Linda Edson doesn’t spend much time in the kitchen anymore, but it’s obvious that she is a chef. Her precision, her immediate responses, and her vigilance over Aracely, her restaurant on Treasure Island, are all imbued with a chef’s urgent efficiency.
She was in a meeting when I arrived and took two more before I left, with no time to rest between them. When a huge party from the Oakland Senior Center showed up unexpectedly, Edson was on her feet, rearranging tables and distributing menus. And, as if she didn’t have enough on her plate, the neighborhood where she has invested so much is changing rapidly around her.
Beleaguered residents and business owners on Treasure Island are facing radical transformation not found anywhere else in San Francisco. Part of the disruption on the horizon is a toll. Even though TI, as islanders call it, is a San Francisco neighborhood, authorities want to impose a toll to drive on and off, up to $3.50 per trip; Edson and other owners say it would crush them.
Island residents are about to receive an exemption for at least 10 years. But it’s much less certain whether business owners and their employees will gain relief, too. It’s one part of a much larger puzzle that Edson, her fellow entrepreneurs, and their employees are trying to piece together.
Aracely, a sun-washed café with patios back and front and a diverse, surprisingly affordable, Latin-inflected menu has been on Treasure Island for five years. Edson moved the café to the island, a place she had never visited, after its original Potrero Hill location was destroyed to make way for condos. On the island, Edson is able to sell upscale fare at relatively low prices and host music and dance events. In mainland San Francisco, she says, she’d hardly be able to keep the lights on.
“Traffic is great in San Francisco but I don’t think it’s worth it,” Edson says, citing lengthy inspections, competition from delivery services, and other headaches that drove restaurateurs to City Hall in September.
“There is no other neighborhood that is required to fund its own transportation infrastructure.” — District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney
Though rent is cheaper and there’s less competition on Treasure Island, owning a restaurant in the city’s smallest, most isolated neighborhood comes with its own set of challenges. Edson says it’s difficult to lure non-island customers to visit and convince vendors to deliver there. Public transit is limited to the Muni 25 bus from San Francisco and is nonexistent from Oakland, one of several reasons that retaining off-island employees can be a struggle. Most dramatically, the island is a patchwork of detours and construction, with rumbling earthmovers pushing around mountains of dirt and power outages shutting down business at the worst possible times. With the population due to rise from 1,800 to more than 20,000 by 2035, the transformation promises a shimmering future but does little to help Edson at the moment.
“We have to take what it is now,” Edson says. “People drive in here and they’re like, ‘It looks like a zombie town.’”
Edson says the proposed toll would make life even harder. For the last year or so, she has been involved in the Treasure Island Organizing Committee (TIOC), a grassroots effort to oppose the toll. Next spring, the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency (TIMMA) will make a final proposal on the toll’s cost, hours of operation, and “affordability programs” for workers and low-income residents.
Steve Stallone and Jim Mirowski of Treasure Island Wines, founding members of TIOC, called the exemption for residents a step in the right direction. But they and other islanders point out what seems like a Catch-22: The tolls are meant to get people out of their cars and onto ferries (to San Francisco) and buses (to the East Bay). But the tolls are the main source of funding for those services. Exemptions would subvert the dual purpose of funding alternative transit and relieving Bay Bridge congestion.
“It’s a circular, weird thing,” Mirowski says.
Construction of the ferry terminal began in September. The ferry won’t be running until at least mid-2021, and there won’t be service every 15 minutes until 2030 or later, according to Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) director Bob Beck. With toll exemptions, full service could come even later, and its funding would be uncertain.
“It’s pretty tough to be telling people they should take alternative transit when it doesn’t exist,” Stallone said at a meeting Tuesday.
District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney told The Frisc that the tolls are unfair. “There is no other neighborhood that is required to fund its own transportation infrastructure, over and above what people pay when they get on a bus or a train,” he said, and indicated that money lost via exemptions could be made up from the city’s transportation agency (SFMTA) or state sources.
A nice space
When Edson, born and raised in Argentina and a veteran of several fine-dining spots in the city, took over what was called the Axis Cafe on Potrero Hill, she gave it a Spanish name that combines the Latin words for “altar” and “sky.” It also happens to be her daughter’s middle name.
“I mainly wanted something personal to me, and she was the most important thing at the time,” Edson says.
On Treasure Island, residents like Bill Jenkins, who lives there with his wife and one-year-old child, appreciate that Aracely is open early every morning into the afternoon, plus two nights a week for dinner. It’s a sign that Aracely is invested in serving the community, and not just the weekend brunch crowd that comes across the bridge. Eight of Aracely’s 16 employees live on the island, and three were hired through the island’s Job Corps center.
“I was very passionate. The people here also deserve something nice,” Edson says. “When I came, there was one other restaurant, called Oasis, but they were, I think, more of an event center. I just wanted to provide a nice space.”
Now, with massive changes underway across the island, Edson is unsure about Aracely’s long-term viability. She’s worried that many of her local regulars might leave the island in the next decade. Even if they have the right to rent or buy the new units that slowly replace the current townhouses and apartments, many won’t be able to afford to stay.
(Roughly one third of households were previously slated to be forced to leave, but, as reported last month in The Frisc, a proposal to give them housing rights is gaining momentum. Last week, Supervisor Haney and Mayor Breed officially endorsed it. The change is due for a vote at the Dec. 11 TIDA board meeting.)
“I think the island is beautiful. I think it’s a prime spot.” — Linda Edson
But for Edson, the toll is especially worrisome: Why would customers come to the island if they have to pay a toll that they wouldn’t have to pay in mainland San Francisco or Oakland?
While the topic of charging tolls to visitors hasn’t come up, Supervisor Haney emphasized the importance of discussing exemptions for island businesses: “I’ll be listening very carefully to employees and businesses to help them to craft something that is both fair and equitable.”
Edson knows that whatever the outcome, the island will continue to transform.
“I think the island is beautiful. I think it’s a prime spot,” Edson says. “But I think it’ll look very different in the future. I don’t think most of the people that are here right now will be here.”
And with that, as the main room filled up with lunch customers, Edson stood up and immediately began her next meeting.
Max Harrison-Caldwell lives in San Francisco and writes about local news, culture and skateboarding. You can find him on Twitter here.
