San Francisco: Protect Calle 24 (24th Street

With over 2000 units of market rate housing in the pipeline for the Mission District in and around the Latino Cultural District, we are asking that the planning department do a full impact report for the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District before any development moves forward.

The Calle 24 Latino Cultural District has been recognized as an important cultural and commercial resource for the City.The Mayor and Board of Supervisors noted “The Calle 24 Latino Cultural District memorializes a place whose richness of culture, history and entrepreneurship is unrivaled in San Francisco.”

The District is bounded on the north by 22nd Street, the south by Cesar Chavez Street, the east by Potrero Avenue, and on the west by Mission Street. The District was established “to stabilize the displacement of Latino Businesses, and residents, preserve Calle 24 as the center of Latino culture and commerce, enhance the unique nature of Calle 24 as a special place for San Francisco’s residents and tourists” and that its contribution will provide “cultural visibility, vibrancy, and economic opportunity for Latinos in the City and County of San Francisco.”

The impacts from the proposed 1515 South Van Ness Lennar project cannot be examined in isolation. The proposed project is not constructed in a bubble. Both the project and its residents interact with the immediate community in multiple ways. Similarly, the environmental impacts of this project cannot be examined apart from other proposed projects currently in the pipeline. Proposed projects located within the boundaries of the LCD are: 2765 Folsom St. (115 units), 3314 Cesar Chavez (52 units), 2600 Harrison St. (20), 2799 24th St. (8), and 3357 26th St. (8). Projects immediately adjacent to the LCD are: 1198 Valencia St. (52 units), 2918 Mission St. (38), 1298 Valencia St. (35), 2600 Mission (20). Two blocks from the LCD is 2000-2070 Bryant Street (195 units).

Socio-economic impacts of market rate development on the Latino Cultural District could not have been studied at the time the Eastern Neighborhoods PEIR was prepared because the LCD did not come into existence until several years later. The Department should study the impact these market rate developments will have on the residents, businesses, non-profits and cultural assets in the LCD.

In addition to whatever evaluation the Department may deem appropriate, we are requesting the Department evaluate the proposed project, both individually and cumulatively, with respect to potential impacts of extensive market rate development on existing residents, businesses, non-profits and cultural assets in the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.
This inquiry should include, but not be limited to, the following before any development is considered.

- The amount of income that households will need in order to afford the market rents of the proposed project.

- The amount of anticipated disposable income of the households moving into market rate units at the proposed project.

- The consumer preferences of households moving into the market rate units at the proposed project, as compared to those Latino residents in the LCD earning 50% AMI.

- Impact on neighborhood-serving Latino businesses that new market rent paying households with higher disposable incomes, will have on commercial rents in the Latino Cultural District – both from the standpoint of the proposed project and from the standpoint of the cumulative impact of the projects listed above.

- Impact that rents at the proposed project (and cumulative proposed projects) will have on residential rents for vacant units in the immediate areas.

- Impact the proposed project (and cumulative proposed projects) will have on displacement of Latinos and families in the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.

- Impact the proposed project (and cumulative proposed projects) will have on the percentage of Latino residents and businesses living and working in the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.