Google Gate Bridge? Corporate sponsors sought for renovation

SAN FRANCISCO — There are no naming rights on the table, and there will not be any logo-bearing neon signs, tower-to-tower banners or screaming billboards. That might ruin the view.

But Friday, a committee of the board that runs the financially strapped Golden Gate Bridge passed along a plan for a corporate partnership for the structure, sending a proposal to a vote before the full 19-member board Sept. 28.

Even as it did so, activists were preparing for the possibility that the Golden Gate — the engineering wonder, international tourist attraction and perpetual suicide magnet — might soon be brought to you by Coca-Cola, for example.

"We understand that it's not going to be Google Gate Bridge," said Marcie Keever, program director for San Francisco Beautiful, a nonprofit group devoted to protecting "the unique beauty and livability" of San Francisco. "And while they are saying it's going to be this understated thing, we're still worried it's just a further distraction and blight on our public spaces."

At the plan's formal unveiling Friday, the emphasis was on the various ways the Golden Gate might take on advertisements without really taking on advertisements.

Kevin Bartram, a consultant hired by the bridge's overseers, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, said any sponsorship would be tastefully done. "It will be appropriate and understated," he said. "But visible."

Among the ideas are a new visitors center on the bridge's southern end — in San Francisco — which might be festooned with small corporate signs and sponsored historical placards, Bartram said. Other possibilities could include sponsorship of food kiosks, viewing platforms, directional signs, spots with good photo angles and restrooms.

One plan would be to solicit partners for a $30 million restoration of the bridge's main cable and the repainting of the south tower. The color would remain international orange.

What will be verboten are commercial signs on the bridge or its tollbooths.

The plan would be marketed to potential sponsors as the Partnership to Preserve the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge district, with a 2007 operating budget of $150 million, has a projected deficit of $80 million in the next five years. A 2002 toll increase — it costs $5 to enter San Francisco — was passed by the board, and bus and ferry fares also have steadily increased.

Jake McGoldrick, a board member who opposes the plan, said corporate sponsorship was equivalent to slapping an advertisement on the side of the White House.

"I don't think you take your iconic properties and turn them into advertising opportunities," McGoldrick said.