Dear Commissioners: I am aware that you are now considering approving plans for Rincon Hill. I have become familiar with these plans through my participation with the Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee. I would like to encourage you to eliminate ALL minimum parking requirements for the project and to increase the percentage of units dedicated to affordable housing. I will explain both positions. There is no question that the world is reaching its peak in its ability to provide humankind with oil. As the vast majority of the planet's nearly 800 million vehicles run on petroleum-based gasoline, as the plurality of those vehicles (about one-third) are in the United States, and as there is as yet no alternative that is as inexpensive or as convenient as oil has been to fuel the internal combustion engine (and there is not likely to be for many decades), it seems to be a fantasy to continue planning our cities around the personal car. If nothing else, it's irresponsible in the extreme to the planet and future generations. I do not need to explain to you the connections between the American way of life, global warming and war for oil. You know these things already. Thus it is imperative that you simply eliminate the minimum parking requirement for Rincon Hill. Rincon Hill is already transit rich, and future residents of Rincon Hill will have no need for personal cars. Besides, we are, according to our city charter, a "transit-first" city. I encourage you to include parking spaces for shared vehicles (such as City CarShare vehicles). You can talk to someone at City CarShare to find out what the appropriate ratio of cars to residents would be. I also encourage you to require at least one to one bicycle parking -- that is one bicycle parking space per resident, not unit, as generally only one person rides a bike. I also encourage you to demand more affordable housing. You should base your definition of affordable on the San Francisco median income, not the AMI. San Franciscans in general earn less than do their counterparts in Marin County and in parts of San Mateo county. Sincerely, Susan Vaughan member, Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee co-chair, Transportation Working Group of the San Francisco Green Party (For identification purposes only) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/