OFFICIAL BCNA CONTENT
The coalition that helped defeat the 8 Washington condo project have now started to actively solicit funds to pay for legal expenses in a court battle to keep an initiative on the ballot that would make developers get voter approval for waterfront projects that exceed current height limits.
On Feb. 14, two of the 8 Washington luxury condo proponents backed by a big waterfront developer sued the City of San Francisco in a attempt to remove the Waterfront Height Limit Protection Initiative from this June’s ballot.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, said the initiative violates both state and local law and should be tossed out before the election.
The ballot measure seeks to regulate “state lands that are held in trust for all the people of the state, not just San Franciscans,” attorney Robin Johansen wrote in the suit.
“Those lands include all shorefront property that was ‘tidelands’ when California adopted its Constitution in 1879,” she stated.
The state “has expressly prohibited those lands from being subject to local initiatives,” Johansen wrote.
The reaction from Initiative proponents was no less firm.
“Their outrageous and outlandish lawsuit claims that the voters of San Francisco have absolutely no say about the future of San Francisco’s waterfront,” said former Supervisor Aaron Peskin in an email to the “No Wall” followers.
“The filing instead claims that the five mayoral appointees on the SF Port Commission have sole and absolute control. They are wrong, but now we have to quickly prepare to go to court to stand up to the developers attack and vigorously defend the people’s right to vote to protect the waterfront,” Peskin added.
The Waterfront Height Limit Protection Initiative qualified for the June ballot in record time after more than 21,000 signatures were submitted to the San Francisco Election Bureau.
Also allegedly involved in the filing of the lawsuit are the owners of the San Francisco Giants, who hope to develop a 22-acre site adjacent to AT&T Park. They plan office, retail and residential space in a $1.6 billion development.
But the project’s two high-rise residential towers, which far exceed city height restrictions for waterfront developments, could be impacted if the Waterfront Height Limit Protection Initiative succeeds in being on the ballot and approved by voters in June.
Peskin stated that those individuals who are interested in helping support the legal effort are invited send donations to: No Wall on the Waterfront Legal Defense Fund, with a check payable to “No Wall on the Waterfront” and send it to P.O. Box 330476, San Francisco, CA 94133, according to Peskin.
“ Please include the name of your occupation and employer. Contributions are not tax-deductible. “There are no contribution limits,” he added.