Groups Express Concerns Over Latest Presidio Plan

By Phoebe Berline

Neighborhood groups were already crying foul before the Presidio Trust could announce, at a press conference July 25, its new "preferred alternative" for developing the Presidio.

At issue is proposed luxury hotels in the national park, especially near Crissy Field,which will lead to an increase of almost 50 percent in the number of visitors that come daily to the park - to 4,300. Plans to tear down parts of the Presidio wall at Green, Filbert, Greenwich and Chestnut streets to make way for increased foot and bicycle traffic were also met with skepticism.

So what has the neighbors riled up?

The problem, according the city's leading neighborhood and environmental groups, is that the original general management plan (GMP) does not need to be revised at all. In fact, the Presidio will pay for itself in three to four years, they say, well before the 2013 deadline deemed by the Presidio Trust Act of 1994 to make the park self-sufficient.

But beyond questions of achieving financial self-sufficiency, community groups say they are more disturbed by the daunting David and Goliath battle they face. Presidio Trust members, appointed by the president of the United States, operate under federal regulations and not city planning regulations, so some activists claim they favor San Francisco's commercial real estate interests.

Some neighbors are angry by the recent hiring of the high-powered public affairs firm Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter & Partners (BMW), renowned for running well-oiled media campaigns.

Under a memorandum of agreement, the Trust is required to consult the City regarding development at the Presidio, but in reality, neighbors say they are the last to know.

"The Trust board includes commercial real estate development executives and what they're doing is developing a gorgeous waterfront property, but that's not a park. It seems to be driven by profit and entertainment," says Daniella Kirshenbaum, a member of the Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods Association and Pacific Heights Residents Association.

"They started pulling up the sidewalk to open up the Presidio Gate wall and we had to alert City Hall. As it turns out, no one had asked the SF Department of Public Works if they could start digging up water lines and construction was halted for the time being."

Ron Sonenshine, media relations manager at the Presidio Trust, cautions that the preferred alternative is in draft form only, has incorporated a lot from the General Management Plan Amendment (GMPA) and will likely undergo many changes before being rolled out.

"The GMPA is being updated because it is seven years old. We will not turn the Presidio into an amusement park. It will remain green and we will preserve its historical and architectural integrity," Sonenshine said.

Sonenshine expects city and neighborhood groups to weigh in on the draft Environmental Impact Statement. He said the Trust will take comments from the community and environmentalists and put them into the final EIS. The Trust will present several draft proposals as part of the preview process.

"They (the trust) are accountable to no one," warns Macy McCallister, also a member of the Pacific Heights Residents Association. "The new plan calls for a lot more development and, as of yet, no one has consulted with the City as to how it will affect traffic and taxes. We would like City Planning and the National Park Service to be involved so these questions get answered. We're talking about millions of dollars in real estate and the first time a park has been asked to be financially self-sufficient, so it's an important issue."

The next steps for the preferred alternative plan will include a series of public hearings, beginning Aug. 28.

According to Sonenshine, the Trust will be taking public comment, written comments and e-mails until Sept. 5. The plan is to prepare the final EIS in late fall and publish its final results early next year.