South San Francisco, CA November 25, 2023 by Cynthia Marcopulos, SSF Citizens Coalition
I again appeal to you to preserve the Municipal Services Building as a senior/multi-use community building for the residents of our fair city, and for the visitors from across the Bay Area who have celebrated special occasions at this historical building.
Having reviewed every code inspection report since 1969, and knowing that the MSB has been maintained and upgraded at taxpayer expense, with only a meager $12.87 yearly property tax assessment, the benefits of preserving the MSB are several, to name a few:
It can serve as an overflow for classes and activities of “the Campus”;
It can be a place for seniors to gather and socialize;
It can house the Adult Daycare program;
It can house the city’s childcare program;
It can house the Historical Society which has outgrown its current location on Chestnut;
It can house the Cultural Arts Commission, offering rental space for local artists;
It can be a teen center for our youth;
It can be a family – moms and dads with their infants – group location.
A senior center for our robust 24% of South City’s senior population, the former school on Magnolia, assuring you it is not seismically fit to today’s standards, is old, dilapidated, not ADA compliant if the elevator breaks, with only 26 parking spaces, and serving mainly the Adult Daycare, does not serve the westside neighborhoods or our senior population at large. Sadly, our seniors are participating in other senior centers, in San Bruno for example, and therefore must travel the distance to enjoy healthy social interaction and joyful experiences elsewhere rather than in our own city.
Not only were the residents deceived by then Mayor Addiego in 2016 at the State of the City address stating the MSB was not a seismically fit building, yet it was in full service for the Park and Recreation Department allowing classes to flourish, the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Police Communications Department serving the cities of South San Francisco, Brisbane and Pacifica for over the past seven years — common sense dictates that any construction is built to code for the year it is constructed. As an aside, but most importantly, the MSB had no damage during the 1988 Loma Prieta earthquake that devasted the Bay Area, and during the huge storm in the Spring of this year, the council meeting continued as the back-up generators kicked in, while many parts of our city were in darkness for hours.
We have a history we embrace with our 50-year history of the MSB – From our middle-class Industrial roots to becoming the Biotech Capital of the World; the first woman councilmember Roberta Teglia was sworn into office here; Congressman Leo Ryan served as a City Councilman; Congressman Kevin Mullin served also as a City Councilman; Congresswoman Jackie Speier kicked off her run for Congress here at the Municipal Services Building; yearly, the Nutcracker Ballet practices here; our aging senior population use it for dance therapy and socialization at least 3 times a week; the Senior Club, the Soroptimist and the SSF Booster Club hold fundraisers here; it has a cooling station for the city when temperatures rise; the Halloween Haunted House and the annual Christmas boutique are held here.
We hear staff tell visitors to “the Campus” to park at the MSB, etc. That further identifies the need to save the MSB for our community. We are competing with 408 apartment units within a block or so of the Campus, and we have yet to see what the parking fiasco will be once the PUC site is developed with its approved 847 units.
Most telling are the few replies I have received from long-time residents, which I will share with you. I have withheld their names:
“I have said what I wanted to say in previous communication with the City Council and I am not inspired to say it again. Over the years I have written a few letters to the Council or to the former City Manager, all with the goal of being helpful. Not once did I receive any response other than an email that my letter had been received. Unfortunately, that small-minded group of Council members have their own agenda, and it definitely isn’t to help the many senior citizens in South San Francisco.”
“The city sees fit to take out Bonds that get repaid by Measure W and we aren’t going to have any money left by the time they are bonded out for 30 years. Then what happens 10 years from now? 60 million plus on Police station; 200 million plus on Civic Center Campus; 130 million plus on road repairs; 34 million-plus on a new pool.”
“Are we better off today than yesterday? We got a few new buildings, the coast is sinking, cost of living and taxes went up, and the city council can’t find anything better to spend money on than bike lanes– instead of paying down the huge debt for the new whale of a library. Wait for the utility bill, they know what is coming.”
“Repeal Measure W. Demolition will be an environmental disaster.”
“These are the people we thought were going to do the right thing when we voted for them and put in office in our city but now they’re all interested in selling everything off to developers and get tax money coming in.”
This is a pretty sad state of affairs when the residents who voted for you and who you are supposed to represent, and who have come before you numerous times are asking and have asked for you to preserve the MSB as a senior/multi-use community building, have these perceptions of you. I have copies of the emails you have received as well as the petitions I have solicited which I have yet to submit from residents for the preservation of the MSB.
Looking further, the Grand Avenue library, not seismically fit, celebrated its 100th year anniversary. The MSB is over 50 years old, and it should be embraced and preserved as one of the few historical buildings in our city.
