Presidio staff will lose 20% of its workers
dential tenants were unable to pay their rent in April — a percentage “that potentially could grow in May.”
That blow, coupled with a loss in revenue because of the closure of such destinations as the park’s two luxurious inns, upends the finances of the autonomous federal agency, which is required by Congress to be selfsufficient. The trust now anticipates that revenue could drop by $20 million to $30 million during the next two years.
Details of what positions might be eliminated are still being worked out, Fraser said. But major landscape projects will continue, including the privately funded Tunnel Tops park that will extend from the Main Post down to Crissy Field.
Overall, the trust “will need to downsize the operation and focus on critical functions to make sure the Presidio can be a national park, free to visitors forever,” Fraser said in her statement. “We now need to save the Presidio for the second time.”
Until now, the Presidio has been a remarkable success story.
Long home to the U.S. Sixth Army, the post was decommissioned in 1994 and folded into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. After years of oftencontentious debate over how it would be managed — and how the trust would balance the challenges that come from operating a huge park with hundreds of aged buildings inside a densely populated city — there’s been a methodical transformation.
The trust has restored all but 100 or so of the 870 buildings within the green enclave, a national historic register district. A natural lake and longcovered creeks have been reborn, and hundreds of thousands of native plants have taken root in settings that include a former military dump. Enticing new trails snake through the forested terrain.
Financially, the trust has been selfsufficent since 2013, the goal set by Congress. During the most recent fiscal year, it finished comfortably in the black, with a net income of $8.9 million generated by $136.3 million in revenue.
That scenario is unlikely to continue. It also comes as the trust has been wrestling with how to tackle an estimated $400 million in infrastructure projects that are seen as necessary in the coming decade.
“Unlike most other federal government agencies, the trust receives no taxpayer funding,” Fraser said in her statement. “We are not eligible to participate in any of the federal stimulus programs; we expect no funding from the U.S. government to help us weather this financial crisis.”
The Tunnel Tops park will continue, since the $118 million project is largely funded by private donors. The Quartermaster Reach project, a natural reclamation effort that will extend Crissy Field’s marsh south of Mason Street, will continue since it already is under construction.