It was 1999 when San Francisco's City Hall unveiled its controversial full-body makeover. All jeans were high-waisted, your cell phone had buttons, and the dot com bubble was busily expanding, as then-Mayor Willie Brown proudly unveiled the results of a three-year-long, $100 million over-budget renovation that included a seismic retrofit, gold leaf for the dome, and an $85 million revamp of the inside — paint, fixtures, new offices, and much much more. But nothing lasts forever, and now $4 million more will be spent to "spruce up" the building SF calls "The People's Palace" before its centennial celebration on June 19.

According to the Chron, $2 million of the City Hall freshen-up plan will come out of San Francisco's coffers. So what about the other $2 million? That's going to come from "private donors," the city's paper of record reports from a Presidio Terrace "cocktail confab" intended to raise dough for the rehab.

But before you think that $4 million seems like a lot to spend on fixing up a city building that was fcompletely made over 15 years ago, let SF's City Administrator, Naomi Kelly, set you straight.

“I was just telling Mayor Ed Lee that in 1915, it cost $8.8 million to build City Hall...And I’m just about to deliver him a 10-year, $32 billion budget. So I think I’ll remind him that, after the 1989 earthquake, refurbishing City Hall cost Willie Brown a $200 million bond,” she told the Chron.

When you look at it that way, $4 million isn't that much, Kelly appears to be saying? So far, private donors have kicked in $1 million. The other $1 million is expected to come from additional fundraisers, to which we appear not to have been invited. "The People's Palace," indeed!

Although Dolores Park will undergo a lengthy renovation process, a plan that's been in the works for quite some time, this hasn't stopped people from losing their collective feces over the park's estimated year-long closure. Everywhere from SFist's initial post on the closure to comment threads to this Facebook page, folks are curled up in the fetal position, bathed in a pool of their own tears and drool over their precious patch of grass.

But? Many have good reason to nut, since the park would mean certain death for many a Dolo Park goer. "That would totally ruin my social life---and part of my sex life, for where would I meet the new-to-town 26-year-old gay boys?," a friend explains.

Indeed.

Fortunately, the renovations will be done in phases. "The whole park will not be closed or fenced off for the duration of the renovations," notes Dolores Park Works, the folks in charge of the extreme makeover.

How so? Well, according to Dolores Park Works:

Phase 1: The playground remodel, which has been in development by Friends of Dolores Park Playground, Supervisory Bevan Dufty’s office and SF Rec & Parks since 2006. It is scheduled to start in October 2010 and end in April 2011. Please note that this work will be done in the “off season.” The rest of the park will be available during this time if safe access can be provided. YAY!

Phase 2: Initial estimates, and I do mean initial, put the park’s renovation at about 16-17 months. This is a liberal estimate. You know the mantra - under promise and over deliver. From what we’ve heard so far, it doesn’t look like the park will be closed for the entire time. The goal is to limit the impact on the community while ensuring that the work is done efficiently and safely.

Once again, someone tore down a bitch of a wall and discovered even more old-time signage. (First bacon, now bourbon? What in heaven's name went on in this city back then?) This time it was uncovered in Noe Valley while renovation of a building at 25th and Church was underway. And once again, we hope someone puts a window where it ought to be.