The San Francisco Citizen

The Presidio Trust wanted a big turnout, and that’s what they got. How many folks showed up last night at the Presidio Trust Public Board of Directors meeting? More than 500 and less than 1000. Read a vivid account here.

These poor souls had to wait about 45 minutes before being admitted, but nobody was “turned away,” as has been alleged. Across the street you can see the “First Amendment Area” at Moraga and Monkey. That’s the nicest time, place, manner free speech area this lawyer has ever seen.

The news of the evening is that public comment period will be extended to September, so expect another big meeting like this one. A transcript will be available soon, so let’s wait on that before getting into this too much.

Is there a NIMBY backlash developing among area youth?

The Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, was booed by a good chunk of the mob after he voiced support for the CAMP museum as well as the entire Presidio Trust proposal. Only in San Francisco….

In the words of world-famous architect Richard Gluckman, “Working in San Francisco is not like anywhere else.”

Here’s what Angelo King of the Bayview Hunter’s Point Project Area Committee has to say, and here’s the official case made for the museum:

To be continued…

Well it seems like it takes forever to get anything done in this town, but we’ll be passing another milestone tonight. In the words of well-informed Marisa Lagos:

“Controversy over a series of proposed developments in the Presidio’s Main Post- most notably Gap founder Don Fisher’s 100,000-square-foot modern art museum - is heating up in advance of a meeting Monday.”

Make sure you get to the correct location: 

Presidio Herbst International Exhibition Hall, 385 Moraga Avenue (next to the Presidio Officers’ Club on the Main Post). The public is invited to offer comments on the draft Presidio Trust Management Plan Main Post Update Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (read more). If you have questions, please call the Presidio Trust Public Affairs Office at (415) 561-5418. View the board meeting agenda.”

There seems to be a lot of interest in these developments:

This is what the start of the Main Post Walking Tour looks like. Feel free to check out this guided tour before tonight’s board meeting:

“Monday, July 14, 4:30 to 6 pm. Meet Outside the Presidio Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Avenue. On this easy-to-moderate 90-minute guided walk, Presidio Trust staff will discuss ideas for revitalizing the Main Post as the heart of an urban national park. Get answers to your questions and find out how you can make your opinions heard in this public process.”

But what about you? Where can you protest?

“A ‘First Amendment’ Area has been established on the lawn at the northwest corner of the intersection of Montgomery Street and Moraga Avenue, set back five feet from any sidewalk.”

(Yes, it’s odd that the San Francsico index of streetnames has two Moragas and two Montgomerys.)

Conveniently, this location is right next to the board meeting, the site of our new Richard Gluckman-designed CAMP museum, and the defunct movie theatre that’s scheduled to be reopened one of these days.  

But the whole idea is to get inside and participate in the process, so why not? You’ll be able to see how many NIMBYs will turn out - you know, San Francisco has more than its fair share of NIMBYs. They’ll identify themselves by telling you how many years they’ve lived in such and such neighborhood.

Then they’ll proceed with their favorite rhetorical trope, the metaphor. Which metaphor will prove most popular?

A. Monster. Includes “giant” and other words connoting size.

B. Alien. Includes any reference to otherworldliness.

C. Disease. Includes anything cancer-related, such as “spread” or “metastasize.” (This one is a long-shot)

D. Any other metaphor.

And while we’re on the topic, the drinking game watchwords tonight will be separated into two categories, adjective and adverb. Hoist a drink upon hearing any mention of the word inappropriate. That game is for professional drinkers only, so as an alternative, take a drink of your favorite intoxicant when you hear either completely or totally in the same sentence as the aforementioned inappropriate.

So there you have it. See you there!