March 2012 - Sustainability - list.sfgreens.org

[Sustain] ALERT! - Call Today! Contact Supes Cohen, Olague & Kim To Stop Redevelopment Freight Train
by Eric Brooks 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

Hi again all, Final Alert! Before tomorrow's Redevelopment transfer 'Freight Train' vote: Call Supervisors Malia Cohen, Christina Olague, and Jane Kim before 2pm tomorrow (Tue, Jan 24) to stop the Redevelopment Transition Freight Train! See my previous post below for details on what's happening. Call, Malia Cohen: 415-554-7670 Christina Olague: 415-554-7630 Jane Kim: 415-554-7970 with one or more of the following 3 demands: - Amend your Redevelopment transition legislation to be only the -minimal- required transfer of powers and authority necessary to comply with the State's deadline on February 1st. NO other powers or authority over Redevelopment should be given to the City, agency staff, or any Oversight Board, until a full WELL NOTICED public hearing, allowing public comment, is held in mid to late February, so that the people of San Francisco have a strong voice in this process. - The Mayor's appointment of three high level, unelected, Mayor's office, Planning Department, and Controller's office staff to run the Redevelopment Oversight Board is UNACCEPTABLE. We demand that actual RESIDENT representatives of the Bayview Hunters Point, Mission Bay, and Transbay neighborhoods be appointed to the Oversight Board, and we demand that you postpone these appointment decisions to full WELL NOTICED public hearings, ALLOWING PUBLIC COMMENT, to be held in mid to late February. - The fact that there was no broad public notice of this legislation sent in early January, to ALL of the thousands of San Francisco residents who have formally commented on the Mission Bay, Hunters Point Shipyard phase 1 & 2, Transbay Terminal, Treasure Island and other San Francisco Redevelopment projects is UNACCEPTABLE. Immediate timely notice of the current proposed legislation, and of all future hearings on this matter, must go out to all such commenters who provided their contact information when commenting on Redevelopment projects! That's the alert! Please call Cohen, Olague and Kim immediately so that the public gets a voice in this unacceptably fast tracked Redevelopment freight train process! thanks Eric Brooks 415-756-8844 http://ourcitysf.org/campaigns >Here is my previous email which shows links to the details on what's happening: Here are the details on the sudden Redevelopment crisis which emerged during the MLK holiday weekend.. The Mayor's office is using the fact that San Francisco must transfer legal authority over SF Redevelopment projects to itself by February 1st as an excuse to fast track legislation that will give far -more- authority than necessary over Redevelopment (especially in the Transbay Terminal, Hunters Point Shipyard, and Mission Bay projects) to high level pro-developer Mayoral and Controller staff. Specifically, Lee is trying to put the Planning Director, Mayor's Housing Director, and the Controller's office in firm control of an 'Oversight Board' for Redevelopment in San Francisco; in legislation which gives them authority to make program changes without approval of the Board of Supervisors. The legislation, which will probably be voted on this Tuesday, can be read at http://www.sfbos.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/committees/materials/bf0118… The specific section on the Oversight Board is on page 9-9 (page 33 of this pdf file). The Mayor's appointees are; Nadia Sesay (Controller's Office), Olsen Lee (Housing Director), John Rahaim (Planning Director), and Bob Muscat (a state required appointment from Local 21). These appointments are currently 'at will' and perpetual, with no fixed term of office! Supervisors Cohen, Olague, and Kim are co-sponsoring the Mayor's legislation and appointments. I will be sending out an alert on Monday asking people to call Cohen, Olague and Kim to insist that the Redevelopment legislation be -drastically- scaled down to only fill state transfer requirements with no added authority or powers, delaying any such expanded powers to be taken up in full public hearings in February and/or March; and also delaying the appointments of the 'Oversight Board' for full public hearings in which we should insist on community representatives being on the Oversight Board. Anyone who knows Cohen, Olague and Kim, please call them ASAP to insist on these changes! Otherwise the Mayor's Downtown developer backers will continue to undemocratically and disastrously lord over Redevelopment in San Francisco for decades. cheers Eric B

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[Sustain] Meet To Plan Response To Industrial Desalination Plant!
by Eric Brooks 19 Mar '12