Interestingly, I received the **attached double speak from the Assistant City Attorney (Response to Public Record Request) trying to defend the deception of what the residents were led to believe they were voting for with Measure W, and that is attached. The Measure W ballot language is attached also, and we did not vote for a new Community Civic Building which construction costs kept climbing, and we’re not even considering the maintenance of the all-glass structure either.
The residents are asking for one thing: Preserve the Municipal Services Building as a senior/multi-use historical community building.
Thank you,
Cynthia Marcopulos
The MSB must be saved for the public good!
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Dear Fellow residents,
Please contact the City Council. The fate of the MSB is supposedly undecided. Please see attachments from Councilman James Coleman, the SSF.net website stating the future of the MSB is still being decided, the response from the Assistant City Attorney doubletalk about Measure W, and the Measure W ballot measure we voted for, and the city debt outlined by Jason Wong.
Together, we can Save the MSB!
Cindy Marcopulos
The City’s response to the MSB on their website says the future of the Municipal Services Building is still being decided (see the following).
What will happen to the Municipal Services Building once the Library | Parks and Recreation Center opens?
Due diligence and design are expected to begin late 2023. The future of the Municipal Services Building is still being decided. Public outreach opportunities and further conversations are expected for both buildings.
https://www.ssf.net/departments/parks-recreation/library-parks-and-recreation-center
The time is now to email, write and call the City Council members to tell them how important the MSB is to our community, and to preserve it as a senior/multi-use community center.
City Council emails are:
Mayor Flor Nicolas – Flor.Nicolas@ssf.net
Vice Mayor Mark Nagales – mark.nagales@ssf.net
Councilman Mark Addiego – mark.addiego@ssf.net
Councilman James Coleman – james.coleman@ssf.net
Councilman Eddie Flores – eddie.flores@ssf.net
Planning Commission Chief Planner Tony Rozzi – tony.rozzi@ssf.net
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EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH COUNCILMEMBER COLEMAN
RESPONSE TO PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST
**DOUBLE SPEAK FROM ASSISTANT ATTORNEY
JASON WONG DEBT INFO
MEASURE W LANGUAGE OF CITY OF SSF SALES TAX
A special tax is any tax levied for a specific purpose.
If revenue from a tax is earmarked in a legally binding way for a service such as education, transportation, fire or police safety, parks and recreational facilities (Aquatic Park Pool, Orange Park Fields), or mental health services it is a special tax. Special taxes imposed by local governments require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote at the ballot box for approval. If a district or taxing authority was created for a specific purpose, such as a fire protection district or a school district, it has no ability to impose general taxes and can only submit special taxes to the voters.
See law: California Constitution, Article XIII C
–Ballotpedia
*emphasis mine
Measure W was a special tax that should’ve been worded and gone before the voters accordingly. The wording is key deliberately done so that the city could get around the 2/3 majority that the Measure W DID NOT, repeat DID not receive. They knew it would not as it was a low voter turn out year, 2015, and an off year election.
Not only that, the banks would not issue lower rate bonds, why? The City has not responded because they keep canceling oversight meetings, telling the committee that they’re not allowed to know certain information!
It is an egrigious breach of the public trust.
Ch. 7 came to SSF in 2015 to report on SSF’s first ever sales tax, they asked a resident if they could trust the City with the funds. He said yes, I think I could trust them.
We now see where that trust and the funds went. We didn’t approve not having enough parking,for the police dept. or the users of the new library — the oblong glass structure–the Civic Campus. Terrible planning. Admittedly it’s nice to have a new shiny object, but SSF is a small town, who like the feel of a small community. Most feel disrespected by the city council and left. The arrogance from Grand Ave. is palpable, ignoring e-mails and siding with big pharma east of 101. A smaller library and wiser plan to include adequate parking would’ve been better. Residents predicted the fiasco. What good is it to have a product we can’t use? Will this be like the Grand Ave. Library that few remember still exists, basically because there is little parking there as well?
Public information says they will be back with their palm out for more of your scarce dollars to fund the latest poor planning east at 101 for a project to ease traffic at a cost: $`130M.
Can you again trust ineptness?
It’s time to engage people to challenge those in the local leadership to
keep the quality living in SSF and for those who understand need to keep the MSB as a historical site, a refuge for seniors from a lonely life, to serve the handicapped, the elderly, the artists, and howabout this? Allow FREE use of the facility for the community.
WOW! After that read, it sounds like the new Community Civic Campus might be better referred to as “The House of Lies.”