By Jack Rogers

August 15, 2023 at 06:12 AM

Company sold 20-acre Bay Area property to e-retail giant in 2021.

San Mateo-based SteelWave has filed plans to redevelop a 20-acre site in Pleasanton that it sold to Amazon two years ago.

The developer is planning to build a 300K SF mixed-use campus at the Bay Area site on El Charro Road on the east side of Pleasanton, according to a report in the San Francisco Business Times.

The plans call for two industrial buildings encompassing 131K SF and 156K SF, respectively, and a two-story 12K SF commercial building that will be suitable for office or retail use.

In the fall of 2021, SteelWave and Lionstone Investment Group sold the Pleasanton property, along with six other parcels to Amazon, which at the time was planning to build a large distribution center there.

The plans filed this month will necessitate rezoning the property from agricultural use and will require approval from Pleasanton’s planning commission and the city council. The project also would require approval from Alameda County because it sits within an unincorporated portion of the county.

The company did not disclose whether it is planning to repurchase the land from Amazon.

Last fall, SteelWave unveiled plans to build a $241M life science on a site spanning two city blocks in West Berkeley. The project envisions the renovation of three buildings on a 3-acre site on 5th Street, between Bancroft Way and Allston Way, transforming them into campus that will be known as theLAB.

The developer also is planning to build a five-story, 415-space parking garage next doorto  theLab. Nine structures are being demolished or moved to make way for the project, including a 144-year home on Fifth Street.

According to a report in berkeleyside, SteelWave has lined up two tenants, Bolt Threats and Conception Bio for theLab, which is scheduled to open in 2024.

SteelWave acquired the West Berkeley site in January 2021, also is planning to build two more theLAB campuses in Emeryville and Foster City.

The design for theLAB Berkeley includes exposed bow-truss ceilings and an expansive indoor-outdoor mezzanine overlooking San Francisco Bay. The facility also will include an amphitheater lab and a boutique gym.

SteelWave is converting the Sherwin building in Emeryville into theLAB Emeryville. The adaptive reuse of the building will include large-scale cosmetic renovations, structural upgrades, full building core replacement and new installation of mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure.

The Emeryville campus also will feature a penthouse and “pass-through” pedestrian and bicycle access.

The Foster City development will be home to a three-story Class A building on a 2.2-acre site. The campus will feature a third-floor rooftop terrace that offers extensive views of the San Francisco Peninsula.

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E-commerce giant Amazon will close eight of its Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York. The move comes as part of the company’s effort to reduce costs and realign its retail strategy in a difficult economic environment.

The closures were first reported by GeekWire, and an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the news to TechCrunch. The eight stores are scheduled to remain open until April 1, 2023.

Valuation of the portfolio

Amazon said that like any physical retailer, it regularly evaluates its store portfolio and makes optimization decisions as needed. A company spokesman said: “In this instance, we have decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City and San Francisco. We remain committed to the Amazon Go format and operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the US and will continue to learn which locations and features customers resonate with best as we continue to develop our Amazon Go stores.”

The company introduced its first checkout-free location near its Seattle headquarters in 2016. Amazon has since expanded the concept to include more stores in the United States.

Amazon isn’t the only company looking to streamline its retail operations amid economic uncertainty. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Amazon was pausing the expansion of Amazon Fresh Grocery Stores to consider how to make the stores more competitive with mainstream supermarkets.

Continuous growth

Despite the closures, Amazon remains committed to its checkout-free grocery stores and other new concepts. The company recently opened a new Amazon Go store in Puyallup, Washington and plans to continue expanding the brand.

The move to close the eight stores comes a year after Amazon announced it would close 68 brick-and-mortar retail stores in the United States and the United Kingdom. These closures included the Amazon Books bookstores, pop-up shops in various markets, and the 4-star stores where customers could buy popular and highly rated products on Amazon.com.

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Sources:

To ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this article, we have consulted the following sources:

• TechCrunch: Amazon is closing eight Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York
• GeekWire: Amazon is closing eight Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York
• Bloomberg: Amazon pauses expansion of Amazon Fresh Grocery Stores as it evaluates business

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A roaring fire, good conversation and some sticky s’mores – doesn’t that sound like a cozy evening? Even if the temperatures have dropped a lot in your area, you don’t have to miss out on the fun. Hundreds of Amazon buyers say you can bring the atmosphere of a campfire indoors with this roundfire tabletop fire pit. Whether you want to create a calming place to gather, add a touch of warmth to your home, or toast marshmallows over the open flames, you’ll want this portable fire pit on hand – especially since Amazon just reduced the price of it by 60%. Do you think what we think? It’s a great last minute Valentine’s Day gift!

