NOVEMBER 2008 |
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IN THIS ISSUE |
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NPC QUICK LINKS |
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Neighborhood Parks Council
451 Hayes Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
PH 415.621.3260
FX 415.703.0889
Click here to email NPC.
Click here to find out how to take public transportation to our office.
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2008 SPONSORS |
NPC is grateful to the generous foundations and corporate sponsors that are supporting our work in 2008.
Foundations
Adobe Foundation Fund
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
City Fields Foundation
Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Gaia Fund
The Koret Foundation The McKesson Foundation
Miriam & Peter Haas Fund
The Morris Stulsaft Foundation
San Francisco Foundation
The Seed Fund of the Studio for Urban Projects
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation
Corporations
AT&T
Kenwood Investments
Lennar Corporation
Parkmerced
PG&E
San Francisco Apartment Association
San Francisco Giants
Shorenstein Properties
Singer Associates
SolarCity
Sunset Scavenger
UCSF
Wells Fargo
Monthly Subscribers (Individuals)*
Adrian Cotter
Art Persyko
Cole Thomason-Redus
Darius Contractor
David Strother
Helene York
Ixchel Vargas-Mendoza
John Katz
Jordanna Thigpen
Judith Berkowitz
Kurt Shuck
Rudeen Monte
Sally Scully
Sunya Ojure
*A monthly subscription of any amount you choose, is a great way to show your ongoing commitment to NPC's mission. To sign up today, click here.
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GET INVOLVED
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Click here to check out NPC's volunteer opportunities on Volunteer Match. |
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SPECIAL OFFER |
Go Green, Save Money, and Help NPC at the Same Time.
NPC has teamed with SolarCity to help San Francisco residents make the switch to clean, renewable energy. For each purchased or leased system, SolarCity will donate $100 to NPC to aid in park revitalization efforts! SolarCity's special donation program for NPC is only available until December 31, 2008!! Act now to save money and also help NPC! More details are available at http://www.solarcity.com/neighborhoodparks.
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The NPC Holiday Party is set for Wednesday, December 3rd, from 5:30 pm-8:30pm. More details coming soon! Please mark your calendar, and be there with bells on!
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| ACTION ALERT |
Vote Yes on Prop D To Save Pier 70
The passage of Proposition D on the November 4th ballot is crucial for the development of the Blue Greenway. Prop D will provide an optional financing tool to pay for improvements to Pier 70 including waterfront parks, remediation of environmental conditions and rehabilitation of the historic buildings.
Pier 70 is a 65-acre Brownfields site on San Francisco's Central Waterfront. For over 150 years, portions of this site have been used for shipbuilding and repair, or other supporting heavy industrial uses. Now, Pier 70 is poised to become one of the City's most unique new neighborhoods, preserving the history that helped make San Francisco a world-class waterfront city.
Cleaning up over a century of industrial pollution and revitalizing Pier 70 will provide up to 20 acres of new waterfront open space and a major new segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail for both residents and visitors to enjoy. This is why we urge you to vote yes on Prop D on November 4th. Click here to read FAQs about Proposition D.
Reminder: Be Prepared in the Event of a Disaster
Parks in San Francisco have historically played a vital role in earthquake triage, and will undoubtedly be important gathering places in the case of future emergencies. NPC encourages our coalition members to think ahead and prepare yourselves and your families for emergencies. 72hours.org is a highly informative site that provides recommendations on how to prepare emergency travel bags, where to take shelter in case of earthquake and other disasters, and lots more useful information. Visit http://www.72hours.org today.
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Progress on Fallen Bridge Park
On October 16th, the conceptual plan for the Fallen Bridge Park (AKA 18th and Utah) was approved by the RPD Commission at its monthly meeting. Since the parkland is part of a Caltrans right-of-way, any changes to the area require an update to the existing encroachment permit that the city of San Francisco took out in 1970. The next step is for RPD to submit the encroachment permit along with the plans that the Miller Company (landscape architects) has created. Once approved, the Miller Company and the neighborhood will work together to execute the plan and upgrade the southern section of the mini-park. For more details about the history and development of Fallen Bridges and the renovation plans, visit http://www.sfnpc.org/fallenbridges.
