This time, Western Addition residents were not going to be passive about the project. The fight for civil rights had brought a community consciousness to many African Americans. Many had just been displaced as part of project WAA-1, and were now being asked to move again at a time when the "Housing Famine," which had existed in San Francisco for decades, was intensifying (Duggar 1961, 130). Too many people were fighting for too few apartments. In 1969, the Bureau of Social Science Research found only 200 affordable vacancies in the entire city (Hartman 1984, 75). This is at a time when 6,149 housing units and 2,459 hotel units were being demolished in area WAA-2, 2,726 units of War Housing were being demolished around the city, and as Hartman describes in his book The Transformation of San Francisco, thousands of residents were being displaced as part of the Yerba Buena Project (UCFSF 1963, 27, B-3).

Groups such as the Western Addition Community Organization, the Tenants and Owners in Opposition to Redevelopment, and the Western Addition District Council, began to fight against the SFRA to stop the relocation of residents and bring a community voice into the process. Subsequently, redevelopment critics were appointed to SFRA posts. One of these redevelopment critics was Reverend Hamilton, a black Western Addition resident, who was appointed to the position of WAA-2 project director. The community was eventually able to get a court injunction to stop the displacement of residents until an adequate housing plan was accepted. Eventually, a consent decree was signed requiring the SFRA to provide 1,500 to 1,800 low-rent housing units by 1973 to replace units destroyed. In reality, this was too little too late. Ultimately, the SFRA never built the replacement housing; they insisted that San Francisco Housing Authority units in the area were acceptable. This displays how community organizations were only able to slow, not to substantially change, the Western Addition plans (Hartman 1984, 60-75).

The major redevelopment projects took many years to finish, and the result was not the revitalized new neighborhood the City had envisioned. By 1973, the Geary Boulevard work was complete, but as part of the public-private partnership, the City was still trying to find developers for property in area WAA-2. It wasn't until the late 1980s that the large town house and apartment high-rise complex named the Fillmore Center was constructed, and Safeway did not open until 1983, a generation after the area was demolished (Hartman 1984, 334).

The 47,000 square feet Safeway store was the first superstore (bakery, delicatessen, pharmacy and floral dept) for the corporation. As well as the superstore, Safeway Incorporated constructed 71,000 sq. feet of commercial/office building on Fillmore Street. The development of the superstore was made feasible due to the incentives of the Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG). Created by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (amend in 1977), the UDAG provides federal grants to economically distressed cities to stimulate industrial and commercial development which revitalizes local, economies, improves the tax bases, provides jobs in the area of high unemployment, and creates or retains business activity in urban areas. The UDAG federal provided funds may be used to finance elements of a project which cannot feasibly be financed by the private sector but, without which, the project would not proceed (SFRA Factbook, p.7).

The San Francisco Redevelopment Program1987 Fact Book assessed the value of the land and tax revenues before and after the development of the WAA1 and WAA2 projects Land Value. The value of the land of the WAA1 track increased by nearly fifteen fold. The land within WAA1 was valued at $11,396 prior to redevelopment and $180,736 after redevelopment. The value of the land of the WAA2 track increased by over five fold. The land within WAA2 was valued at $120,916 prior to redevelopment and $760,162 post redevelopment (SFRA Factbook, p.7).

The tax revenues also increased substantially. The tax revenues, based on the current rate 1.1 per 100 assessed value, from the WAA1 track also increased fifteen fold. The tax revenues from the WAA1was valued at $126 prior to redevelopment and $1,880 post redevelopment. The tax revenues from the WAA2 track also increased by over five fold. The tax revenues from the WAA2 track was valued at $1,342 prior to redevelopment and $7,096 post redevelopment (SFRA Factbook, p.7).

The increase in values does not represent the overall health of the Fillmore community. Large businesses, such as the Safeway Superstore, AMC Kabuki 8 movie theatre, and the Nihonmachi center provides an increased tax base but were not indicative of the Fillmore Community as a whole. The increase in tax revenue was advantageous to the SFRA, as described by the tax increment financing amendment to the CRA.

