if we DONT build it they will come

By Michael d. Powers

prohibiting big buildings from destroying our skyline

If We Don't Build It They Will Come

Shame on the Chronicle for its unabashed breathless promotion of the single worst idea in the history of San Francisco. As a citizen of this beautiful city and candidate for mayor, I call on you to curb your biased reporting of the "jury-rigged" campaign to build a 1200-foot behemoth on top of the Transbay Terminal.

The Chronicle's late great protector of our skyline, Allan Temko, must be rolling over in his grave. Our already overcrowded city soon will feel the impact of tens of thousands of new day workers who will further strangle our streets, bridges and garages when that big green Infinity office/condo, the 60 story Millennium Tower and that horrible oversized Rincon Hill building come on line.

Each year millions of visitors to San Francisco come expecting to find the same place where they left their hearts, or have dreamed of all their lives. Make no mistake, neighbors, we are the custodians of this world-favorite destination point, and we are blowing it! Preserve San Francisco, don't build giant skyscrapers that will destroy our beloved city!

It's not the billion this 1200-foot monster will cost, it's the trillions that generations of San Franciscans will lose if we build it. I'll bet you even Mayor Newsom's genius numbers man, Stuart Sunshine, would agree that the revenue generated by happy tourists is ten times the value to our city than anything these absentee landlords are promising.

Drive downtown this afternoon and look at the gridlocked streets teeming with masses of bleary-eyed San Franciscans, and picture what it will look like when the last ton of concrete is poured to cast the 80th floor of the hideous Transbay Terminal. Those poor folks attempting to walk from First and Mission will be looking like the colorless, sock-eyed Manhattanites who fight their not-so-quiet battle to survive each day's commute and schlep to their respective cubicles.

I believe that making every diverse neighborhood in San Francisco as wonderful as possible will guarantee that millions more visitors from every point on the compass will pay whatever they have to visit our great city for generations to come.

In my opinion, preserving the best of what we have is the most people-friendly green business that we San Franciscans are lucky enough to have inherited.

If we don't build it they will continue to come.

The dream that our forefathers built on the seven magnificent hills that make up San Francisco needs to be preserved, not plowed under and poured over. Please help me stop the ongoing Manhattanization of San Francisco.

Michael Powers Candidate for Mayor