A sizeable crowd gathered in the parking lot of San Francisco’s Bayview Plaza Shopping Center, where attendees celebrated the first fast-charging stations for electric vehicles to come to the city’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.
Funded in part by a California Energy Commission grant secured by the San Francisco Environment Department, the six EVgo stalls represented what speakers at a ribbon-cutting ceremony said stood as a landmark for the historically low-income neighborhood of San Francisco that has faced years of environmental neglect.
Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday arrived in his own electric vehicle, a Rivian R1S SUV that he gifted to the city so that he and his team could utilize it. The city has a goal of net zero emissions by 2040 and there are now 1,179 publicly accessible EV chargers in San Francisco, Environment Department director Tyrone Jue said.
“San Francisco is the place to be for climate innovation, and our goal is simple: if you live in this city, it should be easy to have a vehicle that is better for the environment. This is how we bring clean energy into everyday life. We are not going to wait for change; we are going to make the change,” Lurie said.
Arieann Harrison, a community advocate in Bayview, said “We have to lead by example. [In Bayview-Hunters Point] we have the highest rate of respiratory lung disease and asthma amongst youth and adults. We have the highest rates of cancer. Thats because we have been an environmental sacrifice for decades.”
From being the site of an old PG&E power plant to the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that also housed the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, the toxins in the water, air, and soil have long troubled the community, she said.
She continued, “The only way that we can resolve some of these issues is to start standing on business for environmental and social justice. It’s worth it. Our kids are worth it. Our seniors are worth it. Clean air, water, and land is a right and we should not have to beg for that.”
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony concluded, the charging station officially came online as the first vehicle was plugged in.
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