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Port Needs To Put People First

Every weekend, Peter Chong, director of the 75-year-old Chinatown YMCA, deals with some 40 people on the wait list for his 20 by 60-foot swimming pool that fits 50 people, “shoulder to shoulder.”

Chong dreams about having the nation’s largest YMCA recreational facility at “The Piers.” It would be an escape from Chinatown, a 15-minute bus ride to Piers 27-31 at Embarcadero and Battery. “The Piers” project could serve some 4,000 kids.

Now it seems Chong’s dream will be realized. On April 18, the port commission voted to support the $129 million Mills/YMCA mixed-use development of the three piers for recreation, retail and office space.

Unlike most city agencies, the port is self-sustaining and provides tax dollars to city coffers. The port staff and its consultants devoted much of their study to the economic feasibility of whether Chelsea or Mills could pull the project off, and whether either had long-term staying power with residents of San Francisco.

Three commissioners — Pius Lee, Michael Hardeman and Kimberly Brandon — rebuffed the report that seemed to favor Chelsea Piers, a pure, for-profit recreation enterprise. Partially because of the port’s for-profit mission, the more human element was relegated to one line in the 24-page staff report: “[The] YMCA provides exceptional access to special needs and low-income people.”

On the face of it, the port would have gotten $1.8 million [in today’s dollars] more in rent from Chelsea Piers than Mills over 10 years.

“Consultants have told us [that Mills] will have a negative impact on our income as a port and our ability to provide other services we do for maritime,” Brian McWilliams, one of two commissioners voting against Mills/YMCA, said. “The one that brings more revenue to the port, which is our job… is the Chelsea Piers project, very clearly.”

NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERN

The port staff used the results of two advisory committees to contend the Chelsea Piers alternative was preferred. But the Northeast Waterfront Advisory Group and the Fisherman’s Wharf Waterfront Advisory Group may not have accurately represented residents living in neighborhoods around Piers 27-31.

Members of the two “citizens” committees included representatives of Alioto’s Restaurant, Blue and Gold Fleet, and the Cannery — some of whom are tenants on port property and have a commercial stake in the upscale clientele Chelsea hoped to attract.

Few residents were included in the decision-making, and neighborhood groups stayed neutral on the projects.

Wai Ching Kwan of the Chinatown Community Development Center, was the lone Asian American representative on the advisory commission, even though port 27-31 falls in District 3, which is 49 percent Asian American. It’s also next to District 6, which is over one-fourth API, including many Vietnamese American families of the Tenderloin and SOMA’s Filipino American community. The other API voice was that of Pius Lee. Port Director Doug Wong, gave “no recommendation” to both bids.

The Mills/YMCA project did pass. However, it still has to complete exclusive negotiations with the port and meet a number of other conditions, including scaling back its proposed office space, which was supposed to be its “economic engine” that would help finance the YMCA. So far, Mills has rolled back its office space from 272,000 square feet to 198,000.

The final lease agreement has to pass the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors may be influenced by Mills/YMCA’s huge campaign army that generated over 10,000 calls and postcards to the port in support of the project. With over 62,000 members and nine YMCA centers, which cover nearly every supervisor’s district, the YMCA could lobby the supervisors and, if need be, carry the fight to the ballot this November.

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