The portable unit produces no ash so you don’t have to worry about cleaning, and each fire pit comes with a steel combustion chamber, fire extinguisher and marble base. It gives you an hour of burn time and offers 250 square feet of heat. The fire pit is easy to assemble and produces odorless flames.

Even better, you can use several different alcohol fuels to light it, including bioethanol alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol, and fuel gel. One reviewer said they didn’t have any of this lying around so they tried it with vodka and it worked perfectly.

This table fire pit is lightweight, portable and can be used all year round. (Photo: Amazon)

“Amazing and easy to use,” said one five-star reviewer. “The thing works wonderfully. It is very easy to use and creates a wonderful, cozy feeling. The flame is remarkably large, but not frighteningly large, and flickers like fireplace flames. No candle could create that effect.”

Shoppers love that the cute tabletop fire pit not only adds a cozy fire for al fresco dining, but is also the perfect size for making smores. “This is absolutely perfect to have anytime, anywhere. Brought it to the table at Friendsgiving and had a blast toasting marshmallows,” wrote one.

Others say its compact size makes it the perfect gift for friends and family with small outdoor spaces. “This is absolutely amazing,” gushed one. “We live in an apartment in San Francisco. We used it on our balcony and on our dining table when it rained. This will be a present for all of our flatmates.”

Another agreed, writing: “Love the size of this tabletop fire pit. The size is perfect for our patio. There really isn’t enough room up there for the big fireplace. This is easy to use. It recommends a few types of fuel. I haven’t been able to find the gel yet so I just used high proof rubbing alcohol. It gets quite hot and there is a flame so care must be taken. That would be a good gift!”

Normally the table fire pit costs $100, currently only $40. That’s cheaper than Black Friday!

Of course, if you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping. Not a member yet? No problem. You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here. (And by the way, those without Prime still get free shipping on orders $25 or more.)

The reviews cited above reflect the latest versions at the time of publication.

Looking for more great Amazon home and car deals? Check out these:

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Originally published Feb 7, 2023 10:42 am

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Amazon said Tuesday it will pause work on a proposed last-mile warehouse in San Francisco’s Showplace Square after the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation that placed an 18-month moratorium on all new parcel delivery services in the city.

In a statement a company spokesman said, “We will continue to evaluate our long-term use of the site, and in the short-term we will work with our neighbors to look at ways to use the location to serve the community.”

The company’s announcement came after the board voted 10-0 to back the moratorium, which was crafted in part as a response to Amazon’s plan to build a 725,000 square foot warehouse at 900 7th St.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin recused himself from the vote because he owns stock in Amazon.

While the board didn’t discuss the legislation at Tuesday’s meeting, the vote was preceded by a fiery rally in front of City Hall at which organized labor, environmental watchdogs, and residents of San Francisco’s southeast neighborhoods denounced Amazon’s expansion plans.

With an 18-wheeler emblazoned with a “Teamster” banner as a backdrop, Jason Rabinowitz, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7, said “the type of jobs we don’t need to have are the Amazon style poverty jobs that are underpaid, unsafe , include no rights at work.”

“Good jobs uplift our community,” he said. “Amazon style poverty jobs drag us all down.”

Folks attend a press conference at Civic Center Plaza that urged passage of temporary moratorium legislation on Amazon and other parcel delivery service facilities in San Francisco.

Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle

Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton, who represents the neighborhood where the logistics center would be located, said that if Amazon wants to build in the district it will have to negotiate a community benefits package similar to deals struck with major waterfront developers.

“You can go and ask Pier 70. You can ask the (Potrero) Power Station. If you are going to come into our neighborhoods you are going to talk to the people in the neighborhood. You are going to provide them with community benefits,” he said.

The legislation passage is a big win for a broad coalition of organized labor, including the Teamsters, the United Commercial Food Workers, Service Employees International Union and the Building Trades Council.

Jim Araby, strategic campaign director with the United Food & Commercial Workers, said the legislation would “Create the process necessary to hold large corporations like Amazon accountable to the community, the workers and the elected officials.”

“This legislation is the first step to make sure there is an actual process, that you can’t just plop down a 700,000 square foot in the middle of a community and say we are going to buy you off with five dollars and an ice tea ,” he said.

JK Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

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GILROY (KPIX) — Big tech may be making a huge mark on southern Santa Clara County.

The City of Gilroy is soliciting bids in order to determine the environmental impact of Amazon’s Gilroy Data Center, or GDC, one of two major projects the tech giant is pushing forward in the South Bay.

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“Gilroy has put out a request to get consultants outside of the city to come in and assist us with fully understanding what the benefits of such a project might be, as well as some as what the drawbacks might be, and what opportunities we have as a city to try to mitigate some of those negative impacts,” said Gilroy Vice Mayor Peter Leroe-Munoz.

