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Monday, July 14, 2008

REPORT ON PRESIDIO HEARING TODAY, July 14

What a great show of support today for keeping historical values at the Presidio from being submerged in a sea of new construction that is completely unrelated to the natural and historic resources of the Presidio Park! All the 600 chairs were taken, hundreds more lined the walls, and more were turned away from the doors. The Presidio Trust offered its habitual nonsense about "revitalizing" the Presidio. Would you "Revitalize" Gettysburg or Independence Hall? 

The Fisher people, including the Mayor of San Francisco, made speeches about how wonderful the art collection was and  how beautiful the Presidio was, but none of them had an explanation why the unsuitably large building had to be located directly in the center of the most historic area of the 1776 historic site. Sure, we all agree to keeping the art in San Francisco, but not on the Main Post of the Presidio.

Amy Meyer, the "Mother of the GGNRA," spoke out strongly against the Trust's interpretation of the GGNRA legislation. Amy made it clear that the law does NOT permit adding up the square footage from various demolished structures to justify building one huge structure. The National Parks Conservation Association backed up that view with a stinging legal review letter sent on July 11. This obviously got the Trust Board's attention because Amy Meyer is widely respected in the community and was herself a recent board member of the Presidio Trust.

One objectionable event was a  person introducing 300 signatures in support of CAMP and the Trust accepting them to the record. Isn't the whole point of a public hearing for the public to show up and express themselves? Those names should not be accepted to the record. 

The key arguments used by our allies will be posted under "Issues" on www.presidioassociation.org.

All in all, it was a very good evening for those who cherish the Presidio as a park for all the people. It was you, each one of you reading this, and your friends who made a strong statement to the Trust Board....are they listening? Do they understand what they are hearing?

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