Bay Bridge Westbound Deck Closure - President's Day Weekend

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Our friends at the Transportation Management Association of San Francisco (TMASF) have alerted us to the Bay Bridge Westbound Deck Closure on President's Day Weekend.  Please click here for information on how to prepare accordingly.

Motorists will not be able to drive on the upper deck towards San Francisco during this closure but the lower deck toward the East Bay will remain open. Motorists have numerous alternatives for getting to San Francisco and for traveling around the Bay Area while the upper deck of the Bay Bridge is closed during Presidents’ Day weekend. Motorists should allow extra time for travel and use of other bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge, the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge and the Dumbarton Bridge. Vehicle access between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island/Treasure Island will be maintained during the closure.

For updates on other transit options, including ferries, BART and AC Transit, be sure to visit 511.org or call 511 for real-time traffic conditions. Check back often for the latest updates.

UPDATE: BOMA Bay Area 2012 EARTH Award Application DUE on February 10, 2012

BOMA San Francisco and BOMA Oakland East Bay Members:

UPDATE - February 8, 2012

Friday, February 10 is the deadline day to submit your building into the BOMA Bay Area Earth Awards competition. Click here to download the application and complete and return it by Friday (5:00 p.m.) to Wendy de Lara, at the BOMA San Francisco office. We encourage our member vendors to support their clients with the application process.

The BOMA Bay Area EARTH Awards is the premier event for BOMA members to showcase leadership on sustainable operating practices and have their properties recognized for their energy and water conservation efforts, recycling, and other sustainable practices. The winners will be announced at the April 16, 2012 EARTH Awards luncheon at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco.

If you have ANY questions, please feel free to contact the leadership of the BOMA San Francisco Energy and Environment Committee: Zachary Brown Zachary.Brown@cbre.com, or Laurie Rummelhart, lrummelhart@swigco.com.

Don't delay! Get that BOMA Bay Area EARTH Awards application in today!

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UPDATE - January 13, 2012

The BOMA San Francisco Energy & Environment Committee held a BOMA Bay Area Earth Award workshop at the Transamerica Pyramid today.  It was an informative session that was well attended by BOMA Oakland/East Bay and BOMA San Francisco building members.

Thank you to our volunteer BOMA member speakers who helped guide attendees through the entire Earth Award application.

Please be sure to submit your BOMA Bay Area Earth Award application TODAY!  The deadline is February 10, 2012.

Click here to submit your building in the contest! 

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UPDATE - January 4, 2012


A brown bag lunch session will be presented by the BOMA San Francisco Energy & Environment Committee to guide member building owners and managers through the 2012 EARTH Awards application process.

If you'd like to attend, please contact John Bozeman at (415) 686-9652 at johnb@boma.com.

The free workshop will be held at The Transamerica Pyramid Center, 600 Montgomery Street, 48th Floor, San Francisco, CA from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on January 13, 2012. BOMA San Francisco and East Bay members may register and stop-by at any point during this time frame for hands-on assistance with their application.

Individuals from various organizations and vendors will be on-hand to provide resources and answer questions regarding the sustainable practices measured by the 2012 EARTH Award Application: Landfill Waste & Diversion, Energy Conservation, Water Conservation, Hazardous Materials, Purchasing, Transportation, and Tenant Education.  The EARTH Award Application is due Friday, February 10, 2012.

Click here to submit your building in the contest! 

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Original Post - November 2, 2011

The 2012 BOMA Bay Area EARTH Award Application is now available.  Click here to submit your building in the contest!  The application deadline is February 10, 2012.

The BOMA Bay Area EARTH Award recognizes member buildings that utilize the most comprehensive resource management programs, including commercial recycling programs, energy and water conservation efforts, air quality and toxics reduction programs, support for public transportation, and effective use of tenant education programs geared to promoting sustainability practices in commercial office buildings. The EARTH Award program is an opportunity for BOMA Bay Area members to consider the entire spectrum of programs and practices that constitute an effective 'sustainability program' for office buildings including what policies and procedures should be adopted that can help move a property toward becoming 'green'.

Please click here to review the 2011 BOMA Bay Area Earth Award Winners

If you have any questions, please contact Zach Brown, BOMA San Francisco's Energy & Environment Committee Co-Chair.  

San Francisco Small Business Network - 2012 Small Business Recognition Award

BOMA San Francisco Members:


Please save the date for the San Francisco Small Business Network's (SFSBN) Awards Gala on May 10, 2012.  The Gala will highlight the winners of the SFSBN awards so nominate a small business owner you know today!  To do so, please complete the nomination form and return it to the SFSBN by March, 15, 2012 at 305 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 or fax to 415-934-0864 or scan and email to execdirector@sfsbn.org. 

