New Underground Garage Gets Cool Reception

By Carol Dimmick

The public finally got its first peek at the new design for a controversial $50 million parking facility to be built under the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park and they rejected the modern architectural elements included in the design scheme.
Topping the laundry list of concerns at the Nov. 12 meeting of the Golden Gate Concourse Authority was the transformation of two Beaux Arts-style tunnels into pedestrian walkways, which were rendered in a sparse, modern design. Preserving the historic architecture of the two tunnels has been on the public's radar screen since voters approved Proposition J in 1998, which authorized construction of an underground parking facility in the park.
The new design for the southwest pedestrian tunnel, which replaced heavy decorative balustrades with a sleek modern railing, drew criticism from the public and commissioners at the meeting.
Representatives from Gordon H. Chong & Partners, the architectural firm that designed the new garage, explained that they chose a lighter architectural style in order to integrate the tunnels with the park's landscape.
"This is not a project about statement. We are using the lightest approach possible to integrate the structures with the landscape," said one consultant.
But this explanation did not convince the public and debate over the design continued, with one critic pointing out that the function of the tunnel should also be preserved because it serves as a "portal to the park," leading to the Shakespeare Garden. The tunnels got a big boost when Concourse Authority Commissioner John Rizzo asked the architect to come up with an alternative plan to provide pedestrians easy access to the other side of the Music Concourse.
"I really think we should discuss just not having this. It is not a good idea," Rizzo said.
Although four community workshops were held in 2001 and one in January 2002, this was the first time the commissioners and the public were able to see how the new design would impact the park through the use of computer-generated representations. Several features of the design seemed to meet with public approval, including the removal of 800 parking spaces from surface streets in the park and the return of almost three acres of existing pavement to park land by narrowing streets and walkways.
But attendees made it clear they had concerns about how the narrowing of Tea Garden Drive and Academy Drive to 20 feet wide will impact the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
City officials deferred discussion of this topic until Dec. 10, when a meeting of Concourse Authority is planned to cover traffic and pedestrian flow issues. Throughout the presentation, the public continued to find fault with design elements in the plan, including the entrance for the underground garage at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street, which quickly became a second flashpoint for critics.
Marianne Miller, chairperson of the zoning and architecture committee of the Sunset Parkside Education and Action Committee (SPEAK), took exception to the design of the railings for the walkway over the parking garage's entrance, which she said clashed with the historic architectural elements in the concourse.
"JFK has magnificent balustrades. How will that new covering work with this?" Miller wondered. "We do have an architectural style within the concourse that dates back 100 years. What you are putting here is a monumental contrast to it."
Miller also urged city representatives to consider closing off the entrance to the garage at Fulton Street at night, instead of at the entrance to the underground garage itself, which is some distance away.
"The way it is designed now, people will be parking their vans there. It's like an overnight parking space," Miller said.
Other concerns raised at the meeting included the impact the garage entrance would have on traffic in the Richmond neighborhood, the effect of new signage on the park and concerns that the stairwell for the exit stairs from the garage would become a magnet for crime.
As of presstime, a meeting to approve all aspects of the schematic design of the project was scheduled for Dec. 2. A second public meeting to comment on the design of the new parking garage will be held at a Dec. 10 meeting of the Concourse Authority (City Hall, Room 408, 4:30 p.m.). The "study session" will be held to consider the impact of the new design on vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the park.