Steve,
Yes, the land in question is currently a small, triangular-shaped
parking lot on busy Columbus Avenue. It's surrounded by streets on all
sides. And I'm sure there would indeed still be a fight to stop the
development and put in a park even if it was a bare-bones development
designed to pack in poor people, because the wealthy neighbors still
wouldn't want to lose their views. Wendy Guthrie is right about that
much.
This argument about an alleged "deed restriction" was discussed
extensively during the hearings, and it is bogus. What's being referred
to was a condition attached to the permit granting the former owners of
the property the ability to operate their parking lot, not a
restriction on the property deed itself. No evidence was given to show
that this condition applied to future owners of the property or future
uses of the property. IIRC, Brian got an opinion from the city
attorney's office agreeing it didn't apply (Brian, please correct me if
I'm misstating this).
The bottom line is this -- Wendy Guthrie as much as admits that this
was a back-room deal of political influence-peddling with no due
process, but she is OK with the rule of law being violated in favor of
politicians being allowed to do whatever they can get away with,
because it is her personal opinion, having looked into her crystal ball
and seen what the future rents and charges associated with this
development will be, that we don't "need any more $2500/month condos
with $750 HOA fees in this town."
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Thoughts? Is it true that this is just a parking lot?
From: Wendy Guthrie
Date: February 11, 2004 9:31:18 PM PSTis this an attempt to garner sympathy for a condo developer? who gives
a shit about some rich guy who didn't read the fine print. well, I
guess you do, but i don't. from what i read, it looks like there was a
provision in the deed requiring the owner of the property to negotiate
to sell should the funds to expand the park be made available.Peskin and the Telegraph Hill Dwellers said that a deed restriction
from the 1980s, which would require the landowners to negotiate for
control of the site if funds were available to convert it into park
space, should have served as a notice to developers that the city
might pursue control over the property.
http://www.sfneighborhoodparks.org/news/news102803.htmlsure that was probably some fancy maneuvering by the neighborhood
association, and maybe a bit of political pull in city hall. most
likely, some very rich and powerful homeowner (more powerful than
O'Flynn mmwhahahhahha) probably didn't want his view blocked or have a
shadow cast across his living room every day of the year. if i paid
$2.5 mil for my house, i'd fight like hell to keep my view and the
sunlight too. screw the other rich guy. i want what's mine--i had it
first, right? yeah.the plot of land is currently a parking lot, and the city wants to
turn it into a park. All in all, i'm fine with the fact that we'll
have a larger park to visit in the city instead of some looming high
rise building that neither you, nor me, nor most of our friends would
be able to afford to live in. if he was building affordable housing,
maybe i'd feel a little differently, and i think the supervisors would
too. i certainly don't think we need any more $2500/month condos with
$750 HOA fees in this town. I'd bet there'd still be a fight over the
building if it were affordable housing because the rich guy with his
$2.5 mil view wouldn't watch a bunch of middle to low income folks
mucking up the neighborhood. ew.it's a parking lot; it's not like O'Flynn is loosing his home:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/60minutes/main575343.shtmlthe sympathy train has left the station, brother, and i ain't on it.
-w-
Subject: 701 Lombard Street Eminent Domain Update
From: Starchild <sfdreamer@earthlink.net>Bad news -- new Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier voted with Peskin,
Daly, Gonzalez, Maxwell, McGoldrick, Ammiano and Sandoval, giving
them
the super-majority they needed to enable the city to confiscate the
land belonging to Brian O'Flynn and his partner via eminent domain.The proceedings took less than an hour, and the Board acted without
allowing public comment. Now the matter will have to be pursued in
court. I've encouraged Brian to seek help from the libertarian
public
interest law firm Institute for Justice, and he sounds like he will
follow up with them. He'd already filed an action in Superior Court
today before the decision came down, relating to the permits for the
development. Brian also said my suggestion of starting a local
chapter
of IJ's "Castle Coalition," a group formed to fight eminent domain,
was
"a good idea."After a representative from the city attorney's office made some
reference in previous testimony to 12 cases, Brian was able to get
them
to produce some records for his inspection. He's invited me to go
with
him to look at them when he makes copies. He says most of them
relate
to people forced out by the expansion of the Moscone Center. If I
understand correctly, they told him that there were no records of
anything more than three years ago; supposedly such records aren't
retained longer than that. It sounds fishy to me. But any records of
eminent domain actions we can get our hands on should yield a group
of
individuals who are rather disgruntled with local government.------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~-->
Send the freshest Valentine's flowers with a FREE vase from only
$29.99!
Shipped direct from the grower with a 7 day freshness guarantee and
prices so low you save 30-55% off retail!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/_iAw9B/xdlHAA/3jkFAA/89EolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
~->Talk geek.
Yahoo! Groups Links----------
That's why I'm here, not to sink to your level but to raise you to
mine.
--Cybill Shepherd as Martha Stewart-- Steve
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~-->
Send the freshest Valentine's flowers with a FREE vase from only
$29.99!
Shipped direct from the grower with a 7 day freshness guarantee and
prices so low you save 30-55% off retail!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/_iAw9B/xdlHAA/3jkFAA/69cplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
~->Yahoo! Groups Links
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpsf-discuss/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
lpsf-discuss-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/