Organized Labor

The Hunters Point redevelopment will create 1,000 construction jobs for the next 20 years, building homes like these, above.

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer

In a major victory for the building trades that will have long-term job-creating impact, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard July 28. Development of the new neighborhood for about 24,500 people would create more than 1,000 construction jobs each year for the next 20 years, according to the developer, Lennar. Work would be done under a Project Labor Agreement signed with the building trades in 2007 that would guarantee well-paying union jobs and provide work for local residents.

The plan calls for building 10,500 homes on the 720-acre site at Candlestick Point and the former Naval Shipyard. An agreement approved by voters as an advisory measure in 2008 and agreed to by the developer requires that 32 percent of the homes are affordable to people earning 80 to 120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). A mix of retail stores, offices, and a green technology business development area also will be included in the new waterfront community. San Francisco’s Planning Commission and Redevelopment Commission approved the Environmental Impact Report for the project June 3.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued a statement following the Board of Supervisors’ approval, saying, “This is a proud and historic day for all San Francisco and for all who have worked for years to achieve this milestone. After more than a decade of exhaustive planning, extensive cleanup and hundreds of public hearings, together we have secured a critical engine for our City’s economic future and embraced a new vision of jobs, housing and hope for the Bayview-Hunters Point community. Now we can truly begin the work of transforming an environmental blight into a new center of thousands of permanent and construction jobs, green technology investment, affordable housing and parks for our City.”

Project Will Provide Union Jobs Supervisor Sophie Maxwell told Organized Labor, “This is a great example of what the community and labor can do when we work together.” She said that the work to win approval of the development served as an “unintentional organizing campaign” that will bring new members into the construction unions. She pointed out that the average age of a union worker is 47 and that “the trades need new workers, and people in the community need jobs.” The development will “bring local people into the unions where they will earn better wages, have health care, pensions, and be able to support their families.”

At a meeting with building trades union members last fall, Lennar’s Regional Vice President, Kofi Bonner, said that the 22 workers on the infrastructure improvement phase of the project included several from the local community. “We are providing union jobs for people from the community,” he said. “That is a solution to the problem of unemployment.” The BVHP neighborhood is one of San Francisco’s most economically distressed areas, with high unemployment and underemployment. Along with local hiring requirements under the PLA, the developer pledged to put $225,000 a year into a workforce training fund that will be controlled by labor and the community, he said.

Along with the 3,800 new homes to be built at the Shipyard and 7,800 at Candlestick Point Lennar will rebuild the Alice Griffith public housing project, with about 256 public housing units that are in bad shape. The public housing for low-income residents would be integrated within the overall project. Bonner said the high-density development would feature mid-rise buildings and several high-rise towers, about 159 townhouses and flats. More than 300 acres of parks and open space, including a new “Crissy Field” of the Southeast, approximately 700,000 square feet of destination retail and entertainment space and more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial space oriented around a “green” science and technology campus are part of the project. It can also accommodate an optional site for a world-class football stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.

Construction costs for the $67 billion buildout will be around $42 billion. Bonner said Lennar is looking for construction funding through commercial banks, as well as union funds. The AFL-CIO’s Housing Investment Trust is a possible lender for the project.

New Housing Will Be Open to Union Members

When the Board approved the project on a 10-1 vote, only Supervisor Chris Daly opposed it. Daly had pushed for the developer to offer 50 percent of the housing at rates affordable to low-income San Franciscans. The developer and supporters in labor contended that the 50 percent requirement would make the project unprofitable and unfeasible. A compromise worked out between Lennar and the San Francisco Labor Council ensures that not only will 32 percent of the units be sold at below market rate but union workers who don’t qualify as low income would still be able to afford housing in the new development.

Daly’s amendment requiring that 50 percent of the housing be sold at below market rate lost on a 6-5 vote with John Avalos, David Campos, Daly, Eric Mar and Ross Mirkarimi voting for the 50 percent affordability requirement. Board president David Chiu did not join with the other five supervisors on the board; his vote turned out to be decisive in ensuring that the project moves forward.

“This is a new beginning for the Hunters Point shipyard,” Chiu said after the vote. “This is a new beginning for the Southeast neighborhoods. Frankly, this is a new beginning for San Francisco.”

Economic Impact Will Be in the Billions

In July, the City Controller released an economic impact report on the redevelopment that found that, at buildout, the project is expected to increase the city’s property tax base by approximately $11 billion, contribute $6.4 to $6.6 billion annually to San Francisco’s Gross City Product, and create up to 12,000 new direct jobs and 13,000 new indirect or “induced” jobs.

On August 3, Mayor Newsom signed the 12 pieces of legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors that gave final approval for the redevelopment project. They include the various ordinances adopting amendments to the Planning, Zoning, Building, and other codes and the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) findings for the project.

When the Planning Commission and Redevelopment Commission approved the Environmental Impact Report for the project in June, commissioners who voted against the EIR raised concerns by the local community about health and environmental impacts of the toxic waste buried at the site by the U.S. Navy, and the naturally occurring asbestos dust stirred up by grading and excavation of the area. The Navy has invested more than $700 million in the effort to clean up the former industrial military base. Maxwell pointed out that the U.S. government is responsible for the cleanup of toxic waste, but that the City had put in place strict regulations on health and safety and worker exposure. “We put the Department of Public Health in charge,” she said. “The job was shut down in the past when there were problems with dust stirred up by construction and excavation because the regulations need to be enforced.”

Supervisor Maxwell said that the Board of Supervisors is working to make sure local people are hired. Maxwell said that the alliance between labor and the community would strengthen the unions, and that she hoped the alliance would be permanent and ongoing. “Labor should remember that inner city San Franciscans helped get this project approved and it will benefit the unions as well as the community,” she said. “People in the community and labor can see they are part of something bigger. Labor is helped by the efforts of a diverse Bayview-Hunters Point community. Don’t forget what we can do together.

“We have the rare opportunity to achieve the great work of a number of community members who since 1974 have dreamed of how to fill a hole left in our neighborhood,” she said after the Supervisors voted. “There’s a certain fear this will bring change to the Bayview. Well, I say, ‘Yes,’ and it’s about time.”