Paul Kozakiewicz: 2003 Was a Busy Year

As we rung in 2003, the Richmond Branch Library restoration was being planned, a plan that has since been delayed because the state refused a grant request to pay for the project, and the Golden Gate Concourse Authority was in the long process of approving its plan for an underground garage near the Academy of Science and M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. That process has proceeded throughout the year by overcoming various bureaucratic hurdles. As well, a new temporary home was found for the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45, police Capt. Sandra Tong was just settling in to her new job as commander at the Richmond Station and neighbors complained about the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs plan to put a 200,000-square-foot research center at the VA Hospital at Clement Street and 42nd Avenue.

A look at the year in review reveals the Cliff House started converting itself in January into a shade of its former past - 1909 to be exact.

A new food pantry opened at 3821 Geary Blvd., sponsored by Congregation Emanu-El, about the time we celebrated the Year of the Ram. Supervisor Matt Gonzalez held a public hearing Feb. 24 concerning the closure of surfaced roads in the east end of Golden Gate Park on Saturdays - despite the fact that voters citywide elected not to enact the closure plan not once, but twice. The closure plan is still sitting on-hold on a shelf somewhere.

In March, the Richmond Review did some of the first reporting on a citywide plan to increase housing in transit corridors, waiving height and parking requirements along the way. The plan has generated lots of opposition since then.

In April, 500 hungry goats started gobbling up large chunks of the property surrounding the Laguna Honda Reservoir, including native plants. The SF Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the watershed land, is now considering giving the land to the City.

In May, the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church celebrated it 100th anniversary of services in the Richmond District. Its first service was held at the old Richmond Hall, located at Fourth Avenue and Clement Street, on May 3, 1903. The Caper Cutters also celebrated an anniversary at the beginning of 2003, their 50th.

In early June, the University of San Francisco broke ground on a new 26,000-square-foot wing for its business school while work on Rossi Playground ground to a halt because the City would not insure the architects working pro-bono on the project.

At the end of August, a number of housing plans for the historic Public Service Hospital began being whittled down and now stands at four. As well, plans to restore Stow and Spreckels lakes in Golden Gate Park were readied and could start this year.

In September, internationally-known artist Pop Zhao unfurled a long banner at Ocean Beach to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy. A $2.4 million study will be undertaken at Ocean Beach to try to halt the erosion that threatens the Great Highway near the SF Zoo, and bonfires have been limited to a small stretch of beach between Fulton Street and Lincoln Way.

As the year came to a close, the SF Library Commission heard testimony concerning the renaming of the Richmond Branch Library to honor the late Sen. Milton Marks, a fitting tribute to a man who was such a community leader. Candidates for mayor and district attorney criss-crossed the neighborhood in search of support and camera mounts were installed to track traffic scofflaws along Park Presidio Boulevard.

Volunteers were also being sought to participate in a Geary transit-corridor study called for by the SF Transportation Authority, which is comprised of the SF Board of Supervisors. I think plans to construct a light rail system in the middle of Geary Boulevard will be dusted off in the near future. The plan to replace the Central Freeway came under fire at the end of 2003 as anti-vehicle protesters suggested closing essentially all of the rest of the freeway and converting it to surface roads. That plan, fortunately, has little chance of succeeding.

And we lost several long-time residents, including comedian John Cantu and Eveyln Lee, the director of Richmond Area Multi Services (RAMS). Two notable members of the Park Presidio Lions Club also passed away last year; Lenny Bacci, who had a legal practice on Geary Boulevard for decades (now run by his associate Mike Newell) and retired Lt. Colonel Marty Eberhardt, who rode with General Patton at the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. These members of our community will be sorely missed and fondly recalled.

All of these important neighborhood issues couldn't have been covered without the dedicated writers, photographers, columnists, distribution and support people and advertisers that make this neighborhood newspaper a possibility. Many thanks to all of them.

For more information about any of the diverse stories we covered in the last couple years, go to our website at www.sfrichmondreview.com or the Richmond Branch Library at 351 Ninth Ave.

Paul Kozakiewicz is publisher of the Richmond Review.