United To Save The Mission Coalition, an alliance of Mission District community groups working on saving our neighborhood from over-development and the complete displacement of existing residents, is expressing our strong opposition to the 1515 South Van Ness Avenue project by Lennar Corporation. The proposed project is to be situated at the corner of 26th and South Van Ness Avenue. This project is the largest new project that is currently under development. It consists of 165 units, of which only 20 are affordable. Among our concerns are: Loss of PDR Space: This project, if approved, would eliminate the sizable PDR space currently being used by McMillan Electric. The ongoing loss of light industrial spaces that preserve job opportunities and anchor the middle class is acute, as the Planning Commission has recognized with its intent to develop a plan for 1 to 1 PDR replacement for every Eastern Neighborhoods development. It is counterproductive and short sighted to expedite new residential developments in front of Commission efforts to ameliorate the negative impacts of new residential developments. Higher Affordable Housing Requirements Are On The Ballot: The voters of San Francisco will be weighing in shortly on higher inclusionary standards for new developments. While the outcome of Jane Kim's ballot measure remains to be determined, the wishes of the city's residents, should they choose to support higher affordable housing requirements and pass a measure implementing interim controls, should be respected by the Planning Commission and the city's political leadership. Sliding in massive new projects right before the election that come nowhere near to meeting the potential new interim standards, project disrespect for the democratic decision making process in the City. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Is Incomplete Regarding Calle 24 Cultural District Concerns: The City and the Commission recognized by creating the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District the unique character of the particular neighborhood bordered by 22nd Street, Cesar Chavez Street, Potrero Avenue and Mission Street. The 2014 designation addressed issues of design, architectural guidelines and neighborhood vision/direction for the benefit of all San Franciscans, and mentioned socioeconomic diversity as a key ingredient in the preservation of the District. A robust and responsible planning process requires full consideration of the design, architecture, traffic and socioeconomic aspects of 1515 South Van Ness Avenue and its compatibility or lack of compatibility with the intentions of the City for the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District. Superseding guidelines still under development renders all the good intentions behind the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District functionally moot. The stakeholders in the creation of the Latino Cultural District have had no opportunity to find out if any of these questions were examined in the EIR, or to review and respond to the EIR. Phase One of MAP 2020 Wraps Up In The Summer of 2016: Both the Planning Department and the Office of the Mayor are participants in the MAP 2020 process, which is expecting to wrap up Phase One planning in the summer of 2016 and move into Phase Two to put in place the policies, legislation, programs, and financing needed to implement the Plan. The stated intent of the plan is to “strengthen and retain low to moderate income residents and community serving businesses” (including PDR and non-profits). The MAP process may well identify both policy and legislation that would significantly alter projects like 1515 South Van Ness Avenue and add protections for affected residents and businesses that don't currently exist. Both the Planning Department and the Mayor's Office should take into account the MAP 2020 strategic plan and its possible impacts and not rush the project through without considering the MAP 2020 process underway. The Interim Controls Template Is Brand New: 1515 South Van Ness would be the firs project to go before the Planning Department under brand new interim controls. Stakeholders in the community haven't had an opportunity to see and review the Interim Controls template nor to see any reporting/response that Lennar Corporation has made regarding the project and the new template. A public review process should make these criteria transparently available to all stakeholders in the project including impacted residents and businesses. Lennar Corporation Has A Troubled Track Record: The history of Lennar and the City of San Francisco is so lengthy that a complete description here would be beyond the scope of this letter. But it should not be controversial to state that toxic issues at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard were significant and the Treasure Island redevelopment has also been a troubled process. The City of San Francisco has given much to Lennar in development opportunities in large swaths of the City, and we question whether this developer has earned yet more concessions from the City in this request to green-light this new development ahead of multiple civic planning processes to protect this area of the City and a ballot initiative on the June ballot. Given all of these factors, we would like the City to explore whether Lennar could transfer their interest in this property to the City for the construction of 100% affordable housing on the site. At a minimum, United To Save The Mission firmly requests delaying the approval of 1515 South Van Ness until: 1) Proposition C has been voted on by San Francisco's voters 2) 1 to 1 PDR replacement has been decided 3) Interim controls are in place and reviewed 4) The Calle 24 Latino Cultural Special Use District is in place 5) MAP 2020 is implemented 6) Negotiations with Lennar for possible site acquisition have been completed United to Save The Mission