The Fillmore Today

Frank Jordan formed the Mayor's Fillmore/Western Addition Economic Development Task Force (Task Force) to Advise the Mayor and SFRA. The objectives adopted by the Task Force were to: empower African American to establish businesses in the Western Addition, to aid in the establishment of said business by loans and cash infusion, to ensure the employment of citizens of the Western Addition in new and existing businesses, and to provide expert technical assistance similar to the U.S. Small Business Administration's Volunteer Executive Corps (Jefferson 1994, 8-9). At the time the Task Force was developed a consultant, The Jefferson Company, prepared an economic assessment of the local area. They found that:
-The Lower Fillmore district was highly accessible by both public and private transportation
-The Lower Fillmore district was a traditional retail area with potential for becoming a successful
commercial area due to the success of business activity on Upper Fillmore and the Nihonmachi Mall. Although the inclusion of the Lower Fillmore area in this successful commercial activity is impeded by the physical barrier created by the Geary Boulevard Bridge
-The leasing trends within the Lower Fillmore district were district were inconsistent with the Intent of WAA-2, economic development and the creation of business and economic opportunities. The increase in fast-food establishment inhabiting the first-floor office space has resulted in a reduction of opportunities for a community-based business to flourish and sense of community identity to develop -There were remnants of the Lower Fillmore district's cultural heritage resurfacing, identifying a destination area for music enthusiasts (Jefferson 1994, 2-3).

During our observations in the fall of 2000, parcels of vacant property and empty storefronts could be found along lower Fillmore Street mixed in with newer, out of scale buildings. This is in stark contrast to the building boom that was transforming the rest of San Francisco. While the City did contribute at least $100 million (nearly $550 million in today's dollars) of public money in the area, other sources of investment are necessary to complete revitalization of the district (UCFSF 1963, B-2; SFRA 1964, 29).

The City did take the Jefferson Company consultancy's advice in designating the area a "Historic Jazz District" in order to attract businesses and tourists into the area (Jefferson 1994, 11). In Mayor Brown's 1998 State of the City address he announced that $100 million in city bonds would be floated to help the area and that the Blue Note Jazz Club would be opening, along with another movie theater, on the vacant land between Ellis and Eddy Streets (Brown 1998, 5). But now, almost three years later, construction has not begun.

Rassales, a popular Ethiopian restaurant and jazz bar on California and Divisadero, expanded to the Fillmore because it is one of the key anchor points for the new Jazz Preservation District. With the help of a sizeable loan from the city's Redevelopment Agency, more than $1 million was invested to transform the location at 1534 Fillmore Street (just south of Geary) into a nightclub. The space changed from a neighborhood meat and fish market into a lounge, nightclub, and restaurant with more than 6,000 square feet (Jazz West 2001). But Fillmore Street is still distressed.

Why, after 44 years and hundreds of millions of dollars, is the area still in dire straits? It is simply because the SFRA adopted a vision that was based on the assumption that you can build your way out of a bad neighborhood. And they were unwilling to accept that their presumptions were flawed and prejudiced. Although on the surface they claimed to be acting for the common good, the SFRA sought to push out the undesirable minorities in the Western Addition, in order to hold up property values in surrounding neighborhoods, and provide an opportunity to expand office space along the Van Ness and Geary Corridors at the expense of African American businesses.

The SFRA had opportunities to promote the free flow of pedestrians along a north-south line by using the space above the subterranean Geary Boulevard as a park. This type of project would have also helped to expand recreational opportunities, as described in the plan for WAA-1. The fact that they did not pursue this type of project is further evidence that the City and the SFRA had no intention of rebuilding a vibrant African American neighborhood in the Fillmore. The City and the SFRA were caught in a web of institutionalized racism that allowed them to believe that the Western Addition project was good for the city and that plans were based on objective, race-neutral determinants. They were blind to the flaws and lack of community involvement in their plans, which led to a failed project.

References

Broussard, Albert. (1993). Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.

Brown, Willie. (1998). "State of the City Address." [WWW document]. URL http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/mayor/soc_text.htm. October 4, 2000.

Duggar, George. (1961). "The New Renewal: The proceedings of a Civic Seminar on the Next Big Tasks in Urban Renewal." Berkeley: The University of California, Berkeley.

Fure-Slocum, Eric. (1990). "Emerging Urban Redevelopment Policies: Post-World War II Contests in San Francisco and Los Angeles." San Francisco: San Francisco State University Master's Thesis Collection.

Hartman, Chester. (1984). The Transformation of San Francisco. Totowa: Rowman and Allanheld Publishers. Jazz West. [WWW document]. URL http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/archi ves/rasselas.html. February 25,2001.

The Jefferson Company. (1994). "The Lower Fillmore Retail Development Plan; Produced for the Mayor's Fillmore/Western Addition Economic Development Task Force." San Francisco: The Jefferson Company.