Dear Coalition,

Because you love your parks, I urge you to become involved with the Recreation and Park  Department’s budget planning this month. RPD’s budget proposal is due to the Mayor’s office on February 19th and will include a combination of cuts in spending and sources of new revenue. NPC is working with RPD to make sure that the difficult financial choices the Department has to make will be done in a manner that is guided by RPD’s mission to foster the well being of San Franciscans and maintain beautiful parks and open spaces.

Specifically, NPC is seeking your input on the seven draft budget principals that RPD is using to guide the budget process (click here to download RPD’s budget presentation ). While the first draft of the budget plan will go to the Mayor’s office in mid-February, many months of work lies ahead on the City’s budget. It is important as park advocates that we have clear goals related to the budget in mind in order to ensure the best possible outcome for parks in a very difficult year. Please email your feedback to council@sfnpc.org.

--Meredith Thomas, Executive Director

Campaign Celebrates our City's Wonderful Parks!

NPC, in coordination with the Recreation and Park Department (RPD), is launching a campaign to celebrate our city’s wonderful parks. The Love Letters to Parks campaign will kick off with a Valentine’s Day event at Dolores Park from 11 AM-1 PM on February 14th. The public is invited to come and write a “love letter” to their favorite park. Letters collected both at the event and submitted afterwards will be published on the campaign’s website: http://www.sfnpc.org/loveletters. 

Cick here for the Dolores Park event flyer.

Show your love for parks each month by becoming a monthly donor!

Did you know you can donate to NPC every month? What better way to show your love for parks than to help support them each month of the year?

Your monthly donation of $10 will help NPC make playgrounds safer, help park groups get and stay organized, and will keep parks on the civic radar. Think of all the parks groups and playgrounds that you would be helping! We interviewed long-time monthly donor, Cole about why he donates $10 every month. Click here to read his interview.

Please visit www.sfnpc.org/donate to start giving today!

In anticipation of their upcoming bond planning process, the Friends of Kimbell Park hosted a community meeting on January 12th, 2010. Held at the Garvey/King Cooperative, the meeting also marked the group's one year anniversary, having started in January 2009 when mother Callen Taylor approached NPC with concerns over an unsafe playground.

ParkScan:
Annual Report Released

The 2009 ParkScan Annual Report is now available at www.ParkScan.org/reports!

Playground Initiative:
Volunteers Needed!

Every two years community volunteers, NPC staff, and RPD staff join forces to evaluate every RPD maintained playground in the city. The results of these surveys are published in a Playground Report Card.

With your help, we successfully surveyed playgrounds in 2008. Help us meet our goal again this year by volunteering to survey your local playground this March. Click here to sign up!

Blue Greenway Planning Update

The Port of San Francisco is in the process of developing the Blue Greenway 
Planning and Design Guidelines through a Community Planning process.  For 
more information on this, go to the Port’s Blue Greenway web site at 
www.sfport.com/bluegreenway.  This planning process is funded by the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond (link), and is being coordinated with all City Agencies that have jurisdiction within the Blue Greenway.

Showplace Square Open Space Planning Update

NPC Board Member Isabel Wade has participated in the Showplace Square Open Space planning process from April-November of 2009.  Recently, she spoke at the January 28th Planning Commission meeting to highly commend the process and the guidance of City Planning staff, Steve Shotland and Steve Weirtheim.  She indicated to the Commission that it was an exemplary public process that NPC would like to see more of because almost every neighborhood in the city is deficient in one or more types of open space or recreation amenities, but also because the process helped people consider their entire GREEN FRAMEWORK for their neighborhood.

Former NPC Board Member Tapped for RPD Commission

On January 19th, former NPC board member and park advocate Mark Buell was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the Recreation and Park Commission. A native San Franciscan, Mark graduated from the University of San Francisco, and was the city's first Director of Economic Development under Mayor Joseph Alioto.