Petition started by “Greenwich Parents Against Crumb Rubber” The turf at Greenwich High School's Cardinal Stadium is due to be replaced in Summer 2016. We are calling for an immediate moratorium on the installation of crumb rubber infill for turf fields. When turf surfaces require replacement, organic alternatives such as coconut, cork or GreenPlay should be utilized. No new turf fields containing crumb rubber should be installed at Greenwich Public Schools or at town-owned park sites. WHY THIS MATTERS: Crumb rubber is made of ground-up old tires, which are classified as “special waste” in the State of CT, meaning they cannot be landfilled. Grinding them up into small pellets exposes children playing on turf surfaces to known carcinogens (such as Benzene, Arsenic & Carbon Black) through fume inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption as tire crumbs can get into hair, ears, eyes, mouths and may even enter the skin through wounds (such as turf burn). The Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center has urged a moratorium on the use of recycled rubber tires on fields and playgrounds. A multi-agency investigation into the safety of crumb rubber is under way at the federal level. The EPA found that “existing studies do not comprehensively evaluate the concerns about the health rises from exposure to tire crumb.” Additionally, the Consumer Product Safety Commission no longer stands by an earlier assessment that crumb rubber is “safe.” MORE INFO: You can read more about the carcinogenic substances contained in crumb rubber from a Yale study here: http://www.ehhi.org/turf/findings0815.shtml You can read more about the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center's position on crumb rubber here: http://media.wix.com/ugd/fd0a19_f5aa0824698341499b4228ebabf90cb5.pdf A University of Washington soccer coach has been tracking nationwide cancer diagnoses in players, potentially linked to crumb rubber. So far, 217 have been diagnosed, some have died. An ESPN special report can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91svvfuF7iY (NOTE: The authors of this petition have no financial interest in or affiliations with any providers or manufacturers)

Hawaii's affordable housing shortage has reached crisis proportions. We are number 1 for homelessness per capita in the nation. Our college-educated children are priced out of the market. Politics as usual helped cause the current crisis. This is the time to tell our lawmakers that NOW is the time for them to act.

Arbitrary or obsolete speed limits encourage unsafe driving practices, such as following too closely or passing in unsafe situations. As County Highway Safety Chairman, I feel this needs to be addressed.

Squatters Action for Secure Homes (SQUASH) have produced two reports, “The Case Against Section 144” (March 2013), and “Homes, Not Jails” (April 2015) outlining the failings of s144 LASPOA, and how the new law is disproportionately affecting the homeless and vulnerably-housed. Many young people have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed unnecessarily under the law, while others have died from exposure in the winter months. For more info: http://www.squashcampaign.org/resources/

Junipero Serra High School is participating in a "Lenten Justice Project" where our focus is on raising money and awareness for the financially impoverished of San Mateo County. We also want to make policy changes. The bay area is a very expensive place to live. More and more people are becoming homeless because of the cost of living and low wages. We don't want to kick them off the streets or make criminals out of them for not having a place to call home. Our mission is to be in solidarity with and to fight for those who don't have a roof over their heads.

Sound Transit's Link Light Rail has recently expanded to include service to Capitol Hill and UW. While this is an excellent addition, the last service both to and from these areas is before 1AM. Most bars close at 2AM, leaving riders to take a taxi or rideshare back, so instead some people choose to drive - and then drive home drunk. Expanding service until 2:30AM on Fridays/Saturdays and 1:30AM on other days would not only help decrease drunk driving but likely be cost effective given the high demand of Seattle's excellent bars, which are now served by the new stations. This petition is to request that the Sound Transit Board of Directors expand operating hours for the good of public safety and service to our community.

