San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Regular Meeting – May 15, 2023
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
San Francisco Land Use and Transportation Committee Regular Meeting – May 15, 2023
The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on May 15, 2023, chaired by Supervisor Myrna Melgar, with Vice Chair Dean Preston and President Aaron Peskin. The committee acted on one landmark designation, a commemorative plaque for disability rights leader Judith Heumann, and an ordinance expanding small business fee waivers.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On the Westwood Park landmark item, Kathleen Baitix (Westwood Park Association) expressed support and presented the neighborhood’s history. Pauline Ju, board president of the Westwood Park Homeowners Association, said she does not see the gates as exclusionary and guessed the neighborhood is 30–40 percent Asian. David Pilpel supported the designation. A remote caller voiced concern that gates are inherently exclusionary and classist.
- On the Judith Heumann plaque item, many speakers supported the resolution, including Nicole Bond (Mayor’s Office on Disability), Deborah Kaplan (Mayor’s Office on Disability), 504 sit-in participant Dennis Bullets (as transcribed), Emily Badics (Longmore Institute on Disability), Tiana Hinsey (Independent Living Resource Center SF), Ted Jackson, John Skolnick, Annette Williams (SFMTA), Georgia Connor (Creativity Explored), and others. A letter from Sasha Bittner was read by staff. Callers highlighted Heumann’s mentorship and the significance of the 1977 Section 504 sit-in.
- On the small business fee waiver item, one remote caller, speaking as Disability Activism SF, expressed support for helping small businesses recover from the pandemic.
Discussion Items
- Westwood Park Entrance Gates and Pillars: Supervisor Melgar introduced the resolution to initiate landmark designation for the original gates at Miramar Avenue/Monterey Boulevard and pillars at Miramar Avenue/Ocean Avenue. Melgar noted the neighborhood’s 1916 origin, the loss of most original pillars, and the Westwood Park Association’s restoration work in 2003. She also acknowledged the historic use of racial covenants. Kathleen Baitix described the development’s roughly 700 lots and 650-plus bungalows, the architect Louis Christian Mulgart, and the original 128 street lamps; only four original freestanding pillars survive. Supervisor Preston said the gate form raised concerns about exclusionary symbolism and asked that the landmark report grapple directly with that history.
- Judith Heumann Commemorative Plaque: Supervisor Melgar presented the resolution authorizing a plaque or commemorative artwork at United Nations Plaza and directing Public Works to install it. She described Heumann’s life, including her disability-rights work, the 1977 Section 504 sit-in at 50 United Nations Plaza — which lasted 25 days and involved more than 150 people — and her federal appointments. Nicole Bond and Deborah Kaplan spoke in support, as did a participant in the original sit-in. Supervisor Peskin asked to be added as a co-sponsor. Melgar read non-substantive amendments suggested by the disability community.
- Small Business Month Fee Waivers: Supervisor Joel Engardio presented the ordinance to add new awning installations to the existing May fee-waiver program for storefront improvements, and to codify existing waivers for replacement awnings, awning signs, and pedestrian lighting. He noted only 60 applications had been processed under the program in eight years. Amendments included refund-processing language and a Chan amendment limiting new awning waivers to fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Engardio accepted both, requested a duplicate file to explore expanding the waiver to all signs, and cited 325 sign permits issued in May from 2015 to 2022.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1 (Westwood Park): Motion to recommend the landmark designation resolution to the full board as a committee report passed 3–0.
- Item 2 (Judith Heumann plaque): Motion to adopt non-substantive amendments and recommend the resolution as amended to the full board as a committee report passed 3–0.
- Item 3 (Small business fee waivers): Motion to amend and recommend the original file as amended to the full board as a committee report passed 3–0. The duplicated file was continued to the call of the chair.
Meeting Transcript
We're ready to go. Yeah. After the slides run. Okay. Okay. You're unmuted. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the May 15th, 2023 regular meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I'm Supervisor Mirna Melgar, chair of the committee, joined by Vice Chair, Supervisor Dean Preston, and Supervisor President, Aaron Paskin. The committee clerk today is Erica Major, and I would like to acknowledge the good folks at SFGov TV for uh staffing this meeting. Madam Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. The Board of Supervisors and its committees are now convening hybrid meetings and allow in-person attendance and public comment while still providing remote access and public comment via telephone. Public comment will be taken on each item of this agenda. Those attending in person will be allowed to speak first, and then we will move to our remote call in line. When connected, you will hear the meeting discussions, but you will be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up and you would like to speak, you just need to press star three and you will be added to the queue. If you're on your telephone, please remember to turn down your television and all listening devices you may be using. You may also submit a written comments in two of the following ways. You can email myself, the land use and transportation clerk at erca dot M A J O R at Sf G O V dot org. And you may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office at City Hall. The address is one Dr. Carlton B. Goodlick Place, room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors Agenda of May 23rd, unless otherwise stated. Madam Chair. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Please call item number one. Item number one is a resolution initiating a landmark designation under Article 10 of the Planning Code of the Westwood Park Entrance Gates located at the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Monterey Boulevard at the Westwood Park Entrance Pillars located at the intersection of Miramar Avenue and Ocean Avenue. Those joining us remotely should press star three now if you would like to speak for item number one, and you'll hear the system indicate. You have raised your hand in confirmation. Madam Chair. Thank you very much. Uh Madam Clerk. Colleagues, uh, District 7 has some of the most historic neighborhoods. Um, and many of them are celebrating their centennial in recent years. Uh we have um very few official landmarks on the West Side, and I'm hoping to change that. The Westwood Park neighborhood is known for its charming bungalows and was one of the resident residence parks established in 1916. Uh it was marketed to be a model home community for a family of average means. As part of the neighborhood, landscape designers hired a renowned architect Louis Christian Molgart to design ornate entrance gates, pillars and lampposts to uh to enhance the neighborhood. Over time, most of those original pillars uh were removed, but the gates and pillars at the corner of uh Miramart Avenue and Monterey Boulevard and Ocean Avenue are still the original architectural elements. The neighbors at the Westwood Park Association restore the gates in 2003 and have been a large part of this effort to officially get the entrance landmarked. I also want to acknowledge that many of these neighborhoods in the West Side were built during a time when racial covenants and the CCNRs were not just included but also very common before the Supreme Court of the United States struck them down. Um but like all of San Francisco neighborhoods, there's also an important story to be told here as Westwood Park today has a very high percentage of Asian homeowners, including former President Norman Yee, uh, who for many who many years ago uh successfully spearheaded the work to delete that language in the Westwood Park C CNRs that prevented the sale of homes to quote unquote Orientals and for the use of livestock. Today we are joined by uh our neighborhood self-described amateur historian Kathleen Baitix, who has been a city guide uh with San Francisco City Guides since 2010. One day she wondered about on her own and looked at this charming neighborhood of Westwood Park and asked if there would be any interest in creating a walking tour of the neighborhood.
openpublica.com