WE ARE THE PLAZA 16 COALITION

WE ARE A UNIFIED MISSION DISTRICT

NO MONSTER IN THE MISSION

We are neighborhood residents, businesses, and community organizations from the 16th and Mission neighborhood and Mission District. We formed in the fall of 2013 to advocate for affordable housing in the Mission and to oppose the largest market-rate development ever proposed for the neighborhood, the development known as the Monster in the Mission. We have grown to a coalition of well over 100 organizations.

We believe in equitable development that creates healthy, vibrant, communities of opportunity. We believe this requires thoughtful, intentional, and community-based strategies to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color participate in and benefit from the decisions that shape our neighborhoods and our city’s transit-oriented development.

Read our vision statement for development in our neighborhood and our demands for development at 1979 Mission Street at the 16th and Mission BART plaza.

We made a commitment to ourselves and our community to ensure that the Mission would have it’s first ever in-neighborhood Planning Commission hearing about the largest proposed luxury development in the history of the Mission. When that original hearing was canceled on us we regrouped and kept organizing, planning for a new date, February 7th.

After 5 years of creeping over our community, Maximus, the corporation proposing the Monster, has to present their project to our community. While this is not the first time Maximus has come to the Mission, it is the first time that they have to talk about the Monster without being able to rely on confusion and false promises.

Having working-class Mission residents most impacted by displacement, rising rents and loss community have the right to lead development decisions is the goal. This hearing is a step to community controlled planning for the Mission. Let’s make history together!

When: Thursday, February 7th at 2:30pmWhere: Mission High School, 3750 18th St. Why: The first opportunity for our community to speak directly to the city and Maximus and let them know “No Monster in the Mission. Build 100% Affordable at 16th and Mission!”

If you have any questions about the hearing or about preparing for public comment contact info@plaza16.org.

*****Español Abajo*****

Dearest Community,
It is with anger in our bellies that we tell you that the No Monster in the Mission hearing on November 1st was canceled on us.

Starting last week, Maximus began a concentrated campaign of intimidation to keep the hearing from happening, even going as far as threatening violence at Mission High School which triggered the pulling of the original permit. This cloud of fear Maximus created around the hearing blew over to Everett Middle School and that permit was also denied last minute.

This postponement is an incredible disappointment and we are particularly disturbed that Maximus is employing the deeply racist stereotype of the Mission as “violent” to keep us from having an honest, public, and democratic process regarding the Monster.

But the Mission will not be intimidated by a Wall Street corporation. We will not back down. We are still planning to have a strong and powerful community event on November 1st. Please join us at 3 pm at 18th St and Dolores St.

We must not allow this setback to make us feel weak or make us freeze. The fact that Maximus has to resort to such dirty tricks to keep this hearing from happening shows us that they are deeply fearful of our voice. Let’s make sure they hear us, and let’s prepare for a hearing in the new year.

Español abajo:

After 5 years of creeping over our community, Maximus, the corporation proposing the Monster, will be coming to the to the Mission where they will have to finally make an honest presentation about their Monster.
While this is not the first time Maximus has come to the Mission, it is the first time that they have to talk about the Monster without being able to rely on confusion and false promises.

So, mark your calendar for Thursday, November 1st at Mission High School 3pm for the first time that the community gets an opportunity to speak directly to the city and Maximus and let them know “No Monster in the Mission. Build 100% Affordable at 16th and Mission!”

If you have any questions about the hearing or about preparing for public comment contact Maria@plaza16.org.

picture by Tim Porter. photography.timporter.com

We are excited to be in action with our community and fight for our right to decide what happens in our neighborhood. Below are the upcoming opportunities to take action against the Monster in the Mission. See you all soon!

Thursday, January 18th – Art Party for the Jan 25th March for Mission Street

In the great tradition of beautiful and culturally grounded affordable housing in the Mission built to meet our communities greatest need – a stable and healthy home to be able to thrive in – Plaza 16 developed an alternative project for 16th and Mission.
The community planning process began in August 2015 and engaged more than 300 community members across the span of 6 community planning meetings to develop the “Marvel in the Mission,” a community alternative to the Monster proposed by Maximus. Check out the video below about the community planning process from the point of view of some of the Latinx community in the Mission who were a part of it. Video by Causa Justa :: Just Cause Organizer, Lucas Solorzano

As people who live in this neighborhood every day – and some of us for generations – we know the housing solutions our community needs the most and we have put the work to design an alternative proposal.
In a contest between the Monster and the Marvel, the Marvel wins hands-down.
Help us make it a reality by sending a letter an email or making a phone call to the Planning Department and the D9 Supervisor’s office letting them all know that we need to #BuildTheMarvel.

