SF builders struggle to prevent transit center from mounting



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Its neighbor, the Millennium Tower, may be sinking, but the new $ 2.2 billion Transbay Transportation Center could potentially move in the opposite direction. One of the main challenges the builders faced was to prevent the three-block monster from getting up.

"It's like a ship – we attach it," said the executive director of the Transbay Common Authority Mark Zabaneh On Wednesday, during a press conference, he explained at a press conference whether the cracked beams that forced the closure of the new terminal could be the result of the sinking of the building.

According to the Transbay website, "unlike adjacent towers that usually have foundations anchored in the rock to avoid sinking, the foundation of the transit center must prevent the building from floating".

The reason is that unlike the 58-story Millennium, which has all its weight on a half-block basis, the transit center appears to take the Millennium and lay it on the side.

In fact, the transit center looks like a 1500-foot-long barge floating over a deep mud lake.


And believe it or not, the groundwater pressure in downtown is strong enough to lift the center – a building of 25,000 tons of steel and 200,000 yards of concrete.

"Because of this, we did not go to bed," Zabenah said.

Instead, the building is attached – held in place – by 1,896 anchors eighty feet long embedded in the mud.

Asked whether the beams could crack because the transit center could expand, Zabenah said, "No, it's a localized problem" that occurs only above the ground.

Sill, it gives an idea of ​​the difficulty of building landfills.

Sorry to say: LaSonya WellsThe arrest for kidnapping people accused of stealing the cell phone of a prominent local politician has raised questions about race and fairness in the San Francisco justice system.

Again for the flight. And in the same place.

Wells was convicted last year of seizing a supervisor Scott WienerThe iPhone while walking near BART station 16th Street. After being robbed, Wiener quickly negotiated with Wells – and his 20-year-old son – to accompany him to an ATM in Wells Fargo, where he withdrew $ 200 in exchange for the phone.

In addition to the robbery, the attorney general also charged Wells with kidnapping for ransom, a charge that could have sent him to prison in perpetuity.

At the time, the public defender Jeff Adachi called the kidnapping charge "medieval" and stated that prosecutors may be more motivated by Wiener's status than by the facts of the crime.

The case ended with an agreement: Wells pled guilty to extortion, with credit for time served.

Fast forward to June 28, when Wells was stopped in front of the same BART station where she stole Wiener. This time, she and an accomplice allegedly tried to steal a 100-dollar man and steal his mobile phone in what could be a drug traffic that went wrong.

The incident was filmed by a surveillance camera nearby.

Wells, who has been suffering from addictions for a long time, has been charged with robbery and possession of cocaine-related substances. She posted a $ 100,000 bond. However, she subsequently missed her appearances and a warrant was issued.

"I do not know why she missed the court," said the public defender's assistant. Eric McBurney, which represents Wells.

She was arrested on September 18th during a roadside check and is again in detention.

"I really hoped she would get her life back and get back on track," Wiener said. "It's disappointing to hear that she still has problems."

It does not matter: Last week, we reported that the board member of the BART Debora Allen went to the annual conference of the American Public Transit Association in Nashville before the new transit district policy triggered this forbidden trip in states with anti-LGBTQ policies.

Well, at the last minute, Allen chose not to go, telling us after we printed, that she was just too busy.

Allen says she informed BART staff of her decision a few days before the conference. The district press office said they were never informed and that they still thought they would visit when we called late in the week to confirm that she and two district intention to attend.

Whatever it is, despite not going there, the trip will still cost him, according to Allen, since its cancellation implied that she should eat the price of her plane ticket .

Change the times: representative Barbara Lee accepted to participate in a League of Women Voters Candidate Forum on October 5 at Oakland City Hall, and no one was more surprised than his little-known Green Party opponent Laura Wells.

In her press release, Wells recalled that eight years ago, while she was running for the governorship of California, "I was arrested and handcuffed in handcuffs just to have tried to participate in the hearing of a debate in which I should have been one of the protagonists. candidates on the stage. "

"I think I'll be safe this time in the hands of the League of Women Voters," she told us on Friday.

Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, chroniclers of the San Francisco Chronicle, appear on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the morning and evening news of KPIX TV. He can also be heard on KCBS radio from Monday to Friday at 7:50 pm and 5:50 pm. Do you have a tip? Call 415-777-8815 or send an email to matierandross @sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross

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