Franklin Square Playground Construction Begins in November
Construction of the new Franklin Square Playground is set to begin on Monday, November 3rd! The contract schedule reports that the playground should be "substantially complete" by April 29, 2009. The new playground will be about three times larger than the old one. David Maltz of Friends of Franklin Square wants to send out a big thanks to Ariel Braunstein and Antje Kann who participated in the design process with RPD. Antje will also continue as the community representative throughout the construction process--please contact her with any questions: antjekann@yahoo.com.
Soiree Raises Funds for West Sunset Playground Renovation
On Thursday, October 2nd, over 100 San Franciscans showed their support for the Friends of West Sunset Playground (FOWSP) by attending the Sunset Soiree at City Hall. The evening featured gourmet food and wine, a tango performance, and heart-felt pleas from Sunset children to rebuild West Sunset Playground. Friends of West Sunset Playground continue to accept online donations--visit their website at http://www.fowsp.org/SunsetSoiree.php to lend your support today. Click here to see photos from the evening.
The Outer Sunset Is Now Greener and Cleaner, Dig It!
On Saturday morning, October 18th, in the Outer Sunset, approximately 400 park and tree lovers planted over 150 street trees, completed four playground/schoolyard clean-ups, and beautified sections of the Sunset Boulevard as part of Dig It! Dig It! was an exciting opportunity for San Franciscans to improve the condition of the recreational spaces that need the most attention, and to increase the area's tree canopy. A big thanks to all who participated and made the event a tremendous success! Kudos for a job well done to our fellow sponsors Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF), Timberland, American Forests, and RPD. Photos from Dig It! can be viewed at http://flickr.com/photos/sfnpc/sets/72157608267042448/
Silver Terrace Harvest Festival
On October 25th, the Friends of Silver Terrace hosted a Harvest Festival at Silver Terrace Park. Following a playground workday earlier that morning, the event provided seasonal food and fun activities for children. Click here to read all about the festivities, and to learn more about recent improvements made to the park.
The Friends of Silver Terrace plan to host additional events in the coming months, and have posted a survey online to gather ideas from the community for a Holiday Event (the survey can be found at http://www.sfnpc.org/silverterracesurvey). Please contact Outreach Coordinator, Matthew Silva at (415) 621-3260 or msilva@sfnpc.org for more information about the Friends of Silver Terrace.
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| NPC NEWS |
Isabel Wade Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
NPC Executive Director Isabel Wade has been selected by the Neighborhood Empowerment Network as the first-ever winner of the NEN Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented on November 13th. The 2009 Community Challenge Grant recipients will also be announced at the ceremony.
You are invited to attend the NEN Awards ceremony on Thursday, November 13th at City Hall, from 6-9 PM. Registration is free but limited. For more information, visit http://www.empowersf.org/events.htm.
Staff News
Meredith Thomas, Stewardship Program Director since 2007, has been promoted to the position of Deputy Director at NPC. She is charged with managing day-to-day operations for NPC, and will continue to have oversight of NPC's fiscal sponsorship program and outreach efforts.
Isabel Wade, Executive Director of NPC, has been asked by the Board of Directors to remain at the helm of the organization until June, 2009, to be able to work with the Interim General Manager of Rec and Park, Jared Blumenfeld, an exciting leader who seems very receptive to community ideas.
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Coalition Meeting Recap: The Future of Open Space
On October 15th NPC held a coalition meeting to discuss the future of open space in San Francisco. Four panelists from a variety of backgrounds offered broad-ranging insight on how to create a more livable city through the procurement of more space for recreational purposes. Click here for a full synopsis of the meeting. Information about our next coalition meeting (date TBA) will be posted shortly at http://www.sfnpc.org/coalitionmeetings.
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ParkScan Year-End Challenge—Report Maintenance Issues in Your Park!
Are you ready to make a difference in your park? Get started by reporting at least one park maintenance issue before the end of the year through ParkScan.org!
Reporting park maintenance issues on ParkScan is an easy and effective way to become a park steward. Have you seen a broken swing? Did you discover graffiti on a playground bench? With ParkScan, you can report these types of maintenance issues and track the progress of repairs. Your report will not only help address the immediate issue, but will also help the City and County of San Francisco plan and budget for a park maintenance program that is responsive to community priorities.
