Message from the President

Gregg Wilcox, President, DTNA

Just when I thought this job would slow down, Trader Joe's released its traffic study for a proposed new store in the Triangle. This new news caught everyone off-guard. At the July 2004 DTNA neighborhood meeting. Trader Joe's made a presentation on the proposed store, which, judging from the comments, was not well received by the audience. We thought Trader Joe's management had gotten the message. Apparently not.

Upon receipt of this new news. Supervisor Bevan Dufty convened a meeting with Trader Joe's senior management, the Planning Department, and representatives of local neighborhood organizations, including DTNA. I expressed our major concerns regarding the impact to traffic and parking in the Triangle. Other neighborhood organizations expressed concern regarding the impact to locally owned businesses in the Upper Market area. Trader Joe's heard what we said.

In the last newsletter, I discussed the dog play area proposed for Duboce Park. The neighborhood task force co-sponsored by DTNA and Supervisor Dufty completed its recommendations for consideration by the Department of Recreation and Parks. Supervisor Dufty, along with Supervisor Mirkarimi, will be scheduling a neighborhood meeting to present these recommendations and obtain input from the residents. As we said at the start of the task force, this is about compromise. Everyone cannot get everything they want. The Dog Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for July has been cancelled, so the soonest this issue could be heard by that committee would be September.

California Pacific Medical Center has finally received approval from the state to proceed with the construction of the seismic upgrade in the north tower on the Davies campus. The initial work will start on the in-side of the building, with the exterior work starting later this year. CPMC has established a construction hotline phone number, (415) 600-2996 (option No. 2) to provide neighbors with the updated construction activities. If you have questions or comments, you can contact CPMC Community Relations directly at (415) 600-2982.

The Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association and Buena Vista Neighborhood Association joint neighborhood task force continues to meet on a regular basis with CPMC to address community concerns related to the design of the new medical office building, which will be built on the corner of Duboce Avenue and Noe Street. CPMC, as part of its community outreach, made a presentation to the community in the middle of June. The start of construction for this new facility is at least one year away.

Gregg Wilcox, President DTNA