talkback...

Boxed in

In your April 10 editorial "Calling Sandoval" you urge him to change his vote and override the mayor's veto of the legislation requiring a special permit for large retailers, the so-called anti-big box legislation aimed at Home Depot.

You state that Sup. Sandoval "usually sides with neighborhoods over developers." Yet from what I've read, a majority of the constituents in Sandoval's district support the Home Depot development. Therefore in voting to uphold the mayor's veto, Sandoval would be reflecting the views of his constituents, which is supposedly what district elections are all about.

It seems that the Bay Guardian is being hypocritical and two-faced by advocating that Sandoval shaft his constituents in order to suit the Bay Guardian's ideological beliefs. As with the tenancy-in-common legislation and the proposal to close JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, you seem to have no problem ignoring the voters when it does not suit your political philosophy.

E.F. Sullivan

San Francisco

Bad cable reception

Thank you for covering the struggle at community access channel 29 ["Battle of the Network Stars," 2/13/02]. We believe that the issues are critical for all people in San Francisco who are able to get cable. Do we want to support local programmers building an audience with regular slots or will we allow the lottery to destroy local community access programming?

Unfortunately the board of directors of the Community Television Corp. has acted unilaterally to implement these policies. In our view, this method of operation cannot be tolerated. We need to build a collective and constructive relationship between the management of the station and the producers and programmers, and we believe that this requires an elected board. We will be taking our concerns to the rest of the community and the Board of Supervisors for action to rectify this problem.

Steve Zeltzer

Chair Producer and Programmers Network

San Francisco

Public interest malpractice

Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai shed heat rather than light in her recent commentary about the Hunters Point Shipyard [Opinion, 3/27/02]. While it is true that in January the mayor and the navy signed an agreement to negotiate the transfer of the shipyard, it is not true that binding agreements will be reached without the consent of the Board of Supervisors, Redevelopment Commission, or full public hearings. Furthermore, only the 86-acre Parcel A of the shipyard would be initially transferred under the proposed agreement. The transfer of Parcel B and each remaining parcel will be subject to separate regulatory approval, public vetting, and votes of the supervisors.

Sumchai's so-called "secret drafting" process involves members of Communities for a Better Environment, the Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, the Community First Coalition, the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee, the Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board, the Southern Waterfront Advisory Committee, and Arc Ecology, along with city representatives. Reports are made weekly during the community meeting of the Community First Coalition. The final version of any proposed conveyance agreement will be subject to the full public vetting process and voted on by the supervisors.

As regards the cleanup, Sumchai ignores Congress's 1997 decision to allow the military to transfer land before completing the Superfund process – called an "Early Transfer." Most other base-closure communities in the Bay Area have agreed to Early Transfer; San Francisco has not. Moreover, only the federal government, not the city, has authority regarding indigenous claims for military-base transfers. Sumchai tells the city to take the transfer off the fast track, but Mayor Frank Jordan signed the first MOA to transfer Parcel A in 1994. Global warming is calving glaciers off Antarctica faster than this "fast track."

The Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators have the authority to certify Parcel A as safe for transfer through a review process called a Finding of Suitability to Transfer. The FOST is currently open for public comment until April 26. Arc Ecology is preparing comments on the FOST. A copy of the FOST is available at the San Francisco Main Library, the Anna A. Waden Library on Third Street, and the Hunters Point Shipyard Community Window at 5021 Third St. in the Bayview.

Sumchai could have focused on helping San Franciscans exercise their franchise but chose instead to throw mud at those of us trying, under difficult circumstances, to make a difference for Bayview.

Saul Bloom

Arc Ecology

San Francisco

For the record