What does your park look like? Let RPD know by making your report today at http://www.parkscan.org. For more information about the ParkScan program, contact Program Assistant, Luiz Guevara at (415) 621-3260 or lguevara@sfnpc.org.
Mayor's Open Space Task Force
The Mayor's Open Space Task Force has been working diligently to create a Vision and Action Plan for San Francisco's open space since it was inaugurated by Mayor Newsom one year ago. The Task Force is now in its third phase of the process—Charting the Steps.
Gil Peñalosa will speak on November 13th.
The next meeting of the Mayor' s Open Space Task Force will be held on Thursday, November 13th at the Bayside Conference Room at Pier 1, from 3-5pm. The guest speaker will be Gil Peñalosa, the key leader of the Ciclovía movement in Bogota, Colombia.
Click here to read more about Mr. Peñalosa' s work, the upcoming work of the Task Force, and to RSVP to the meeting.
Playground Initiative
Three More Playground Workdays Completed This Month
The Playground Initiative, a joint venture of NPC and RPD, focuses specifically on upgrading playgrounds that were identified as "failing" in the 2008 NPC Playground Report Card. In October, NPC, RPD, and volunteers completed three workdays in failed playgrounds: West Sunset Playground, Sunset Playground, and Silver Terrace Playground. The workdays at West Sunset and Sunset Playgrounds were an integral part of Dig It!, a large-scale greening event on Oct. 18th.
Approximately 20 volunteers attended the workday at Silver Terrace on Saturday, October 25th. RPD Gardener Marquiza Turner, Marianne Kjobmand from RPD's Volunteer Program, NPC Program Assistant Sunya Ojure, and NPC Outreach Coordinator Matt Silva also joined in for sand sifting, weeding, and trash pickup. Volunteers were rewarded with snacks donated by Safeway (Geary & Webster) as well as by the satisfying sight of large piles of weeds and trash, which they removed from the playground. Thanks to all who joined together to make Silver Terrace Playground cleaner and safer! See photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfnpc/sets/72157608426680445
Join us at our upcoming playground workdays:
- Crocker Amazon Playground, Geneva and Moscow, Saturday, November 8th, 9 AM-noon
- Cayuga Playground, 301 Naglee Ave. @ Cayuga, Saturday, November 15th, 9 AM-noon
- Herz Playground, 1700 Visitacion Ave., Saturday, November 22th, 9 AM-noon
Please contact Program Assistant, Sunya Ojure at (415) 621-3260 or sojure@sfnpc.org for more information about the Playground Initiative, or read updates at http://www.sfnpc.org/playgrounds.
Kaboom! Announces New Online Playspace Finder
This month Kaboom! is launching a new Playspace Finder on their website. There are currently 11,681 playspaces in this national database, and they invite you to help them find every playground, sports field, skate park, etc., by adding the playspaces in your neighborhood! Go to http://playspacefinder.kaboom.org/ to upload photos, make comments, or add a new playground today!
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Junipero Serra Playground Grand Re-Opening: October 25th
On Saturday, October 25th playground lovers and local residents joined together to celebrate the re-opening of Junipero Serra Playground. Click here to read the success story.
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Thank You to Recent Donors
This month we received a new foundation grant from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund for Capacity Building. A new corporate sponsorship donation was received from the Sunset Scavenger Company for the Blue Greenway Initiative. We have entered into an ongoing partnership agreement with the City Fields Foundation to add South Sunset and Crocker sports fields to our Playfields Initiative. Lastly we are grateful for the very generous donation received from Robert & Dana Emery.
Shop Locally and Support NPC
Make an in-kind donation to Community Thrift Store and the proceeds will benefit NPC! When you drop off your donation, simply mention NPC' s name, or account # 142, as the charity partner, and credit will be applied. Please refer to the Community Thrift Store website regarding acceptable donations and shopping hours. Community Thrift Store, 623 Valencia Street, (415) 861-4910, http://www.Communitythriftsf.org
Cole Hardware
Please mention NPC' s name (or Community Partner # 783) the next time you're shopping at any Cole Hardware store, and a percentage of your transactions will be applied towards a gift certificate for NPC to purchase needed supplies for park and playground work days. To find Cole's four San Francisco locations, click here.