Leroe-Munoz, who is also General Counsel and Senior Vice President at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said the city has been working behind the scenes for years to attract tech companies into the city, but added city leaders would not be “rubber stamping” projects.

“We certainly want to be very thoughtful, as we are with every applicant that comes to our city. We have a lot of resources that we offer here. We have a very diverse, young and growing workforce. So there are benefits that we offer to innovation industries that want to locate here in Gilroy. And we certainly want to work with them, but we want to make sure it’s a good fit for both partners,” said Leroe-Munoz.

The GDC would sit atop a 66-acre parcel behind the Gilroy Unified School District, along the eastern side of Highway 101.

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The details are still being worked out, but the data center would likely consist of several buildings totaling around 500,000 square feet, to “reliably meet the increased demand of the digital economy,” the company said in a statement.

Less than a mile south, Amazon is also moving forward with plans to build a large distribution center and warehouse, dubbed “Project Garlic,” on a 60-acre parcel located at the northeast corner of Camino Arroyo and Highway 152. The company is also working out plans that would total 400,000 square feet, along with a six-acre commercial development.

Less than a mile south of Project Garlic is yet another project from another tech giant. In 2019, Google purchased a 40-acre rectangular plot to build a nursery in order to grow their own trees for the company’s real estate developments.

“I think Gilroy has had a moment for quite some time. I think it’s time that Silicon Valley finally recognized that the southernmost city in Silicon Valley is certainly open for business and has so much to offer,” said Leroe-Munoz.

The vice-mayor assured citizens that the city would not abandon its agricultural roots.

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“We recognize that history. We recognize its importance to our local economy and it is something that we are going to protect, in addition to bringing a diversity of jobs and economic opportunities to our communities,” said Leroe-Munoz.

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Positive customer interactions helped keep morale up, despite the company’s various media and market snafus. Peloton warehouse workers could sense the writing on the wall. The company froze hiring in November and considered laying off 41% of its sales and marketing staff in January. Demand had fallen far below early pandemic levels, and the stock price was sinking. But field operation specialists still felt busy in the small but mighty St. Louis warehouse, Carroll said. “Pretty consistently we were one of the top-rated warehouses in the company,” he said.

So when Peloton laid off 2,800 people a few weeks ago, it wasn’t totally unexpected. But it hurts. The shakeup affected everyone, from recruiters to marketers to former CEO John Foley himself. The company laid off everyone at the St. Louis and Seattle warehouses and significantly cut down the Denver warehouse. Peloton declined to break down the demographics of the 2,800 people laid off, but Protocol told 20% were corporate employees. Peloton instructors — who rose to influencer status in the early pandemic — were not affected.

Protocol spoke to a handful of laid-off employees who were a part of Peloton’s delivery and manufacturing operations. The general consensus mirrored some of the gratitude reflected in ex-Pelotoners’ parting LinkedIn posts. The company offered satisfactory pay and benefits, as well as mentorship opportunities. They’re frustrated that bad business decisions put them in this spot (a sentiment reflected in recent Glassdoor posts). But mostly, they’re sad to lose a solid gig.

A day at a Peloton warehouse

The St Louis warehouse was tight knit. Demand ballooned in the early days of the pandemic, when everyone wanted Peloton equipment. Peloton needed more bikes, treadmills and workers, stat. It bought exercise equipment manufacturer Precor, and it even made plans to build its first US factory in Ohio. It had to hire to keep up.

“There were all different kinds of people,” Carroll said about the approximately 34 workers in St. Louis. People trying to pay for school, people who had been affected by early COVID layoffs. Many came to Peloton after being referred by friends who already worked there, creating a workplace with personal connections. In St Louis and other warehouses, many came from companies like Target or Amazon. “That was a network of people that were separated by one or two degrees because they already knew someone who worked there,” Carroll said.

A standard day at a Peloton warehouse involved morning meetings about warehouse reviews, checking inventory and going out for deliveries. The Peloton delivery process requires some showmanship. A van with a prominent Peloton logo pulled into the driveway, in view of jealous neighbors. It always came within the two- or four-hour delivery window and always with notice. Masked workers decked in Peloton gear hopped out, promptly asking if they should wear disposable boot covers on their shoes before entering the home. After bringing the equipment in, the worker explained how to use it, ideally “with a certain charisma” Carroll said.

Workers felt Peloton’s allure; they believed in the product. Former Denver field specialist Skylar Stetler lost his job as a gymnastics coach in April 2020. He started at Peloton in November of that year, and it felt promising. “[Peloton] came in like ‘the sky’s the limit,’” Stetler said. “There are going to be new roles opening up. Imagine it, it will happen. They set themselves up with visions of grandeur.”

