Mayor Brown Submits Revised List of Commissioners

SAN FRANCISCO-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown made a second try yesterday at getting his nominees to the city Planning Commission confirmed, sending four names to the Board of Supervisors for confirmation.

The powerful commission hasn’t met in three months, since Brown yanked his previous candidates when it appeared they were headed for a rough reception by the more liberal board. In the past couple of weeks, Planning Director Gerald Green has been holding hearings by himself on an emergency basis approved by the supervisors.

In presenting his latest slate, the mayor’s memo says he was submitting the foursome “collectively as a group, to reflect the diversity of the city of San Francisco.”

Among the designees are attorney Jeffrey Chen, an attorney who was recently appointed to the city’s Public Utilities Commission; Rev. Edgar Boyd, pastor of Bethel AME Church and current Housing Authority commissioner; Shelley Bradford Bell, director of the Bayview Opera House; and Michael Antonini, a dentist who is active in the West of Twin Peaks community.

Brown’s spokesman PJ Johnston says the mayor wants all of his nominees approved, not just some, or he may yank the new names as well.

Under Proposition D passed by voters this spring, the Board of Supervisors’ president has the power to name three planning commissioners, but as Brown pointed out, the mayor does not have the power to reject them.

Tom Ammiano chose and his colleagues on the board confirmed three people in June: Marilyn Sue Lee, a planning consultant and former aide; Lisa Feldstein, an affordable housing consultant; and Kevin Hughes, an administrator for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6 who also has a background in construction.

But with only three out of seven slots filled, the commission has been unable to meet for lack of a quorum.

Prop D also affected the city’s Board of Appeals, which has been similarly dormant since July 1. Today Brown submitted his second set of three names for that board, which hears appeals of permits from the planning commission and other city agencies. For the Board of Appeals, Brown proposed two hold-overs — Arnold Chin and Sabrina Saunders — along with Kathleen Harrington, a businesswoman who is well-known for her work with the Golden Gate Restaurant Association.

Ammiano’s two choices for the five-member appeals board were Hisashi Sugaya, an architect who has chaired the city’s Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board, and Doug Shoemaker, an administrator at the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. They have been confirmed but also have yet to meet, so the appeals function largely falls to the board under its emergency ordinance.

Representatives of both the mayor and the board say they hope to see a committee hearing about the new nominations on Friday.