James D. Phelan was a former San Francisco mayor. He was for the damming and used diplomatic tactics as well as blatantly argued for the damming. Phelan, "...told the Committee that the criteria for a decision should be the needs of the little children, men and women...who swarm the shore of San Francisco Bay, rather than the few who like solitary loneliness and the mere scenic value of the mountains." - Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash
source: The Virtual Museum of the city of San Francisco