[Sustain] Real Estate Interests Tainted Taskforce Peaker Decisions

[Don Eichelberger]

Eric-

Overall a good letter.  But I would have edited out some of the more 
rhetorical references i.e. "unconscionably weighed" property 
values  and "other highly unethical real estate shenanigans".

A letter is to be read by those you send it to.  It's not an alert 
you are sending to the committed. They may trash it, anyway, but I 
usually try not to offer them the easy excuse.  They need to feel 
like they decided a deal is unconscionable or an unethical 
shenanigan, we just need to make the case strongly, intelligently and 
concisely, and trust the message will get through.

For future reference,

Don

At 09:35 AM 7/15/2008, Eric Brooks wrote:
>Written to the Board of Supervisors on July 15, 2008:
>
>Dear Supervisors,
>
>On July 1, 2008 in a meeting of the SF Public Utilities Commission
>Citizens' Advisory Subcommittee on Energy, it was revealed by a member
>of the Power Plant Taskforce, Mr. Joe Boss, that property values
>affecting real estate values in Potrero Hill and at Pier 70 were a big
>factor in the Taskforce's decision to push for the Combustion Turbine
>'Peaker' Project. There are landholders and developers who would be
>enriched by the rapid closure of the existing Mirant facility, which
>would raise property values in the area.
>
>Mr. Boss is a private real estate consultant himself with personal
>financial interests of his own in that area and said openly that real
>estate values were involved in the Taskforce power plant decisions.
>
>This is the first open confirmation that Taskforce members
>unconscionably weighed property values against the health and survival
>of residents in the Bayview Hunters Point who would be heavily impacted
>by pollution from the proposed Peaker project.
>
>The Subcommittee meeting was recorded, and Mr. Boss can be heard making
>his comments about property values in the following section:
>http://www.brightlinedefense.org/files/mp3/july_1_cac_joe_boss_discusses_real_estate_and_cts.mp3
>
>This is not the only time that Mr. Boss has been found to be
>inappropriately using a position of authority to enrich real estate
>interests, and even his own family and friends. The November 2007
>edition of the Potrero View newspaper, on pages 1 and 20, reveals Boss's
>direct involvement in other highly unethical real estate shenanigans
>surrounding a redevelopment project in exactly the same geographical
>area of town. You can read the Potrero View edition in question by going
>to http://www.potreroview.net/archive.html
>and clicking on the November 2007 link:
>http://www.potreroview.net/Archives/PV_Nov_2007.pdf
>
>Finally, it was also revealed in the same Subcommittee meeting that both
>SFPUC GM Harrington, and SFPUC Deputy GM for Power Barbara Hale have now
>stated openly that a proposed Mirant diesel turbine retrofit would be
>-less- polluting than the proposed combustion turbine project.
>
>A section of the meeting audio in which Hale and others discuss this is at:
>http://www.brightlinedefense.org/files/mp3/july_1_2008_sfpuc_cac_comparative_emissions.mp3
>
>In light of these new facts, I would strongly urge you to finally and
>permanently reject the ICC Combustion Turbine project and any other such
>project that would use the Williams Combustion Turbines to build any new
>power plants in San Francisco.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Eric Brooks
>SF Green Party &
>STOPPP Coalition
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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>Sustainability at sfgreens.org
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Don Eichelberger
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