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The Presidio: Battle Looms, New Shouting Match Erupts

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Currently, historic Rob Hill Campground is the only place to overnight in the Presidio. Photo Credit: LA Times

Expect more trouble in The Presidio, this time over hotel rooms instead of art galleries. In a spot where no actual gunshot shot was ever fired in anger, the Presidio Trust wants to build an hotel in a vacant area alongside the east side of the Parade Ground. Currently the only overnight opportunities (above) in the Presidio are a bit rough, and there's a two-day maximum. On one side, the Trust, which wants to construct the hotel using available funds and lease it to an operator- standard practice in the hotel business. On the other side, there's the Presidio Historical Association, which has been lobbying unsuccessfully for a "properly historic" visitor center and see their mission as preventing the Presidio from being "consumed by private interests." Not surprisingly, they look at the hotel project as a giveaway to private interests (sinister friends of Nancy Pelosi!) instead of an investment in infrastructure and economic development. Given their success in keeping Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons outside the gates, they're ready for another fight:

The Presidio Trust continues to ignore its duty to protect the Main Post from commercial construction and development. It proposes instead to create permanent scars on the Park’s most historic site. Though the Presidio is both a National Historic Landmark and a National Park, the Trust seems to have abandoned the values and policies applicable to national parks No clue on their website as to the Association's feelings about the Walt Disney Family Museum on the west side of the Parade Ground. Presumably they lost that battle. Anyway, be at the Golden Gate Club, Wednesday, December 8 for the last meeting/shitshow for public comment. No one actually knows (except maybe at the Trust) what this thing will look like, thus making it much easier to argue about. · COME OPPOSE A MASSIVE HOTEL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PRESIDIO PARADE GROUNDS [Presidio Historical Association]
Update: The 12/08 meeting has been postponed and will be rescheduled. So don't show up, OK?

The Presidio Trust

34 Graham Street, San Francisco, CA 94129