DECEMBER 2007

FROM FORT MASON TO FORT MASON CENTER - PART 1



In the early sixties, the federal government declared all of lower Fort Mason and the western area of the upper fort excess property. In 1964, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the City Planning Commission passed independent resolutions to support the establishment of an historic park at Fort Mason. No action was taken but the ball was rolling. In 1968, the City Planning Commission released a report with a chapter on Fort Mason’s future. The report outlined three options to utilize the post. Each one committed at least half of Fort Mason’s almost 70 acres for use as a national park. After much deliberation, the Commission settled on the second option. The intention was to use one half for a national park and reserve the other half for an education facility, to help relieve overcrowding at nearby Galileo High School.

Inevitably, the Commission’s decision could not satisfy everyone. The General Services Administration (GSA) has the legal right to trade one piece of public land for another. They pitched an idea to San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Alioto. Fort Mason would be traded to a private developer who would, in turn, build a federal office building near the Civic Center. When news of the proposed arrangement got out, angry citizens — outraged at the thought of expensive housing on Fort Mason — fought it. The San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association joined the fight and by 1971, the plan was defeated.

At the same time another controversy boiled over — Alcatraz Island. When the island was turned over to the local government and offered to a private developer to create a tourist mall, conservationists protested vehemently. The strong reaction compelled the federal government to intervene. A study resulted which lead to the initial rumblings of an expansive national park composed of various dormant federal lands.

In 1969, Native American activists in the Bay Area occupied Alcatraz Island. Although the aims of that action were not met, the national park idea was now in the public eye. Combining these with other battles over public land preservation, Amy Meyer put together the People For a Golden Gate National Recreation Area (PFGGNRA) in 1971.

Meyer, Dr. Edgar Wayburn, John Hart, and Robert Young, led the PFGGNRA in their mission to create and preserve “broad greenbelts” for public use in the face of rapid development. In response to the Nixon administration’s recommendation to set aside 4,000 acres of federally held fort lands, Representative Philip Burton (D-San Francisco) proposed a “base bill”—HR 9498—in the summer of 1971. The bill expanded the recommended area to include city property, state parks, and even some private land. Senator Alan Cranston followed suit by sponsoring a similar bill in the Senate.

The next summer, the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation passed the bill to establish a 20,000-acre Golden Gate National Urban Recreation Area. Then, on October 27, 1972, President Nixon signed a new bill, approved by the House, and what was then a 34,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) was born.

The first challenge for the National Park Service was determining how the public would use the reserved land. A Citizen’s Advisory Commission formed to manage the GGNRA and quickly began contacting community organizations throughout the Bay Area. The National Park Service gave presentations to more than 125 groups between October 1974 and June 1975. Workshops to gauge public opinions on how to use the land began in late 1975. Four broad categories emerged: land preservation, historic preservation, recreation, and maintaining the status quo. Unique among the parcels of land included in the GGNRA, Fort Mason had the potential to offer something in all four categories.

In the early months of 1975, William Whalen, the first superintendent of the GGNRA, held a meeting in Golden Gate Park to get ideas for an interim use of Fort Mason’s warehouses and piers.

The meeting in Golden Gate Park turned into a lengthy hearing during which several non-profit organizations offered proposals to share the 230,000 square feet of empty space waiting at Fort Mason. The citizen advisors sought groups that focused on environmental education, artists-in-residence, programs in need of open space, classes and workshops, projects beneficial to the public, and unique programs for which there was a demonstrated need.

As planning continued, it became obvious that some sort of managerial group would be necessary to coordinate the various organizations. Whalen gathered a group of community leaders together to help solve the puzzle. The consensus was that a private foundation would best be suited to create, administer, and raise funds for the envisioned cultural arts center. Whalen asked a few members of the committee to help create the organization they had recommended. Three agreed and in April 1976, Fort Mason Foundation was created.

— Eric Hunt,
with thanks to the following: Battle for Fort Mason, Evolution of Public Land Use, and Pipeline.

Images:
The Herbst Pavilion in the 1940s, loaded with cargo headed for the Pacific theater.
In 2007 the same pavilion hosted the Art International Show. Photo: Bradford Gregory