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May 5, 2005 (SF Examiner)
Association takes Aim at Geary plan
Staff Writer
Businesses and community leaders
heard a plea against the proposed Bus Rapid Transit plan for Geary
Boulevard at the annual recognition lunch of the Geary Boulevard
Merchants and Property Owners Association at San Francisco's Cathedral
Hill Hotel on Wednesday.
About 350 attendees gathered to recognize businesses and community
leaders and police officers at the 1,400-member business group's
60th anniversary.
"Geary Boulevard is under attack," association President
David Heller said. The Bus Rapid Transit plan would dedicate one
lane in each direction on Geary for Muni buses.
Heller said 55,000 cars travel on Geary. "Where will they go
when half the street capacity is eliminated?" Onto neighborhood
streets, he said.
Moreover, "Hundreds of existing parking spaces will be lost.
It will be devastating to the economy," Heller said. He asked
member businesses for their help and support in stopping the proposal.
Mayor Gavin Newsom didn't address the Rapid Transit Plan issue,
instead focusing on business.
"The economy is growing," Newsom said, adding that San
Francisco has transitioned from the port and manufacturing city
it was between the 1850s and 1950s into a city of small businesses.
"The days of a B of A with 5,000 to 10,000 employees are behind
us in San Francisco," Newsom said. While he laments the loss
of those jobs, the unemployment rate has still declined from 7 percent
during the dot-com bust to 4.1 percent today - employment driven
mostly by small businesses.
Businesses and their owners who were honored by the association
this year include: Shlomit Heller of the Beauty Network and Nizar
Awadalla of Nizario's Pizza, both of whom started their businesses
in 1986; Sarkis and Narine Vartanian, who've been in business at
Torgsyn Pharmacy since 1996; and Jack Rhiel and Charles Broderick,
who've operated Big O Tires since 1999.
Recognized with community service provider awards were Jon Bernstein,
a producer and director of community access cable programming at
Comcast Corp., and Paul Kozakiewicz, editor and publisher of the
Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon. Four Richmond Station police
officers were honored: Troy Carrasco, John Fergus, Charles Wong
and Willion Wong.
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