San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee today announced a package of nearly $325 million in money from bonds approved by city voters in recent years that he said will help the city continue to improve its infrastructure.
The package includes $73 million from a bond approved in 2008 to beautify neighborhood parks, $183 million from a bond approved in 2010 to renovate and build new public safety facilities and $69 million from a bond approved by voters last month to improve the city’s streets.
“All of this is important to the infrastructure of the city,” Lee said.
“It keeps a very strong promise to the city … these projects will get done on time and on budget,” he said.
The money for the parks is funding improvements at seven parks, including Mission Dolores Park and the Cabrillo, Fulton and Raymond Kimball playgrounds, and waterfront parks and open space including the Brannan Street Wharf Park and the Bayview Gateway.
The public safety bond, which voters passed in June 2010, is funding the construction of a new Public Safety Building in Mission Bay and repairs to 18 fire stations around the city, among other improvements.
The streets bond, which will be used to repave streets and eliminate potholes around San Francisco, as well as repair deteriorating bridges and overpasses, will initially be used on streets including the Great Highway, Lombard Street, Presidio Avenue, Fulton Street and Bayshore Boulevard.
Lee is also requesting a $4.4 million appropriation for the Port of San Francisco to continue work on a project to build a cruise terminal at Pier 27 before San Francisco hosts the America’s Cup sailing race in 2013.
The cruise terminal proposal will be in front of the city’s Planning Commission on Thursday for a hearing on certification of the final environmental impact report on the project.
The projects are expected to create about 2,100 construction-related jobs in the next year.
“That, to me, is a holiday gift,” Lee said.
Supervisor Scott Wiener, one of three supervisors on hand for the
announcement of the bond package, said the projects were especially welcome to people in the construction industry, who he said are “at Depression-era levels of unemployment.”
The projects are part of the city’s 10-year capital plan, which also includes other infrastructure projects such as the Transbay Transit Center and the rebuilding of San Francisco General Hospital.
For more information about the capital planning program, visit www.onesanfrancisco.org.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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