City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco

3. The Assault on South of Market

44 3 The Assault on South of Market In 1961, with Justin Herman firmly in the saddle, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency began the official assault on South of Market by filing for a federal urban renewal survey and planning grant. While outlining a redevelopment study area slightly larger than that in Ben Swig’s 1955 plan, the application moved the site closer to Market Street and also omitted the segment the City Planning Department had identified as the most blighted blocks. Changing the project area boundaries was neither capricious nor scienti fic: The agency determined and gerrymandered the boundaries in response to real estate values and the demands of the politically influential. As the Wall Street Journal later noted (May 27, 1970): It’s clear that the redevelopment agency considerably broadened the meaning of the designation “blight” in order to achieve the current boundaries. Ironically, the project now bears a remarkable resemblance to a plan first suggested in 1954 by Benjamin Swig, prominent Democrat and owner of the prestigious Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. However, Mr. Swig’s “San Francisco Prosperity Plan” was rejected by the redevelopment and planning agency in 1956 on the grounds that it “perverted” the basic reason for redeveloping the area. The revised boundaries were well suited to benefit adjacent owners, whose land values could be expected to skyrocket as a result of the renewal project. These beneficiaries included some of the more powerful and influential individuals and concerns in the city: Ben Swig, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph (later renamed Pacific Telesis), Standard Oil (later renamed Chevron), Litton Systems, United California Bank, the Emporium, the The Assault on South of Market / 45 Hearst Corporation (then publisher of the Examiner), the San Francisco Chronicle, and others. Noteworthy is the case of the Emporium department store, then located on the south side of Market between Fourth and Fifth, adjacent to the new redevelopment area. Emporium secretary-treasurer Walter Kaplan also chaired the Redevelopment Agency board and was president of the City-sponsored Fifth and Mission Garage Corporation. Under the redevelopment plan, Mr. Kaplan’s garage was to expand to Fourth and Mission, to better serve Mr. Kaplan’s Emporium customers, via land made available through Mr. Kaplan’s Redevelopment Agency. The application sailed through the Board of Supervisors and on to the federal government. The Housing and Home Finance Agency in October 1962 approved a $600,000 planning grant.With federal moneys in hand and Swig’s conception of a sports-office-convention complex in mind, all survey and planning efforts were directed toward total clearance. The Swig family reentered the YBC picture that same year when Ben’s son Melvin became part-owner, with Albert Schlesinger, of the city’s professional basketball and hockey teams. Melvin Swig hired the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to draw up schematics of a revised Yerba Buena Center plan, focused around an indoor sports arena and convention center.According to Swig,“I was after Justin to get something going arenawise and conventionwise. . . . I went to see Justin with a plan for a sports arena in Yerba Buena. And he liked the idea very much.”1 SFRA had hired its own planning consultant firm, Livingston and Blayney, and they maintained close contacts with the business community. As the February 21, 1964, Chronicle reported, “The consultants planned closely with civic leaders and businessmen, many of whom have already expressed interest in the proposals and will serve on a committee created by [Mayor] Shelley to evaluate it.” There was important input from outside consultants, but Justin Herman ’s general strategy was to keep all planning within his own agency and wherever possible circumvent the City Planning Commission, whose staff could not be relied upon for properly supportive studies.Although California law directs the City Planning Commission to decide project boundaries and devise a preliminary plan, then–planning director James McCarthy described his agency’s role in YBC planning as only “the tail of the kite.” Incredibly , the commission first saw the YBC redevelopment plan upon its completion when SFRA asked for the planners’ approval. The commission expressed strong resentment at SFRA for having bypassed the City’s official planning staff and taking its approval for granted.2 Agency assistant director Robert Rumsey later told the commission, “I respectfully suggest 46 / Chapter 3 that you leave the decision to the Board of...