BOMA International National Issues Conference and Winter Business Meeting 2012

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Your BOMA Advocacy Team will be attending the BOMA International Winter Business Meeting and National Issues Conference from January 30 to February 1, 2012 in Washington D.C.

The Winter Business Meeting and National Issues Conference provides members from all BOMA locals an opportunity to share ideas, learn from their peers, be a part of shaping the future of BOMA and the commercial real estate industry and to take our message to legislators and regulators in our nation’s capitol.  Click here for more information, and here for a schedule of events.

Our regular flurry of blog posts may diminish while we are in Washington D.C.  Please rest assured that we will be posting news and information from the conference, as well as the political and regulatory issues that affect the local commercial real estate industry in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo Counties as soon as we return.

We Need Your Feedback! - Tenant Bicycle Access in Existing Commercial Buildings

BOMA San Francisco Members:

BOMA San Francisco leaders have been meeting with representatives of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) and Supervisor John Avalos' office to work on an ordinance that would allow tenants' employees to have a secure place to store their bicycle during the workday.  BOMA would like to thank SFBC Executive Director Leah Shahum, Program Manager Marc Caswell and Supervisor Avalos' staff for reaching out to our members for their input.

The current draft of the legislation, Tenant Bicycle Access in Existing Commercial Buildings Ordinance, is now available for BOMA San Francisco and SFBC members to review and submit their feedback.  Click here access the ordinance.

To help understand the intent of the legislation, BOMA and SFBC staff have worked together to create a helpful Frequently Asked Questions sheet.  Please click here to access that document.

Your feedback is paramount as the first committee hearing at City Hall for this ordinance is tentatively scheduled for mid-February   Please email John Bozeman at johnb@boma.com and Ken Cleaveland at kenc@boma.com with any comments you have.

Thank you, as always, for your time and consideration!

UPDATE: Recent America's Cup Hearing

BOMA San Francisco Members:

UPDATE - January 25, 2012

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors yesterday voted to reject an appeal that would have prevented the 34th America's Cup from moving forward.

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Original Post - January 20, 2012

In October 2011, Marc Intermaggio, BOMA San Francisco's Executive Vice President, wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner titled, America's Cup will be community benefit windfall for SF, Indeed, you can feel Mr. Intermaggio's enthusiasm for the sporting event in his opening paragraph:

Why am I wildly enthusiastic about San Francisco hosting the 2013 America’s Cup sailing race? This is a golden opportunity to leverage our region’s resources to generate much needed revenue for our city and create jobs!Indeed, San Francisco and the Bay Area will benefit from this world class sporting event. That's why we need your help!

Please consider attending the 34th America’s Cup (AC34) Vote to deny the appeal of the AC34 EIR at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors TUESDAY, JANUARY 24th at 4:00 pm, City Hall Room 250.

We are urging the Board of Supervisors to deny the appeals to the AC34 Environmental Impact Report and allow the project to move forward.

If you cannot attend the hearing, but are interested in other ways of supporting the 34th America’s Cup, you can submit a letter of support via email urging the Board of Supervisors commission to deny the appeal of the America’s Cup Environmental Impact Report. Emails of support can be sent to the below email addresses. If you are a San Francisco resident, please include that in your email:

David.Chiu@sfgov.org,

David.Campos@sfgov.org,

John.Avalos@sfgov.org,

Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org,

Scott.Wiener@sfgov.org,

Mark.Farrell@sfgov.org,

Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org,

Jane.Kim@sfgov.org,

Christine.Olague@sfgov.org,

Eric.L.Mar@sfgov.org,

Malia.Cohen@sfgov.org

Community Meeting on Transbay Construction Activities

BOMA San Francisco Members:

With the completion of demolition of the old Transbay, excavation of the new Transbay Transit Center site is now in full swing. All around the jobsite, tjhe Transbay team is bustling with activity and would like to invite you to attend their next community meeting to see what exciting things are currently taking place.

Join us on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 to learn more about construction activities, buttress and shoring wall construction, trestle bridges, street closures and hours of activity. The community meeting will be held from 12:00 noon until 1:00 PM. The meeting will be held at the Transbay Joint Powers Authority's (TJPA) offices located at 201 Mission Street, Suite 2100. You're welcome you to bring food or drinks to this meeting.

