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| Photo: Thomas Levinson, The Chronicle |
The Chron's coverage features a terribly inaccurate headline. The work approved for the course is not in spite of the frogs and snakes as the headline suggests, but specifically to improve the habitat for the frogs and snakes:
Frogs, snakes can't stop Sharp Park Golf Course construction
Marisa Lagos
"Construction at Sharp Park Golf Course will move forward after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected environmentalists' concerns that the project will threaten the frogs and snakes that call the course home. The Pacifica golf course, which is managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, is home to the threatened California red-legged frog and San Francisco garter snake. Built in 1932 by famed golf course architect Alister MacKenzie, Sharp Park for years has been a point of contention between golfers and conservationists, who want to see it shut down so the land can be used as a sanctuary for the wild creatures.
On Tuesday, environmentalists - led by the Wild Equity Institute - made another effort to force the parks department to conduct a full environmental impact report of the project. They contend the work will hurt the animals' environment, while the city says it will improve habitat for the frogs and snakes. The proposed project involves clearing reeds and sediment from a pond and waterway, doing construction around a pumping station, and digging a new, small pond on the site.
Environmental impact reports are costly and can take months to complete. The work has been approved by the Recreation and Park Commission and the Planning Commission. The board voted 7-4 to allow it to move forward without an environmental study, with Supervisors Jane Kim, Eric Mar, John Avalos and David Campos voting no."
Also significant - The political arena at the Board of Supervisors level is exactly where the future of Sharp Park is most vulnerable. This is where we lost a 6-5 vote in December of 2011 and Sharp Park was saved only by a Mayor Ed Lee veto. That is what makes this 7-4 victory so significant. Two votes shifted from votes against the course in 2011 to votes for the course yesterday. And the specific votes that shifted were significant in and of themselves. London Breed filled Ross Mirkarimi's seat in district 5 and voted for the course. Mirkarimi spearheaded the "Destroy Sharp Park" forces when he was a supervisor. David Chiu is President of the Board of Supervisors and my Supervisor in District 3. He voted against the course in 2011 and voted for it yesterday.
It was a small victory on a small project, but the Sharp Park haters threw everything but the kitchen sink at this to try and kill it. They know a politically motivated Board of Supervisor decision was where they have their greatest strength. And they lost. Again. Common sense finally prevailed.
Of course it's not over. The ex-CBD attorney who founded WEI already stated he will be filing another lawsuit against the City over this decision. So what else is new? We know the lawsuits will never end and we know the reason why. But, so far, they always lose in court. The vote by the Board of Supervisors was their best chance to prevail, and they lost. This outcome may very well mean that the tide has turned. Good for the California Red Legged Frog. Good for the San Francisco Garter Snake. Good for fans of the landmark Alister MacKenzie golf course. Good for San Francisco. Good for Pacifica. Bad for Wild Equity Insitute.
Mike Wallach
Fix Pacifica Foreign Correspondent
San Francisco Bureau
Cross-Posted from MW Mobile Blog
3 comments:
Welcome report, Mike Wallach, Fix Pacific Foreign Correspondent, San Francisco Bureau!
Any idea why David Chiu seems more reasonable these days? And will Brent Plater/Wild Equity (and their partners "Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association"* be paid again for losing? *From their 3/12/14 "3/25 - Join Wild Equity at City Hall..." article.
So far no update on the Wild Equity website about their loss, but notice they're busy suing the EPA (got to love that). Oh well, its a paycheck: win, lose, no matter (we tax payers are probably paying for all of it).
Thanks Kathy,
David Chiu has long cultivated a reputation for collaboration and compromise on the Board. He does seem to be less reflexively "knee-jerk" than the Avalos/Campos/Mar Axis of Stupidity. Even when he voted against Sharp in 2011 he at least articulated he was doing it on narrow grounds and claimed it did not represent a view on the course itself. It was bullshit, but at least he said it. He may have also have been looking to force the Ed Lee veto for political purposes.
I think he is running against Campos for Ammiano's seat in the Assembly. Since you could not slip a sheet of paper in the gap between their respective progressive ideologies, it may be that Chiu is looking to burnish his reputation as a practical political compromiser in order to differentiate himself from the doctrinaire ideologue Campos.
Or maybe he was just convinced by the brilliant arguments forwarded by the Sharp Park supporters during the public comments.
It could happen.
Chui? Bet on pragmatic and ambitious
politics, not some heartfelt ideology or fondness for SPGC.
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