Letters to the Editor
Editor:
Regarding the article about Golden Gate Park published
in the January, 2005 edition, I believe there is an
error in the facts.
Frederick Law Olmsted did not design Golden Gate
Park because he thought the site chosen was not suited
for such a park. Instead, William Hammond Hall
was chosen for the task.
More information can be obtained from the Helen Crocker
Russell Library, located at the San Francisco Botanical
Gardens at Strybing Arboretum, or at the garden's
website, located at www.sfbotanicalgarden.org.
Lisa Roberts
Docent, SF Botanical Gardens
Editor:
As the renovation of the eastern end of Golden Gate
Park continues with the rebuilding of the new M.H.
deYoung Memorial Museum, the California Academy of
Sciences and the underground garage to serve them,
I wanted to correct at least a few of the inaccuracies
contained in a January article about the projects.
The southern entrance to the underground parking
garage has always been part of the plan. In 2003,
the City approved a design with a southern entrance
as a way to equally distribute cars coming to the
garage and to keep visitors from the southern neighborhoods
from having to enter, drive through and exit the park
on Fulton Street just to get to the underground garage.
It simply wasn't fair to place that entire burden
on the Richmond neighborhood.
Unfortunately, a handful of people sued to stop the
project. In August, 2004, a judge dismissed
all of their claims with one exception - we were ordered
to redesign the southern entrance to include a "dedicated
access route" for garage patrons coming from
outside the park.
The Concourse Authority reviewed 10 design options
and participated in 12 public meetings before settling
on the shortest, most direct route with the least
impact - designating two dedicated vehicle lanes on
MLK Dr., between Ninth Ave and Lincoln Way and Music
Concourse Drive.
As part of our design, this brief, quarter-mile stretch
of roadway will feature three stop signs with crosswalks,
shorter intersections for pedestrians, new landscaping
and narrow driving lanes to slow cars. These improvements,
like the entire underground garage project, will be
funded with private money. As authorized by Prop.
J - the 1998 initiative to restore the Concourse and
build the garage - 86 surface parking spaces on MLK
Dr. will be relocated to the underground garage to
accommodate the dedicated lanes.
As quoted in your article, some Sunset merchants
are concerned about increased traffic and the loss
of customer parking in Golden Gate Park.
Numerous studies have found that this plan does not
increase traffic at Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way and
we believe that many of the anticipated 1.5 million
annual visitors to the new deYoung and Academy of
Sciences will patronize the same Sunset merchants
and restaurants now concerned about losing parking
in the park.
The Concourse Authority welcomes thoughts and suggestions
as we continue to refine this design. For more information,
please visit: www.goldengateparkconcourse.org.
Michael Ellzey
Executive Director
Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority
