Questions Surround Fate of Pedestrian Footbridge in SF's Chinatown
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to revoke the permit for a 50-year-old pedestrian overcrossing in Chinatown. Some call it a spiritual landmark, but the city wants to tear it down to renovate a beloved park.
When they built the Hilton Hotel in the late 1960s, the development agreement called for both a Chinese Culture Center and a pedestrian bridge across Kearney Street to Portsmouth Square Plaza.
"It is part of the landmark of Chinatown and bridging from the park all the way to the Cultural Center makes it easier, especially for elderly folks to cross this busy street," said Robert Fong, who once worked in the area and now visits for lunch.
Portsmouth Square Plaza is often called Chinatown's "living room" and is filled everyday with elderly Chinese men and women, playing cards and socializing. But a 2014 survey revealed that nearly 3/4 of Chinatown residents never used the bridge at all. And critics say the Hilton treats it like a private, rather than public space, closing it on Sundays or during private dining events.
"It really never served its intended purpose and through the years, community advocates have really pushed to have the bridge torn down," said Allan Low, an advocate for the park's renovation project.
He said demolishing the bridge would open up 20,000 square feet of new space in the park, including room to replace a tiny, rarely used club house with a 9,000 square foot community center.
"It's about a better use of a public space," said Karen Chan, with the Chinatown Community Development Center. "We always talk about public space, how to utilize it in a better place or a better way."
A recently passed voter initiative has raised the money to do it, but local architect Sam Kwong thinks removing the bridge will create bad "feng shui," severing Chinatown's spiritual link to the prosperity of the Financial District.
"They can work around the bridge, you know, be creative," said Kwong. "I'm an architect, you've got to work with all the elements. And if this is an element that's worth preserving, you make it happen."
But the feng shui isn't looking good for the Hilton either. In revoking the permit, the city now says the hotel is on the hook to pay for removing the bridge.
"They are contractually obligated to do it and they'll have to try to find the money to do it," said Allan Low. "At their cost, that's what the contract says."
The hotel's owners argue that the bridge was only built because the city demanded it, and after the Covid shutdown, they can't pay the estimated $2 million to tear it down. Nevertheless, project advocates say, barring a lawsuit, the bridge could be demolished sometime within the next year.
