[Sustain] Pelosi's Connections With Presidio Trust, Treasure Island, Lennar

[Eric Brooks]

http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/kirshenbaum_061029.shtml

(some material cut)

... In order to see how this functions, let's start with the spectacular 
view of Treasure Island that the Ferry Building offices have. Treasure 
Island may be flat and man-made, but nonetheless it is land with a 
sparkling waterfront - it might as well be over 400 acres of undeveloped 
gold. It is irresistible to anyone with a nose for development and the 
wherewithal to make that development happen.

Treasure Island's fate seems to be following that of the Presidio. In 
1994, the Presidio was formally transferred from the Army to the 
Presidio Trust (with the edges of the site going to the National Park 
Service) for "public-private" development and usage opportunities. Three 
years later, the process started to transfer Treasure Island from the 
Navy to the city for development. Both transfers were initiated by 
former Mayor Willie Brown and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. The Treasure 
Island transfer was completed by Pelosi with Mayor Newsom.


Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsom attend the official opening
of the $100 million Letterman Digital Arts Center, June 26, 2005.
Photo by Luke Thomas

The Presidio Trust, a group of well-connected citizens, was charged with 
stewardship of the new national park. The Trust made a big show of 
gathering public input, which it then ignored in favor of building the 
absurdly gargantuan Letterman Digital Arts Center.


Letterman Digital Arts Center.
Photo by Luke Thomas

It was a perfect example of how important it is to developers to ensure 
that appointments go to people who can be counted on to make 
development-favorable decisions. In the case of the Presidio, the Trust 
decided to transform a national park into an office park. They also 
decided who got the lucrative building contracts. For a developer, it's 
just the way business is done. The Presidio continues to be stocked with 
new, private enterprises, and the tussling continues over Hunter's Point.

Right now, though, the next big, exciting opportunity is Treasure Island.


An undated aerial photo of Treasure Island.
Photo by Luke Thomas

After some very serious wrangling over control (see "more info" below), 
the fate of Treasure Island rests mainly with TIDA: the Treasure Island 
Development Authority. Just as with the Presidio Trust, the people who 
comprise TIDA are awfully critical. It is they who decide what gets 
developed and who gets to develop it - and profit thereby.

Likewise, the person who appoints the people on TIDA and similar boards 
is also a key player, for he or she must be guided to select members who 
can be trusted to vote favorably to one's interests. That's the 
entitlement portion of the Big Three: garnering approvals that entitle 
one to development and maximize profits by upzoning the land. (Upzoning 
means changing the rules to allow more profitable development than would 
otherwise be allowed.).

That's why forming relationships between would-be developers and 
appointing officials is crucial. Lobbyists like Platinum's Darius 
Anderson and Jay Wallace specialize in building those relationships, 
sometimes by finding sources of cash reserves for campaign 
contributions, or occasionally hosting key fundraisers. Wallace was at 
one time Pelosi's campaign manager.

When Anderson held a fundraiser a couple of years ago to retire Mayor 
Newsom's campaign debt, it raised eyebrows, but it is what lobbyists do. 
They specialize in creating access for themselves and for clients with 
the people who make appointments, sign or promote legislation, and grant 
entitlements to develop - all of which have big profit implications.

+ + +

It's easy to conclude that clients are getting their money's worth from 
Platinum and friends - especially when the client is Platinum itself. 
TIDA has granted to Platinum the uncontested contract to be the sole 
developer of Treasure Island. Or, to be exact, that exclusive contract 
has been granted to Platinum's new entity, Treasure Island Community 
Developers, with the master plan component going to Anderson's other 
company, Kenwood Investments.

The entity Treasure Island Community Developers needed to be created 
because giving a development contract to a lobbying firm is like asking 
an ad agency to start a strip-mining operation: it doesn't make much 
natural sense. Unless the ad agency can't resist the thought of finding 
veins of gold in the ground, and creates an entity for that purpose.

Considering the grand, incestuous family that is politics, maybe it's no 
surprise that Platinum's development entity has been handed the Treasure 
Island bounty. Given the Pelosi and Newsom history of enthusiasm for 
developing the Presidio, we should hope it's not too late to keep a 
close watch and short leash on Treasure Island developments. 
Unfortunately, this means paying attention to the entire family. That 
would include even the new president on the Commission on the 
Environment, Paul Pelosi, Jr., who is Nancy Pelosi's son and Gavin 
Newsom's cousin. As for TIDA itself, all the members are appointed by 
the mayor; all but one is a City Hall official.

