Transcripts For SFGTV2 20130805

Good afternoon, i am the chief building inspector with the department of Building Inspections brown bag lunch. We do this every third thursday of every month. This building behind me is one of san franciscos great landmarks, a designated landmark . It is on the National Register list of historic buildings. With me i have a few guests, an old friend of mine and a partner who is a planner with the port of san francisco. Welcome. Thank you for coming along. And jane connors, who is the building manager. She will lead us on a walk through the building as we move along and talk about that as well. This is a fund and a unique place in san francisco, big, open space. A couple of times a week this is filled with a marketplace. 100 farmers. They are here on saturday. The Farmers Market is out front, and also on tuesdays we have about 60 farmers out front. And that is on the plaza . On saturday it is back here, and on tuesday it is in the front. I guess i am interested in what happens. We have a plaza where the ferry boats used to come. What happened . The whole backside of the building was originally line for ferryboats. It could handle about 14 boats at one time. The building was built in 1898, and the ferry boats were very popular up until the bay bridge got built in the early 1930s. At that time, the passengers shifted from taking the ferry boats out to going across the bridge and a ferry boat service diminished. The cars were a reduction in the use but also led to the development of the freeway in front of the Ferry Building, which in 1989 was damaged by the earthquake and demolished. Lo and behold, we have a Ferry Building again after the earthquake . We have seen the city come around. The building was renovated and opened in 2003. At the downtown Ferry Terminal was expanded in 2009 perry in 2009. People are looking for other ways to cross the bay. They have found that the use of the ferry boats may have increased by three times it is today. A lot of people who are looking for alternative ways to get around, people who walk, bicycle, other transportation, less people are driving. It is not just the price of gas. It is fun to ride to work and along the riverfront. We see that on the weekend. The promise not it is just full of people coming down, just walking along the waterfront, ride a bike, take a walk. Were becoming one of the most public waterfronts in the country. Once upon the time, the boats would come in here where we are standing we know that because i have a photograph of that. My wife collects historic post cards of san francisco, and we have photographs of the Ferry Building with all the piers in place. The Ferry Building went through the 1906 earthquake. How badly damaged it was it . Just the clock tower was rendered on safe or compromised. It was rendered unsafe or compromised. They had thought about taking the clock tower down, but it has remained largely intact. We will talk more about the clock tower later on. It is beautiful. Somehow or another, this big platform got built. Do you know approximately when . In the 1970s, the park came in. They built the platform. It building and underneath this platform and across the bay. This was developed as part of the bart transportation strategy . Correct, and the park construction at that time. It is not on this plaza, separated a little bit, lets colligate e lets call it gate e. It is adjacent. It them every now and then i talk to people who are out of town and people say where is the giant ball park. I say that it is next to pier 40. They make the assumption that it is next to pier 39, but we know that is not true. The numbering is bob and even. It the numbering is odd and even. Then north of the Ferry Building we have pier one. 1, 3, and 5 have been redeveloped into a combination of office space and restaurants. They are in the process of leasing those out and it is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places being a sailor, you are familiar with the public wants that sits behind us. Usually, i sailed out of south harbor pier 40. There are very few places along the whole bay waterfront or there is public access. Right up the street at pier 1 1 2 is a brand new public launch or you can pull in a boat up to 40 feet, spend hours, and it is a wonderful thing. Whoever did that, thank you. It is a Public Private partnership that was done with the port redevelopment. We hope to be putting in more of that type of facility up and down the waterfront as part of a collection of smaller