What:        Community Meeting: Transbay Construction Update

When:       Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Time:        12:00 Noon

Where:     TJPA
                 201 Mission Street, Suite 2100
                 San Francisco, CA 94105

For more information about the Transbay Transit Center Project or to sign up to receive construction updates, visit www.transbaycenter.org.

Important America's Cup Hearing - January 24, 2012 at 4:00 p.m.

BOMA San Francisco Members:

In October 2011, Marc Intermaggio, BOMA San Francisco's Executive Vice President, wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner titled, America's Cup will be community benefit windfall for SF,  Indeed, you can feel Mr. Intermaggio's enthusiasm for the sporting event in his opening paragraph:

Why am I wildly enthusiastic about San Francisco hosting the 2013 America’s Cup sailing race? This is a golden opportunity to leverage our region’s resources to generate much needed revenue for our city and create jobs!

Indeed, San Francisco and the Bay Area will benefit from this world class sporting event.   That's why we need your help!

Please consider attending the 34th America’s Cup (AC34) Vote to deny the appeal of the AC34 EIR at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors TUESDAY, JANUARY 24th at 4:00 pm, City Hall Room 250.  

We are urging the Board of Supervisors to deny the appeals to the AC34 Environmental Impact Report and allow the project to move forward.

If you cannot attend the hearing, but are interested in other ways of supporting the 34th America’s Cup, you can submit a letter of support via email urging the Board of Supervisors commission to deny the appeal of the America’s Cup Environmental Impact Report. Emails of support can be sent to the below email addresses. If you are a San Francisco resident, please include that in your email:

David.Chiu@sfgov.org,

David.Campos@sfgov.org,

John.Avalos@sfgov.org,

Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org,

Scott.Wiener@sfgov.org,

Mark.Farrell@sfgov.org,

Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org,

Jane.Kim@sfgov.org,

Christine.Olague@sfgov.org,

Eric.L.Mar@sfgov.org,

Malia.Cohen@sfgov.org

We Need Your Feedback! - Disability Access (ADA) Improvements for Small Businesses and Landlord Obligations

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Please take a moment to review an ordinance recently submitted by Supervisor David Chiu - Disability Access Improvements for Small Businesses and Landlord Obligations.  BOMA San Francisco Codes and Regulations Committee members and Advocacy team have been meeting with the Supervisor and his staff to understand its potential impact on the aggregate commercial real estate industry.  We'd like to thank Supervisor Chiu for his early outreach to BOMA San Francisco to enlist our feedback.

The Disability Access legislation would mandate commercial property owners make their first floor entrances handicap accessible before they could lease/release their, usually, first-floor retail spaces to tenants. It places the burden of non-compliant entrances squarely on the landlord. If signed into law, this ordinance will have a particularly large impact on small commercial property owners in San Francisco.

This is where your assistance is needed.  Please review the ordinance by clicking here and the legislative digest, here.  Please send your feedback to Ken Cleaveland at kenc@boma.com and John Bozeman at johnb@boma.com.

SFDBI 2012 Disabled Access Valuation Threshold

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Please note that the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection (SFDBI) has updated the Disabled Access Valuation Threshold for 2012 to $136,060.00 (from $132,536.28 in 2011) per 2007 California Building Code (CBC) Section 1134B.2.1 Exception 1, and will be updated again in January 2013.

Background - Disabled Access Valuation Threshold & Disabled Access 20% Rule

Based on CBC 1134B.2.1, Exception 1, only projects with a construction cost less than the valuation threshold (current ENR Construction Cost Index Amount) are eligible for the 20% rule, where the project must provide disabled access upgrades up to 20% of the cost of construction in the required priority as listed on page 2 of the Disabled Access Checklist.  In general, projects valued over the threshold are not eligible for the 20% rule (see CBC 1134.2.1 Exception 2 for a possible exception, below).

CBC 1134B.2.1 Exception 2 (abbreviated): In alteration projects involving buildings & facilities previously approved & built without elevators, areas above & below the ground floor are subject to the 20% disproportionality provisions described in Exception 1, even if the value of the project exceeds the valuation threshold in Exception 1.  Refer to the Code for the types of buildings & facilities that qualifies for this 20% disproportionality provisions when project valuation is over the threshold.

To access the SFDBI's Disabled Access Upgrade Compliance Package for Existing Buildings Only, please click here.  If you have any questions about the valuation threshold, or general disabled access issues, please contact the Department of Building Inspection at dbicustomerservice@sfgov.org or (415) 558-6088.