Opposition Grows to Parkland Plan for the Presidio
A Tennessee congressman’s efforts to prevent the Army from transferring the Presidio to the National Park Service is gaining momentum and has put local representatives on guard.
The Army is scheduled to begin turning over the nearly 1,500 acres of prime oceanfront property to the Park Service in October, as mandated under a 1972 law.
But Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) says making it all into a national park would be too costly. Duncan wants to give the deed to the 218-year-old Army post to a public corporation that could sell the golf course, Letterman Army Hospital and other medical research facilities on the base to the highest bidder to pay the up-front costs of the conversion.
Duncan’s plan, contained in a bill he is introducing in Congress, would scale back the Presidio park to 200 acres and convert the remaining 1,288 acres, including most of the historic buildings, to other unspecified uses.
“We expect a very serious fight,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who supports handing over most of the land to the Park Service.
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