Thinking Out Loud: Would Covering Hallidie Plaza Be A Good Idea?

Just this morning I got an update from the SFMTA about some planned maintenance and upgrades to the escalators at Hallidie Plaza, and as I read through the press release, I began to wonder – would covering up the plaza really be so bad?
Despite all the best intentions and efforts, as is, the “plaza” isn’t much to look at, and isn’t very pleasant. On a rainy day it becomes the world’s biggest puddle, and I don’t see many people enjoying it, save for the usual band of homeless people, who don’t like it either (or so I’ve been told by said folks). Hence, my thinking out loud – what if instead we kept all the escalators and the elevator, and covered up the whole thing and made a nice park on top instead?
As I Googled around on this issue it seems I’m not the only person who’s discussed this in the past. The Chronicle’s John King brought up similar issues when the Newsom administration made some moves to try and improve the place. He, like I, called for the City to hit the reset button and start over.
This isn’t the most pressing issue in the world, but a better urban infrastructure inevitably leads to more improvements, public and private. If nothing else, it would make the Powell Street station and the Cable Car turnaround a bit more pleasant.
If you had a reset button for Hallidie Plaza, what would you do?

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