Go out and grab this week’sSF Weekly and check-out Joe Kukura’s exposé about those scary Monster in the Mission BART ads.Joe’s sharp reporting connects the dots between the Monster in the Mission’s massively expensive “grassroots effort” and powerful Big Soda and Big Tobacco lobbyists “The ads say supporters of the project ‘not a Monster,’ but you might as well call them Monsters, Inc., because they’re many of the same corporate lobbying interests who recently fought for the tobacco industry and the soda industry… Further, Mission For All’s listed mailing address is that of a San Rafael corporate law firm called Nielsen Merksamer, which is also leading the lobbying effort against the flavored tobacco ban the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed in June.”
Big Soda and Big Tobacco have long histories of exploiting working class communities of color, these developers pretend to have the Mission community in mind but we know this crew of monsters has no place in our neighborhood. Chirag Bhakta, Plaza 16 coalition member, says of the ads “Exploitation of people of color in an ad campaign to convince a mainly Latino, immigrant, low-income neighborhood that this gentrifying project is actually going to help the neighborhood comes out of Rapacious Marketing 101,” Bhakta says. “Most of the people who are showcased in these ads most likely are not going to be able to afford these units being built.”
This Halloween, stand with Plaza 16 and make sure the monsters don’t win!

Please take a moment today to help stop the Monster in the Mission. Thank you! Send an email to these addresses:

richhillissf@yahoo.com, dennis.richards@sfgov.org, planning@rodneyfong.com, christine.d.johnson@sfgov.org, joel.koppel@sfgov.org, myrna.melgar@sfgov.org, kathrin.moore@sfgov.org, Commissions.Secretary@sfgov.org
CC:
mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org, Hillary.Ronen@sfgov.org, Nate.Allbee@sfgov.org, john.rahaim@sfgov.org, richard.sucre@sfgov.org, debra.dwyer@sfgov.org, andy@plaza16.org
It’s always great if you can explain in your own words why you oppose the project but if you need it, here’s is a sample letter you can use or adapt. San Francisco Planning Commission
1650 Mission Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94103RE: Case No. 2013.1543, 1979 Mission Street Mixed-Use Project Dear President Hillis and Planning Commissioners,
I am writing to express our strong opposition to the project proposed for 1979 Mission Street by Maximus Real Estate Partners, known widely as the “Monster in the Mission.” As you know, the Mission District is facing a dire crisis of community and cultural displacement. To address this crisis, we must prioritize deeply affordable housing at this site, not a project of mostly luxury-priced housing that will further accelerate gentrification and the displacement of the existing residents, SRO hotels, mom and pop businesses, nonprofit organizations, arts and cultural spaces, PDR spaces etc. We urge you to recognize the urgent crisis facing the neighborhood, acknowledge the impact of the current massive and unsustainable imbalance of market-rate vs. affordable development in the neighborhood, and reject this project outright.
Furthermore, the Maximus project would have a significant negative impact on the Marshall Elementary School community. Not only would none of the housing in the project be affordable to the majority of families and employees at this Spanish immersion school, the project would also cast a shadow over the school’s playground for most of the school day. For many students this playground is their primary outdoor recreational space. The developer’s proposal to raise the playground would not sufficiently mitigate the shadow impact. We stand with the many Marshall community members who oppose this project due to its unaffordability and student-harming shadow impacts.With the overwhelming influx of market-rate development across the Mission, we must prioritize affordable housing at all remaining building sites. Yet as 16th and Mission is one of the City’s busiest public transportation hubs, affordable housing there is even more essential. Recent research confirms that low income households use public transit at much higher rates than higher income households that drive and/or use car shares at much higher rates. Therefore, building deeply affordable versus market-rate housing at 16th and Mission would benefit the environment and our city with reduced greenhouse emissions and less street congestion.The Maximus project would exacerbate the Mission’s displacement crisis, would cast both a metaphorical and literal shadow of the Marshall School community, and would likely result in both increased pollution and traffic. Instead of the Monster, our organization supports a plan for the site such as the “Marvel,” the community serving project envisioned and created with input from over 300 community members via a grassroots year-long process anchored by the Plaza 16 Coalition. We strongly urge you to fulfil your sacred duty as city planners and use your significant power to reject an unaffordable, community-harming Monster in the Mission and instead advocate for an affordable, community-serving Marvel.Sincerely,

WE NEED TO FLOOD HIS PHONES MONDAY AND TUESDAY (7/10 & 7/11)
David Chiu is the Assemblymember for the east side of SF and he is chair of the the critical last committee — Housing — for SB 35 and he can make the changes to this legislation to protecT the Mission District and other vulnerable neighborhoods in California.
TWO EASY STEPS — Takes less than one minute.
1). CALL: (916) 319 – 2017
2. SAY: “I am a constituent of Assemblymember Chiu and I urge him to oppose SB 35 unless it includes community coalition ammendments such as a ‘safe habor’ provision for our low income communities.”
PLEASE CALL NOW!
Here is a June 10 OpEd with further information on the bill and the impacts it would have on the Mission District and other vulnerable California neighborhoods: http://www.sfexaminer.com/senate-bill-35-will-cause-displacement-communities-color/
AND SIGN THE PETITION!
https://www.change.org/p/protect-our-low-income-communities-oppose-sb-35-unless-amended