“One issue that I am hopeful someone will take up is the claim by the Recreation and Parks Department’s Director Phil Ginsburg that “We want as much open space as possible, but we also need to have a way to care for it.” That was his quote in reference to why the City’s Recreation and Parks Department is unwilling to accept the donation of the park built in front of the new Rincon Green Apartments at 333 Harrison Street. Read the article here (hopefully, the shared full article will appear: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Creating-new-park-no-picnic-for-broke-city-4490422.php?t=27ec6d327d3f99889e
“This is a lie from Phil Ginsburg and it should infuriate everyone who lives in the Rincon neighborhood or nearby. Why do I say it is a lie?”
Hey, speaking of Gavin Newsom lackey Phil Ginsburg, a few years back he had a total boner for this nearby project at Justin Herman and yet NOBODY HAS EVER USED IT EXCEPT FOR OCCUPY SF FOR A FEW MONTHS.
Gavin Newsom lackey Phil Ginsburg must be aware, I mean he’s not stupid, that this bocce thing was/is a big fat waste, but he’s afraid to acknowledge this because then he’d have to get a job in the real world.
“CONCEPTS ABOUND FOR RE-USE OF PRESIDIO’S FORMER COMMISSARY BUILDING - WIDE RANGE OF PROPOSALS TO BE CONSIDERED
Presidio of San Francisco (March 5, 2013) – The Presidio Trust announced today that it has received 16 concept proposals for repurposing a stunning site on Crissy Field in the Presidio of San Francisco, a national park site and national historic landmark district just south of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“We are encouraged with the number and quality of responses and look forward to engaging the public and evaluating concepts over the coming months,” said Craig Middleton, the Trust’s executive director. “Finding a new purpose for this incomparable site clearly has stirred the imaginations of teams from around the country.”
Foreground and background – are these rocks and others nearby going to stay here?
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Oh, by the way, Stewards. People are still kind of pissed about how local real estate interests chased away the harmless Panhandle Bandshell a half-decade back. And, you know, Stewards, you all seem kind of cozy with area realtors (lower-case “r” as always) and homeowners associations. So what I’m saying is that most residents would prefer a muddier Panhandle with the Bandshell than a less muddy Panhandle with whatever it is that you’re spearheading.
Presidio of San Francisco (August 14, 2012) — President Barack Obama has named two prominent Bay Area leaders — Paula R. Collins and Alex Mehran — to the Presidio Trust Board of Directors. The White House also re-appointed Nancy Bechtle as board chair. Ms. Collins and Mr. Mehran are replacing outgoing board members J. Michael Shepherd and Bill Wilson.
Paula R. Collins is the chief executive officer of WDG Ventures, Inc., a real estate development company in Northern California, and president of Portfolio Real Estate Consulting.
Part of the original project development team for the Moscone Convention Center, Ms. Collins is a founder and director of Presidio Bank in San Francisco, a member of the national board of the Automobile Association of America and has served as an appointee to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Visiting Committee for the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. In addition, she is co-chair of the Board of Directors for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a member of the board of the Special Olympics for Northern California and has served on the Board of Directors of the BRIDGE Housing Corporation. Ms. Collins has been awarded the prestigious Silver Spur Award by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research organization, in honor of her dedication to improving the quality of life and economic health of San Francisco; and has been honored by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and the San Francisco Business Times. She graduated cum laude in urban studies from Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts and received her master’s degree in city planning from MIT. Ms. Collins replaces Mr. Shepherd on the board.
A Bay Area native, Alex Mehran is the president and chief executive officer of Sunset Development Company, a San Ramon based real estate development, investment, construction and management company founded by his father almost 60 years ago.
Mr. Mehran is chair of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, a trustee of the San Francisco Ballet and a member of the University of California, San Francisco Chancellor’s Associates. In addition, he is a past chairman and current executive committee member of the Bay Area Council and is a former trustee of the Urban Land Institute and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Mr. Mehran received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where he graduated with honors. He earned a law degree, also with honors, from England’s Cambridge University. Mr. Mehran replaces Mr. Wilson.
