Event details:
One Market Street is located at the foot of Market Street It is one block east of the Embarcadero BART station, across the street from the terminus of the California Street Cable Car line and several MUNI bus stops (visit the Muni website to find the best route from your starting point).
Valet Parking is available for Lunch for $12 at the corner of Market and Steuart Streets (less expensive than local parking garages).
Parking Garages nearby:
8 Mission Street - Hotel Vitale - valet only
123 Mission Street
188 Spear Street
160 Spear Street
$60 per person
If you are unable to attend a Lambda Alpha event for which you have made reservations, please remember to cancel no later than 72 hours prior to the function or you will be held responsible for payment.
Ringmaster at the Greatest Show on Earth
Retiring San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim in Conversation with Top Attorney Mary Murphy
At the end of February, John Rahaim will step down as Director of the San Francisco Planning Department after 12 years of dedicated service. As Director, John navigated San Francisco's notorious three-ring circus of development politics through four mayoral administrations, the Great Recession, the tech-fueled economic rebound, soaring housing costs, economic displacement, the retail apocalypse and so much more.
John will appear in conversation with Mary Murphy of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, one of the City's most respected land use attorneys. Join Lambda Alpha Golden Gate for a frank and open discussion of growth policy, urban design, and deal-making in the City's most transformative period in recent memory.
Speaker Biographies
John S. Rahaim
John Rahaim is the Planning Director for the City and County of San Francisco. Appointed in January 2008, Mr. Rahaim is responsible for overseeing long range city planning, development entitlements and environmental reviews for most physical development in the City. Mr. Rahaim started his career with the City of Pittsburgh's Planning Department in 1984, where he later became the Associate Director for the department. He was in charge of development review and rewrote the City's Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Rahaim moved to Seattle in 1999 where he became the founding Executive Director of CityDesign, Seattle's Office of Urban Design, and the Executive Director of the Seattle Design Commission, the city's primary design advisory panel for public projects and related urban design initiatives. In 2002, Mr. Rahaim later served as the Planning Director for the City of Seattle's Department of Planning and Development. During his tenure in Seattle, Mr. Rahaim managed the early stages of the Central Waterfront Plan and created the Center City Strategy for downtown Seattle and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Mr. Rahaim holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan and a Master in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He will step down from service on February 28, 2020.
Mary G. Murphy
Mary Murphy represents a wide variety of developers and investors in real estate transactions and land use issues, with particular experience in public private partnerships and historic rehabilitation projects.
Among her recent projects are the Chase Center, the redevelopment of Treasure Island, India Basin and the 312-acre Parkmerced residential project. She is representing the Oakland As in their efforts to develop a new ballpark and ancillary development in Oakland and also represented Related Company in its 9 million square foot development in Santa Clara and the developers for the rehabilitation of San Francisco's Ferry Building and Piers 1 , 3 and 5.
Appointed by both Presidents Clinton and Bush, Ms. Murphy served two terms on the Presidio Trust Board. She also represented the Trust in a landmark $100 million remediation agreement as well as the approvals of Lucasfilms' office complex.
Ms. Murphy has been named the 2017 California Lawyer of the Year, has appeared on the Business Times list of 100 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business and has been elevated to their Forever Influential status. She was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the State of California in 2011 and 2012, Best Lawyer in Real Estate in 2014, and California Lawyer of the Year in 2007. She was also awarded the Euromoney LMG Americas Women in Business award for 2016 in Real Estate.
She sits on the Board of Trustees of the Bay Area Council where she is one of the new co-chairs of the Housing Subcommittee and the Committee on JOBS. She is a former board member of SPUR, the San Francisco Boys & Girls Club, Hamlin School for Girls, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Drew School in San Francisco. She is also a former member of the San Francisco Board of Appeals.
A Rhodes Scholar, Ms. Murphy received her law degree from Harvard University. She also holds degrees from Oxford University and Yale University.