WNP Response to Presidio Denial

April 21, 2003

Craig Middleton
Presidio Trust
34 Graham Street,
P.O. Box 29052
San Francisco, CA 94129-0052

Dear Mr. Middleton,

I very much appreciate your response to our proposal to relocate the Kirkham street earthquake shacks to the Presidio. I am also very gratified to read that the Presidio Trust recognizes the historical importance of the shacks.

I must however, point out a major misconception that apparently factored into your decision to deny the relocation of the Kirkham shacks. You write: "As you know, the Presidio is home to two existing refugee shacks whose origin traces directly back to the Presidio's relief efforts following the earthquake and fire."

This is incorrect. The shacks you refer to---the "Goldie" shacks---acted as residences in the Richmond District until they were saved and relocated to the Presidio in 1985. At that time they had no greater a connection to the Presidio than the Kirkham shacks do now.

The "false sense of historical development" that you seek to avoid already exists. Currently, anyone who stumbles on the locked Goldie shacks with their simple "1906 Earthquake Refugee Shacks" sign would believe they were erected in the Presidio. Rather than exacerbate this problem, our proposal to develop a robust and active interpretation of a row of shacks would actually clear up the confusion.

And the Presidio does have a historical connection to shacks. It has almost been two decades that the Goldie shacks have been in the Presidio. Just as historian Jane Cryan called earthquake refugee shacks "San Francisco's memorials not to a disaster but to one of the most magnificent charities of all time", the Goldie shacks, saved by the U.S. Army from destruction in 1985, are memorials to the city's respect and appreciation of its past. They should be cherished and a point of justified pride for the Presidio Trust and the National Park Service.

You write that the issue is "not a question of space, but one of historical accuracy." Give us the space and we will enhance and greatly expand the historical interpretation of one of the Presidio's neglected treasures. No one knows more about the history of these shacks than we do. Let us save the Kirkham shacks, unite them with their cousins, and tell in a grand, accurate way the story of how over 15,000 San Franciscans were housed after the city's great disaster.

We understand the Trust and National Park Service have resource limitations. We seek no funds or major personnel efforts, just some small free space and a bit of time.

Sincerely,

Woody LaBounty
Director - Western Neighborhoods Project

Cc: Mai-liss Bartling, National Park Service
Howard Levitt, National Park Service
Diane Nicholson, National Park Service
Amy Meyer, Presidio Trust Board of Directors
Fiona Ma, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Senator Dianne Feinstein

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