Laborfest: Yerba Buena Gardens, SOMA Walk

Yerba Buena Gardens, SOMA Walk
By Val Flood (City Guide)
Learn how the retired president of the Alaska Salmon Packer’s Union used union tactics to influence urban redevelopment in SoMa (South of Market) – organizing the longshoremen living in SRO (single room occupancy) hotels with neighborhood activists to preserve their housing and communities. Understand the history and development of the area, from the earliest rough neighborhoods called “South of the Slot”, to the proud civic achievement that is today’s Yerba Buena Gardens complex. Learn to look at this neighborhood with a new eye - even people familiar with the area will discover beautiful gardens and unique sculptures that are “hidden in plain sight”. Enjoy the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial and waterfall and tribute to the native Ohlone Indians and much more.
West entrance King inscription: No, No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.'
Washington, D. C., 1963
East entrance King inscription: I believe that a day will come when all God's children from bass black to treble white will be significant on the constitution's keyboard.
San Francisco, CA, 1956.
See also:
http://www.yerbabuenagardens.com/features/gardens.html#2
http://www.laborfest.net/2010/2010schedule.htm