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For this month' s park interview with Ashley Simmons in Precita Park, click here. |
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Jared Blumenfeld Appointed as Interim Director of RPD
On October 8th, Mayor Newsom picked Jared Blumenfeld to serve as interim director of the Recreation and Park Department until a permanent director has been hired. Blumenfeld, director of the Department of the Environment since 2001, has twenty years of experience across a wide range of environmental areas, and will look to assist Rec. & Park to advance recycling, energy efficiency, and other programs. For more information visit http://www.sfnpc.org/RPDdirectornews
Blumenfeld launched a bicycle tour of the city' s parks on November 3rd and will visit all 220 parks over the next two months (weather permitting), covering more than 364 miles along the way. Day one of the tour began at McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park and included stops at Fulton Playground, Cabrillo Playground, the Golden Gate Park Golf Course and the Balboa Natural Area. Members of the public will be able to follow Blumenfeld' s trek online via daily updates and schedules, available here, or they can meet Blumenfeld in person at the various park stops on his daily route. Click here to read the full press release.
Golf Task Force Update
The Golf Task Force ended without recommendations to the Rec and Park Commission on October 29th. However, a packed room of speakers, mostly from the soccer community, provided well-documented pleas to the Department to find additional land for playfields. Task Force Member Jill Lounsberry turned in over 1000 signatures of people asking the Department to do a thorough study of all available public land that might be considered for playfields. The current land allocated for soccer is just 25 acres; there is not enough room even to practice, and this limits the number of soccer teams that can be formed. No tournaments for soccer can be held in San Francisco, so all economic development potential from the sport accrues to other Bay Area cities with more fields. Is this the city that knows how?
To sign the petition to request that RPD produce a comprehensive open space audit, visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/pitch-in-sf.
Renovation of Chinatown Rec Center Approved
One of the oldest and most used recreation centers in San Francisco will be transformed into a green, state-of-the-art jewel in a $21 million makeover approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission in October. The 1950s-era Chinese Recreation Center and Playground is the single largest capital project funded under voter-approved park bond measures, and will be one of the flagship public recreation facilities on the West Coast when it is completed in 2011. To read more about it, go to http://www.sfnpc.org/chinatownrec
Neighborhood Service Area Quarterly Meetings
RPD is now offering quarterly meetings in each Neighborhood Service Area so that the public can discuss park-related issues with key RPD staff members. NSA #6 (Duboce Triangle, Mission, Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill) will have a meeting on November 5th, from 7-8:30 PM, at Duboce Park. Visit http://www.sfnpc.org/NSAcommunitymeetings for the dates and locations of all future meetings, and to find out which Neighborhood Service Area your park is located in.
RPD Park Openings and Closures: Capital Projects
For a complete list of opening and closure dates for RPD capital projects, click here.
Keep Up With RPD Commission Meetings: 1st and 3rd Thursday of Every Month at 2 PM
Click here for up-to-date schedules of Commission meetings. Public comment is now at the beginning of every meeting.
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To read all recent park-related news headlines, click here.
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New Blog about Urban Parks
TPL's Center for City Park Excellence and the City Parks Alliance are pleased to announce the launch of CityParksBlog, the only web log chronicling issues and trends affecting city parks nationwide. Blog topics will include park programming, historic preservation, transportation, economics and funding, innovations in park management, public-private partnerships, the relationship of parks to their cities, and more. Read the latest at cityparksblog.org
Green Streets: Redesigning SF One Block at a Time: Wednesday, November 12th
Nature in the City partners with Shaping SF to you a talk about the exciting urban environmental work happening in San Francisco right now, and how we can organize it all into an ecological revolution in the streets. Program begins at 7:30 pm. Free and open to the public. Located at CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission at 9th Street. Use Van Ness or Civic Center Stations. For more information about the program, including panelists, click here.
Wild Places, Wild Things! Conservation Lecture: Thursday, November 13th
Joel Berger, Senior Conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, will make a presentation on his new book, The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World. Reception at 6:30 PM, presentation begins at 7 PM. Location: SF Zoo, Great Hall of the Lurie Education Center. For admission info, click here.
To read more about these park events, click on the underlined links above, or see the full calendar here.
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This month we are honoring Shawna McGrew for her volunteer efforts in the Sunset. Shawna is a founding member of the Friends of Sunset Playground. Click here to read an interview about what inspires her to volunteer in parks. |
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