Wages were high compared to standard warehouse work. The base pay average for a Peloton field specialist is $22/hour, according to Glassdoor. The starting salary for North American and European-based hourly workers is $19/hour, according to Peloton. Laid-off Pelotoners told Protocol the COVID protocols were stringent, and the benefits were standard with 80 hours PTO per year. Before the layoffs, Stetler was aiming for mentorship for a supply chain analytics role.

But in the months leading up to the layoffs, their prospects felt shaky. Stetler noticed a lack of urgency to fill positions when people left. The company couldn’t offer temporary workers full-time positions. Carroll felt that with each passing day, his bosses had less information. Morale plummeted.

“Things just weren’t really adding up, and so you felt a bit lost,” Stetler said.

‘An amicable breakup’

When former St. Louis field specialist Daniel Murphy got the layoff call, his first thought was “empty hole in my wallet.” Murphy was about to hand over his credit card to get his car fixed.

The St. Louis workers took a day to decompress, coming together that night for drinks. But the next day, it was hustle time. Carroll said he applied to 22 different jobs that morning. Some people had just had their first kid or gotten engaged or, in Carroll’s case, bought a house.

There were mixed feelings. “A lot of people might compare it to an amicable breakup of some kind. Things had kind of not been going great for a while,” Carroll said. The warehouse workers had grown accustomed to the fair pay and benefits. If they wanted to do a similar job elsewhere, they would likely get paid less.

Some thought back to the workers from XPO Logistics employees who were brought in during busy seasons. Before the mass layoff, roughly 60% of deliveries were carried out by Peloton workers. Peloton CFO Jill Woodworth said in the company’s earnings call that it will drop to 40%, with the majority of deliveries handled by third parties.

Some workers were concerned about XPO workers replacing them. A handful of workers at the St. Louis warehouse talked about organizing in response to this fear of outsourcing, though nothing came of those conversations. In an email to staff this month, Foley noted that the company has “scaled” partnerships with third-party logistics teams to keep up with demand. Now, Peloton’s significantly reducing “our owned and operated warehousing and delivery footprint.”

Peloton warehouse workers are laser-focused on customer satisfaction. It’s part of their regular assessment. Third-party workers have less financial incentive and training to deliver Peloton equipment with all the added bells and whistles, Carroll said. Some customers have voiced frustrations with XPO’s Peloton delivery process, particularly on Reddit. Peloton tries to address customer delivery issues as quickly as possible, Peloton spokesperson Amelise Lane told Protocol. XPO spokesperson Joe Checkler said scores for Peloton deliveries are between 95 and 100 out of 100. “We immediately act to rectify customer concerns whenever there’s an issue,” Checkler said.

But Carroll is troubled by what Peloton deliveries might look like without his warehouse. “To have this third-party service who is going to make your customers less happy, it just doesn’t add up to any of us,” Carroll. “I think that was what upset a lot of people.”

What’s next for Peloton and its ex-workers?

The ex-Peloton workers have varying hopes for the company. Carroll is concerned about the quality of delivery. Some may question how much delivery matters when it comes to Peloton’s desirability, though. A personalized delivery experience is a plus, but it might not matter as much when it comes to actually buying the Peloton.

Murphy wants to see the company succeed and hire back more people. He hopes the company retains its fair wages and transparent culture. “I really do hope that that continues and that more employees can benefit from that culture that they started with,” Murphy said. Stetler, who says he “drank the Kool-Aid” and became a big Peloton fan, would love to see Peloton bikes and treadmills marketed toward the masses instead of as luxury products.

As for their personal job pursuits, many felt a rush of support after the series of viral posts on LinkedIn. A few said it will likely be easier for those on the corporate side of Peloton to find positions. They’re generally more plugged-in to LinkedIn, and tech workers are entering a candidates’ market. But Stetler said he’s feeling some of the love: He landed some supply-chain-related job interviews in the past week.

Carroll is casting a wide net, applying to Peloton-adjacent jobs as well as jobs in media production. Murphy had been planning on using his Peloton wagers to go back to school in the fall. He’s reevaluating those plans now. The two said the St. Louis warehouse workers are still in touch, helping each other find opportunities.

“We have the same needs because obviously we worked the same job,” Carroll said. “We lived the same sorts of lifestyles for a while so we may as well look out for each other.”

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On the Clock is Motherboard’s reporting on the organized labor movement, gig work, automation, and the future of work.

San Francisco introduced legislation on Tuesday that would place an 18-month moratorium on parcel delivery facilities in the city, a move specifically designed to slow down and investigate Amazon’s rapid expansion of its last-mile delivery operations in the city.

If passed, the legislation would be the first of its kind in a major metropolitan area in the United States to put a moratorium on Amazon warehouses, and lay a foundation for other cities looking to have a say in how Amazon operates in their communities. The bill is expected to pass unanimously, according to those familiar with the legislation.

