A city rezoning plan that could wipe out the SF Eagle and large parts of Soma is being discussed at a community meeting this Thursday, September 4, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the Arc (180 11th Street) hosted by our friends at Soma Pilipinas, SOMCAN, and Senior Disability Action. The impacts of the city’s upzoning plan for San Francisco and Western SOMA will be discussed. These changes can result in significant displacement of businesses and residents. We are particularly concerned about SF Eagle being affected by this plan.
- The City’s Housing Element legislation determined that upzoning was not appropriate for Equity Priority areas in order to protect areas that had already experienced displacement and SOMA has experienced massive displacement for decades starting with Moscone Center which displaced over 7,000 individuals. This displacement will only increase with the passage of state laws removing any local control on many developments.
- Upzoning the Eagle will endanger the Eagle by takeover by developers.
- The Eagle is a legacy business that needs to be preserved to maintain the fabric of San Francisco’s character and the leather & LGBTQ culture in the City and in SOMA
- The Eagle is a landmarked location and the upzoning would result in a loss of a building that the city, the Supervisors and the people have determined is an important part of the City.
- The Eagle is a central hub for the leather & LGBTQ community and losing this location would be a dramatic blow to an already marginalized community that is under pressure from many forces especially development in SOMA.
- We are also concerned about the building now occupied by Oasis. Although the Oasis plans to close at the end of the year, upzoning may prevent another entertainment venue occupying the site.