Garage stopped ... for now
Proponents of controversial park project broke ground before lawsuits were decided

By Rachel Brahinsky

Environmentalists and defenders of pedestrian access to Golden Gate Park won a decisive victory March 12 when a San Francisco Superior Court judge ordered a temporary stop to construction of an 800-space parking garage below the Music Concourse in the center of the park.

San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera had sought the court's sanction of the current garage plan, and opponents had sued to stop it, but before the court could hear those cases, the nonprofit Music Concourse Community Partnership quietly began preparatory construction late last month.

Just one week later Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled that both the financing plan and the proposed design of the project were possibly illegal and demanded the digging cease.

For opponents of the garage – and of park privatization – the decision offers hope that a private nonprofit won't be allowed to force the public to accept a legally flawed garage design. The plan (which is being pushed by Wells Fargo heir Warren Hellman) is expected to increase car traffic around the concourse, destroy three historic pedestrian tunnels near the concourse, and directly contradict 1999's Proposition J, which specified that the garage entrance should be located outside park boundaries (see "Hellman's Hole," 2/5/03).

In a particularly strong blow to Hellman, McCarthy ruled Hellman's proposed financing plan – under which garage revenues would help pay off privately issued construction bonds – could violate the San Francisco City Charter, which says such revenues should be public funds. Under Prop. J, the garage must be privately funded.

Herrera's spokesperson Matt Dorsey said the City Attorney's Office is "very disappointed in the decision, and we're evaluating our options." The city could choose to appeal the order, which halts construction pending a final verdict on the legality of the plan. That decision is likely to come later in the spring.

Activists who have fought the project told the Bay Guardian the ruling makes it possible for the court to take its time in rendering a fair judgment.

"If we hadn't gotten this injunction today, there would be no stopping that project, and the tunnels would be gone," said Kathy Roberts of Alliance for Golden Gate Park, an intervenor in the lawsuit. "So it's pretty much a miracle."

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