Main Post Parking and Circulation
TDK Reader WH shares his thoughts…
Parking on the El Presidio is a tough problem that has to be solved. Worse, there is Moraga Street cutting across the archeological site directly in front of the 1778 structure, the Officers Club now. And Moraga is on the city’s scenic 49 MIle Drive. How can it be cut off so the historic site can be revealed and presented, or that the traffic on it can easily be diverted?
There will have to be some compromises, but there is no excuse for not having a plan. The Trust refuses to face reality concerning parking becasue it does not want to discourage future tenants. Even now, the historic streetscapes that had little or no parking, as along Funston, are crowded with cars. One part of a plan might be some parking extended between the Library and Day Care Center, maybe with one level under ground and one on the surface, landscaped so it is not very visible. Parking in that area could serve a history center built nearby and the Officers Club. This suggestion does not solve the Moraga Street problem, however.
–Doug Kern
Tags: main post, SEIS, transportation
It is quite remarkable that the Trust is willing to Propose changes threatening the NHLD status but is unable to relocate parking for cars someplace other than the most ancient part of the Presidio.
Even more remarkable still is the the fact that El Presidio, the oldest part of the entire Presidio, is planned to be the ONLY parking on the to-be-greened, Main Parade rectangle.
I believe that if the Trust wanted to do the right thing for El Presido and the hundreds of thousand\s of new visitors it is projecting, , it could have found a vastly better way to manage the whole El Presidio area including parking and road closuire through El Presidio.
Hello Doug,
Thank you very much for the response and the information it contains. I concur with your view that there must be a plan that addresses the proper preservation and survey of the 1778 site. The site represents an unquestionable archaeological cultural resource and the proper excavation, recovery, and exhibit of a selected portion of the site would, perhaps, find a relevant place in the development and use plans of the Presidio Trust.
For the Trust not to devote significant attention to finding a balanced solution for what is the original site of the Presido Complex suggests that historical and archaeological elements are not receiving adequate weight in the deliberation process.
The underground parking garage offers an opportunity for emergency archaeological work; however, I would like to know if any plan has been discussed to do some magnetic resonance surveys over the site(s) in question and to locate in a non-intrusive manner how any buildings, artifacts, assemblages, etc., of an historic nature relate to the existing site?
Kind Regards,
David
Hello Doug,
I should also mention that among the list of non-intrusive surveys that might be of most use, provided one has not already been done, is one that utilizes ground-penetrating radar. This, compared with excavation, is much less expensive as well as very informative. Such a survey might help focus the development vs. preservation discussion and help to arrive at a just and proper solution that preserves our cultural heritage sites at the Presido.
Kind Regards,
David