A small statue stands in the front yard of a Gough Street house across from Lafayette Park which celebrates the power and persistence of citizen action in stopping a network of freeways from rising throughout San Francisco in the early 1960s.
The inscription reads:
THE FREEWAY REVOLT
This map shows the vast network of freeways proposed for San Francisco in 1959.
By standing up to say "NO!", by speaking out in public, by circulating petitions, ordinary citizens turned back this assault on the fabric of our dear city.
We will always be grateful to them.
Art Agnos, the former San Francisco Mayor, had an op-ed published in the San Francisco Chronicle on New Year's Day calling for similar citizen action to stop the current greed-infested development policies of the Mayor Lee administration and his corrupt Planning Department headed by John Rahaim. It's called "Ballot-box planning offsets pay-to-play politics" and let us make a new year's wish that San Francisco citizens take back some control from a City Hall that seems determined to sell out its citizens and their shared communities to the highest bidder.
I used to think it was an advantage to have rich people around to keep things nice. That was my attitude when I lived in Switzerland. However, in that country the rich share space and resources with a large middle class. This is not what seems to be happening in SF and other places that the affluent favor. Middle and lower income people are just being driven out.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea that monument was there. Have to get over to that part of the world.
ReplyDeleteI'm friends with the owner of the house - he put up the monument because there are no other ones commemorating the Freeway Revolt.
ReplyDeleteDear John aka Doggy Daddy: Does your friend prefer to remain anonymous or does he have a name? In any case, good for him. This became my new favorite public statue in San Francisco the minute I stumbled on it last week.
ReplyDeleteMichael I'm sure he wouldn't care - his name is John Neumeyer (real-life brother of Julie Newmar)
ReplyDeleteDear John: Thanks so much. That's the scoop of the year.
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