Slammed Treasure Island -

The only treasure left on this island is the lesson it teaches us about hubris, climate reality, and the high cost of building paradise on borrowed land. Are you planning to move to Treasure Island, or are you a former resident with a story to share? Contact our editorial team at [email protected].

"You are erasing a community and replacing it with a playground for the rich," activist Maria Santos shouted at a 2023 planning commission meeting. "Don't try to pretend this is public good." In the face of being slammed, the development team (led by One Treasure Island, a partnership of Stockbridge and Wilson Meany) fights back. They argue that Treasure Island will be the "greenest neighborhood in the world."

For potential buyers, the gamble is immense. Will this be a brilliant investment in a rising waterfront, or a financial tomb when the sea rises? slammed treasure island

Today, the redevelopment of Treasure Island is the most ambitious and controversial urban project in California. And the critics have not held back. The phrase "slammed treasure island" appears in news reports for three distinct reasons: environmental risk, seismic danger, and social equity. 1. The Climate Hammer: Rising Seas Treasure Island sits just 13 feet above sea level at its highest point. With climate models predicting the bay will rise by as much as 7 feet by 2100, engineers are in a race against the tide.

For the city of San Francisco, Treasure Island is a cautionary tale. It asks the question: Just because we can build something, should we? The only treasure left on this island is

Yet, the state’s seismic safety commission recently slammed Treasure Island’s risk assessment as "optimistic." Building massive residential towers (including a 20-story condominium) on this terrain has engineers wincing. One consultant called it "building Versailles on a slinky." Perhaps the loudest noise comes from housing advocates. For years, Treasure Island was a home to 2,000 lower-income residents in aging Navy barracks. To build the new "eco-district," the city forced most of these residents out.

During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the island suffered significant soil liquefaction, cracking roads and tilting buildings. The new plan fortifies the ground with 1,300 stone columns driven 60 feet into the bay floor. "You are erasing a community and replacing it

One thing is certain. As the bay waters climb and the next earthquake rumbles beneath the Pacific Plate, the world will be watching. Whether it sinks or swims, —by the tide, by the earth, and by the court of public opinion.