Key notes and (not?) shocking news from SF RPD’s 2nd Plaza community meeting
On July 8, 2025, BXP hosted San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (RPD) for the second community meeting of the “Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park Renovation Project.” A huge thank you to all of our members, friends, and interested parties who participated in some way, whether by attending the meeting, filling out the first survey, contacting project leadership, or expressing support!
The community meeting was divided into three parts. We've made video recordings and transcripts available of the first and last parts of this public meeting.
Presentation (video recording, transcript, RPD’s presentation)
Interactive stations
Regroup and Q&A (video recording, transcript)
RPD kicked off the presentation with survey findings showing a strong desire for an iconic, accessible park that ignites downtown recovery and honors SF’s waterfront history.
RPD’s critical news, however, first shared with the public during the community meeting, is that they do not plan to retain the Vaillancourt Fountain, either as-is or restored. RPD's latest revised estimate puts restoration costs at $29 million and demolition at $2.5 million, citing budget constraints and structural issues documented in reports yet to be shared with the public, as well as an inability to use allocated funding for work other than downtown revitalization.
Click image for 3D animation of the Vaillancourt Fountain. [link]
Notably, project leadership did not meaningfully address:
Rightsizing the project to better spend $15-30+ million in public and private funds. This could include a more modest park refresh with a sustainable maintenance plan that would more effectively reflect the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors, and support downtown’s economic recovery, while retaining our history and culture.
Adaptive reuse of the Vaillancourt Fountain in any form, such as a backdrop to the much-discussed central stage.
Adaptive reuse of Embarcadero Plaza to address accessibility issues while retaining the existing Lawrence Halprin design that is in the spirit of flexible, multi-use, world-renowned Spanish plazas and Italian piazzas.
The plaza’s preexisting world-class status, as demonstrated by the national and international support for retaining the plaza in its current form, such as from the Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Québec government, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), and the international skateboarding community.
The historic status of both Embarcadero Plaza and the Vaillancourt Fountain, as documented in the yet-to-be-shared reports in the city’s possession.
November 2024 rendering from the grant agreement between BXP and CCSF.
In-kind plan from the July 2025 second community meeting presentation.
Call to action
Your advocacy is crucial to saving our cultural heritage. Here's how you can make a difference:
Contact the city using our click-to-email template.
Share your opinion on RPD’s second survey before July 29: https://tinyurl.com/embarcaderoplazasurvey2.
Reach out to District 3 Supervisor Daniel Sauter to voice your opinion.
Read and sign the petitions: “Save Embarcadero Plaza” and “Sauvons La Vaillancourt Fountain”.
We greatly appreciated the huge number of people who stayed through Q&A section to advocate for retaining our history! An additional shout out to the Halprin and Vaillancourt family members who were able to make it!