Who else will benefit from the arrangement? Certainly Lennar Corporation 
will. They are a partner with Platinum's Treasure Island Community 
Developers. Lennar has experience developing former military bases, and 
is one of the country's largest residential housing builders.

By what could solicitously be called a coincidence, Laurence Pelosi was 
president of acquisitions for Lennar. He is Nancy Pelosi's nephew, and 
currently works as executive director of Morgan Stanley's real estate 
division. As Newsom's former campaign treasurer, he would have worked 
with Darius Anderson on the campaign fundraiser for Newsom. He's not the 
only one: Doug Boxer, son of Senator Barbara Boxer, is an attorney who 
has worked for Anderson as a Platinum lobbyist, and has been a partner 
with Anderson at Kenwood Investments.

+ + +

A case could be made that without Platinum and Lennar playing a role, 
there would be no financing and Treasure Island would remain a fallow 
relic of an outdated military past. And without Willie Brown, Nancy 
Pelosi, and Gavin Newsom creating the situation for the necessary 
government entitlements, the land and the assets would simply sit.

Or would they? Is there really no recourse other than to deliver the 
choicest projects to our most skillful lobbyists? Even if everything 
described here is completely legal, is it right for our elected 
officials to hand over profits to their inner circle? Are the ethical 
concerns greater when those profits involve our public lands? The 
children of politicians are allowed to join commissions and earn a 
living. But how certain are we that our leaders and their friends and 
families have the public's best interests in mind?

The other troubling problem is that we citizens get no substantial say 
in the matter, even when we know what is transpiring. We may have 
elected Pelosi and Newsom, but we didn't intend to cast votes for their 
relatives, too. Or their friends. Or their funders. And if there are 
certain players who are enriching themselves so handily with our public 
property, it wouldn't hurt to have a lot more transparency in the process.

Kepa Askenasy contributed research and graphics for this report.

Political Players: Treasure Island

(click on the image below to see a larger version of the chart)

More Information

Background on Treasure Island from U.S. Navy, click here.

Kenwood Investments, plans for Treasure Island, click here.

Lennar Corporation, a partner with Kenwood Investments to build on 
Treasure Island, click here.

Jay Wallace of Platinum Advisors is former campaign manager for Nancy 
Pelosi, click here.

Treasure Island on the radar (Willie Brown's) for at least a decade 
(1996), click here.

Treasure Island on Pelosi's legislative details list (1998), click here.

Tussle over Mayor Willie Brown's sole control over Treasure Island, 
click here.

Grand Jury criticizes Willie Brown for Treasure Island politics, click here.

Darius Anderson wins Treasure Island projects, hired former Willie Brown 
protege (2001), click here.

Fundraising tangle for Newsom by Darius Anderson of Platinum, who sought 
(and won) Treasure Island contract (2004), click here.

Politics + real estate or development, a frequent combination for the 
elected (2004), click here.

Draft of financing plan between Treasure Island Development Authority 
and Platinum Advisors' Treasure Island Community Development. Tables of 
cash flow projections are at the end (Aug 2006), click here.

$100 buys a seat at breakfast club with Willie Brown, click here.

Background on Laurence Pelosi, click here.

Background on Doug Boxer, click here and here.



Editors Note (11/14/6) : A follow-up conversation with Paul Pelosi, Jr. 
reveals the following clarifications and corrections to a chart 
accompanying the story “Pay-to-Play Bay Area”:

Laurence Pelosi and Paul Pelosi, Jr. are cousins, not step-siblings; 
Nancy Pelosi is Laurence’s aunt, not step-aunt; the relationship between 
the Pelosi and Newsom families is through marriage and not by blood.

Paul Pelosi, Jr. is a loan officer, not a mortgage broker, for 
Countrywide, which is the largest home lender in the country.

Paul Pelosi was appointed to the Commission on the Environment by Willie 
Brown, not Gavin Newsom.

Finally, all are invited to a public meeting on Treasure Island itself, 
to be held November 15.

####

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