“Alex and Paula are joining the board at a very exciting time – the Presidio Trust is now financially self-sufficient and we are seeing the benefits of a decade worth of investments in the park,” said Craig Middleton, Presidio Trust Executive Director. “Alex and Paula will be instrumental in helping us expand the public benefit of the Presidio to the local community and the nation.”
A fourth generation San Franciscan, Nancy Bechtle grew up across the street from the Presidio, and, as a child would scale the base’s walls to play in Julius Kahn Park. Once, she was even kicked out for riding her horse on the base. Appointed to the Trust’s board by President George W. Bush in 2008, Ms. Bechtle was first elected chair in 2009. She is chairman of the board of the Sugar Bowl Corporation, serves on the board of directors for the Charles Schwab Corporation and is a former chief financial officer and director of J.R. Bechtle and Company. A past president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Symphony, Ms. Bechtle has served on the symphony’s board of governors since 1984 and has also served on the board of the San Francisco Opera Association. In addition she has served on the board of the National Park Foundation, holding the board’s citizen chair from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Bechtle recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and has received a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from the California Arts Council and the Investment in Leadership award from the Coro Foundation, among her many other honors.
“I am pleased to welcome these very talented and accomplished people to the board,” said Nancy Bechtle. “The experience that Paula and Alex bring will be great assets as the Trust expands its public-serving programs while continuing to keep an eye on ensuring the park’s self-sufficiency.”
The Presidio Trust is governed by a seven-member board of directors. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States. The seventh is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior or his designee. An executive director reports to the board and oversees a staff with expertise including environmental science, historic preservation, operations and maintenance, landscape design, planning, resource management, real estate development, public affairs and programs, law, and finance.
Biographies of all Trust board members are available at www.presidio.gov
The Presidio Trust was established by the United States Congress in 1996 to administer the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park site that is located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The areas overseen by the Trust include expansive open space and spectacular views, a 300-acre historic forest, and rare and endangered plants and wildlife. The park comprises nearly 6 million square feet of buildings, including 469 historic structures that contribute to the Presidio’s status as a National Historic Landmark District.”
Our Presidio Trust just posted a video to the YouTube about the OC being in rehab.
You people want history* in the Presidio? Well here, have some, via un film du Melissa Peabody:
“No place in the Presidio is more beloved than the historic Officers’ Club, located on the Main Post. Over the course 235 years, the building has played many roles. It served as offices and living quarters for the fort commander, as a post headquarters, as officers’ quarters, and as a social center for the Spanish, Mexican, and United States armies. With each new use the building has grown and evolved, like the Presidio itself.
Today, the oldest and most revered building in the Presidio (and one of the two oldest in San Francisco) is undergoing a comprehensive historic rehabilitation that will revive its original grandeur and restore it as a focal point for visitors and as a venue for cultural events.
This video provides an overview of the Officers’ Club history and plans for returning it to its place as the Presidio’s premiere social destination.
The Officers’ Club will reopen as a community and social hub housing the Presidio Heritage Center in 2013. The project is expected to receive a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
This film is by Melissa Peabody. Copyright 2012, Presidio Trust”
*As opposed to a modern art building or a lodge or a working movie theatre or anything else the richers of the Marina actively fight against…
I haven’t heard word one about the long-promised lawsuit what was going to overturn SFGov and re-install the old tenant as the operator.
“The civil lawsuit begins March 2012 and will expose the truth about all the many laws that Rec & Park broke in order to bring in an out-of-state chain, with no boating experience to take over this historic boating recreation site.”
But I certainly don’t care about born-into-the-one-percent, supercracker Supervisor Mark Farrell, who stood me and another Supe up on the steps of City Hall* back in the day, and/or the plans for the new freeway in the Presidio.
Wow, a tunnel. It looks every other, right?
*I don’t know, if you don’t want to do something then you say, “I don’t want to do this.” Or, better yet, say nothing, same message. But what you don’t do is say you’re going to do something and then blow it off. That’s pretty fucking basic, I think.
You know about the Bodie, CA ghost town, right? That’s the model for the NIMBYs of the Marina District and points beyond when they oppose activity in the Presidio.
Read below for the update.
