Mark Buell

Mark Buell "is a native San Franciscan, a graduate of the University of San Francisco and a decorated Vietnam veteran. He has spent 35 years in both public and private real estate development. Mark served as San Francisco’s first Director of Economic Development under Joseph Alioto and later served as the first Director of the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency from 1977 to 1985.

"He was a founding member and first President of CALED, the California Association for Local Economic Development and has served on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission under Dianne Feinstein. Buell serves on the Boards of various non-profit organizations including the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the San Francisco Conservation Corps, the Bolinas Museum and the Chez Panisse Foundation. He has two children, Sabrina and Justin." He is married to Susie Tompkins Buell.


 * Chair, Edible Schoolyard Project
 * Member, Democracy Alliance
 * Advisory Board, Go Green Foundation

"Chez Sludge" and Mark Buell
Buell is the chairman of the board of the Chez Panisse Foundation. The Food Rights Network released a major investigative report on July 9, 2010 titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. It examines collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)

Foundation Mired in 'Sewage Sludge on Gardens'
In 2009 and 2010 a major controversy erupted in San Francisco involving Chez Panisse Foundation Executive Director Francesca Vietor when the Center for Food Safety (upon whose Advisory Board sits Alice Waters) and the Organic Consumers Association called on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, of which Vietor is Vice President, to end its give-away of toxic sewage sludge as 'organic compost' for gardeners. In advance of the OCA's March 4 sludge protest at City Hall, the SFPUC temporarily halted the give-away.

The misleading labeled "organic compost," which the PUC has given away free to gardeners since 2007, is composed of toxic sewage sludge from San Francisco and eight other counties. Very little toxicity testing has been done, but what little has been done is alarming. Just the sludge from San Francisco alone has tested positive for 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (a.k.a. DBCP), Isopropyltoluene (a.k.a. p-cymene or p-isopropyltoluene), Dioxins and Furans.

The Organic Consumers Association conducted a noon hour picket of Chez Panisse April 1, 2010, after Alice Waters refused a request to oppose growing food in sewage sludge. The industry front group ACSH is now making Alice Waters a poster-child for toxic sewage sludge.

Related Sourcewatch

 * Chez Panisse Foundation
 * Marin Agricultural Land Trust