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July 22, 2004

Downtown project, marijuana measure also win approval

Council puts tax increase for anti-crime plan on ballot

Its 7-1 approval of the plan came during a marathon meeting before adjourning until Sept. 7. The flurry of activity included approving a major downtown development and placing on the November ballot an initiative to largely decriminalize marijuana.

The anti-crime tax measure, passed shortly before midnight Tuesday, left many people who wanted either more cops or more social programs dissatisfied. But most said they could live with the proposal, which will need the approval of two-thirds of voters to pass.

"I'm actually happy with the measure,'' said Councilman Danny Wan, who helped craft the compromise. "I think it's the best thing for this city. We clearly need more police, and I think the (social) programs we will fund really reflect the research about how to get at crime."

The measure will raise $19.9 million to hire 63 officers by increasing the parcel tax on single-family homes by $88, apartments by $60 per unit and commercial properties by $45 for each space equivalent to a family residence. It also raises the parking tax from 10 to 18.5 percent.

The final version will provide $9.5 million for police, $6.4 million for violence prevention and $4 million to restore cuts to the Fire Department. If tax coffers grow because of new construction, Wan said, the additional money will finance anti-violence efforts, which include subsidizing after-school programs for at-risk kids, counseling and training for parolees from state prison and first-time offenders on probation.

"This really targets the sources of violence in our city,'' Wan said. "These are effective programs that will work."

The council rejected a motion by Councilwomen Nancy Nadel and Desley Brooks to provide equal funding to police and social programs. Nadel then joined seven other council members voting for the compromise measure, while Brooks was the only "no" vote.

Earlier, the council gave final approval to the Uptown Project, which will add nearly 1,000 apartments and condominiums and several stores and restaurants near the 19th Street BART Station. The council voted 7-0, with Brooks abstaining, to give $61 million in redevelopment funds to the project.

The Uptown Project is the centerpiece of Mayor Jerry Brown's "10K plan" to add 10,000 new downtown residents and enliven the city's entertainment, food and retail offerings. The southern reaches of downtown, especially around Jack London Square, have boomed with new lofts and condominiums, but development has come slowly in the "uptown" area north of 14th Street and City Hall.

The project is designed to help jump-start other, unsubsidized projects nearby, said Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who has spent more than a decade trying to encourage development just north of City Hall.

"The reality is that for a project like this, you need a subsidy,'' he said.

Under the plan, a wedge of land between Telegraph and San Pablo avenues that is home to parking lots, auto repair shops and residence hotels would be cleared. In their place, Forest City Enterprises will build more than 1,000 dwellings, 14,500 square feet of retail and a 25,000-square-foot park.

The approval came despite a last-ditch push by opponents, including preservationists and people upset by the project's subsidy. The project enjoyed support from labor unions, business interests, housing advocates and groups like Urban Ecology and Greenbelt Alliance.

"This area has been blighted for many, many years,'' said Nadel, whose district includes the development. "It is an exciting and vital project that includes an uptown park, retail and affordable housing.''

The council voted 6-2 to let voters decide in November whether to make small-scale marijuana enforcement the lowest priority for police and create rules for taxing and regulating the drug should it ever be legalized.

The cannabis measure had already gained 32,037 signatures from Oakland voters, far more than the 19,700 -- 10 percent of all voters -- needed to qualify the measure for a citywide ballot.

E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com.

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