Over 25 Years of Leadership in San Francisco
From Bayview to Bernal Heights, Chinatown to the Castro, the Mission to the Marina, and North Beach to Noe Valley, Congresswoman Pelosi has transformed San Francisco in her 25 years of service: preserving public lands and parks, expanding transit, protecting the Bay and the environment, and ensuring affordable housing.
After the Army closed the Presidio of San Francisco – a military post from 1776 to 1994 – Congresswoman Pelosi led the fight to preserve the Presidio for the people of San Francisco –– against those planning to sell off this treasured asset to the highest bidder. After years of work, in 1996, Congresswoman Pelosi passed a bill creating the Presidio Trust, with the twin goals of preserving the essence of a magnificent national park and achieving economic self-sufficiency.
Pelosi’s work in the Presidio can be seen from the trails and overlooks, to the Main Parade Ground, with the Walt Disney Family Museum and Futures without Violence, along with the Letterman Digital Arts Center and the Japanese American Historical Society’s future Military Intelligences Service Historic Learning Center. Thanks to Pelosi’s advocacy in securing millions in federal funds, the barren, broken asphalt of Crissy Field Air Field became Presidio’s spectacular front window to the Bay – with public walkways, restored dunes and wetlands, the Crissy Field Center and spectacular spaces for recreation – beloved by people and dogs alike.
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Congresswoman Pelosi worked to ensure her constituents received timely assistance, joining her California colleagues to secure a $3.45 billion earthquake relief package, raising the SBA loan cap, and leading efforts to restore City Hall and the Geary Theater, home of the American Conservatory Theater.
Pelosi has fought to improve bus and rail transit, walking, biking, and transit-oriented development while creating vibrant livable communities. Over the past 25 years, she was instrumental in extending BART to the SFO Airport, creating the Third Street Light Rail and the Central Subway, securing $400 million in Recovery Act funds allowing the Transbay Transit Center to break ground, and assisting the seismic and security upgrade of the Golden Gate Bridge, and renovating Doyle Drive / Presidio Parkway.
Since its closure by the U.S. Navy in 1974, the Hunters Point Shipyard has been a neglected and contaminated neighbor to the Bayview / Hunters Point Community. Pelosi has helped secure over $750 million to clean up contamination and transform the former shipyard into a source of jobs and economic development, parks and affordable housing for the community.
At Treasure Island – a man-made island in the Bay between San Francisco and Oakland – plans to sell the island by the Navy to San Francisco languished for over a dozen years after the Navy base had closed. Pelosi was crucial in finding a path forward to redeveloping Treasure Island, helping to secure an agreement that will allow the City to quickly move forward with substantial redevelopment plans that include essential infrastructure, open space, affordable housing and extensive commercial activities.
As an advocate for affordable housing and services for the homeless, Congresswoman Pelosi has been critical in securing federal funds to rehabilitate public housing units at Hunters View, Sunnydale, and Alice Griffith; was instrumental in the creation of Housing Opportunities for people with AIDS (HOPWA); and has supported projects such as the veterans housing project at 150 Otis Street, renovating Nihonmachi Terrace in Japantown, the Kelly Cullen Community and clinic for the chronically homeless at 220 Golden Gate, and a new San Francisco Federal Building at Mission and 7th – one of the greenest federal buildings in the country.