Golden Gate Park's Music Concourse Garage Begins Operations for de Young Opening Events

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority (GGPCA), today announced the opening of the north section (400 parking spaces) of the new Music Concourse Garage, an underground parking facility in the Music Concourse area of Golden Gate Park. The beginning of operations is being coordinated with the new de Young Museum's series of opening events, including this weekend's grand public opening, which will run for 31 straight hours, from 12:00 noon on Saturday, October 15 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 16.

When fully completed later this year, the new parking facility will offer a total of 800 parking spaces, including more than 30 ADA-compliant disabled-accessible spaces and more than 30 free bicycle spaces. Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., the north section of the garage is accessible from Fulton Street at 10th Avenue. Rates are $2.50/hour weekdays and $3.00/hour on Saturday and Sunday. Bicycles park for free.

"The Music Concourse Garage is one of a number of transportation improvement projects we've been planning in Golden Gate Park since 1999," said Concourse Authority Executive Director Mike Ellzey. "With the approval of Proposition J in June 1998, San Francisco voters issued a strong voter mandate to plan and complete a comprehensive transportation improvement program, including an 800-space underground parking facility."

The project has eliminated the Music Concourse parking lots and narrowed the roadways, which has resulted in the return of more than three acres of parkland to public use, along with an additional two acres returned to the Park as part of the de Young and California Academy of Sciences projects.

"The completion of this garage will allow us to permanently eliminate 800 parking spaces from the surface of Golden Gate Park, including all 200 surface parking spaces in the Music Concourse bowl area," Ellzey said. "We have been working for more than six years with a wide array of stakeholders, neighborhood organizations, advocacy groups and the larger community, as well as the GGPCA Citizens' Advisory Committee which was formed in early 2004 to monitor impacts from garage construction and operations. When completed in November, the Music Concourse Garage will take its place as the 'anchor' project component to an aggressive plan designed to reduce the impact of automobiles in Golden Gate Park, and assure that safe, reliable and convenient access to its cultural institutions is maintained."

For more information on the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority and the Music Concourse Garage, please visit the GGPCA web site at http://www.goldengateparkconcourse.org, or call 415-831-2727

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