Culture of Corruption - Nancy Pelosi (#2) Congresswoman and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has apparently invested in, been a partner in (which is it?) Presidio Partners. Seems to me that she's not doing what a congress critter is supposed to do, work for the benefit of the nation. It sure seems to me that she's working for the benefit of Nancy Pelosi at our expense, more than likely at the expense of the state of California and the City of San Francisco. Good old Nancy, she'll end the culture of corruption.

Among the unpublicized facts about Nancy Pelosi was that she was an investor in a real estate investment entity called PRESIDIO PARTNERS, which was set up shortly after the Nixon Administration first closure of federal military bases around the US. Among the choicest real estate properties were (a) San Francisco's Presidio Fort, then the headquarters for the sixth US Army (b) Treasure Island and Yreba Buena Island, the US Navy's parcels in San Francisco Bay (c) The Hunter's Point Naval Base, then biggest US navy base between Seattle Washington Long Beach & San Diego California. (d) The Alameda Naval Air Station in Oakland California-that was closed nearly twenty years later.

But wait there's more...

It's been just over 10 years since Congress passed Rep. Nancy Pelosi's Presidio Trust legislation, effectively creating the first privatized national park in the United States (see "Stolen Base," 5/8/96). The results are pretty clear: Just cruise through the Presidio and check out the gigantic new office complex George Lucas has built. In fact, the private business interests that were given control of the park in 1995 now oversee more than 80 percent of the 1,408-acre parcel. The goal of the privatizers: raise enough money from development, leases, and other real estate deals to pay the entire cost of running the park by 2013. That's what Pelosi's legislation requires.

It's a terrible disaster for San Francisco. And at the time we warned it would set a terrible precedent for the nation: Once you turn the national parks over to private interests and require the parks to pay for themselves, you'll get the equivalent of Nike Corp. putting logos on the Grand Canyon and casinos demanding concessions at Yosemite.

and

The Presidio Trust Act emerged from the fray that erupted after the Pentagon decided it no longer needed the San Francisco headquarters of the Sixth Army. Under legislation authored by the late Rep. Phil Burton, the Presidio was supposed to become part of the national park system the moment the military marched away.

But as soon as this stunning parcel – perhaps the single most valuable chunk of urban real estate in the world – popped up on the horizon, private interests in San Francisco began to eye it greedily. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. cut a backroom deal to have the Army spend $5.5 million upgrading the electrical grid on the base – and then pay PG&E $4 million to take it over. That was the first sign of trouble: For half a century the Army had run a public power system at the Presidio, and now it was going private, at public expense (see "The Presidio Power Grab," 1/12/94). Soon, a special planning council headed by the chair of Transamerica Corp., and involving the Gap's Don Fisher, PG&E executives, the University of California, the Energy Foundation, and other big interests, was poised to set the Presidio's future – and Pelosi was carrying the water.

Pelosi argued that the only way to save the base as a park was to let private businesses raise money through development and real estate deals to cover the operating costs. If that didn't happen, she argued, the conversion to civilian use would never take place – or, she even warned, Congress could try to sell it to the highest bidder.

but it doesn't stop there!

About ten years ago, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi led the charge to turn San Francisco's former army base into the nation's first privatized national park. The former army base, the Presidio, is the hilly, forested area at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. You've seen it in pictures.

Under Pelosi's Presidio Trust Act, most of San Francisco's Presidio and most of its buildings were to be controlled and managed not by the National Park Service but by a government-owned corporation called the Presidio Trust. Since then, film and video game mogul George Lucas has built his sprawling headquarters on some of the loveliest acres in this "park," and a multi-billion dollar development company, Forest City (http://www.forestcity.net), is angling for rights to redevelop an old hospital in the "park" into high-end apartments and/or condos.

Now, tonight in San Francisco, the Presidio Trust will hold a workshop to convince the public that the Presidio needs a "great lodge."

Question: Why?

Answer: According to a recent Presidio Trust mailing, "Every great national park deserves a great park lodge."

to be paid for by city and state taxpayers?

Yep, way to go Nancy. You've got those special interests on the run (right to your door).

Labels: CultureOfCorruption, Politics

  ¶ posted by The Editor 7:34 PM