Taking it to the Streets

A community coalition of residents, spiritual leaders and local businesses has filed ballot language for the June 2008 California primary election for the “Bayview Jobs, Parks and Housing Initiative.” This measure asks city voters to approve the revitalization of Candlestick Point and a possible new stadium site for The San Francisco 49ers at Hunters Point Shipyard.

The initiative would also repeal 1997’s Propositions D and F, which had authorized up to $100 million in publicly financed bonds for a new football stadium. Now under the new development plan described in the initiative, Lennar Urban would provide a site for a new stadium for the Niners at Hunters Point Shipyard without any impact on the City of San Francisco's general fund.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has already certified the measure for the June ballot with signatures being gathered over the next few months to qualify it for the election. Planned development would include between 8,000 and 10,000 homes, 350 acres of new parks and open space, a “clean tech” business campus, improved transit routes and a shoreline trail.

“Our community and our neighborhoods have waited far too long for the same benefits and opportunities that many other San Franciscans enjoy,” said Rev. Arelious Walker, pastor at the True Hope Church of God in Christ and a member of the African American Community Revitalization Consortium. “This is a chance for all of us to move forward together. It is truly an exciting and hopeful time.”

Check back at the Lennar blog page for more news on the “Bayview Jobs, Parks and Housing Initiative.”