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Fisher Museum Proposal Deficient

Last night the Presidio Trust held a meeting to discuss interim results of their Section 106 process regarding the proposed Main Post contemporary art museum, lodge and theater addition.

In an interesting “cooking channel” overhead video-style presentation, a Trust representative effectively demonstrated how the proposed museum at the head of the Main Post did not meet the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitating historic buildings. Even though the Trust selected only 5 of the 10 Secretary’s standards as being applicable to their Main Post rehabilitation project, it was an important initial public discussion of how the Secretary of the Interior’s standards were relevant and applicable to the Presidio, a national park and National Historic Landmark District. Many audience members expressed their appreciation to the Trust for the presentation.

Trust representatives were unapologetic, however, about the time, money and effort spent on promoting the proposed action. Representatives went on the say that no one should have interpreted that the proposed Fisher museum was actually the Trust’s preferred action.

The Trust did not explain their decision to choose rehabilitation as a treatment approach for historic buildings, given that the National Park Service has defined four different possible approaches: preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction. A careful read of these approaches suggests that large scale new construction is not the intent of the Secretary’s standards for the treatment of historic buildings. Instead, the standards do seem to contemplate “related new construction” that “will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property.”

There are also extensive Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Archeological and Historic Preservation. These standards, while relevant to the Presidio and the Main Post, were not discussed at the meeting.

–Doug Kern

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Tags: Conflict, New Construction by Doug
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A Step Back From Main Post SEIS

Many of you are in summer holiday mode…I know that’s where I’ve been since my teaching closed down for the summer. Now with some time off under my belt, I’m focusing on the Main Post SEIS, and the Presidio Trust’s proposed alternative of a contemporary art museum, lodge and theater. How to dig into this weighty and complex set of proposals? First, a step back…

  • I don’t doubt at all that, given its location and importance to our country, history will continue to be made at the Presidio. To best understand how we will all “make history” at the Presidio I’d like to take a brief look at the arc of Presidio history and its relationship to our nation and the world. A simplified version will be enough.
  • Where is our country going? Where would we like it to go?  I’ll list some of the critical issues for current society. Highlighting the Presidio’s history and listing the major challenges we face as a country create the larger context for decision-making at this National Historic Landmark District. What we will see is that the Presidio is, and has always been, a place where concerned people respond to the critical needs of the day.
  • I’d then like to examine goals we might set for our country and the Presidio. Which of these goals are appropriate to tackle in a national park and the Presidio specifically? If we citizens can achieve consensus around these goals, the Presidio’s caretakers will have their mission. The objectives and tasks needed to complete the mission will follow from the goals. Because, after all, we citizens own the national parks. What happens here needs to make sense to us.
  • In that light we might, after very careful consideration, agree to undertake a project in the very heart of the Presidio.  As national park stewards we carry a substantial burden to preserve and protect a national park’s natural and cultural resources for future generations without impairment.
  • Perhaps we’ve done this before, you ask, this visioning process, once or twice over the years? Yes, I know. But, some of us may have lost sight of that vision as new, and potentially distracting, opportunities appear. It is necessary to revisit the vision from time to time to remind ourselves of what we set out to do, the agreements we made with each other and the trust we placed in each other to accomplish our goals.
–Doug Kern
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Tags: New Construction by Doug
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