“The [San Francisco historic preservation commission] voted 5-2 to start the process of preserving five of the seven libraries under discussion, including the North Beach branch.
The commission’s decision prevents the North Beach library project from getting construction permits from the Planning Commission for the next 180 days or until another decision is made.”
∙ North Beach library could be preserved [Examiner]
∙ An Only In North Beach NIMBY Preservationist Argument: Shelves [SocketSite]
∙ North Beach Library And Playground Plans Like You Read About [SocketSite]
∙ Landmarks Preservation: Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire? [SocketSite]
This is insane. What is the problem with wanting to give a neighborhood an enhanced library and park space? What’s the objection to the N. Beach library project? I don’t get it.
Unbelievable. The only surprise is that they didn’t rule that no new books could ever be purchased, so as to ensure that the local minds remain as sclerotic as this city’s approach to historic preservation.
This is utterly disgusting. These buildings need to be torn down for newer facilities.
I cannot believe the residents of North Beach let a small group of overzealous preservationists override the interests of the overall good.
Not all preservation is good. Sometimes you have to build new.
I love the irony.
SF, you reap what you sow.
We as a city are one step closer to becoming a self actualized anachronism
Pathetic. Selfish. Disgusting. What a joke this “city” is.
Disney moving the California Experience to North Beach?
I live across the street from this library, and my wife and kids use it a lot, as well as in the park adjoining.
Both the library and the park are inadequately serving the needs of the families in the neighborhood. A dedicated group of North Beach residents _did_ try to get this thing torn down so that new, better facilities could be built…to no avail.
Historic Preservation Commissions, in general, are programmed to do one thing: Preserve, so that the commissioners go down in the history books as preservationists, the needs of the citizens be damned.
Now we’ll have a second-rate library in the middle of a second-rate park, and families will continue to leave SF for places where their needs are better met.
Forget it, Jake. It’s North Beach.
I’ve given up on that neighborhood. Badly connected by transit and liking it that way, derelict at the north end of Columbus, residents dedicated to keeping it a museum (they’d probably burn down new developments, if there were any to burn), kids getting shot over bejeweled Bamm Bamm pendants.
Isn’t this just NIMBYism by a different name? There is nothing historically significant about an ugly outdated library that looks like every other crappy library built during the era, and there’s nothing special about it.
Those must be some pretty impressive bookshelves.
Can’t they just put the shelves in the new facility?
I don’t get it, the builidng is ugly and hardly historic. How can someone justify preserving an inadequate facility, especially when the plans are to replace it with the same thing, A LIBRARY! oh but it will be new and meet the needs of the neighboorhood, maybe they don’t like that. What a crock. This is up there with saving all the single screen movie theaters that are all closed.
All these preservationists care about preserving is their own grip on SF and somehow the morons of this town allow it to happen. Where is the vision and sense of the future? This reminds me of the fight over the new CCSF building in Chinatown – A blatant attempt to stall and block knowledge and progress. North Beach is a joke.
Part of the problem is that Prop J gave the new Historic Preservation Commission way too much power. The old LPAB was just fine and their role was completely appropriate as an advisory board.
I think the voters had no idea what they were signing up for when they supported Prop J.
the preservation committee people are morons..
I can’t believe that this hideous building is considered “historical”. What a joke.
Sixteen comments and not a single one in favor of the board’s decision. Is this SocketSite?
In all seriousness, I concur. Tear it down.
This has nothing to do with preservation, and everything to do with some North Beach folks who do not want to lose the parking spaces on the 200 feet of Mason that is to be closed off and turned into a pedestrian adjunct to a small park.
Sometimes I wish nothing new was ever built or upgraded so the next big one topples all of SF so we can start over from scratch (buildings and people).
I actually like this building (from the picture, never been inside) but I think you can “preserve” some of the elements, while still expanding and modernizing it. And go ahead and keep some of the historical shelves, as Jimbo says. They can even be marked as such.
I think perhaps Delancy’s theory makes sense.
🙁
I’ve lived about 3 blocks from here for the last 9 years and agree that the parking spots (in the lot & on Mason) are probably the primary items that people want to preserve.
I find this upsetting as the current facilities are pretty grubby and it would have been nice to see an enlarged and modernized facility built for the district.
This was largely instigated by the Telegraph Hill Dwellers trying as they only do so well, to block any and all change in NB. How this group continues its near-communist reign on the will of people and the property owners in North Beach is beyond me. Does anyone understand how the power of this group can be rightfully diminished? Please help.
Hah. They should leave the library and just close the street to turn it into a park.
That said, I’m not a huge fan of a lot of renovation and replacement projects. Academy of Sciences, Richmond library renovation… I don’t hate the new facilities but I don’t know if I’d’ve chosen them over using the money for more prosaic ends like programs and such, along with a more scaled-back renovation of the spaces.
I’m not affiliated with any group, just a mom who has been taking her kids to this playground and library for the last 12 years. If the HPC members could just leave City Hall for one hour to actually visit this library and jail/playground, they might see what we’re all talking about. This library, as it stands, so poorly meets the needs of the neighbors that use it (I have to admit, my kids and I would rather get in the car to drive to the Marina branch where we can actually read without tripping over our fellow library-goers, or – gasp! – head down to Barnes and Noble, which has become, for many North Beach families, the ‘library’ of choice in North Beach). And to add insult to injury, to stop the progress of expanding our playground, is just criminal. Who are paying these people off? I used to defend the actions of THD to those who thought they were mere NIMBY types, but my faith is shaken.
The reason the HPC has power is because the people voted for Prop J last year…as they vote for all planning measures at the ballot box. It is an abrogation of the duties of the planning department, planning commission and by extension, the Bd of Supes, to allow the public to make significant decisions about the shaping of the City by the blunt hammer of the proposition. Can anyone say why the old LPAB wasn’t working? Can anyone tell us why the Planning Commission isn’t the place to make all of the final decisions about a building project? What if we create a proposition for a separate commission for MUNI streetcars or for beat cops to have a distinct commission from the police commission. How about a “New Branch Library” commission that is distinct from the library commission with powers to stop all historic decisions about their buildings if it interferes with the dissemination of information to the people of San Francisco??