By Luke Thomas
March 6, 2008
A grassroots ballot initiative requiring half the housing constructed by Lennar at Hunters Point and Candlestick Point to be affordable, has qualified for the June ballot.
The ballot measure, known as the Bayview Affordable Housing Initiative, was certified yesterday by the San Francisco Department of Elections after the required 7,168 signatures were verified against voter rolls.
Championed by Supervisor Chris Daly, the measure would mandate 50 percent of all housing built by Miami-based Lennar to be affordable to residents with incomes between 30 and 80 percent of median income.
The initiative would also mandate the phased rebuilding of Alice Griffith Public Housing residents while protecting residents from displacement.
If passed by voters, the measure would take precedence over a Lennar backed initiative – also on the June ballot – that pledges to make 25 percent of new homes affordable.
“What took a Fortune 500 corporation two months and over a million dollars to do, was accomplished by determined community folks in just ten rainy days with only a few thousand dollars,” Daly said.
“This speaks volumes about grassroots people power in San Francisco,” Daly added.
Former College Board Trustee Johnny Carter, who is a spokesperson for the Lennar backed initiative, said that if voters pass the Bayview Affordable Housing Initiative, the Lennar project could be killed.
“It makes it financially impossible,” Carter said. “If it were to qualify, it sets a standard yet to be found in the developer world.”
Asked if there was room for negotiation between Lennar and the City ahead of the June election, Carter responded: “There’s plenty of conversation left to be had.”
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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