55 Laguna: Another "progressive" fiasco

Before City Hall okayed the dumb Parkmerced and Treasure Island projects, there was the massive housing project---450 housing units and 1000 new residents on 5.8 acres---on the old UC Extension property on lower Haight Street, which happens to be in the middle of the Market and Octavia Plan, still another dumb "smart growth" project (4,440 housing units and 10,000 new residents). City Hall---with the spineless Supervisor Mirkarimi taking the lead---ratified UC's greed and lies by allowing this development in an area whose centerpiece is the chronic traffic jam called Octavia Boulevard.

That property was zoned for "public use" for more than 150 years before City Hall allowed UC to turn it into a housing development to fatten its bottom line. The city allowed UC to use the site for classes for working people tax-free for 50 years only because the university's "mission" used to be public education.  

UC's housing development---damaging a landmark site and its buildings---was endorsed by the city's gay leadership---Ammiano, Dufty, Leno, Migden et al---which put identity politics ahead of the interests of the people of San Francisco, after UC shrewdly played the PC card by including housing for gay seniors in the project.

The recent story in the Examiner on the housing development emphasizes the gay seniors angle and ignores UC's sordid recent history in the neighborhood. Note that the article carefully phrases that issue as housng that will "welcome" gay seniors, since it's clearly illegal to allow the project to discriminate against any seniors, gay or straight.

You would think that the city's progressive elite had it in for that part of town. First they created the awful Octavia Blvd. and followed up that fiasco with the Market/Octavia Plan and the UC development. All of these elected officials will be retired on the city's lavish pension system before the full effects of these dumb projects are clear.