By John Ferrannini

San Franciscans are reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to fire six members of the Presidio Trust.

All were appointees of President Joe Biden. They received termination notices April 8. As of press time, replacements have not been named.

The move came after Trump issued a 2025 executive order calling for the trust to be among those entities “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The order also targeted development agencies for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the U.S. Institute of Peace, which has been subsequently renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

At the time of the order, the move to fire the trustees was blasted by SF Mayor Daniel Lurie and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the latter of whom championed the initial 1996 legislation.

The trust was created by an act of Congress in 1996 to care for the former military site, initially a Spanish and then a Mexican fort before it was acquired by the United States in the Mexican-American War. It is now home to both commercial and public uses.

Terminations of board Chairman Mark Buell, Vice Chair Chuck Collins, Lenore “Leni” Eccles, Patsy Ishiyama, Bonnie LePard and Nicola Miner were delivered via email. Buell didn’t return a request for comment, and neither did the trust, which is still operating.

Marie Hurabiell, a Trump appointment to the Presidio Trust board who left in 2021, was disappointed in the firings. Hurabiell is currently running as one of several Democrats vying to replace Pelosi in the House of Representatives.

“It was an honor to serve as a trustee at the Presidio,” she stated. “We kept the park open during COVID and were able to help the Presidio thrive during a difficult chapter in San Francisco.”

She continued she thought the most recent board was doing a good job.

“Regardless of who appointed them over the years, the trustees have all worked together collaboratively, and in a non-partisan way to advance this incredible national treasure,” she said. “All of the trustees were doing a fabulous job and I am sorry to see that they were removed and hope to learn who the new appointees are as soon as possible.”

Saikat Chakrabarti, another candidate for the House seat who is a centi-millionaire and former chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), called the Presidio “one of the most successful examples of mixed use public lands.” He stated that the firing is “potentially the first sign of tech oligarchs working with Trump to turn the Presidio into a ‘freedom city.’”

An article in Palladium – a San Francisco-based futurist magazine – suggested Trump turn the Presidio into a hub of business and biotechnology. However, former California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) told the National Public Radio (NPR) the 1996 law is “very specific” and would have to be overturned before the freedom city could come to fruition.

Meanwhile, Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally, was hired by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, according to public records. The tribe has petitioned the government to hand the Presidio over to it. The tribe called the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting on the subject in April “a calculated hit piece designed to derail our 45-year struggle for justice,” but did not deny having engaged Stone in his capacity as a lobbyist.

District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, whose district includes the Presidio, told NPR that the administration is “just baiting us with a blatantly partisan attack.”

“The only thing that this does is create completely unnecessary fear among 3,000 residents of the Presidio,” he continued.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, one of Hurabiell’s opponents for the House seat, represents District 1, next to the Presidio.

“On any given day of the week, we can expect Trump to abuse his authority and act outrageously,” Chan stated. “ The Presidio Trust is a model for good governance and a San Francisco treasure, and of course, Trump wants to dismantle it.”

Chan is grateful for the service of the former trustees.

“I want to thank the entire Presidio Board of Trustees for their service and leadership,” she said. “I will fight to make sure Presidio remains a legacy open space for San Franciscans for generations to come.”

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is also running for Pelosi’s seat, stated that the Presidio is “a success story – a military base now a self-sustaining national park.”

“Trump is the destroyer president,” he continued. “He tears down institutions that make the world better – Medicaid, Kennedy Center, USAID, NIH – and replaces them with nothing since he’s incapable of building. He only destroys.”