Not only is the Central Library Marcel Breuer's final building, but it's considered one of his finest by architects and scholars. Opened in 1980, the Central Library is one of the best examples of late Modernist Architecture. It is the result of an era in which Atlanta emerged as an international center for culture and business. Breuer's Central Library, along with John Portman's Peachtree Plaza Hotel and Richard Meir's High Museum, among other projects, were built not only to serve the people of Atlanta, but to be an expression of the city's unique energy, vitality and sophistication, a role the library continues to play to this day. Preserving the Central Library will ensure that future Atlantans and visitors can experience an important piece of art in the museum of architecture that is our city. Renaming the building for its architect would emphasize Atlanta's reputation as an international center for business, culture and architecture by honoring one of the world's great architects.

We oppose this application in order to prevent destruction and pollution of this property which is near our beautiful Roosevelt Forest, and threatens our wetlands.

Thousands of local soccer-playing children in Annapolis, Maryland, many of whom are low-income minorities, are being denied equal access to modern, new, recreation and athletics facilities in publicly-owned parks located in their neighborhoods because of favoritism and cronyism on the part of the Director of Recreation and Parks, Rick Anthony. Mr. Anthony and his staff consistently award preferential access to the newest and most modern park facilities to elite groups from outside our town, who shouldn't even be permitted to use the facilities, and they deny equal access to the local residents. Elite travel teams from outside our town are being awarded most of the access to modern, newly constructed, recreation and athletics facilities in publicly owned parks in our town, while local children, many of whom are low-income minorities, are being relegated to inferior, poorly maintained, mostly dirt and stone fields that are not safe places to play. Mr. Anthony and his staff do not even follow the department's own adopted and published guidelines and policies. They violate the county's own guidelines and policies to make exceptions for a privileged group. They consistently make exceptions for one particular elite travel soccer group that seems to have Mr. Anthony's ear. Stop the conflicts of interest. Stop the insider deals. This must be stopped. Fair and equal access for the local residents must be restored.

The City of Eugene has been criminalizing our homeless community members for years and continues to do so at great cost. People have been arrested for violating no trespassing signs when sheltering themselves from the weather. Their RV's in which they live have been impounded along with all the belongings in them. They have been giving out violations and tickets for "illegal" camping and yet the City has not put the necessary effort needed into providing adequate shelter. In fact they have been doing things to make it even more challenging for people to self-shelter, such as constructing fences. Fences were constructed by the City (Parks and Open Space) under the overpass near 1st and Jefferson, near Washington Jefferson Park with a budget of $67,000. They were built in addition to the fences that were previously constructed in the park. Instead of using that money to come up with a solution to people having to live without shelter, they are using it to push people out of spaces that provide some shelter from the rain as well as a safer place to sleep. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists all of our human rights, including the right to housing. The City is not only in violation of this human right, but is also exacerbating this violation by not allowing people to self-shelter themselves. Recently the U.S. Department of Justice issued a brief in a court case that said punishing people who are sleeping outside when there are insufficient numbers of shelter beds being provided is a violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thus "cruel and unusual punishment. Preventing people from accessing a place to self-shelter it seems is equally a violation. There are plans for more fencing to be constructed in other areas as well, which means more of our taxpayers' money being used to do so. Please tell the City of Eugene, to remove any and all fences already constructed and to stop plans of any future fence construction as well.

The Green Meadow Elementary School's playground has drainage problems so our children cannot play on it for much of the school year, and it is not accessible to children with disabilities. The taxpayers in Maynard have already set aside funds to improve recreation opportunities in town through the Community Preservation Act. We need full funding to move forward with the construction phase of this project.