This headline was too easy. After all, the 14-acre Presidio Tunnel Tops, which opened on July 17, was three arduous decades in the making. How did a wrecked roadway — structurally compromised by the Loma Prieta earthquake — become a prodigious park?

Christine Lehnertz has always held a deep appreciation for the outdoors. The president and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which has raised over $624 million since its founding in 1981, has a long career in public service and a deep committment to the Conservancy's mission.

Nothing like Presidio Tunnel Tops exists in the Bay Area, in terms of size or natural history, or in terms of being free to everyone. That is thanks to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which privately raised $98 million to go with the $20 million supplied by the Presidio Trust, which oversaw the job.

The brand new Presidio Tunnel Tops park opened to the public Sunday morning on July 17 and the reaction was thoroughly positive. John Ramos reports.

Chris Lehnertz, the president and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, explained that the 14 acres of new park was made possible through the support of many San Francisco philanthropists, in what was one of the largest fundraising campaigns for public open space in the city’s history — raising $98 million of the park’s $118 million budget.