Editor,
As a longtime South San Francisco resident in the middle of the battle to save our Municipal Services Building to repurpose it for community benefit, I tire of writing about it and I am sure that many tire of reading about it. As many housing advocates tie the preservation of this building with blocking the construction of “deeply affordable homes,” I’d like to share some important facts regarding the MSB.
In a possibly illegal act, the parcel was rezoned and placed in the housing element in a swap of a functioning $27 million facility for some dirt lots. There were more sensible alternatives. No private sector, market rate developer wants to build on the property because it won’t “pencil out.” The only way to build on the site is with taxpayers covering all funding shortfalls. A city funded, $30,054 BAE study, revealed between $47 million to $85 million in unfunded liabilities after subsidies. This was concealed from the residents. Those outside subsidies open the units to all applicants by lottery, making no guarantee that any South San Francisco resident will benefit. Any housing there will require infrastructure, maintenance and management borne by the taxpayer because public housing produces no property tax revenue. Bottom line, South San Francisco is already massively in debt due to reckless spending and there is no money to build housing on the MSB site. While it is admirable to advocate for low-income housing, it needs to be financed with money, not good intentions. There is no justification to sacrifice the MSB.
Cory David
South San Francisco
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