Richmond District Democratic Club

After discussing a proposed gift from our sister city, Shanghai, of a walled Chinese garden to be constructed on a five-acre site in Golden Gate Park, the Richmond District Democratic Club passed a resolution (see below) urging a full public review and debate of this proposal before there is any further planning or financing for it at the Golden Gate Park site.

At the RDDC meeting on September 27, members discussed what little was known at the time about the proposal and were concerned that there had been no public review. While members agreed that the proposed garden would be a beautiful and generous gift, as it would be modeled on a garden in Shanghai and would have a pavilion, waterfalls, lakes, and other structures, they raised a number of issues. Foremost among these were the lack of public process, preservation of open space, and contravention of the master plan for Golden Gate Park, which states that “new cultural buildings should be located outside existing parks… additional structures would disrupt the balance that is present between open space and special uses requiring buildings.”

Since the September 27 meeting, the Richmond Review has featured this issue in its November edition (go to www.sfrichmondreview.com to read the article once it is posted). In the article, James Fang, Chair of the Shanghai Sister City Committee, laments the fact that the proposed gift is being discussed prematurely, as it is in the early planning phase, and that the public response has been based on inaccurate information. For example, he is quoted as saying that the proposed size of the project is less than two acres, not the five acres stated in earlier media reports. This would appear to be an argument in favor of a more open public process.

My personal opinion is that the Mayor should take the lead on this project and hold public meetings at which the size and scope of the garden, its financing and on-going maintenance costs, and, most importantly, its location are discussed before we are presented with a fait accompli and the usual public wrangle that would follow and would embarrass both sister cities, when in fact Shanghai has proposed a beautiful and very generous gift.

Susan Hall

RDDC Board Member