President Trump seeks to slash San Francisco's Presidio Trust in latest executive order to cut federal workforce
An executive order by President Donald Trump is targeting the Presidio Trust, the federal agency that manages San Francisco's historic and cherished Presidio National Park, calling it "unnecessary."
The order seeks to drastically shrink the functions of the Presidio Trust, calling for the elimination of "non-statutory components and functions" and reducing "statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law."
The order also applies to three independent agencies that promote peace and development in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean: the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace.
The order, among the latest edicts from President Trump seeking to reduce the size of the federal government and its workforce, gives the heads of each agency two weeks to submit a report confirming compliance with the order. It was unclear what immediate effect the order would have on the functions of the Presidio, the 1,500-acre former U.S. Army base that now houses museums, businesses, schools, art installations, hotels, campgrounds, hiking trails, and recreational areas.
Established by Congress in 1996, the Presidio Trust oversees and manages the Presidio, which became a national park in 1994 after over 200 years as a military post. The site at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge is a California Historical Landmark, a National Historic Landmark, and is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
As part of the agreement to establish the Presidio Trust, Congress mandated that it make the Presidio self-sufficient by 2013, a goal that was achieved in 2005.
Following word of the executive order on Wednesday, U.S. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement:
"In 1996, the Presidio Trust Act was passed in a bipartisan way when Republicans held the majority in Congress and has retained bipartisan support ever since.
"The Presidio Trust is statutory, and it has been protected from assaults over time by its statutory strength. We will be carefully reviewing the language of the President's executive order and its purpose."
Pelosi played a key role in securing the funds to revitalize the Presidio. When she addressed the executive order during a roundtable discussion at the SF-Marin Food Bank, she said she will do what she can to protect the park, but also called the order a distraction from the Trump administration's attempts to cut funding to critical services.
Don't let anything they're doing out there with their shiny objects distract you from the fact what they want to do is to cut these initiatives: the Department of Education, Title 1 for the poorest children, Head Start, nutrition programs in the farm bill," said Pelosi.
The Presidio Trust also issued the following statement Wednesday evening:
President Trump has issued an executive order requiring the Presidio Trust to eliminate "all non-statutory functions" that are performed by the Presidio Trust. The Presidio Trust Act, passed by Congress in 1996, created the Presidio Trust as a wholly-owned federal corporation with a mandate to, among other things, "manage the leasing, maintenance, rehabilitation, repair and improvement of property within the Presidio" and "The Trust shall develop a comprehensive program for management of those lands and facilities within the Presidio which are transferred to the administrative jurisdiction of the Trust. Such program shall be designed to reduce expenditures by the National Park Service and increase revenues to the Federal Government to the maximum extent possible."
We do this, as required by the Trust Act, through "an innovative public/private partnership that minimizes cost to the United States Treasury and makes efficient use of private sector resources." The Presidio Trust has not received regular annual appropriations from Congress since 2013, instead relying on the funds earned by leasing the historic buildings that the Trust has renovated.
We will present a report on our activities to the Office of Management and Budget, as required by the order, in two weeks. We are confident that our activities are all statutorily-based.
The Presidio a one-of-a-kind national park site, and all of its services and business will continue to operate as normal, welcoming visitors and serving all who live and work here.
On Thursday, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie issued a statement in response to the executive order:
"The Presidio is a crown jewel of San Francisco and a national model for how public land can serve the public. The Presidio Trust has self-funded for more than a decade, and San Franciscans can rest assured the Presidio is not going anywhere. We stand ready to support Speaker Pelosi and our federal partners."