Demolition stopped
Daly ordinance would save Trinity Plaza and homes like it

By Matthew Hirsch

Sup. Chris Daly delivered a significant new legal protection for tenants Feb. 10 in the form of a proposed law prohibiting the demolition of any building with 20 or more residential units unless the building is uninhabitable. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 in support of Daly's antidemolition ordinance on first reading, with Sups. Michaela Alioto-Pier, Tony Hall, and Fiona Ma opposed.

Daly wrote the ordinance to stop property owners from destroying sound housing, which he said would only perpetuate the city's affordable-housing crisis. The law is aimed specifically at Angelo Sangiacomo, owner of the downtown Trinity Plaza, who proposed to build five residential towers on the site where Trinity Plaza stands. Sangiacomo's plan would lead to the eviction of about 500 Trinity residents and the loss of 360 rent-controlled housing units (see "Of Homes and Castles," 2/4/04).

Larry Badiner, zoning administrator for the San Francisco Planning Department, argued at the Board of Supervisors' Land Use Committee meeting Feb. 9 that development projects should be considered case by case, because some projects may be so valuable that it would be worth destroying sound housing. Even so, Badiner said there are development opportunities for thousands of new residential units citywide, many of which are probably not on sites that have buildings with 20 or more units.

As long as there's so much space to construct new housing that does not require tearing down large residential buildings, there's no reason the city should allow the demolition of places like Trinity Plaza, Daly said. Instead, the board should encourage developers to build on vacant lots as it did last month by approving four residential towers in Rincon Hill.

Sangiacomo's company, Trinity Properties, has given no indication of its development plans since the ordinance was approved. "I don't want to speculate," Trinity spokesperson Barbara French told the Bay Guardian. The measure goes back to the board for final approval Feb. 24, again needing eight votes to override a potential veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

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