myiW Current Conditions and Forecasts Community Forums Buy and Sell Services
 
Hi guest · myAccount · Log in
 SearchSearch   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   RegisterRegister 
Toll to Access TI
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... , 9, 10, 11  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Southwest USA, Hawaii, Mexico
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Riptide



Joined: 15 Jan 2011
Posts: 411

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/the-toll-of-an-expanding-treasure-island-and-bay-area/?fbclid=IwAR1gUzfoaj3J2Pnl2cZcFAQy70dPfsdkffcCM2HkXaO0rP0lHV5Q9S1iA8U


Latitude 38 Article stating our case.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
windsrf



Joined: 01 May 1998
Posts: 464

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Plus what amounts to a WETA ad/puffpiece in today's Sunday Chron:

NATIVE SON
Two fun jaunts just a bit off the beaten path
A classic lunch at Val’s in Daly City and a zippy ride to Treasure Island

By Carl Nolte
Photos by Carl Nolte / The Chronicle

Krissie Hunt, a Treasure Island resident, checks out a new way to commute.

Val’s has been a Daly City fixture since the 1950s.

Spring is in the air. Time to try something old and something new. So one afternoon I went to lunch at Val’s Restaurant in Daly City, one of the bastions of traditional Bay Area style, and the next day I took a brand-new ferry to Treasure Island, where a neighborhood is rising from the dust of a decommissioned Navy base and a world’s fair.

Both places are a bit off the beaten path, but both are only a few minutes from mainstream San Francisco.

Val’s is one of those classic places: a tall neon sign outside, a perfectly restored fire-engine red Pontiac parked at the curb. They don’t make Pontiacs anymore, and places like Val’s have gone out of style.

“Val’s has atmosphere and old-school service,” said Lex Perillat, a regular at Val’s. There are a few similar places still, neighborhood restaurants with the flavor of another time, like the Gold Mirror on Taraval Street, Rocco’s on Folsom and the 7 Mile House, just over the San Mateo County line in Brisbane.

Val’s has been around since the early ’50s. “A steak house and lounge with a decor and menu that has been unchanged since the Johnson administration,” as Daly City historian Bob Calhoun called it.

Val’s has two sections: one a bright and cheerful-looking area with white tablecloths, the other a lounge area, with genuine imitation leather booths, a long bar and a fireplace to ward off the Daly City chill. There are paintings of nude women on the walls, in a style reminiscent of the heyday of Domino’s and other San Francisco Financial District institutions.

“You can sit anywhere you like,” said Greg Taylor, the host, “except that booth. A party of regulars come in every Tuesday and they always sit there.”

That’s the heart of the matter: It’s a family place, warm and comfortable. Taylor’s family has owned Val’s since 1975, and some regulars have been coming in longer than that. “I’ve been coming for a long time,” said Marguerite Aguilar, who grew up in San Francisco and was at Val’s for lunch. She nodded to the host. “My father knew his father,” she said.

The enchiladas were on special for lunch that day, so we had them, with a salad and a glass of white wine, all old-school delicious. “What would you like for dessert?” asked Christy Sturtevant, the waitress. “We have apple pie,” she said, “It’s fresh, it’s crumbly, and it’s very good.”

She was exactly right.

The next day, something new. I’d heard about the ferryboat service to Treasure Island that had just started only a few days ago. I hadn’t been to the island in years: once or twice in its days as a Navy base, once to visit the former museum that celebrated the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exhibition, seldom since. A new ferry ride is always worth a try.

Mayor London Breed hailed the new service when it began on March 1 as “a significant step forward in realizing the transportation vision for Treasure Island.” Joe Kukura, who took one of the inaugural voyages and reported for the SFist website, was more succinct. “Oh the ride is kick ass…” he posted.

Both were right. The ferry, subsidized by Treasure Island Community Development and operated by Prop SF, is a key element in turning T.I. into a new neighborhood with 8,000 new homes and 300 acres of parks and open space. The boat, a 48-passenger catamaran named Sammy J, takes only 10 minutes or so to zip across from Gate B at the Ferry Building to Treasure Island.

It’s a spectacular trip, even by San Francisco Bay standards, especially toward the end of the day when the setting sun lights up the city and turns the East Bay hills to gold. There are 17 sailings each way on weekdays, 14 on weekends. The fare is $5.

There were only three other passengers when I rode. Two of them, Jim Baughn and John Bernard, bicycle buddies from Davis, were riding the boat to Treasure Island as part of a “quest,” as they put it, to bike to every branch library, every fire station and every park in San Francisco. Why? “Why not?” said Bernard, “It’s a beautiful city, and we see the 95% of the city tourists never see.” Treasure Island was last on their list.

The other passenger was Krissie Hunt, who lives on Treasure Island and was checking out a new way to commute to downtown San Francisco. The ferry, she said, “Is wonderful. Now I can get to the city without using my car.”

The other passengers went on their way when the boat landed. I went to explore. I didn’t go far, since it was late in the day and the wind had come up. I went to the Island Market and Deli which is kind of a general store, offering groceries and light snacks. I had a piroshki — “a San Francisco tradition since 1956,” the label said. I ate at a picnic table, then back to the boat, like a tourist returning to a cruise ship.

