Crews began work Monday to dismantle the decades-old Vaillancourt Fountain at San Francisco\u2019s Embarcadero Plaza.<\/p>\n
Workers started around 7 a.m., using equipment including boom lifts to begin disassembling parts of the 710-ton concrete structure. The work follows days of preparation, including installing fencing and labeling sections of the fountain.<\/p>\n
The project is being overseen by multiple city agencies, including Public Works, the Recreation and Park Department and the San Francisco Arts Commission.<\/p>\n
The fountain, which opened 54 years ago, is set to be removed in phases. The current work is part of a pilot phase, with more extensive dismantling expected to begin in May.<\/p>\n
At that point, cranes will be used to remove sections of the structure, which will be transported to a secure location.<\/p>\n
The removal is expected to cost the Recreation and Park Department millions of dollars. City officials have said the project is necessary for public safety.<\/p>\n
The decision to remove the fountain has faced opposition, however. A preservationist group sued the city after officials approved the plan in 2024, but a judge denied the group\u2019s request to halt the removal. An appeal and request for an immediate stay are still pending.<\/p>\n
NBC Bay Area has reached out to the city attorney\u2019s office and the attorney representing the preservation group but has not received a response.<\/p>\n
The fountain\u2019s removal is part of a broader plan to renovate Embarcadero Plaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crews began work Monday to dismantle the decades-old Vaillancourt Fountain at San Francisco\u2019s Embarcadero Plaza. Workers started around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144,101],"class_list":["post-288525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-san-francisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}