The choice of site was difficult. The sites most favored were Lake
Merced, Golden Gate Park and Harbor View. Lake Merced was opposed as
inaccessible for the transportation both of building materials and of
people, and, through its inland position, as an unwise choice for an
Exposition on the Pacific Coast, in its nature supposed to be maritime.
The use of the park, it was argued, would desecrate the peoples
recreation ground and entail a heavy cost in leveling and in restoring.

Harbor View and the Presidio had several advantages. It was level. It
was within two miles or walking distance of nearly half the city's
inhabitants. It stood on the bay, close to the Golden Gate, facing one
of the most beautiful harbors in the world, looking across to Mount
Tamalpias and backed by the highest San Francisco hills. Of all the
proposed sites, it was the most convenient for landing material by
water, for arranging the buildings and for maintaining sanitary
conditions.

After a somewhat bitter public controversy the Exposition directors, in
July, 1911, announced a decision. It caused general surprise. There
should be three sites: Harbor View and a strip of the adjoining
Presidio, Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, connected by a boulevard,
specially constructed to skirt the bay from the ferry to the ocean.

That plan proved to be somewhat romantic. The boulevard alone, it was
estimated, would cost eighteen million dollars.

Harris D. H. Connick, the assistant city engineer was called on as a
representative of the Board of Public Works, and asked to make a