There are restaurants on the island and other sights, but it wasn’t clear where they were and I didn’t find them at first. I felt like one of those explorers wandering around in a new world, or a San Franciscan discovering San Francisco. I’ll be back.

Carl Nolte’s columns run on Sunday. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Carlnoltesf
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jpf18



Joined: 13 Aug 2000
Posts: 347
Location: San Francisco

PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tomg wrote:
more news, negative:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/justinphillips/article/Even-with-exemptions-a-Treasure-Island-toll-16995497.php


Quote:
Hope Williams has lived on Treasure Island for more than a decade. As a community activist, she knows the economic struggle many of the community’s low-income residents face, which is why she’s been vocal about her opposition to a proposed toll for drivers to get on and off the island.

Treasure Island resident Hope Williams was just finishing a long day of meeting with San Francisco supervisors to voice concerns about a proposed transit toll when I called her. With a tired laugh, she told me her phone battery was at 2% and her body felt equally drained, a result of rushing around City Hall while four months pregnant.

“What I’ve learned doing this work is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease in this city,” Williams said. “I’ve been squeaking my butt off lately.”

She doesn’t plan to stop.

Massive redevelopment in the years to come is set to draw thousands of new residents to Treasure Island, a community largely made up of low-income Black and brown residents. City leaders pushing the toll see it as a way to both dissuade people from further congesting the Bay Bridge and fund transportation alternatives like ferry rides to San Francisco and new bus services to downtown Oakland. The current plans promise to insulate low-income residents from the added travel costs but don’t account for how deeply intertwined poverty and isolation are on the man-made island.

Treasure Island is home to roughly 2,300 people. Nearly 50% of the population is Black or Latino, and more than half the residents live below the poverty line. It’s a neighborhood whose name belies its reality, where scenic views and urban wineries exist alongside abject economic struggles.

But developers have been champing at the bit to turn the formal naval base into a destination. Current construction will result in the creation of 8,000 new homes , multiple hotels, public parks and extensive new retail and commercial space, The Chronicle reported. The toll is part of a larger transportation plan the San Francisco County Transportation Authority came up with to accommodate the expected 20,000 new residents.
Passing around flyers about Treasure Island’s proposed toll is just one of the many ways resident Hope Williams has been leading an effort to get the city to rethink how its toll will be implemented and who could be harmed by it.

Passing around flyers about Treasure Island’s proposed toll is just one of the many ways resident Hope Williams has been leading an effort to get the city to rethink how its toll will be implemented and who could be harmed by it.
Jana Asenbrennerova/Special to The Chronicle

As my colleague Ricardo Cano reported in January, the toll’s price will vary depending on the time of day, including a $5 fee to get on or off the island during peak weekday commute hours. About “1,800 residents living on Treasure Island as of late 2019 would be exempt from the tolls, as would all households earning less than 55% of the Bay Area median income. Moderate-income people would pay half-price tolls.”

These carve-outs for low-income people are crucially important but inadequate when factoring in downstream economic impacts, according to Williams.

Living on an island means essential services come with a price. During the pandemic, when Mayor London Breed capped commission fees for food delivery apps at 15%, UberEats stopped delivering to Treasure Island — a neighborhood with only one grocery store and a well-documented food access problem — because the cap limited the company’s “ability to cover operational costs.”

And cash-strapped family members from other areas would have to weigh the heavier tax that comes with visiting loved ones on the island. As The Chronicle pointed out, an East Bay visitor could pay as much as $17 round trip when factoring in the $7 Bay Bridge toll.

It also remains to be seen how the toll would impact the ability of caregivers, tutors and community volunteers to enter the island.

These concerns were echoed during a Jan. 25 Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency Committee meeting, when one resident described the toll’s potential impact on residents’ access to health care as a “public health issue” that city officials will have to address.

“People are really carefully budgeting their expenses because they often have very low incomes, and yet they have to provide for the things a family requires,” Sarah Shortt, the director of public policy and community organizing for HomeRise, a San Francisco housing and advocacy organization that operates 110 housing units on Treasure Island, recently told me. “The conglomerated effect (of the toll) could be significant.”

San Francisco leaders haven’t been bashful about their hopes to make Treasure Island a playground for the affluent. But the promise that shiny new apartment buildings and a new ferry will create a rising economic tide that lifts all boats isn’t something Treasure Island residents have reason to believe. San Francisco doesn’t have a great track record in decoupling gentrification efforts from displacement in historically Black or Latino neighborhoods.

March 8 was supposed to be when the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board, the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency Board and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on the toll. The meeting was canceled at the last minute — and a new date has yet to be announced. It isn’t the first time a toll vote has been delayed.

Williams considers this a small victory for people who “just want to be more included in this process.”

Let’s hope city officials return with an understanding that protecting residents from the toll won’t be enough to disrupt cycles of poverty on Treasure Island, especially if the support systems they need to survive aren’t extended the same consideration.

