Instead, the Board of Supervisors will push any vote on the deal off into the new year.

Three supervisors – David Chiu, David Campos and Mark Farrell - as well as Ken Rich from Mayor Ed Lee’s office have been in intense talks with Sutter Health’s West Bay president, Mike Cohill, and Warren Browner, CEO of the Sutter-affiliated California Pacific Medical Center. Mediating it all is Lou Girardo, the wealthy millionaire who co-owns Boudin Bakery and once sat on the Police Commission.

The proposal to build a 555-bed hospital on Van Ness Avenue hit the skids this year after it became clear that the hospital behemoth couldn’t commit to keeping the struggling St. Luke’s Hospital on Cesar Chavez Avenue open over the long term. The hospital deal is scheduled to be considered at Tuesday’s board meeting, but sources close to the talks said the item will be continued until next year; negotiations will continue all this week.

- Marisa Lagos

Sounding off: Christina Olague isn’t going out quietly.

The District Five supervisor, who lost her re-election bid last month, went on a bit of a rant last week during a committee hearing on a resolution that would help create a policy on domestic violence for city employees. Olague, who received widespread criticism for her vote to keep Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff, linked political opposition to her re-election campaign by the anti-domestic violence community to race issues and said she has been the victim of bullying by that group and Mayor Ed Lee.

“I recognize bullying when I am being bullied, and as a working-class woman of color, I feel that I have been exploited and bullied extensively by this committee,” she said, referring to an independent expenditure committee founded in the final days before the election to oppose her run. The group raised more than $100,000 and ran ads attacking her for her Mirkarimi vote. “I think it’s very unfortunate that this political action committee that was composed primarily of white women who have not directly worked and intervened with victims of domestic violence have been able to exploit a woman like myself from the working class who is an underrepresented minority.”

The committee was funded by Gayle Conway, wife of angel investor Ron Conway, and Linda Voight, wife of real estate investor Thomas Coates, but headed by Andrea Shorter, also a woman of color. Olague will be replaced by London Breed, who is African-American.

Olague said she hopes that in the future “the number of women of color associated with this issue will increase.”

Supervisors John Avalos - who also voted to keep Mirkarimi as sheriff – and Eric Mar, who did not, both said they supported her comments. Women’s groups have complained that they were harassed and bullied for opposing Mirkarimi’s bid to keep his job following his arrest last January on suspicion of domestic violence and later guilty plea to falsely imprisoning his wife.

- Marisa Lagos

A new plan: The San Francisco Planning Commission OKd a new way forward for development in the western South of Market neighborhood, voting unanimously to adopt a plan that has been hotly debated for years.

The plan, which still needs approval from the Board of Supervisors, calls for adding housing to an area north of Harrison Street, while a second section south of Harrison would be reserved for commercial use.

The creation of the Folsom Street Neighborhood Commercial District would effectively make Folsom Street the “ceremonial center” of the neighborhood, plan architects say.

Entertainment has been a contentious issue in the planning process, with some club owners concerned that adding housing could threaten existing nightlife spots. Supporters of the plan said entertainment would become fully permitted under new zoning for the 11th Street Corridor, which was changed from residential to mixed-use office.

Jim Meko, the chair of the citizens’ task force that has been working on the plan since 2004, said the goal is to make western SoMa a “more complete neighborhood.”

“We took a fresh approach to zoning and it made better sense,” he said. “It’s the most comprehensive and detailed neighborhood plan that the commission has ever dealt with.”

- Neal J. Riley

This week’s news

Monday: The Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee will discuss whether to ban smoking at certain outdoor events. The meeting begins at 1 p.m.

Tuesday: Mayor Ed Lee will make an appearance at the Board of Supervisors for question time, where Supervisor David Chiu will ask when the city will produce a report looking at how city laws impact small businesses and Supervisor John Avalos plans to ask what the mayor is doing to create living-wage jobs to prevent the loss of the city’s middle class. The meeting begins at 2 p.m.

E-mail: cityinsider@sfchroncile.com Twitter: @SFCityInsider

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Vote-on-S-F-hospitals-likely-in-2013-4104095.php

Up to two people will be allowed to live in the micro-apartments, which legislation sponsor Supervisor Scott Wiener said would help those who want to live alone but can’t afford most of the studio apartments on the market.

“To confront San Francisco’s rising housing affordability crisis, we must be creative and flexible,” Wiener said in a statement. “Allowing the construction of these units is one tool to alleviate the pressure that is making vacancies scarce and driving rental prices out of the reach of many who wish to live here.”

But for the legislation to pass, Wiener had to agree to cap the number of micro-apartments at 375. Under the legislation, the City Planning Department will analyze the effects of the new units once 325 of them are built.

“Family-sized housing is important and its development should be encouraged,” Wiener said. “But many – including seniors, students and transition age youth – do not need as much space or cannot afford it. These units will be a viable alternative for those who don’t want to live with roommates.”

The SoMa neighborhood and other densely populated city locations would be the likely location for the new units, which include a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents SoMa, said that neighborhood’s population could increase by 32 percent as a result of unlimited micro-apartments.

The cap seemed to satisfy skeptics who say that micro-units are not the solution to the city’s housing problem. Supervisor David Campos, who supported the measure, said he visited one of the proposed units and was struck by how expensive rent would be for such a small space.

Concern about rents

The micro-units are estimated to go for $1,300 to $1,500 a month. The average studio apartment in San Francisco rents at $2,075 a month, according to real estate service RealFacts.

“It’s not a lot of space for $1,500,” Campos said, adding that he was concerned it could raise rents across the city. “If 220 square feet is going to rent for $1,500, what does that do for the rest of the places in San Francisco?”

Supervisor John Avalos was the lone vote against the proposal, arguing that the city should be more focused on keeping families from moving.

“This doesn’t make a lot of sense for the San Francisco I know,” he said.

Mayor Ed Lee, who still must sign the measure, told reporters after his monthly question-time session before the board that he hadn’t taken a position on micro-apartments yet.

“I’m always concerned whenever people are changing the standards, but I do think there might be good policy reasons,” he said.

When the Planning Commission reluctantly approved a cap on the number of units last week, some commissioners worried that limitations would confuse developers. But tenant and affordable housing advocates said the cap was crucial to their support.

“We still have concerns, but this way, the impact would be softened if those problems came to fruition,” said Sara Shortt, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco.

Looking at tenants

Ted Gullickson, director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, said he hoped the Planning Department study conducted before the cap is reached would shed light on who is moving into the units.

“If they become urban crash pads for high-tech employees, then we fear they could have a gentrifying effect on the neighborhoods as they get built,” he said. “We do have a strong need for family-size housing as well as affordable housing, and we have limited development sites in San Francisco.”

Neal J. Riley is a San Francisco staff writer. E-mail: nriley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @realdealneal

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-supervisors-back-micro-apartments-4055493.php