Concourse Authority Plans Opening of Park Garage

By Charles Talkoff

The Golden Gate Concourse Authority held a meeting Aug. 13 to report on the status of the soon-to-be-completed underground garage and the status of renovations at the concourse.

Mike Ellzey, executive director of the authority, said he was pleased with the progress that had been made and was cautiously optimistic about the completion of the authority's various projects.

"It's been a long and sometimes difficult process," he said, "but we're close to the end, and I think the results will be generally accepted by everyone: museum patrons, people who love Golden Gate Park, the bike coalitions and the neighborhood groups."

The Concourse Authority stated that the renovations were on track for the scheduled opening of one half of the garage Oct. 1. The other half of the garage, the south "pod," will open around mid-November.

The project has been a long and contentious one involving the City, backers of the new M.H. de Young Museum, neighborhood coalitions and bicycle activists. The plan (2A) being implemented was approved by the Concourse Authority and the SF Board of Supervisors. The plan permits visitors to the de Young and the Academy of Sciences to enter and exit the concourse from both Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy drives, but would use a variety of traffic-claiming measures to restrict through-traffic and control traffic flow.

These measures include the addition of three stop signs to require anyone entering the concourse to make frequent stops; exploring the feasibility of relocating bike lanes to the inside of the concourse roadway; directing through traffic to the current concourse detour routes on Middle Drive East and John F. Kennedy Drive; installing signs to prohibit cut-through traffic in the Music Concourse; installing sections of uneven paving directly adjacent to seven crosswalks; and monitoring the operation of the approved circulation plan to keep track of its effectiveness and determine what additional measures, if any, should be taken to implement the plan.

Ron Miguel, director of the Planning Association for the Richmond and a member of the Concourse Authority, called the project a work in progress.

"This has been a very public process in the most activist city; but we have to take the long view and keep working on it," Miguel said.

Asked how he thought the process was viewed by those involved, Miguel said it was an extensive public process.

"I have no doubt it's been frustrating on all sides, but the process could not have been vetted any more than it was," he said.

Andy Thornley, program director at the SF Bicycle Coalition, said he doesn't have much hope for the implementation of the plan.

"We just don't see people obeying the extra signage, and the new expansion of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to four lanes (to accommodate traffic entering the underground garage) is going to increase traffic."

Ellzey, however, has confidence in the plan.

"We assume it will work, but we also feel it has to be given a chance to fail; that means it has to be given time to see what the traffic flow issues will be. Then we can have a response to those developments," he said.

The Concourse Authority reported at the meeting that 400 surface parking spaces have been removed so far and that another 400 were due to be removed over the next few weeks to satisfy the conditions of Prop. J, the voter-approved measure that created the Concourse Authority and gave it the power to build the underground garage.

Miguel pointed out that funding for the future maintenance of the Concourse and the shuttle system in Golden Gate Park remains a serious issue.

"The shuttle is only funded through 2005, and that's just one issue" he said. "After that, it's a question of securing grants and additional funding from other sources, and that's problematic."

Looking ahead to the openings of the de Young Museum, Miguel was cautious but hopeful.

"A lot of heavy traffic will result from the opening of the new museum; that won't be normal traffic flow, so we'll have to see how it develops."

The de Young has a series of special events scheduled for its grand reopening in October.