Columnist Justin Phillips
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips appears Sundays. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
radross



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 142

PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great seeing some of the usual sailors and wingers at various launches as Spring returns. And, thanks to those who have already written emails to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA), the Bay Conservation Development Commission (BCDC), the State Lands Commission (SLC), and each of the CCSF's Board of Supervisors (BOS), or have participated in the public speaking sessions at each of these boards which is really easy with remote participation. Now is the time to get active again! Scroll up to locate the various email addresses.

The SFCTA, deputized by the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency (TIMMA), has delayed taking their proposal for final approval, which includes "amending" the EIR from all visitors not being charged a toll to charging all visitors a toll, to the full BOS for a vote. Word is that this will happen, though, on APRIL 12, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Will not know for certain until this Friday late afternoon as they don't post their agendas until then.

Be on guard and write an email to each of the boards and their staff opposing the toll. Easy to do. The toll violates: the 2014 SLC's agreement with the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) to allow development in exchange for access to the Bay; the 2018 BCDC permit to TIDA to develop within 100 feet of the Bay; and Assembly Bill 981 which requires any toll to benefit those paying for the toll which fails here since the transportation plan does not provide any access or services to the launch [unless you enjoy riding a bus or ferry in your wetsuit and don't mind a mile + carry!]

So besides the maybe vote on Tuesday, April 11, 2022 by TIMMA to the full BOS, here are some upcoming meetings to either write to in advance or participate in:

Thursday, April 7, 2022, @ 1:00 p.m. BCDC meeting - by zoom;
Sunday, April 10, 2022, @ 1:00 p.m. TI Organizing Committee Speaker Event , on TI at Avenue E and 13th Street. Come party and then sail; and
Tuesday, April 26, 2022, @ 1:00 p.m. SLC meeting - by zoom.

Can someone more plugged in than me, please let the wingers wherever they hang out on the web know about these meetings.

Thanks, Ross
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
radross



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 142

PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bump for the public comment opportunity at the BCDC meeting at 1:00 p.m. today.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cosmoecho



Joined: 21 Jun 2016
Posts: 61

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

radross, can you please send emails to sfbaywaters@googlegroups.com about the meetings.
This way I have more on-time notifications about the meetings and can spread among other windsurfing groups.
Thank you!

Also, does not look like there is TI toll on the April 12th agenda?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cosmoecho



Joined: 21 Jun 2016
Posts: 61

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

radross, can you please send emails to sfbaywaters@googlegroups.com about the meetings.
This way I have more on-time notifications about the meetings and can spread among other windsurfing groups.
Thank you!

Also, does not look like there is TI toll on the April 12th agenda?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
tomg



Joined: 10 Apr 2000
Posts: 294

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6223906-furor-over-proposed-treasure-island-toll-upends-assembly-race/

Haney says in this clip that the toll is "required by the state"? Is he just misinformed... or what?!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17736
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Organization on the broadest scale has been successful to date. Even Haney now admits that there needs to be an economic impact study before this goes into effect. That means next year at the earliest.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6223906-furor-over-proposed-treasure-island-toll-upends-assembly-race/

But settle in for a long fight. TIDA is now trying to walk away from the two access points on the north end of the island. This is all about pandering to the developer and the wealthy new residents. Word is that the ferry costs $15 each way, and fare is only $5. It only takes a small number of people—their own studies estimate over 90% of the trips by residents on weekends, and nearly half during commute times will still be by car. This is about making sure that somebody but the developer subsidizes the ferry, and making it look like the island is a giant park for the new residents—not the public.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17736
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tomg wrote:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6223906-furor-over-proposed-treasure-island-toll-upends-assembly-race/

Haney says in this clip that the toll is "required by the state"? Is he just misinformed... or what?!


Tom—a congestion fee—on the new residents during peak periods—was contemplated in the EIR. But as I read the EIR, there was a firm commitment to transit, which was specific as to the days and frequency for the bus and ferry to SF. I’ve read the legislation that creates the authority for TIMMA and tolls multiple times. It is permissive, not mandatory. It requires a 2/3 vote of the Board of supervisors—such a super-majority is rare, and clearly they have the authority to turn it down. Right now, the votes are there to turn it down. Haney is wrong, whatever his motive.

So the adopted mitigation is transit, not a toll. TIMMA tried to weasel out of that—until the last TIMMA meeting they only proposed to run the ferry at weekday commute times. That change was made orally at the meeting.

Two things behind this I think. First, they changed the development agreement to let the developer off the hook for subsidizing the commute. Which left SF responsible unless they could broaden the toll. Changing the adopted mitigation measure—the frequency of the transit—is a material change to the FEIR, and can only be done safely with a supplemental EIR, not the addendum. They were trying to slip it past us and got caught.

The economic study is a nice playing field. We’ll get to ask who pays, who benefits, and how much congestion relief it really delivers.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Southwest USA, Hawaii, Mexico All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... , 9, 10, 11  Next
Page 10 of 11

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum

myiW | Weather | Community | Membership | Support | Log in
like us on facebook
© Copyright 1999-2007 WeatherFlow, Inc Contact Us Ad Marketplace

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group