Harvey Milk Hill has a ring to it

Historically our society has named places, highways, airports, streets, parks and other places after people we revere. In San Francisco some examples include:

• Willie L. Brown Bridge (western span of Bay Bridge)
• Joe DiMaggio Playground
• Geary Street (first mayor and last alcade of San Francisco)
• Patricia's Green (Patricia Walkup spearheaded converting the Central Freeway into Octavia Boulevard north of Market St.
• Isadora Duncan Lane
• Mt. Sutro

We may not know some of the named people, we may not like some of the names chosen. But it is up to us to decide what to name places and rename them.  A street or a park or even a hill doesn't have to keep it's name in perpetuity. New York City recently renamed the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Why can't we do that?

Image: Wikipedia.org

Many have called for naming something important after former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk who championed gay rights (and the "Pooper Scooper" Law). He already has several civic places named after him:

• Harvey Milk Recreational Arts Building and Harvey Milk Photo Center (Duboce Park)
• Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library
• Harvey Milk Plaza (Castro Station)
• Harvey Milk Elementary School (aka Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy)

Image: SF Rec and Park

Image: SF Public Library

For a while there was a campaign to have San Francisco International Airport named after Milk. That campaign failed. However, it did consider the idea that a highly revered figure in city history should have a major place named after them.

After asking folks via Twitter to consider giving names to some unnamed hills in Golden Gate Heights, one responder suggested Harvey Milk Hill! That got me thinking. He should have a hill named after him. We have so many hills in San Francisco, but we don't know the names of most, and some don't even have official names.

So I'm calling folks to nominate hills that should be named Harvey Milk Hill. This could be a hill that already has an established name, or those that have no name or have unofficial or uncertain names.

I first nominate Castro Hill as the peak to re-name Harvey Milk Hill. The hill is located at Collingwood and 22nd St. The peak rises to 407 feet in elevation and has a prominence of 75 feet.

Several other hills have a higher prominence, but I believe that Castro Hill, residing in Milk's former neighborhood would be a perfect choice.