Matier and Ross: In the Park
From today’s Matier and Ross, this on the Presidio Trust’s Main Post SEIS meeting on Monday. (h/t to TDK Reader MY.)
Hundreds of people were turned away from Monday night’s packed, six-hour Presidio Trust hearing over Gap founder Don Fisher’s proposal for a contemporary art museum on the old Army base’s parade grounds.
There was no shortage of political orchestrating leading up to the big meeting, on both sides.
For weeks, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s chief political consultant, Eric Jaye, and community organizer Alex Tourk had been working for Fisher to drum up a big turnout of fans of his proposal.
Calls and letters went out to scores of nonprofits and community groups that have benefited from Fisher’s philanthropy, including the San Francisco Boys and Girls clubs, the African American Democratic Club and Friends of the Urban Forest.
On the flip side, foes led by the Presidio Historic Association mobilized a neighborhood turnout against the project - including posting talking points for opponents on the association’s Web site.
There was also some criticism from unexpected sources - such as Margaret Brodkin, the mayor’s own director of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families. Despite having declared her support for Fisher’s museum, she dispatched a staffer to the meeting to raise concerns about its effect on a nearby day-care center.
For all the public hoo-rah Monday, the museum would sit on federally controlled land - and Fisher’s real battle may rest with the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The latter is warning that the building’s size, location and design would have “adverse effects” on the park.
–Doug Kern
Tags: Alex Tourk, Don Fisher, Eric Jaye, Gavin Newsom, main post, Margaret Brodkin, Presidio Historical Association, publicity, SEIS