“Cities are saying we have to push back against companies like Amazon,” said Shamann Walton, the president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors whose district is the site of several new Amazon warehouse developments. “My hope is that with this legislation we’re able to make Amazon be a responsible employer and make them have conversations with the community. If that doesn’t happen then they won’t get the opportunity to do business here in San Francisco.”

The bill would impose “zoning controls” on the approval of all new parcel delivery service facilities to “allow time for” an investigation on how these facilities impact the communities they operate in, and to establish regulations “to encourage development which provides substantial net benefits and minimize undesirable consequences.”

In particular, the legislation is intended to give communities in San Francisco the chance to push back against low-paying jobs, pollution, and traffic congestion that Amazon brings into the city. Activists who are worried about Amazon’s expansion say that land being used to build more Amazon warehouses could be better used for green space or affordable housing in cities like San Francisco, which are suffering from a decades-long housing crisis and that new jobs should pay workers high enough wages to be able to live in the city.

Although Amazon’s name does not appear in the legislation or resolution, the bill’s proponents told Motherboard it is specifically designed to force Amazon to slow down its expansion into the city.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We want Amazon to pause and have a dialogue with the community, not just try to buy off groups,” said Jim Araby, the strategic campaigns director at UFCW Local 5, which represents 30,000 grocery store workers in northern California and has pushed for the bill. “If the bill passes, like any big project, the planning department will recommend mitigations for a job to be approved and Amazon will have to show the city how it will mitigate impacts, for example, by committing to all electric vehicles. That process, unlike the current one, will take two years instead of three to six months.”

Many of these fights, including the new push for legislation in San Francisco, are being led by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which launched a coordinated national effort, known as the Amazon Project, in May to unionize the e-commerce giant which it argues is dragging down working conditions across the logistics industry. In small towns and cities across the country, the Teamsters alongside other activists have been declaring victories in struggles to block Amazon warehouse plans and tax breaks. The moratorium bill would be a similar victory that they hope would have widespread impact.

Temporary moratoriums on warehouse facilities have passed in other, smaller California cities—and the bill’s backers—a group of laboratorycommunity, and environmental activists, expect the bill to pass unanimously in San Francisco.

“There’s concern from the board of supervisors about what happens when package delivery companies come in and pay $21 an hour with no retirement benefits, and flood the neighborhood with cars and trucks,” said Doug Bloch, the political director of Teamsters Joint Council 7, which represents UPS drivers in northern California.

UPS drivers, who are Teamsters union members in San Francisco, earn more $100,000 a year with pensions and healthcare benefits, Bloch noted. According to a town hall meeting led by Amazon in November, Amazon pledges to pay its San Francisco delivery drivers $21 an hour, and warehouse associates $17.25 an hour—less than a dollar more than San Francisco’s minimum wage of $16.32 an hour.

“As blue collar workers, we need to support each other, we need to raise standards. Amazon’s delivery drivers are getting paid far less than we do doing the same job,” said Javier Philip, a 32-year UPS employee who works and lives in San Francisco and earns $39.97 an hour. “I can still afford to live in this city I love because I have a union job.”

“We’re not against Amazon’s growth,” Bloch said, noting that Amazon packages fuel job growth for UPS drivers who are unionized. “But why should Teamsters make two times as much doing the same work for the same company as an Amazon subcontracted delivery driver? It’s about setting standards for a company that can afford to do the right thing for workers and communities and climate.”

During the pandemic, Amazon has rapidly expanded its last mile delivery station network in the United States in order to fulfill same-day and next-day deliveries. Delivery stations are Amazon’s smallest style warehouse and are often located in cities and suburbs, allowing the company to decrease the time it takes to deliver packages to areas with a high-density of Prime customers. Amazon already has three delivery stations in the city of San Francisco, and labor activists have tallied at least 28 Amazon delivery stations in the Bay Area.

There is also controversy over the San Francisco mayor’s office’s quiet agreement with Amazon to begin negotiating the terms of an Amazon delivery station in September at the site of a waste-management company formerly unionized with the Teamsters that could have been used to build 1,000 units of housing. The new legislation is accompanied by a resolution to put a hold on the planning for this Amazon project.

Walton, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city’s top legislative body, says that with this deal and others, Amazon so far “hasn’t shown respect to their neighbors” in the city. “If you bring in a big business and employ a lot of people who aren’t part of that community, you start pushing people out because you take over the area,” said Walton. “Where do these folks have to go? You move out people who are already in the area.”

The legislation was brought to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors by the San Francisco Southeast Alliance, a group of residents, environmental groups, and labor unions. The alliance formed in September to advocate against the pernicious effects of Amazon facilities moving into San Francisco.