19 Mar '12

Hi again all, This is a follow up announcement for a POST-workshop strategy meeting for experienced environmental organizers. This strategy session is even more important than the workshop itself, so if you can, please attend. And please forward this to others who you feel should attend. Meet With Other Organizers Following Sierra Club Workshop To Plan Response To SF Bay Industrial Desalination Plant Downtown Oakland, March 31, 1:30pm Pre-Register on FaceBook at http://tinyurl.com/6vov72d As you may know, on March 31st, the Sierra Club is holding a morning informational workshop on a proposed industrial desalination plant planned by Bay Area water agencies to deliver 20-70 million gallons per day of desalinated water to customers. The plant would have major environmental impacts on the San Francisco Bay and would be a high energy user and greenhouse gas emitter. This alert is being sent to invite you to a brainstorming and strategy session immediately -following- the Sierra Club workshop in the same meeting room, which is being held to assess workshop presentations and implications of the desalination proposal, and then begin coordinating an organized Bay Area response to the water agencies' plans to move forward with the plant. (Register for this post-workshop strategy session at http://tinyurl.com/6vov72d or by emailing brookse32(a)earthlink.net ) Workshop & Strategy Session Details The day's events will be held on Saturday, March 31, 2012, at: CSU East Bay Oakland Conference Center 1000 Broadway, Suite 109 (1 block south of Oakland 12th St. BART) The morning workshop will run from 8:30am to 1:15pm, and we will then break for 15 minutes and reconvene for the afternoon strategy session from roughly 1:30 to 3pm. (NOTE: Light food and beverages will be provided during both the morning workshop and afternoon strategy session.) Afternoon Strategy Session The post-workshop strategy session will be organized as a round table discussion via consensus meeting process. If strategy session attendance is high, we may break out into separate working groups to make the session more manageable, and convene at the end to share assessments and propose/coordinate next steps. Strategy session facilitators will be Adam Scow (Food & Water Watch), Conner Everts (So Cal Watershed Alliance), Nancy Okada (Marin County Sierra Club), and Eric Brooks (Our City SF). Strategy session topics will cover grassroots, legal, and media strategies for challenging and mitigating industrial desalination projects as well as potential points of unity and/or differences with upstream watershed protection organizers such as the Tuolumne River Trust. After general discussion we will seek consensus on organized action. Space Is Limited - Please Register If you wish to attend this post-workshop strategy session, please email Eric Brooks at brookse32(a)earthlink.net and/or confirm through the FaceBook event page at http://tinyurl.com/6vov72d so that we know how many are showing up, and can better plan the session. All who confirm will receive an agenda via email in the week before the event. NOTE: If you also plan to attend the Sierra Club informational workshop in the morning, remember to register separately for that section of the day's program at http://bayareadesalconference.eventbrite.com/ Please forward this alert to other water and environmental organizers who might be interested in the strategy session. thanks! Eric Brooks Campaign Coordinator Our City San Francisco http://ourcitysf.org brookse32(a)earthlink.net 415-756-8844

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[Sustain] Event, Mar 31: Should Industrial Desalination Be An Option For Bay Area Water Supply?
by Eric Brooks 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

Hi all, The Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter invites you to attend an exciting event on Saturday March 31st, in which both desalination opponents, and Bay Area water agency staff who've been examining the possibility of a regional desalination plant, will discuss and debate the implications of the project. (See further details below.) Likely located in Pittsburg, CA, the desalination plant in question would affect the San Francisco Bay and much of the Bay Area's water supply from the Delta to San Jose. Plans and studies have been moving through the water agencies for up to 8 years now. We feel it is high time that the public hear about what is being considered and what the downsides could be, and be given the opportunity to ask questions and comment on this proposal. Please forward, post and share widely, and urge readers to RSVP using our registration link at: http://www.bayareadesalconference.eventbrite.com Put the date on your calendars and spread the word! Here are the event details: "Should a Bay Area Regional Desalination Project be an Option for our Water Supply?" Please join us for a free, public workshop, sponsored by the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, about the status, potential benefits and potential environmental drawbacks of a joint desalination project under consideration by five Bay Area utilities. Find out what our water agencies have been studying, what their plans are, and what concerns environmentalists have about the Regional Desalination Project and its likely location near Pittsburg, at the confluence of SF Bay and the Delta. DATE: March 31, 2012 TIME: 8:30am-1:15pm LOCATION: CSU East Bay Oakland Conference Center, 1000 Broadway, Suite 109, Oakland (corner of Broadway at 11th St, one block south of 12th St Oakland BART station) MODERATOR: Peter Drekmeier, Tuolumne River Trust PRESENTERS: Representing environmental perspectives and concerns: Heather Cooley, Pacific Institute; Debbie Cook, Post-Carbon Institute; Carol Reeb, Hopkins Marine Station; Conner Everts, Desal Response Group; Adam Scow, Food and Water Watch. Representing the water agencies: Hasan Abdullah, East Bay Municipal Utility District; Manisha Kothari, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission; Emily Corwin, Contra Costa Water District; Ray Wong, Santa Clara Valley Water District; Amparo Flores, Zone 7 Water Agency. RSVP: Space is limited! Please reserve early using the following link: http://www.bayareadesalconference.eventbrite.com FOR MORE INFO: Contact Sonia Diermayer, Co-chair, SF Bay Chapter Water Committee sodier(a)mindspring.com ; 510-336-1102 Funding and support for this event come from the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, and its Marin Group, San Francisco Group, Southern Alameda County Group and Northern Alameda County Group. *************************************************************************************************************

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