Bridge of delight:
A Kansas couple, right, who built a replica of the Golden Gate finally see the real thing.
Larry and Barbara Richardson stepped off a plane at San Francisco International Airport on Monday and into a media feeding frenzy. Kind of like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie — if they were from Mulvane, Kan., in their 60s, and hadn’t ridden in a taxicab before.
Media outlets from two local television stations and two radio stations and a host of well-wishers who ranged from everyday Bay Area residents to the wife of Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak wanted to say hello. ( Janet Wozniak wrote to say that she’s from Kansas, felt a connection, and would love to drive them around town.)
San Franciscans fell in love with the quirkiness and story of Larry Richardson building a miniature Golden Gate Bridge on his Kansas farm even though he’d just gotten a glimpse of a tower late one night as he was being deployed to Vietnam.
Larry says he built his bridge on a bit of a whim — a whim that took 11 years.
The Richardsons won over readers with their down-toearth warmth, and how could you not want to help them fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing the real bridge?
John Handlery, who runs the Handlery Hotel on Union Square, offered to pay for their airfare and put them up at his hotel for a few nights. Others also wrote in asking to help.
By the time the plane touched down, a local cabdriver had offered to take the Richardsons on a free tour, a city guide group offered their expertise, and some 20 to 30 others chipped in.
Bouquets of flowers began arriving at the hotel Monday morning, and the switchboard began to get call after call wanting to know how things were progressing.
“I’m a little out of my comfort zone,” Larry admitted before taking his first cab ride.
Larry and Barbara may have never been to San Francisco before, but they already felt like old friends.
The internal politics of the San Francisco Police Department make the Soviet Politburo look like kindergarten. The latest chess move has Capt. John Feeney, who just took over Park Station five months ago, getting reassigned to an administrative job with no-nonsense Capt. Greg Morales taking over.
David Crommie, of the Cole Valley Improvement Association, said he was surprised by the move. Feeney was eager to reach out to the community.
“I thought he was doing a great job,” Crommie said. “And he was just getting going.”
Reached on vacation, Feeney was philosophical.
“They told me they needed me in another job,” he said.
However, insiders say the department was not happy with the conditions in Golden Gate Park, some of which were detailed in a recent Chronicle Watch. There were reports that Feeney was told if he couldn’t clean things up, he would be replaced with someone who could.
Good luck with that. Although the sidewalks on Haight Street no longer have crowds of edgy panhandlers, the groups have moved to the entrance to the park, near Alvord Lake. There’s no law against sitting or lying in the park, so police are hard-pressed to move them out.