The Concourse and Chris Duderstadt

If I can admit that the recent tarting up of Divisadero looks pretty good, I guess Chris Duderstadt, after years of opposing the garage and the overhaul of the Concourse in Golden Gate Park, can now admit that it looks pretty good. From Rachel Gordon's piece in yesterday's Chronicle:

"We've waited a long time, and the wait was worth it," said Christopher Duderstadt of Friends of the Music Concourse...More than a dozen years ago, neighbors battled over plans to build a garage beneath the concourse. Now, with the garage built and the renovation complete, Duderstadt said he is looking forward to the Music Concourse resuming its original role as a central gathering spot in San Francisco's premier park.

Okay, maybe he's only referring to his approval of the "music"/bandshell part of the Concourse, but the same can be said about the Concourse in general---it was worth it, and it looks great.

Just for the record, however, it has to be pointed out that Duderstadt himself ("Save Golden Gate Park"), along with Katherine Roberts ("Trees Not Cars"), was one of the litigants and/or "neighbors" who paid lawyers a lot of money to try to stop construction of the garage that was authorized by city voters when they voted for Proposition J in 1998. 

He then waged a rather disingenuous campaign to save the old pedestrian tunnels from being destroyed during construction of the garage and the revamping of the Concourse.

The executive director of the Concourse Authority, Mike Ellzey, explained why the tunnels had to be destroyed and rebuilt in this D5 Diary interview in 2005.