Tower for Rent, With Million-Dollar Views.

Last Friday, a group of about 60 writers, artists, Telegraph Hill residents and community activists gathered in a North Beach art gallery to hear seven poets wax lyrical about that oh-so-San Francisco landmark, Coit Tower -- and protest a proposed plan by city officials to open the top floor for private parties. Lincoln Bergman, a San Francisco poet, captured the fervor of the crowd with his verse in praise of the New Deal-era artwork inside the tower: [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]