Here’s the abandoned Main Post Theatre from a few years back – I’m sure it looks the same now. Do you know who supported the mofos listed below back in the late aughts by paying tens of thousands of dollars to oppose the use of the Main Post Theatre? How about the owners of neighboring movie theatres, how about that?
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I don’t know, this crew doesn’t want new buildings and it doesn’t want the reuse of old buildings. Of course they can sue, in this town, the world capitol of NIMBYism, of course. But is it really true that there’s ”nearly unanimous public opposition” against lodges (or inns or hotels) in national parks?
On It Goes:
Press Release (Also distributed via Business Wire 2/2/2012)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 2, 2012
For more information contact: Gary Widman, (President, Presidio Historical Assn) 415/435-0360, gwidman@mindspring.com Becky Evans (Sierra Club/SF) 415/775-3309, rebecae@earthlink.net Deborah Sivas (Stanford Law School, Environmental Law Clinic) 650/725.8571, lyndaj@stanford.edu Whitney Hall, (VP, Presidio Historical Assn) 707/778-6975, whithall@comcast.net www.presidioassociation.org
PRESIDIO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, SIERRA CLUB SUE SF PRESIDIO TRUST TO HALT NEW CONSTRUCTION
San Francisco….The Presidio Historical Association (PHA) and Sierra Club filed a Federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court late Wednesday to halt proposed new construction on the Main Post of the Presidio of San Francisco, a historic national park in San Francisco. The lawsuit charges the park’s managing Federal agency, the Presidio Trust, with failing to comply with the Presidio Trust Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
“The Presidio Trust has violated these statutes in its push to convert the most historically significant site in the Presidio into a luxury hotel despite nearly unanimous public opposition,” said PHA President Gary Widman. “We have no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect this national park, which belongs to all Americans.”
The suit sets a precedent as the first to question activities in a national park that is not managed by the National Park Service.
Recently, the Presidio Trust’s Board of Directors changed restrictive zoning policies that protected the Main Post until now in order to permit construction of a 14-building hotel, a large addition to a historic theater and other structures, a move strongly opposed by numerous nonprofit organizations and private citizens.
“The Sierra Club has protected national parks since 1892, and played a major role in the creation of the Presidio National Park and Golden Gate National Recreation Area,” said Sierra Club spokeswoman Becky Evans. “The unique historic value of the Presidio Main Post should not be sacrificed to build an unnecessary hotel.”
The Sierra Club won a 1986 Federal lawsuit that enjoined the US Army from undertaking new construction in the Presidio, a military base at that time. “By filing this suit, the Sierra Club seeks affirmation of that 1986 decision and seeks the Presidio Trust’s compliance with the Presidio Trust Act and other environmental laws,” Evans said.
The lawsuit asserts that the Presidio Trust ignored its duty to “[protect] the Presidio from development and uses which would destroy the historic…character of the area…and other cultural resources”, and failed to limit new construction to one-for-one replacement of demolished structures as required by the Presidio Trust Act.
The plaintiffs also claim that the Trust’s NEPA process was flawed and that the Trust failed to minimize adverse impacts in its National Historic Landmark District to the maximum extent possible as required by the NHPA.
The Presidio Trust Act (PTA) of 1996 recognized and protected the 1,491-acre Presidio of San Francisco as a unique place of history and open space in a densely populated urban center. The Main Post, established in 1776, was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1962. The Presidio was home to Spanish, Mexican, and American military operations for nearly 220 years until the base became a national park within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) in 1994. More than 30,000 Americans veterans and their families are buried in the Presidio’s National Cemetery, on the western side of the Main Post.
The nonprofit Presidio Historical Association has helped to preserve and present the Presidio’s history for more than 50 years. The watchdog group recently gained attention for successfully fighting the Presidio Trust’s plan to build a massive, contemporary art museum on the historic Main Post.
The Stanford Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic is representing the Presidio Historical Association and the Sierra Club in the lawsuit.
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The complaint is posted at http://presidioassociation.org/issues.htm Case# CV12-00522, US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division
Presidio Historical Association P.O. Box 29163 San Francisco, CA 94129 (415) 752-2270 www.presidioassociation.org
