Republican billionaire and Gap Founder, Don Fisher.
Photo by Luke Thomas
From the Presidio Historical Association, Save the Presidio
Editor’s Note: Don’t let Gap founder Don Fisher get away with privatizing an historic public resource for personal self-interest. Fisher, 81, who made his billions externalizing costs off the backs of slave labor, wants to erect a contemporary art museum in his name to house his personal art collection – and the Presidio Trust appears willing to rubber stamp the project unless our voices are heard loudly and forcefully.
April 6, 2009
Critics of highly controversial construction plans for an art museum, hotel/restaurant and movie multiplex in the Presidio of San Francisco, a national park, are preparing for the Presidio Trust’s Board and public comment meeting set for tomorrow [Tuesday, April 7] at 6:30 p.m. at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon St. in San Francisco.
The public is urged to attend Tuesday evening’s meeting and provide feedback on the Trust’s proposals.
Presidio Historical Association President Gary Widman says that the Trust’s recently amended plans for a large contemporary art museum, hotel complex and theater “utterly fail” to address major problems cited in earlier proposals.
“The Presidio Trust continues to push for the unnecessary, permanent destruction of the Presidio’s most significant historic site, the Main Post. The Trust ignores the impact of the projected 500,000 new visitors to this park annually (in addition to 350,000 expected to come to the newly completed Disney Museum), offering virtually no transit solutions except to rely on a bankrupt MUNI,” Widman said.
An alert sent out today by the Cow Hollow Association states that, “The [Presidio] Trust’s plan will create an urban mall with auto congestion, traffic lights and parking problems, converting this National Park into a ‘city within a city’, contrary to San Francisco’s needs, contrary to good planning practices, contrary to the Presidio Trust Act and contrary to the Presidio Trust Master Plan, which promised that the historic Main Post would always remain protected.”
For these reasons, Widman called the Trust’s proposal a “betrayal of public trust,” noting that the Presidio is a National Park owned by citizens who have overwhelmingly opposed the Trust’s plans.
“The Presidio Trust refuses to do its job to protect the heart of this unique National Historic Landmark from new construction,” Widman added. “Alternate sites which would not alter the most important part of the Presidio’s landmark district are available within and outside of the Presidio,” he said.
Founded in the 1950s, the nonprofit Presidio Historical Association (PHA) has worked in cooperation with the National Park Service and Presidio Trust since 1994 to advocate for preserving the integrity of the Presidio’s National Historic Landmark District, located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). PHA created a museum for the Army when it was based at the Presidio. Earlier, PHA helped restore historic Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Hunger Site
April 7, 2009 at 3:16 pm
hey H
1. The lefts constant howls about homophobia when people don’t agree with them trivializes it, your position seems to be that my neutral mention of homosexuality in is actuality homophobia? The Paranoid Style of American liberal’s, like the right creates a world view that discourse must be captive to certain buzz words. The fringe right and left have to remake reality everywhere it seems.
2. You’re a lost cause if you can’t grasp the analogy that Hormel (union buster) and his bags of cash get a pass while Hippie millionaire gets heaps of abuse.
3. Everyone is a hypocrite be they on the left or right, but some hypocrisy is a bit over the top. For example the left’s claims at intellectualism and then insisting that their codes words be used, or that a non fawning mention of a protected class is defacto homophobia. As in Hormel being above reproach from the same leftists who would be irate if anyone else was throwing around union busting money on unpopular things.
Thanks for playing the gay card, someday I hope it gets payed on you.
April 7, 2009 at 10:27 am
Hey jabber,
Don’t fall on your own spear there, guy. I’m a Lefty vet and I’d love to have the U.S.S. Missouri docked here. I worked for it when Feinstein proposed it (and, I’m certainly no fan of hers). My objection was when she brought back the U.S.S. Iowa as a replacement. I’m not gay but I love my gay friends and the Iowa and its history of military homophobia was a slap in their face.
Your attempts to lump everyone who disagrees with you on any issue as being: “countless liberal screamers” proves that you lack the, what did that Dodger exec say: “necessities”?) to play in this league.
Since you get very personal, Jabber, I feel I can ask you a couple of personal questions. First, we know you’re a homophobe, but are you a self-hating gay man yourself?
And, secondly, you brave supporter of real vets like myself. What branch of the service did you serve in … honorably?
Personally, I was U.S. Navy 62-65. Was in the Cuban missile blockade and went all the way to the Turk/Greek Cyprus conflict. I was involved with at least a dozen armed confrontations involving nuclear weapons and officially, I served in peacetime. You don’t represent me, you neanderthal ‘meat hole’. Don’t pretend to.
h.
April 6, 2009 at 9:19 pm
The entertainment value of SF politics.
Gap founder is a typical 60’s San Francisco Ayn Randian hippie who gets nothing but abuse from the establishment progressives.
James Hormel the beloved gay rights spender and offspring of massive union busting wealth gets nothing but accolades. Hormel I believe is still 1/3 owner of union busting Hormel.
The Presidio and its rich history of military use is the obsession of countless liberal screamers who would go into fits if the city of SF docked a navy ship here in SF. They ramble on about the historic value of the Presidio while blathering out the other side of their Hormel meat holes about any mention of docking a navy ship in SF.
This obsession about the Presidio and the Randroid 60’s Gap hippie is all a huge joke. SF leftists don’t care about the Presidio or Gap dude. They are just irate for something to do.
If the SF clowns were coherent in their self-righteous ranting they would wall off the Presidio as a silent monument to the military they hate, then they hound James Hormel out of town with the Gap hippie in tow.