The Hunters Point Shipyard — and two candidates’ histories with it — became a point of contention at a Tuesday night District 10 forum: Dion-Jay “DJ” Brookter suggested that fellow candidate Theo Ellington had only sued the company Tetra Tech, which has admitted to falsifying work on the Shipyard cleanup project, for his own financial gain.
Not so, perceived frontrunner Ellington said: It was Brookter who was too close to Lennar, the developer tied to the troubled megaproject.
“You cannot hold someone accountable when your former corporate organization has taken over $10 million from Lennar over the past decade,” Ellington said. “That’s not accountability”
J.R. Eppler, the third candidate present, opted to stay out of the exchange and went right into his answer about focusing on cleaning up the Shipyard.
The District 10 forum was otherwise straightforward. Ellington, the executive director at Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House; Brookter, a former chief executive officer at Young Community Developers; and Eppler, a small business attorney, are the three top candidates. They took the stage alongside Mission Local managing editor and moderator for the evening, Joe Eskenazi, at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House.
District 10, which consists of Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Sunnydale and Candlestick Point, will elect the successor to the termed-out Supervisor Shamann Walton on Nov. 3. Around 70 people attended Tuesday’s forum — it was a packed venue, and staff added chairs while some in the audience stood in doorways.
Eskenazi asked candidates whether or not the troubled Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was safe and whether they would live there. Tetra Tech, a former Navy contractor, last week agreed to a $57 million settlement stemming from its admitted 2018 falsification of soil samples in the toxic and irradiated former Navy yard
Ellington says it is safe, and he does live in the Shipyard —in Parcel A specifically, where Lennar has built hundreds of units of housing. He said he believes his sector to be safer than others.
“We also need to figure out a mechanism for retesting and regular reporting,” Ellington said. “It is a sorry excuse that we had to wait almost a year for results around plutonium that was recently found on the site.”
Brookter disagreed and emphasized listening to residents as a means for accountability. Eppler said the real problem at the Shipyard is a lack of transparency and trust in the process.
“What we need to do is we need to look over the shoulder of the Navy,” Eppler said. “We need to fund the independent review of test results to ensure that work is now proceeding correctly and is moving in a timely fashion.”
Beyond the Shipyard, Ellington was keen on putting forward what he called a “Community and Economic Development Plan,” a roadmap to align transportation, housing and industry goals — a necessary step as, he claims, the neighborhood is poised to double or triple in population over the next decade. He would also aim to revitalize the Third Street corridor and bring back the 10-Townsend bus. Though clapping was discouraged, Ellington told audience members they could clap for the 10, and they did.
“We can have a housing-job linkage that actually works for the southeast side of San Francisco,” Ellington said, adding that, south of Cesar Chavez Street, the city is still using a redevelopment plan from the 1970s.
Eskenazi referenced polls in which would-be visitors said perceptions of crime and disorder kept them away from Third Street and asked the candidates if they felt Third Street was safe. All three agreed it was.
Eppler, for his part, said he plans to be on Third Street eating barbecue for his birthday on Saturday. So, yes, he thinks it is safe, but says that perceptions of it are “tough.” Eppler said that the corridor should take ownership of a potential Arts and Cultural District and focus on mixed-use housing because there’s “no life” on the street.
“That needs to be made a more 365-day-a-year experience,” Eppler said. “And the way you do that is by better building and programming a public space.”
Brookter also agreed that Third Street is safe, but there’s work to do — like building up infrastructure and connecting it to other parts of the city with better transportation. “We need to make sure that those small businesses have what it is that they need in order to succeed,” he said. Ellington — who said he is the only candidate who has lived and worked on the corridor — said that plans regarding Third Street should address smaller segments, as it’s a long street and the needs and conditions vary from block to block.
Throughout the evening, the three candidates found areas of agreement: All denounced Flock, the surveillance camera system under national scrutiny that is widespread in San Francisco. And all said that the recent $9 million settlement at Alice Griffith Apartments, where Mission Local has long been investigating conditions and tenant complaints, is not enough. Tenants said the same to Mission Local, wondering why they were not remunerated, and whether fixes would really be made.
Toward the tail end of the forum, each candidate put forth a question to one of his competitors. Both Brookter and Eppler took the chance to poke holes in Ellington’s campaign. Eppler first asked about Ellington’s work as a lobbyist: “Given what we knew then about how [Realpage] could hurt people who are just trying to meet their basic needs, why did you agree to represent them?”
Ellington admitted to not necessarily agreeing with some of his lobbyist clients, like Realpage. The company, which critics argued allowed landlords to collude and drive up rents, was banned by the city. Ellington said he applauded that move, even though he was the one to set up meetings with city officials. But the good news, Ellington said, is that all his meetings are publicly disclosed, so everyone can see who he’s met with and what was discussed.
“I don’t shy away from my ability to bring all sides together for a conversation,” Ellington said. “This is why I have a broad range of support on my campaign.”
Brookter kept at it: “Why should District 10 voters believe you will put the interests of working people ahead of the powerful corporate interests you have long been affiliated with?”
“I have a longstanding history of fighting for what is right for this district,” Ellington said in response.
