THE ART OF A
COLLEGE EDUCATION
chase the city’s historic Flower
Mart in 2007, a sale that would
have displaced more than 30
businesses. Strong public outcry
eventually squelched the deal.
The rapid pace at which the
university gobbles up buildings
and converts them for its own
use has drawn the ire of many
city officials, who point to a litany of planning code violations by
the Academy, including a history
of consistent failures to file master expansion plans and illegal
conversions of residential buildings into student housing.
“If you or I committed these
types of violations on this scale,
we’d be dragged in front of a
judge,” said former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who noted he received
hundreds of complaints about
the school from neighborhood
groups concerned about evictions
to displaced businesses to traffic congestion around university
properties. “That’s how it works
for normal people, but not how it
works for Elisa Stephens.”
The Academy disagrees with
these critiques. “The university
has a healthy relationship with
the city,” says Rebecca Delgado,
the school’s vice president of
HUFFINGTON
10.28.12
community and government relations. “The city has a fundamental responsibility to make sure
that the students remain in San
Francisco because they contribute to the city both economically
and culturally.”
But others say that the Academy’s wealth and influence allow
it to simply plow ahead.
“They have a culture of do
whatever you want first, and then
ask questions later,” adds Paul, the
A SUIT ALLEGES THAT
THE ACADEMY ENTICED
ITS SALES FORCE
TO ENROLL LEGIONS
OF STUDENTS BY
DOLING OUT HAWAIIAN
VACATIONS TO TOP
RECRUITERS.
former deputy mayor. “They don’t
tell the city what they’re going to
do until after they do it, figuring
they can just ignore the planning
code...[The school] doesn’t behave
like a real estate developer, but
that’s really what it is.”
Toland, the spokeswoman, disagrees with the assertion that the
school has had carte blanche in
the city. “We’ve been under scrutiny for a long time now,” she says.