayview neighborhood’s “redevelopment”. If you are inspired to read it yourself, you can download the entire EIR document here on the SF Planning Department’s website. The plan is entitled: Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Project (formerly known as the “Bayview Waterfront Project”) Draft EIR.

Peter searching through the Draft EIR at Arc Ecology’s library in Bayview.

If you start reading today, you will only have to read about 170 pages each day if you want to finish it by the time the public comment period is over. The allotted time in which we are allowed to give our input ends on the third day of Kwanzaa, in just twenty-six days. Many neighborhood residents and activists are demanding a 90 day extension on the public comment period, which hopefully will be granted. Two hearings are scheduled on December 15 and 17 at SF City Hall for public comment.

Many of our Bayview neighbors joined us last weekend to celebrate the second anniversary of the Latona Community Garden. What used to be a smelly skanky debris-filled eyesore, is now a thriving organic community garden. The formerly blighted corner has been transformed into a warm and welcoming public space where neighbors gather, local kids play, and organic food is grown.

Several of the neighborhood kids climbing the walnut tree in the Latona Community Garden.

Where can you buy healthy fresh food in your neighborhood? Where are the grocery stores and farmer’s markets, how is the quality of food that is there, and which food options do you actually have access to? Are there nearby food banks or community gardens? Can you grow your own food? What local food choices are available to you in your community?

I took this photo in the meat section of my neighborhood grocery store earlier this week.

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My favorite Bayview corner sandwich shop, Upper Crust Deli on Third Street in San Francisco, has just started carrying fresh seasonal produce. They are now selling a variety of melons, potatoes, apples, bananas and many other healthy fruit and vegetable options.

A recent article published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research measures and maps the racial disparities in neighborhood food environments. Do communities of color have less access to healthful food sources like grocery stores and farmer’s markets?