Mission in limbo The future of one of the Mission District's most important nonprofits hangs in the balance at press time, as staffers and board members of the Mission Housing Development Corp. continue negotiations over accountability and community representation – a fight that erupted after the two sides expressed clashing visions for the future of the group.

The 33-year-old MHDC – which houses about 2,300 low-income Mission residents and whose staffers have been the backbone of community housing fights since it was formed– has been ripped apart by the dispute. The split goes back at least three years and has left the organization in search of new leadership after the March 15 firing of director Carlos Romero.

Under pressure from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which plans to hold hearings to air the details of the dispute, board members have signaled a willingness to bend to staff demands, according to staffer Fernando Marti. He told the Bay Guardian that discussions are underway for adding "additional board members that include representatives of community and of [MHDC] tenants," as well as term limits.

While the dispute has centered on board accountability, board members and staffers also have conflicting visions for the future of the nonprofit (see "Whose Mission?," 2/25/04). Although board president Larry Del Carlo has denied it, agency documents show board members have been toying with refocusing the organization to work on housing for higher-income residents.

At its heart, the dispute neatly mirrors the debate over failed workforce housing measure Proposition J, where the community split with Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce over whether middle- and upper-income housing should be prioritized over affordable housing. Romero, who opposed Prop. J, said Del Carlo told him late last year that Romero's affordable-housing vision didn't fit in with that of the new administration and thus he should leave the MHDC. Del Carlo has denied this in the past but would not respond to our questions for this story.

"The other thing that happens in community-based activist organizations is that generational tensions will evolve over time," Tim Wolfred said. "And 25 years is often when that will happen." (Rachel Brahinsky)

The Board of Supervisors' Land Use Committee hearing on the MHDC is scheduled for April 12, 1 p.m., City Hall, 1 Dr. Carleton B. Goodlett Pl., S.F. (415) 554-4445.

Power progress After 10 weeks' delay and relentless community pressure to improve air quality in southeast San Francisco, city officials finally released their plans to install three gas-fired power plants in Potrero Hill. State regulators have said this project must be up and running before they agree to shut down the dirty Hunters Point power plant.

Development of the combustion turbine power plants, which were given to San Francisco to compensate for expenses from the 2001-02 California energy crisis, had been held up for months as community groups wrangled with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission over the need for new fossil-fuel generation.

Mayor Gavin Newsom took direct control of the project, which was submitted March 17 to the California Energy Commission, and put economic development director Jesse Blout in charge. That's an indication to some that Newsom is taking air pollution in the southeast more seriously than his predecessor, Willie Brown, who left it to the SFPUC. Sup. Sophie Maxwell told us she pushed for the change because it will bring better leadership to a project that has faced strong opposition. Still, Blout is stepping into a difficult situation with several impending obstacles.

First, the city has to agree with the Mirant Corp. on purchasing the land it intends to use for the combustion turbine power plants. Negotiations are underway, but Mirant spokesperson Kevin Loscotoff told us no deal has yet been reached. Mirant declared bankruptcy last year and at that time suspended a plan to build an enormous 540-megawatt plant at its Potrero site.

City officials must also identify a site for a fourth gas-fired power plant it was given two years ago. Close observers expect it will be placed at the San Francisco International Airport, but several former members of the Potrero Power Plant Citizens Advisory Task Force have recommended that a downtown site would be better.

Then there is the issue of the task force itself. Area residents affiliated with Literacy for Environmental Justice, the San Francisco Power Cooperative, Potrero Hill Merchants Association, and other groups had been regularly advising the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on the combustion turbine power plants until appointments to the task force expired last November. The supervisors created a new Power Plant Task Force in its place but haven't appointed members yet. It will be weeks before the new group holds a meeting. (Matthew Hirsch)

Park defeat In a major setback for environmentalists trying to stop construction of an 800-car garage in the middle of Golden Gate Park, an appeals court panel overturned an injunction March 26 that had temporarily halted garage construction just two weeks earlier.

Opponents of the garage led the monthly Critical Mass bike ride through the park that evening and paused at the Music Concourse, where neighborhood activist Katherine Roberts gave a speech imploring the bikers to take action.

While voters in 1998 approved a plan that would improve pedestrian access in the park, the private nonprofit that's pushing the plan hopes to build a garage that will increase traffic and destroy historic pedestrian tunnels.

Garage supporters have argued that the construction delay would slow the reopening of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.

"The court's action allows [them] to demolish the historic pedestrian tunnels and the Music Concourse while the lawfulness of the garage proposition is still under determination by the courts," said Stephan Volker, an attorney fighting the plan.

The case is set for a hearing in San Francisco Superior Court May 10, but if the appeals court issues a determination on the legality of the project before then, the case could be over before it's had a full hearing on the merits of the arguments, Volker told the Bay Guardian.

Michael Burke, attorney for the nonprofit Music Concourse Community Partnership, told us construction was authorized to begin March 29. (Brahinsky)

For daily updates on the case go to www.sfpix.com, a Web site compiled by garage opponent Chris Duderstadt.