Gateway from Hell

by Carol Harvey

The global warehouse developer Prologis is requesting approval from the Planning Commission for the San Francisco Gateway, a two-building, 2.16 million square foot industrial facility bridging Interstate 280 in the Bayview. The three-story structures would rise over 100 feet tall, in order to accommodate trucks on every level of the building, with 2,000 parking spaces. Potential Gateway construction raises concerns about heavy traffic congestion, air pollution from diesel emissions and environmental racism in this over-industrialized, radiologically and chemically contaminated largely African-American community.

San Francisco is deciding whether to allow a global real estate company, Prologis, to build a project they call the Gateway at 749 Toland St. and 2000 McKinnon Ave. in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. 

But community leader Kamillah Ealom, director of All Things Bayview, sounded the alarm: “We’re dying out here. Dirty air is killing us more than obesity, alcohol, drugs or high sodium diets.”

The Gateway is planned to be a massive trucking, warehouse and distribution hub — two three-story buildings about 100 feet tall with a combined footprint of over 2 million square feet with parking space for 2,000 trucks, vans and cars.

Prologis, a leading global logistics real estate company headquartered in San Francisco, has asked the San Francisco Planning Commission to approve a Special Use District (SUD) for the site. The SUD would permit the project to proceed under modified zoning rules.

Prologis’ CEO, billionaire Iranian-American Hamid Moghada, this year joined billionaire SF Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “Partnership for San Francisco,” suggesting Lurie supports the Gateway project. 

This raises two questions:

[1] If the Planning Commission creates a Special Use District for Hamid Moghadam through his Prologis’ Gateway project, is the commission violating its own rules? 

[2] Does it demonstrate that, in a foolish, unsustainable and uncompassionate move, the commissioners caved to pressure from billionaires, granting them special favors because they’re rich?

Key issues for the City of San Francisco Air quality

Diesel exhaust contains fine particulate matter (PM2.5), linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death, according to studies by the California Air Resources Board and U.S. EPA. Recent research has also identified tire wear as a significant contributor to airborne microplastics and particulate pollution.

Traffic

Hundreds of diesel trucks and delivery vans will swarm across the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges each day and flood San Francisco’s local streets, adding traffic congestion and air pollution to all neighborhoods – including those already burdened with industry.

Why Bayview?

Bayview Hunters Point, where Prologis plans to construct the Gateway, has long been used as San Francisco’s industrial zone and includes two federal radioactive and chemically-contaminated Superfund cleanup sites, the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Islais Creek. 

Bayview Hunters Point residents live near multiple existing industrial operations — concrete plants, animal rendering facilities and other polluting industries. 

Live sick and die early

Community leaders and many residents have expressed concern about cumulative impacts on public health. They say it is unjust to add more pollution to an area that already has some of the city’s worst air quality. Rates of asthma, cancer and heart disease are higher here than in most of San Francisco. The lifespans of Bayview residents breathing exhaust fumes, dust and toxins have been reduced by 15 to 20 years.

At the June 5, 2025, Planning Commission hearing, Bayview resident Blair Sandler, an environmental economist with legal expertise and a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, warned, “If you allow this project to go ahead, it’s just another case of severe environmental racism.” 

Other cities have said No

San Diego, San Leandro and Redlands, California, and Portland, Oregon, have rejected Prologis’ Gateway project because of traffic and pollution impacts. San Francisco can do the same.

Alternatives and options

Public commenter Mishwa Lee from the group One Thousand Grandmothers suggested that the commissioners “look at other possibilities. What the Bayview needs is housing. Why can’t this area (Bayview) be used for housing that meets the needs of working people and families?”

It has been suggested that Gateway be built at Oyster Point in South San Francisco or at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The complex would be close enough to provide vital goods and services but far enough to direct heavy traffic away from the city. 

Please do not consider Prologis

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, Rachelle Holmes of All Things Bayview described herself as a healthy mother who developed asthma and now needs an inhaler. She worries about dying and leaving her kids.

Rachelle addressed the Planning Commission: “This is very serious. Please do not consider Prologis!

“Please, please consider the residents of not just Bayview but everyone in the Bay Area. The air we breathe affects everyone. It doesn’t just affect one area. It affects all of San Francisco.”

The decision

On Sept. 25, 2025, the San Francisco Planning Commission may vote on whether to grant a Special Use District that allows this project to bypass key environmental protections.

Community members can voice their concerns at the hearing, in writing or by calling commissioners. (Call the Planning Commission at 628-652-7589 and ask to leave a message for the commissioners.) This is a chance to protect public health and reject new sources of diesel pollution in San Francisco.

Carol Harvey is a San Francisco political journalist specializing in human rights and civil rights. She can be reached at carolharvey1111@gmail.com.  

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Source: https://sfbayview.com/2025/09/gateway-from-hell/