Anyone with a Facebook account has likely noticed the grassroots movement trying to influence the future of the Palace of Fine Arts, one of San Francisco's most prominent landmarks. Last week, KQED reported that the city's Recreation and Parks Commission accepted three development proposal concepts for the remnant of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition: two would transform the building into a hotel, and one suggests making it into a museum and restaurant. Since then, there's a growing rumble spreading across social media platforms. As the news radio station reports, a petition on change.org urging the commission to preserve the Palace as a "multi-Cultural Arts/Education Center" is taking off. When we checked the on-line petition this evening, 11,984 signatures in support of this idea had been gathered.
For the love of all that is holy please do not turn the Palace of Fine Arts into a luxury hotel. I mean, c'mon. https://t.co/fT3PA5xgoH
— Amber Bouman (@Dameright) November 9, 2015
The petition contains messages from Twitter, such as the one above. There's also a number of comments like this one:
Do not destroy this historical monument. It's one of the few most beautiful structures of tranquility left in San Francisco and should remain intact as a "Palace of Fine Arts" not a hotel or restaurant. A historical monument for all of San Francisco including residents, visitors and wildlife to share.
Andrea Fuenzalida, San Francisco, CA
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, the groups putting forth the ideas (TMG Partners and Flynn Properties, Equity Community Builders, and San Francisco Museum at the Palace Consortium) have until May of 2016 to submit fully formed proposals about how to put their plans into action.
· Furor Growing Online Over Proposed Plans for Palace of Fine Arts [KQED]
· Preserve the Palace of Fine Arts as a Multi-Cultural Arts/Education Center [Change.org]
· SF Parks Commission Looking at Three Bids for Palace of Fine Arts Project [KQED]
· Candidates to re-do Palace of Fine Arts winnowed to 3 [San Francisco Chronicle]
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