Central Freeway Fight -- A Long and Losing Road
By Jason Ma and Joyce Nishioka

Now that voters have spoken -- for the third time in two years -- on the fate of the Central Freeway, both sides of the debate agree on one thing: It’s over.

By approving Proposition I, voters last week reaffirmed, 54 percent to 46 percent, replacing the quake-damaged structure with a widened Octavia Boulevard. Conversely, Proposition J, which called to rebuild the freeway, lost 47 to 53 percent. Prop. J, but not Prop. I, included a condition that had it won, it could be repealed only with a two-thirds vote.

“The people have spoken. We will have to put this to rest,” said Hayden Lee, president of the Chinese American Democratic Club, which endorsed the plan to rebuild the Central Freeway.

Though more than $10 million of Caltrans money has gone into the project, the freeway is now to be dismantled and commuters coming into city on U.S. 101 will no longer be able to take the Fell/Mission exit to get to the Avenues, but instead will exit at Market to gain access to a widened Octavia Boulevard by the end of 2001.

The ramps extending from Mission to Fell Streets will be demolished, and new construction will start from Mission to Market Street.

Excluding the cost of ramps, the project is estimated to cost $11 million, according to Peter Albert of the planning department, though Prop. I supporters have said the city could realize $33 million from the sale of land around the freeway. Opponents of Octavia Boulevard, however, have estimated the total cost could reach $60 million.

In 1997, the mostly Chinese American San Francisco Neighbors Association spearheaded a measure to rebuild the freeway -- only to see voters do a U-turn on their victory in 1998, when they decided instead to support a widened Octavia Boulevard. Though advocates of Props. I and J both tried to downplay the race factor, results from last week’s election suggest identity politics played a role in the outcome. In heavily Chinese American districts -- Chinatown, Richmond, Sunset, Visitacion Valley and Excelsior -- the Octavia Boulevard Plan lost. Specifically, in the Richmond district, where 32 percent of the voters are Chinese American, ballots were cast against the measure 60 to 40 percent, and in the Sunset district, where 33 percent of the voters are of Chinese descent, the measure lost by 65 to 35 percent.

In contrast, voters in some of the largely non-Asian districts cast their ballots in favor of the boulevard plan, especially in more liberal, progressive parts of the city. Haight Ashbury voters, for example, voted for Prop. I by 65 to 35 percent. And in Noe Valley, the proposition pulled ahead 68 to 32 percent, according to figures supplied late last week.

“We have lost the battle but we haven’t lost the war,” said SFNA co-chair Julie Lee. That war, said Lee, a major player in all three freeway disputes, is the fight to get “Chinese and the Asian population involved with the democratic process. To become citizens and get people involved is my goal.”

Just because Chinese Americans spearheaded the effort to rebuild the Central Freeway, however, it shouldn’t be viewed as an Asian issue, said Hayden Lee.

“I don’t believe this was a racial issue,” he said. “This was a neighborhood issue. I know many non-Asians in the Avenues who are pro-Central Freeway.”

And Howard Wong, leader of Asians for Octavia Boulevard, said that though the central freeway became an issue of political empowerment for the Chinese American community, he viewed it more as a geographic issue. “Chinese Americans living in the center of the city, in Hayes Valley, were supportive of the freeway being torn down,” he said.

“We were unfortunately caught in the crossfire of the mayoral election,” said Julie Lee. “Brown’s supporters, even the Democratic Central Committee, go against us. The so-called environmentalists believe without the freeway it will be better for the city. And Tom Ammiano -- every single write-in vote went ‘yes’ on I,” blasted Lee.

Not all write-in votes were actually cast in favor of I, but most were. Ammiano strongly supported Prop. I, which not only calls for widening Octavia Boulevard but in addition calls for freeway land to be used for affordable housing. Indeed, in the early hours of election counting, the freeway measure was ahead by a 52 to 48 percent margin, while there was 50-50 split on either side of the boulevard measure. But as the night wore on, margins narrowed and results reversed, finally ending with the vote to build the boulevard.

Julie Lee pointed out, however, that the outcome should not be considered a loss for the Chinese American community.

“We are a small grass-roots organization fighting for the right of the people going against the big power machine of San Francisco politics. Even with two major competitors we still came out close. We should take credit for that. We did a hell of a good job.”

Lee also pointed out that Chinese American effort passed 1997’s Proposition H, which froze plans to demolish the central freeway as the upper deck of the Oak Street ramp was being torn down.

Part of the structure that will be torn down has already been retrofitted with steel jackets and concrete supports. Proponents had argued that demolishing the rebuilt sections of the freeway would be wasteful. Proponents of the boulevard, however, have argued that those structures needed immediate retrofitting for safety purposes and that the work done was a “temporary short-term fix,” while the final decision on the freeway was being debated at the polls.

Disappointed with last week’s vote on Props. I and J, Rodney Leong, member of the Republican Central Committee, said proponents of the Octavia Boulevard plan campaigned on “lies,” pointing out the signs they toted for Prop. E had printed on them, “Faster, Cheaper, Better than the Central Freeway.”

But along with the freeway supporters were Asian Americans who favored the boulevard. The Filipino American Democratic Club, Inc. endorsed the Ocatavia Boulevard Plan, said treasurer Rebecca Delgado despite the club’s usual agreement with San Francisco’s Chinese Americans on most issues.

She noted that in addition to the freeway being an “eyesore,” Delgado said her group was not confident that a rebuilt and extended freeway could withstand another earthquake like the 1989 Loma Prieta quake that damaged it in the first place.

Adding to a range of Asian American opinions, Howard Wong said he favors using the $30 million that supporters say the city will get from the state for the sale of land under the freeway, to improve transportation on the much-neglected west side of the city. He proposes the money be used for light rail or bus lines to that part of San Francisco.

“Everyone will look back and appreciate what the boulevard will bring to the neighborhood,” he said. “Everyone needs to work together for transportation.”