MEMORANDUM

November 6, 2006

TO: MEMBERS, PORT COMMISSION Hon. Ann Lazarus, President Hon. Kimberly Brandon, Vice President Hon. Rodney Fong Hon. Michael Hardeman

FROM: Monique Moyer Executive Director

SUBJECT: Request to place monument proposed by supporters of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Ferry Building area north of Market Street between the Embarcadero Roadway and the Vaillancourt Fountain.

DIRECTOR’S RECOMMENDATION: APPROVE ATTACHED RESOLUTION

Project Overview On November 1, 2000 the Port Commission passed Resolution 00-80 stating that a memorial should be placed in Harry Bridges Plaza honoring the Bay Area Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (ALB), and also directed staff to return to the Port Commission with design proposals for their consideration. Since that time the ALB has selected an artist and developed a design for the memorial. The concept design was presented to the Port Commission on February 28, 2006, and is now before the Port Commission for consideration of approval. Also before the Port Commission is a request to authorize the Port’s Executive Director to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding between the Port, the Arts Commission and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives for the purpose of installing and maintaining the proposed monument.

Background The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was part of an international brigade of men and women who answered the call for volunteers to fight against fascism during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1938. These activists were the first group of anti-fascist fighters in the 1930’s and went to Spain to fight against Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler. They were also the first racially integrated U.S. armed forces at all levels of command.

Volunteers from the Bay Area and San Francisco were an integral part of this struggle. A number of them worked as longshoremen and seamen on the San Francisco waterfront, and were activists in the waterfront strikes of 1934 and 1936. Only two monuments to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade currently exist in the United States. This Print Covers Calendar Item No. 6A Page 2

The Bay Area Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade along with the project designers, Ann Chamberlain and Walter Hood, have prepared a design for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade monument to be placed near the east wall of the Vaillancourt Fountain at Justin Herman Plaza. The proposed location currently consists of a cobble paved area with a semi-circular walkway and surrounding landscaped berm.

Monument Description The monument would be a free-standing wall consisting of a stainless steel frame measuring 39 feet in length and about eight feet in height. The wall would be built of stainless steel boxes measuring about two-foot square and stacked. Each square would contain an image or a portion of an image and some squares would contain text. The images would be on one-inch thick onyx, mounted at different depths within the boxes to allow light, air and views through the wall. The monument also would include bird control hardware along the top surface.

The memorial wall would be setback from the adjacent walkway to allow visitors to gather off of the walkway and out of the circulation path of others. The cobble paved area would be improved with a walkable concrete paver surface and made to comply with accessibility requirements.

During daylight hours the portrait images will be seen through the onyx, thus appearing somewhat muted or “ghost-like.” From a distance only the images are visible and as one approaches the monument the text becomes readable. The images and text inform the viewer of the social and political situation in San Francisco just prior to the war in Spain, and of the Brigade’s ongoing efforts for peace and social justice.

Agreement to Use Port Property The Resolution attached as “Exhibit A” authorizes the Port’s Executive Director to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Arts Commission and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. The MOU would allow use of the site for 20 years at no cost to the Arts Commission, and would make the Arts Commission responsible for its installation, maintenance, and liability of the monument. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives is held responsible by the MOU for the provision of funds to ensure necessary maintenance and would be jointly liable for any incident that might arise regarding the monument.

Prepared by: Dan Hodapp Senior Waterfront Planner PORT COMMISSION CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO

RESOLUTION NO. 06-83

WHEREAS, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was a group of courageous young American men and women who responded to the international call for volunteers to fight against Franco, Hitler and Mussolini in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1938 and many of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteers were from the Bay Area and worked as longshoremen and seamen on the San Francisco waterfront; and

WHEREAS, Bay Area Monument Committee of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (“ALBA”), urged by the Board of Supervisors (Resolution No. 781-00 on August 28, 2000) and on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco and ALBA, propose that a memorial be established in the Harry Bridges Plaza (area) to commemorate those that risked, and some who lost, their lives in the struggle against fascism; and

WHEREAS, on November 1, 2000, the San Francisco Port Commission adopted resolution 00- 80 declaring that a memorial should be placed in Harry Bridges Plaza (area) honoring the Bay Area Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; and

WHEREAS, on April 18, 2006, the Waterfront Design Advisory Committee recommended approval of the proposed monument design created by the team of Ann Chamberlain and Hood Design, and the location for the monument (the “Monument”); and

WHEREAS, on June 5, 2006, the Arts Commission moved to approve the Monument design created by the team of Ann Chamberlain and Hood Design, and the location for the Monument; and

WHEREAS, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives has promised to the San Francisco Arts Commission to provide financial support necessary for maintenance of the Monument for a twenty-year period and acknowledges the City and Arts Commission’s reliance on such promised maintenance funds in approving the Monument, its installation and its binding effect on ALBA and on all of its successors and assigns in a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ALBA, the Port and the Arts Commission; and

WHEREAS, the Port, Arts Commission, and ALBA would enter into the MOU for the purpose of the installation of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument; and, therefore be it

Resolution No. 06-83 Page 2

RESOLVED, that this Commission hereby authorizes the Executive Director of the Port, or her designee, to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Arts Commission and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives for the installation of a monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on Port property adjacent to the Vaillancourt Fountain at Justin Herman Plaza at no fee for a period of twenty years; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the MOU shall require the Arts Commission to maintain and remove the Monument upon the Port’s request, at no cost to the Port, and shall require the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives to honor its promise to provide the Arts Commission annually the funds required to maintain the monument.

I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Port Commission at its meeting of November 14, 2006.

______Secretary