June 14, 2007
Presidio Terrace Update: Street View Screenshot
Things have changed since our last post about Presidio Terrace. Go on, take a look at the old post - we'll wait for you. Now, instead of one Yellow Man inside the gate, it's a bunch. And they've brought a few friends along as well in a kind of virtual demonstration, as you can see in the screenshot above. Oh my!
More seriously, this isn't the only neighborhood with houses that have/had racial covenants of course. But the sentry gate and the covenants are tied up with each other so that's why Presidio Terrace takes heat to this day. And for those of you who think this is all ancient history, the mayor San Francisco from just four years ago ran into some difficulty for merely looking at houses in the Forest Knolls area of San Francisco in the sixties.
Well perhaps it is from a while back, but this story is still interesting nevertheless. See how Willie Brown first met fellow former S.F. mayor Diane Feinstein! Of course DiFi gets criticised for having lived in the Terrace (yes, she has moved out) but, to her credit, she was literally on the front lines of this issue back in the day. Isn't it ironic, don't ya think?
[Sure it's ironic, commenters. It's like rain on your wedding day, or a free ride when you've already paid, that kind of thing. Also, 1. This community has a gate. Ergo, "gated community". 2. There IS a guard at the gate. See the photo in the link. He was on the job. 3. It's private propet'ah. Ergo, "private street". Thanks for reading!]
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hello i am tony
Rockridge in Oakland (the actual Rockridge, with the fancy gates up past Broadway Terrace) also had racial covenants. Where my parents live in Tennessee (and parts of where I lived in Virginia) still had these covenants which you still have to read when you are buying -- but are unenforceable. But of course, that's the South, so you're probably not surprised.
i love the fact that only the richest people in the city are guaranteed to not have to see homeless people every day. i guess chris daly doesnt think the rest of us deserve that kind of peaceful existence. he probably thinks we should all have to live in fear as we walk around them swearing at us, pissing on themselves, crapping themselves.
he's such a great leader.
And just how does Chris Daly have any conection to a gated cul de sac all the way accross town from his district? Seiously, you've got such a hard on for Chris, we're all a little embarrased for you.
I'm so sorry you have to see homeless people everyday, Suckafree. Maybe life in this cold and gritty big city just isn't conducive to your delicate sensiblities.
Two important points:
1) I really dislike Chris Daly, but connecting him to this is ridiculous
2) The editorial staff of sfist has no idea what "irony" is
Don't hate on Chris. He's so busy with that sitcom on the WB plus the PGA tour in addition to his wife attacking him in his sleep. oh wait a minute....
I love how JT equates living in the city with HAVING to deal homeless people. Like being gay is being homeless a choice or is it inherited??? hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Last year there was sort of a mass exodus from PT. Almost a 1/2 dozen houses here went on the market. I guess they sold, but it still looks to me like it's no longer a coveted address.
Thank God it's socially unacceptable to discriminate against people based on their skin color.
Poor people, however, just fucking suck.
Wow, Diane Feinstein is sure lucky that PT didn't have any restrictions against Ed Jews!
There was (and is) nothing to this piece:
1.) There may be gates to Presidio Terrace, but they remain open 24 hours/day. They aren't ever closed, so it really isn't a gated community.
2.) There is no guard at the gate, or for that matter anywhere near there or inside the subdivision, even when Diane Feinstein lived in the first house on the left. Maybe the guy in uniform in the photo was just passing by, or was hired for some special event, and the person who took the photo saw a chance to spin it into the silly fluffy exageration it's become here.
3.) Are you sure this is a private street? I seem to recollect from somewhere -- DPW maybe -- that it is just another city street.
Since 2001, California law requires a notice to be attached to CC&Rs stating that restrictive covenants based on protected categories such as race are illegal and void. In 2005 AB 394 made it even easier for county recorders to change all CC&Rs for a particular subdivision when only one representative homeowner goes to the recorders office to make the request for the change.
This recorded map seems to indicate PT is a private road- 209.77.149.9/subdmap/T42/T42134b.TIF
I was leaving a bat mitzvah last Saturday and said to my teenage daughter, "Let's go look at the houses in Presidio Terrace while we're here!" But then we saw the guard at the gate. Didn't imagine him.