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Where do you put a museum?
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Where do you put a museum?
The chess match continues with each side moving pieces to their apparent advantage. That's what last week saw in the continuing saga of the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a nonbinding resolution urging the proposed museum to locate somewhere in the City of San Francisco as opposed to the Presidio where Don and Doris Fisher would like to put it. Dissenting from the resolution were Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi, both of the so-called "progessive" wing.
I asked Alex Tourk, spokesperson for the Fishers, would they consider this? And their answer? No, the Fishers are "committed" to the Presidio location.
What's going on here?
The dynamics of situation shape up like this. The Fishers first proposed that CAMP be sited on the Main Parade at the Presidio, something that many preservationists and neighbors weren't keen on at all, to say the least. After it became apparent that the Secretary of the Interior was likely to veto this site (the Interior Department has the say so since the Presidio is a National Park), Fisher fired his architect, noted museum designer Gluckman Mayner, and replaced them with local architects WRNS. The Fishers also decided that moving the museum back away from the Main Parade and shrinking the size of the facilty would be to their strategic advantage. That strategy looks like it may be paying off, as some of the opponents have stated that they could be OK with a relocated and smaller museum.
After this development, the remaining opponents apparently lobbied the Board of Supervisors to get this resolution passed. That being said, it's a resolution with no legal force; it's just the opinion of the Board. It's value is largely symbolic and that may be worth something.
Why wouldn't Fisher consider a new site within the City? There certainly could be advantages to a city location. Proximity to other museums, infrastructure like parking that would support the museum, and the chance to do a monumental piece of architecture, all come to mind.
But it won't happen. Problem number one is that there is just not a good site available for a museum of this size (100,000 square feet or so). The second and perhaps more formidable obstacle is that any city site will have to go through the entitlement process which is a two year process at a minimum. Here's the kicker. The likely sites are pretty much within Supervisor Chris Daly's district and ultimately he would hold the cards. Now, can you imagine Don Fisher being questioned by Daly in a City Hall hearing? Daly is not known as a diplomat and Fisher is an aging man not in good health. Not going to happen.
That probably leaves us with a museum in the Presidio although not on the Main Parade and not likely to be a monumental, significant piece of architecture. It sounds like the proverbial project designed by committee; a great collection housed in a less than exciting building.
I hope I'm wrong.
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