New Transbay Terminal Looks Like A…
I’m not sure if that’s what they canceled tonight’s ‘public comment’ meeting over, but I wouldn’t doubt it.
And how did developer Hines and architect Pelli Clarke Pelli bid $350 million and now reach a deal to pay 30% less than that? Don’t worry about it, taxpayer - nothing to see here - move along.
And I don’t have a problem with the crass, gaudy, or explicit - that’s part of what makes life (and San Francisco) interesting — but I didn’t necessarily want it in my skyline.
Tourist: Excuse me - do you know where the Transbay Terminal is?
Local: [pointing] Just look for the big penis in the sky.
Every new catastrophe of a high-rise takes away from the one high-rise we can be proud of in this town. High-rises block the sun, making winter life that much more miserable. High-rises are not as sustainable as smaller buildings. And there’s been insufficient talk of actually mixing up the uses of that new office park in the sky.
But I guess we’re supposed to be happy about a park on the roof.
The meeting has been re-scheduled for tomorrow, during the day, when working people will not be able to attend.
Technically, that’s not the new Transbay Terminal, pictured above - that’s one of the gargantuan, skyline-obliterating, 100% office space buildings that will sit on an adjacent lot to the actual terminal.
Everyone agrees that the existing Transbay Terminal is a mess, but some folks (me) are not happy about what is being presented as payment for the development of the new terminal — shouldn’t we be concerned about aesthetics, too?
The new terminal would bring true multi-modal transport to at least one area of downtown SF. Every mode of transport could end up here - BART, MUNI light rail and bus, Caltrain, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit (including the Ferry system?), the California High Speed Rail train, etc. Maybe they’ll even let us bikers have a rack out back, next to the dumpsters.
Here are details of tomorrow’s meeting in case you’d like to sing the praises of such high (altitude) design, or if you, like me, might like to give the powers that be an earful for hawking parts of downtown San Francisco for skyline- and city-killing ginormous single-use development:
Leave comment (0)THE TJPA BOARD MEETING FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008 HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THE TJPA BOARD WILL HOLD A SPECIAL MEETING ON:
Friday, October 17, 2008
1:00 pm
City Hall, Room 416
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
10/17/08 Agenda
[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
