Friends of Mount Davidson Conservancy

Co-founders of the Friends of Mount Davidson Conservancy pictured above: Glenn Gullmes; Ken Hoegger; Michele, Danielle, and Dave Bisho; Denise LaPointe; Jacquie Proctor; Bob and Michael DeLiso on Mount Davidson with park visitors. Organized to preserve Madie Brown‘s legacy in 1996, the group advocated landmark designation of the park and monument. It negotiated a 5.62 acre reduction in the amount of City park land to be sold by San Francisco to divest itself of the Mount Davidson Cross in compliance with a California Supreme Court order regarding separation of church and state. The Conservancy also negotiated the addition of public open space conservation easement language into the property deed to ensure that the privately owned portion of park land would be preserved with any new construction prohibited, including antennas. It was Dave Bisho who came up with the $25,000 needed to make a minimum bid on behalf of the Friends of Mount Davidson when the city auctioned the property in 1997. When the nonprofit Council of Armenian Organizations of Northern California came forward to purchase the .38 acre of Mount Davidson with intentions to preserve the monument and public access to the site, the Conservancy supported their winning bid of $26,000 and the passage of Proposition F to complete the process. (Courtesy Glenn Gullmes.)

The Friends worked with the SFPUC to get the plaque honoring Madie Brown restored in 2010 http://sfwaterdistrict7.blogspot.com/2010/06/celebration-on-mt-davidson.html. See video of event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbk5NQM9q2o