“I believe this law will send a message to Amazon in general that San Francisco is a labor city,” said Joel Gonzales, a produce clerk at Andronico’s supermarket in San Francisco and a member of UFCW local 648. “If you’re going to come here and build your warehouses, you must respect your workers and unions that respect their workers.”

The post San Francisco Proposes Moratorium on New Amazon Supply Stations appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Amazon’s signature smiley blue logos are spreading across southeast San Francisco’s industrial landscape. And not everyone is happy about it.

The second most valuable company in the world, Amazon has been gobbling up space throughout the southeast corner of the city, taking advantage of zoning meant to preserve blue-collar jobs in a market in which housing and office space has typically generated higher revenues.

At 888 Minnesota St., at the foot of a slow street and across from Esprit Park, Amazon has established an UltraFastFresh logistics center. A half-mile southeast at 435 23rd St., just to the south of the Potrero Power Station, a large sign outside a 75,000 square foot warehouse says “welcome Amazonians.” And further to the south, at 749 Toland St., Amazon has a 112,000 square foot delivery hub.

But Amazon’s biggest and most controversial incursion into San Francisco is a proposed 725,000 square foot delivery hub at 900 7th St., a six-acre rectangular parcel in Showplace Square Amazon bought for $200 million. For decades that site was home to garbage trucks, a fleet of 300 that each morning would rumble out onto the streets of Showplace Square at an hour the streets were still dark and most city residents still in bed.

Now the trash trucks are gone — the garbage company Recology relocated them to Brisbane — but a proposal from the new property owner is causing consternation from neighbors who say that a heavy industrial use no longer fits in a creative neighborhood that has evolved into a mix of housing, design and artist spaces, light “advanced” manufacturing and an expanding California College of the Arts campus.

Amazon plans to expand into San Francisco by turning this location at 900 7th St., and others, into facilities for the company.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

David Meckel, senior adviser to the president at CCA, said three daily shifts of 400 workers would generate 2,800 car trips, in addition to the 70 Amazon trucks that will be coming and going from the facility. The traffic could create a pedestrian nightmare for CCA’s 1,600 students as well as for residents at 888 7th St, a 224-unit that overlooks the future Amazon site.

“To me it’s not about Amazon, it’s about the intensity of the use,” said Meckel. “I’d have the same concerns if it were FedEx or UPS. For me it’s about urban design.”

Will Roscoe, who lives at 888 7th St., said the pollution and traffic would worsen air quality in a neighborhood in which freeways and Caltrain already generate high levels of particulate matter. About a decade ago, Roscoe, who works for a nonprofit, was evicted from a building in the Western Addition. He feels like the Amazon project will once again force him to move.

“Hundreds of people now have come in to make this their neighborhood and this just really turns the clock back to a massive usage that is antithetical to a livable neighborhood for people with children, seniors,” he said. “It’s contrary to that.”

But while a busy distribution center may feel out of sync with Showplace Square’s current vibe, it is in fact just what city zoning calls for. And Recology only decided to sell the site after neighbors had rejected an earlier 2018 plan to build about 1,000 units of housing there.

At a pre-application meeting at the site on June 27, 2019, a packed room of Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents lambasted the idea of ​​building housing on the site. One called it a “a land grab and giveaway to developers.” Another resident said San Francisco suffered from a “PDR crisis” — PDR stands for production, distribution and repair — and that the property should remain zoned for industrial uses. One attendee called it “a bad project,” while another argued that “housing is not needed in the neighborhood.”

If the vocal opposition was intended to give Recology cold feet, it worked. Recology first cut the number of proposed units in half. Then, facing an uphill approval process that was likely to drag on three or four years, not including delays from environmental lawsuits common in San Francisco, the rubbish company gave up and sold the six-acre site to Amazon.

“We received an offer and determined it was in Recology’s interest to accept it,” said Eric Potashner, the Vice President & Senior Director of Strategic Affairs at Recology.

While the housing plan would have required a series of zoning changes and conditional use authorizations, Amazon’s proposed 57-foot high warehouse is consistent with the Eastern Neighborhoods land use plan adopted in December of 2008 after a decade of debate. The site is part of a block of parcels roughly bounded by 7th Street, Division Street, Potrero Avenue and 16th Street, that were zoned for industrial uses.

Ken Rich, who was project manager at the Planning Department for the Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning, said the city tried to strike a balance between protecting industrial jobs and creating room for new housing. The plan has generated thousands of new housing units in Dogpatch and Potrero Hill. It has also prompted property owners at sites like 1 DeHaro, 100 Hooper and 150 Hooper to build PDR spaces for advanced manufacturing.

The Eastern Neighborhood Plans goal of protecting light industrial jobs on a swath of land that would otherwise have been gobbled up by tech office and housing developers has done what it was intended to do, according to Anne Taupier, director of development at the Mayor’s Office of Economic and workforce development.

