Public Comment

The following comments are made on behalf of People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of People’s Park as both an important historical site and neighborhood open space. We see the struggle to preserve the “History of Medicine in California” murals as the West Bay version of the struggle to preserve People’s Park in Berkeley.

UC is operating in a similar manner in both San Francisco and Berkeley, showing a lack of concern for its surrounding communities. Its behavior is more akin to a predatory corporation than a public institution by threatening destruction of public art, demolition of three historic buildings, eviction of rent-controlled tenants, destruction of a cultural and historical legacy and public open space, and formation of a partnership with an anti-tenant real estate corporation.

The plan by UCSF to demolish the frescoes created by Bernard Zakheim in the Toland Hall auditorium in UC Hall needs to be replaced with an alternative that would preserve the murals and display them for the public on the UCSF Parnassus Heights campus.

These murals, created in the 1930s through support from the Works Progress Administration, have educated and inspired generations of the public and students of UCSF. They are threatened with destruction when UCSF demolishes Toland Hall to make way for a new building. However, the murals are entirely removable and could be conserved, removed, stored, and reinstalled by UCSF in its new facility. Instead UCSF contacted the family of the artist and asked it to remove the murals at the family’s expense. Additionally the ownership status is under review by the federal General Services Administration calling into question UCSF’s right to destroy artwork it does not own.

We disagree with these actions of UCSF and are aware that the Mission Bay campus of UCSF has a public art program to which a percentage of construction cost was dedicated. Surely a small fraction of new construction cost at Parnassus Heights would fund a public art collection that could include the historic Zakheim murals and many new art works. Why is the Mission Bay precedent not being followed for the new multi-billion dollar facility on Parnassus Heights?

This is all particularly disturbing because the multicultural content of the murals portrays the long history of the diverse people who have participated in the healing arts within our state. Why would UCSF suppress this history at a time when California is seen as a state that has made some successful strides in tackling the issue of diversity within the health professions?

Although our major issue is with the murals, we are also concerned about the “Carved Frame” oak carving (Carved Frame) by Michael Von Meyer and James Warrender that was also commissioned as part of the WPA Federal Art Project and is located in Toland Hall. Likewise it should be conserved, removed, stored, and reinstalled by UCSF in its new facilities.

Both the murals and the wood carving are part of an amazing array of public art in San Francisco created by the New Deal. This heritage is recognized worldwide and brings viewers to the City to see it. Many of them go to Coit Tower where Bernard Zakheim’s work is also represented. Stripping part of this legacy from public view is unacceptable; conversely ways of making it more accessible should be sought.

UC is not bound by local landmark status and has stated it is above any local regulations or resolutions. In its arrogance, does it also feel it is above local sentiment and local pride in the City’s artistic and historical legacy?

We urge the Board of Regents to address the general issue of public art. The purpose of Dr. J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Laureate and Emeritus UCSF Chancellor, in establishing the Mission Bay art collection was "to create an environment that will be a credit and benefit to the entire community, a stimulating and pleasant place to work and visit, and a permanent legacy to the city." This purpose should apply equally to UCSF Parnassus Heights. Why is Chancellor Hawgood not advocating for public art in general and in particular defending the Zakheim murals?

San Francisco and many other California cities have percent for art programs, as do 23 states. California and its public university system do not, and this allows UC at whim to have a percent for art policy or not. Now is the time for the UC Regents to correct this and develop a UC statewide percent for art program, as well as developing an alternative to destroying the art in Toland Hall.

We demand UCSF include project alternatives that protect all of the art work in Toland Hall and develop a plan for its display in preferably a new location on the UCSF Parnassus Heights campus with increased public accessibility and interpretation.

Meanwhile, across the Bay UC Berkeley staff is making the rounds of Berkeley’s City Council and commissions presenting its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). After its presentations, UCB staff have gotten a lot of critical comments, for example, being accused of attempting to devour Berkeley and turn it into another Irvine, CA, with its ghastly array of glass-box high rises. UCB’s Project #1 was skewered, a proposal to build a multi-story housing and commercial block on Oxford Street between University Avenue and Berkeley Way, which would unnecessarily destroy three historic buildings (one of them is by one of Berkeley’s master architects) and displace residents of 1921 Walnut Street – a rent-controlled building with many longtime tenants.

UCB plans a public-private partnership for the project, teaming up with the Prometheus Real Estate Group. This is the same corporation that spent many millions as the fourth largest contributor fighting the passage of the rent control initiative, Proposition 21. Prometheus is headed by Jackie Safier whose foundation is contributing $500 million to the Parnassus Heights project.

UCB is partnering with an exploitive corporation to deal with its budget deficit created in part by its ill-fated investment in a new (now empty) football stadium with luxury boxes that never produced a profit and the added deficit created by the COVID crisis. In its scramble for cash, UCB is monetizing land it’s purchased in Berkeley outside the campus boundaries. Meanwhile, the City of Berkeley and neighborhood groups are involved with lawsuits regarding UC overreach and its potential impact on the community.

In the time of a pandemic with no foreseeable end, the eminent threat of urban-wildland fires, and the ever present threat of a major earthquake, it is difficult to contemplate why UC would think of giving up the open space of People’s Park, the Project #2 site.

The recent growth plans of the university will push Berkeley to the limits and override its capacity to accommodate this unfettered growth. The two proposed housing projects with their public-private-partnership investment schemes seem to be a vehicle for capitalizing on the need for housing by selling out the Berkeley community to pad the university’s budget. At the rate it’s going, soon the university will surround Berkeley, not the other way around.

People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group has an alternative that would bring the city, the university, and the South Campus community together to preserve and improve the park as both an important historical site and an important neighborhood open space. For details, go to peoplesparkhxdist.org.

San Francisco, Berkeley, or California doesn’t expect UC to be pushing destruction of public art or disruptive real estate plans. A world-class institution of public education should not behave in this manner.