cowperthwait | lies, evasion, spin, circumspection and cleverly veiled hype

Marsha Garland, executive director of the North Beach Chamber of Commerce, said [Nancy Shanahan, influential member of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers,] puts up roadblocks to almost any development that doesn't fit into the strict guidelines the Dwellers set.

"She says, 'It doesn't look like it did back in the '30s,'" Garland said. "Well, neither do you, lady."

Roughly 3.5 million volumes will be stored on racks in a climate-controlled underground facility that digs down about 50 feet. The glass dome above it will reach 36 feet high, supported on a curving grid of steel. Ceramic patterns on the glass will block the sun, reducing heat gain.

“At least that’s what the engineers tell me,” Jahn said Friday, when I asked if the dome would turn into a sauna, as the Thompson Center infamously did....