“A clear set of rules to play by were established and it really hasn’t changed since then,” said Taupier. “We think it has worked and is continuing to work.”

The opposition to Amazon’s 7th Street plan is motivated not just by land use issues but by the company’s track record of crushing unionization efforts and reputation for grueling work conditions, according to JR Eppler, a board member with Potrero Boosters.

Eppler said that neighbors around 888 Minnesota St. have had success over the last year working with Amazon on issues like traffic, parking and security. Friends of Jackson Park is in talks with Amazon about the company possibly contributing funding to badly needed improvements. But the labor issues are harder to negotiate, he said.

In a recent SF Standard article two San Francisco Board of Supervisor members, Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton, suggested that the city had been overly receptive to Amazon’s project and less than upfront with residents and other stakeholders about the project.

Taupier said Amazon is at the very beginning of its approval process and there would be ample time for residents and elected officials to shape the project.

“We are going to have conversations with Amazon about supporting our local small businesses, including our brick and mortar retail businesses,” said Taupier. “We will make sure they understand that San Francisco has expectations that if you are going to do business here you are going to be part of the community.”

In the meantime the empty rectangular lot feels like an island in a neighborhood that has moved on. To the north is the condo building at 888 7th St., which houses many senior Chinese immigrants. To the south on Hooper Street is headquarters for Adobe and a new SFMade building that houses a roster of manufacturing businesses including robotics groups, a distillery and a fabricator of everything from drapes to bags to hydrogen tanks for the automobile and industrial markets.

Scott Mason, a San Francisco commercial real estate broker who specializes in industrial properties, said Amazon is among a select group of well-funded users who qualify for PDR sites but have far deeper pockets than the typical family run auto body or plumbing supply company. He said mom and pop PDR companies needed to make a city like San Francisco function can not compete in a market dominated by Amazon.

“Your every day smaller company in San Francisco is having a tough time,” he said. “The venture-backed tech-driven company can pay more per square foot because they are not working off a regular balance sheet.”

Stephen Maduli-Williams, Amazon’s manager of economic development policy, said construction at the old Recolgy site would not start for 18 to 24 months. He said there would be retail at the site and Amazon would work with local residents and businesses to determine what sort of goods might be sold. He said the company is looking into how Amazon could support Jackson Park.

“We intend to use this time to listen to and engage all of our neighbors and stakeholders, with the goal of reaching a shared vision not only for the project, but to also create long lasting partnerships” he said.

For Dogpatch and Potrero residents there is an increasing sense that Amazon “has the neighborhoods surrounded,” said Eppler. Roscoe said he is concerned that some neighborhood groups will successfully squeeze Amazon to fund various needs, leaving residents to live with the trucks with the blue smiles coming and going.

“Nobody speaks for our building,” said Roscoe. “We don’t want it. Nobody I’ve talked to is like, ‘Oh yes, good idea.’ The others in the coalition are going for community benefits — but what community benefits could they give us? Free gas masks? Lifetime cancer screening? The benefit we need is to not be subjected to traffic and pollution.”

JK Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP / KPIX) – Millions of online users lost access to popular websites and services when Amazon’s cloud service network went down for hours on Tuesday, even disrupting its own delivery service for its customers. The service provides remote computing services to many governments, universities, and corporations, including The Associated Press.

About five hours after numerous companies and other organizations began reporting issues with Amazon Web Services, the company said in a post on the AWS Status page that it had “mitigated” the underlying problem that caused the outage . Shortly thereafter, it was reported that “many services have already recovered,” but noted that others were still working on a full recovery.

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The problem primarily affected Amazon’s web services in the eastern United States, it said. The problems started this morning on the US east coast, said Doug Madory, director of internet analytics at Kentik Inc, a network intelligence company – including Amazon’s own e-commerce operation.

In a statement, Amazon spokesman Richard Rocha confirmed that the AWS failure had also caused problems in Amazon’s warehouse and delivery operations. Rocha added that the company is “working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible”.

It is not just large companies that have felt the effects of the Amazon Web Services shutdown. It is unclear how or if the Amazon outage affected the federal government. The US agency for cybersecurity and infrastructure security said in an email response to questions that it was working with Amazon “to understand the possible impact of this outage on federal agencies or other partners.”

What is certain is that when a great service like this fails, there is a domino effect that can be felt worldwide.

“The reason we’re seeing this more often is because the internet is centralized,” said CNET editor at Large Ian Sherr.

Deliveries were canceled, some apps were unresponsive, and customers trying to book flights with airlines were unable to connect. Those were just a few of the problems.

Students like Kayley Flanagan also felt the effects.

“Some people were in the middle of the finale when it shut down and they couldn’t access it,” Flanagan said.

Platforms like Canvas, which enable online learning and teaching for academic institutions as well, are closed, leaving students desperate and desperate for answers on social media.

