By Cynthia Dizikes : sfchronicle – excerpt (includes graphics and maps)

During the past five years, the San Francisco Planning Department granted or considered environmental review exemptions prohibited under state law for at least a dozen developments on old gas stations, vehicle repair shops and parking garages where toxic substances leaked into the soil and groundwater. The 12 projects analyzed by The Chronicle involve more than 250 current and future housing units around the city, in the Mission, Sunset, Cow Hollow, Nob Hill and other neighborhoods.

Exemptions can help speed development by reducing legal hangups and costs, and city officials say that all polluted sites are cleaned up to state and regional standards, regardless of whether they are exempted.

But exemptions also mean less public scrutiny of the environmental and health impacts of development, including digging up large quantities of potentially contaminated soil… (more)

RELATED: Senator Wiener removed exemptions for Coastal zones, fire, flood and toxic zones. I hesitate to think what is left, lest he go after it. (SB 591 and SB 610 among others)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_San_Francisco_Designated_Landmarks

Why is this Old Police Station is not on the map of historical sites?

TIME Magazine reporters praised Senator Scott Wiener. They got it wrong.By Bill Barnes : Marinpost – excerpt

Building in high fire hazard zones: Wiener’s plans don’t stop with allowing the degradation of California’s coastal zone. Wiener is now working to permit developers to build in other environmentally risky areas—Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones…Cal Fire (the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) is the state agency charged with “safeguarding California through fire prevention and protection, emergency response, and stewardship of natural resource systems.” The agency produces maps of fire hazard zones…In the California Planning and Development Review interview, Wiener was dismissive of the fire risks mapped by Cal Fire:.. (more)

How do we find more information on the unlisted Cortese sites? Must we check the history of each site that comes up as a done deal after entitlements are rubber-stamped according to the robust “permitting” process being forced on us by our Senator Wiener” and accepted by the city administration? How safe is the public when the environmental guardrails are dismantled?

When funds dry up and insurance companies flee an area, the only way housing will get built is with government dollars. Taxpayers are on the hook for some overly expensive, highly dangerous projects that may backfire. Who wants to live in an uninsurable property in a fire for flood zone? Evidently the Senator and his developer friends think poor people should be grateful for whatever they can get.

Not only have the Sacramento Politicians approved building in dangerous zones, they are trying to convince the taxpayers to finance them. Regional Measure 4 is a 9-county, SF Bay Area $20 billion bond measure that will set the taxpayers back an estimated $50 in property tax increases to build housing. And it is administered through the Municipal Transportation Committee. The transportation agencies that can’t manage their own public transportation systems are trying to break into the housing development business with the support of the taxpaying public.

Removal of CEQA guidelines is cause for alarm by many environmental groups as it bypasses due process and environmental reviews that were put into place by Ronald Regan when he was Governor and have provided some source of trust within the public. This is not a Republican party dismantling the environmental protections. This is the California State Democrats who run the show in Sacramento along with Governor Newsom who are removing the environmental protections under the guise of the state housing crisis.