by Guardian intern Sam Devine
While watching Land use & Economic development committee meeting on SFGTV the other day, I caught a bit of public comment on the whole Healthy Saturday thing and had the thought: “Maybe this is more about providing public transportation to public places than it is about bicycles.”.
At the meeting, parents said they couldn’t get to the museum for family programs, and museum staff complained about getting to work without being able to park on the street. The parking garage, at $3/hour, is cost prohibitive.
Nan Tucker McEvoy, granddaughter of museum founder M.H. de Young, spoke in opposition to closing JFK on Saturdays. “When my great grandfather gave the museum to the city, he gave it to all the people of the city, not just the ones who ride bicycles or can walk great distances,” she said
That seemed fair enough, if it rang somewhat insincerely. But then Lena Wilder, a 14-year resident of the Richmond, pointed out that when the museum first opened, there **were** no cars. When newfangled horseless carriages came along a couple of years later, they were immediately banned from the park.
That got me to thinkin’: “How did people used get to the park? Isn’t the real problem how hard it is to get to the north side?”
The north side of the park used to be a whole lot easier to get to – back before John McClaren was spinning in his grave (McClaren was part of the “City-Beautiful” movement and went on record that he didn’t want museums and statues and what-not in the park). 
Back then, cable cars and street lines used to run through the Richmond like wild streams.
That let me dream for just a brief moment: What if a train ran close enough to the museum to dismiss the need for parking?
And before you say the ‘N’, let me add the caveats of reliability and wheelchair access.
I dreamt of a new, underground BART station, beneath the intersection of Park Presidio and Funston. No longer would anyone complain that they couldn’t get their kids to museum programs, or couldn’t afford to get to work. The station would have no stairs, so the disabled could get to the museum even easier than the proposed tram, and bicycles could come and go with ease.
Unlike the would-be ‘G’ line, which was proposed as an extension of the ‘N’ line a few years ago, this BART station would be a hub of transportation for the greater Bay Area. Kids from the East Bay could get close enough to ride their bikes through Golden Gate Park and down to Ocean Beach. The park could become a cultural hub for the entire Bay Area. Its attractions would become paramount instead of neglected and under-visited. Life would improve.
Yeah, I’m a dreamer, but I still hope that you’ll join us someday.
Maybe then more kids would be able to agree with young Sarah Pike, who gave what was possibly the cutest and most honest public comment at the meeting: “My name is Sarah Pike and, um, I like to ride my bike, um, at the park.”
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