“I couldn’t access my homework or the study guides for the final exams,” Flanagan said.

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“Thirty, 40 years ago, when we first developed the Internet, the whole idea was to have it decentralized and to have information accessible from anywhere in case there was an attack,” said Sherr.

Scherr believes centralizing the Internet with a handful of companies under control is part of the problem as incidents like Tuesday’s outage with huge economic repercussions are just waiting to happen.

“A lot of companies rely on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, and as a result, things can go wrong and it can get really bad online,” said Sherr.

Customers trying to book or rebook trips with Delta Air Lines have had problems connecting with the airline. “Delta is working quickly to restore functionality to our AWS-supported phone lines,” said spokesman Morgan Durrant. The airline apologized and urged customers to use their website or mobile app instead.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines said it switched to west coast servers after some airport-based systems were affected by the outage. Customers reported DownDetector, a popular clearinghouse for user outage reporting, still outages, more than three hours after launch. Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish said there had been no major flight disruptions.

Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company’s eastern US region for dealer services has declined. The company has apps that access inventory data, monthly payment calculators, service bulletins, and other items. More than 20 apps were affected.

According to DownDetector, people who tried using Instacart, Venmo, Kindle, Roku, and Disney + have reported problems. The McDonald’s app was also down. But American, United, Alaska and JetBlue airlines were not affected. Kentik posted a 26% decrease in traffic to Netflix, among the top web-based services hit by the outage.

Madory said he didn’t think the failure was anything nefarious. He said a recent accumulation of outages among providers hosting large websites reflects the evolution of the networking industry. “More and more of these outages are the result of the automation and centralization of administration,” he said. “This ultimately leads to failures that are difficult to completely avoid due to operational complexity, but are very effective when they occur.”

Public data access technologist and public data access activist Carl Malamud said the outage shows how much the internet’s original design goal – a distributed network with no central point of failure that makes it resilient to mass disasters like a nuclear attack – has been skewed by big tech.

“If we put everything in one place, be it the cloud from Amazon or the monolith from Facebook, we are violating this basic principle,” said Malamud, who developed the Internet’s first radio station and later an important database for the US Security and Stock Exchange Commission online posed. “We saw when Facebook became the instrument of a massive disinformation campaign, we only saw it today with the failure of Amazon.”

Kenny Choi contributed to this report.

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© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Rivian’s all-electric Amazon delivery truck has started making deliveries in San Francisco, California. San Francisco is now the second city to sustainably experience parcel delivery with Rivian’s new van. This makes Los Angeles the only location where Amazon parcels are currently received from the fully electric vehicle.

Amazon customers had their first run-ins in the Rivian van on February 3 in Los Angeles when the highly anticipated battery-powered vehicle made its first package deliveries. With plans to expand deliveries to 16 cities by the end of 2021, Rivian’s Amazon van is now in the Bay Area, where the e-commerce giant is testing the vehicle’s capabilities in some of the more difficult areas for package delivery: tight populated cities.

San Francisco offered several advantages for the Rivian delivery truck in Amazon’s initial test phases. Amazon selected the city specifically for its great customers, unique terrain, and favorable climate.

Ross Rachey, director of Amazon Global Fleet and Products, said:

“From what we’ve seen, this is one of the fastest modern commercial electrification programs available and we are incredibly proud of it. As we continue to grow and invest in California, let’s do this We are very excited that customers in the Bay Area can see these vehicles drive through their neighborhood. “

In September 2019, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that his e-commerce company plans to buy 100,000 all-electric vans from Rivian to help reduce the carbon footprint of driving gas-powered vehicles. Amazon is one of Rivian’s largest investors and made a $ 700 million investment in February 2019. Shortly afterwards, the development of the delivery van began. The vehicle was presented in October 2020. It has a range of 150 miles per charge and is equipped with safety tweaks and other features to improve the driving experience.

Current delivery drivers who operate Rivian’s all-electric van have been specially trained to operate the vehicle, Amazon Teslarati said in a statement.

Amazon will initially use the Rivian vans to deliver packages from the e-commerce giant’s delivery station in Richmond, California.

“Richmond is a regional and state leader in climate action, including creating green jobs and infrastructure, implementing a robust climate change plan, signing the Paris Agreement in 2016 and more,” said city mayor Tom Butt. “It is fitting that Amazon’s new electric vehicles are being launched in the Bay Area from Richmond, and I congratulate the company on this important advance in reducing carbon emissions from commercial vehicles.”

Amazon also plans to start deliveries from other locations in the Bay Area soon. The company already uses thousands of EVs worldwide, but is also working on updating delivery centers to be suitable for EV servicing. Last year, Amazon delivered more than 20 million electric vehicle packages to customers in North America and Europe.

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