I’ve always thought San Francisco could use a Displacement and Neighborhood Impact Agency. I’ve argued that every major development, tax break, etc. should require not just an Environmental Impact Report but a Displacement Impact Report: How many San Franciscans will lose their homes, and how many nonprofits and small businesses will be forced out by the project? That way we could look at the tradeoffs: Is the Twitter tax break worth a few hundred evictions and commercial displacements?
So now, at least on the web, we have one. And the folks who have created it estimate that the fines Google and the other companies with private buses don’t pay for stopping in Muni bus stops (at $271 a pop for ordinary folks) are equal to $1 billon: There are more than 200 Muni stops that get used a total of 7,100 times a day. Add that up over two years (2011-2013) and you get a lot of cash. (more after the jump)
Included in the Displacement and Neighborhood Impact Report, there should be a section devoted to how many years the current residents living in the potentially impacted neighborhood will be “negatively” impacted by all the construction, reduced parking, early morning/evening noise (from jack-hammers, bull-dozers, and cement trucks/mixers running for hours throughout the day), and the general quality of life lessened from a less peaceful existence by the streets that will be more congested and comings/goings of more strangers that don’t want to spend their money where they are working but unfortunately where they are living (speaks to our local hire and folks who’ve left that want to come back but can’t afford to).