DECEMBER 2009
On Wednesday December 16th at 1 pm, the Government Audits and Oversight Committee will hold a public hearing on the report from the Rec and Park Department on Sharp Park.
After a lengthy presentation by RPD staff and the Tetra Tech team on the Sharp Park Conceptual Restoration Alternative Report, and several hours of public comment, the RPD Commission continued the Sharp Park item to the December 17th Commission hearing. This continuation will allow more time for stakeholders to review the report, ask questions and provide RPD feedback. NPC is going to work with RPD to set up a public meeting in the next few weeks about this report. This will provide an important forum on the issue, as well as an opportunity for the public to ask questions. NPC will let our coalition know about the date and time of the meeting as soon as it is set.
To view a copy of the report, click here.
NOVEMBER 2009
In early November, the Rec and Park Dept. released a final report recommending that Sharp Park be maintained as a golf course, while also restoring Laguna Salada for the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog species. Read the final reports here.
AUGUST 2009
The Recreation and Park Department missed the July 31st deadline to finish a study on how to protect the two endangered species that live in Sharp Park. The study is reviewing three options for the park: maintaining the existing 18-hole course while restoring some areas for the animals; reducing the course to 9 holes; or closing the course to create a nature preserve. Read more here.
MAY 2009
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the legislation that could possibly close Sharp Park Golf Course and convert it to a nature preserve. For more details, click here. The final draft of the Sharp Park Endangered Species Compliance Plan is available here.
APRIL 2009
We are excited about a new report issued by the Task Force on Peak Oil Preparedness which recommends that the City assess vacant public land and portions of parklands and golf courses to see if this land could be transitioned from recreational to food production uses. Click here to read the full report.
MARCH 2009 UPDATE
Supervisor Mirkarimi has proposed legislation to direct the Recreation and Park Department to restore Sharp Park for the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog and for the City either to give Sharp Park to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area or enter into a joint management agreement. Click here to learn more and see how you can support this effort!
NOVEMBER 2008 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.
OCTOBER 2008 UPDATE
The final Golf Task Force meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, October 29th at 6 PM at City Hall, room 263 (click here for the agenda.) We encourage anyone and everyone who has recreational interests in San Francisco (soccer players, off-road bikers, trails advocates, dog walkers, skateboarders, etc.) to attend and urge Rec and Park to conduct a full study of land available for recreational use.
To date, no effort has been made by the Rec and Park Department to redress the shortfall of sports fields indicated by a 2004 Recreation Assessment study. If you are outraged by the City's lack of implementation for any improvements in this area, we urge you to attend the 10/29 Task Force Meeting, and also to sign a petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/pitch-in-sf.
At the September 29th meeting of the Golf Task Force, there was a presentation and discussion of Leon Younger's 2008 Recreational Opportunities Study (click here to read the report.) It appears that we will end up with a 'gradient' of agreements from full agreement to none on various points and recommendations made in the report. The bottom line as far as NPC is concerned is that it is a status quo report, in terms of retaining 72 holes of golf now, instead of 81.
SEPTEMBER 2008 UPDATE
The final meeting of the San Francisco Golf Course Task Force is scheduled for Monday, September 29th, at 6:00pm at City Hall, room 278. At the meeting, there will be a discussion of the 2008 Recreational Opportunities study (read it below). We encourage everyone to turn out for the meeting and urge the extension of the Task Force to allow adequate time for public discussion and consideration of the report's recommendations.
AUGUST 2008 UPDATE
On August 15th a draft copy of Leon Younger's Recreational Opportunities Study was released to the Golf Task Force. However, we were surprised to find that much of his data had been edited out of the draft report. A full copy, after protest, was finally received on August 28th.
Final report 8/26/08 | Redacted draft 8/15/08 | For all documents from the Task Force, click here.
We are highly concerned that the mission of the Task Force is compromised when members are not given full access to critical data. It has become clear that the Task Force is not intended by RPD to have any decision-making role in what happens with regards to management of the courses, or the future of hundreds of acres of our city’s recreational space. It is crucial that the Commission and perhaps the Board of Supervisors ensure that the Department does not just make public involvement merely a token gesture. Click here to read an article about the Task Force and here for another article about how SF golf courses are losing money, and players.
Click here for background information on this issue
Click here for updates on Golf Task Force
2004 Recreational Assessment Study by Leon Younger
To read recent news articles about SF public golf courses, click here.
