NPC's annual Meeting with the Mayor on April 25th drew more than 75 park group representatives and other strategic partner groups. The goal of this event was to highlight pressing park issues and discuss the Newsom administration’s performance to date. In a two-hour meeting, it was clear that park groups are concerned about many key issues such as RPD’s continued failure to produce work plans for each park as promised. The Mayor seemed equally frustrated.
Below are the minutes from the event. Click here for more photos.
Welcome & Agenda Overview
Meredith Thomas, Program Manager, NPC
1. NPC Announcements
- NPC’s annual Stewardship Luncheon will be held on May 14th, from 12-1pm at the UCSF Mission Bay Community Center
- Playground Report Card – the 2008 Playground Report Card data was released today and available on NPC’s website
2. Park Group Announcements
Introductory Remarks
Isabel Wade, Executive Director, NPC
3. Review of 2007 Measurables
“Noteworthy Measurables”:
- Newsom added 15 gardeners, 35 custodians, and 13 Park Rangers to the RPD staff
- Creation of the Mayor’s Open Space Task Force
- Passage of 2008 Neighborhood Parks Bond (which included $1 million for Blue Greenway, $5 million for Opportunity Fund, and $9 for Trees and Trails)
- Hiring Astrid Haryati, Mayor’s Director of Greening
- Addition of tree advocate to RPD Commission
- Opening of Victoria Manola Draves Park, second new park of Newsom’s administration (in highly deficient neighborhood)
“2007 Measureables”
- DID NOT revamp RPD’s public outreach and public participation. RPD is not a “user-friendly” system, when it should be the friendliest system in the city!
- SUPPORTED Parkscan.org but DID NOT direct the 311 program to utilize Parkscan.org as the public portal for park issues and DID NOT consolidate all public commentary with one tool
- FUNDED the Open Space Task Force
- Increased RPD accountability by CREATING a new bond accounting system, but DID NOT create Park Work Plans and DID NOT create Gardeners Schedules. 
4. 2008 NPC Action Priorities Overview
I. Complete Work Plans
a. Action: Contract the development of Work Plans out, using the model of the Presidio Plan; Plans should be approved by the Dir. Of Neighborhood Services and the Director of Operations; Plans should be presented to the public on line for comment and revision; Plans should be presented to Commission for revision and approval
II. Public Participation
a. Action: Ask CAO to organize a work group of the city’s best practitioners such as the Port and PUC to help RPD come up with a Public Participation Action Plan, to be presented to the RPD Commission and in place by September 1st, 2008
III. Capital Projects
a. Action: Ask the RPD Commission to create a work group, including community members, to establish consistent guidelines for various levels and types of community-generated project ideas and donations
IV. Opportunity Fund
a. Action: Request that the CAO administer this fund once guidelines have been established by the Community Committee created by RPD for project criteria and weighting. This will save considerable funds and avoid the planned creation of a new bureaucracy at RPD to manage this fund which is entirely unnecessary. Most important, the fund needs to be maintained as a matching fund for projects to be built by the community—this is what was conveyed to the voters.
V. Tree Fund
a. Action: Request that the RPD Commission establish a Work Group to determine policy priorities for the use of this fund to ensure that funds are not just spent on assessing park trees but that a significant majority, based on some strategic guidelines, is invested in pruning designed to extend tree life and protect the public safety.
VI. Budget 08-09
a. Actions:
(1) No reduction in front line gardening staff; find reductions in planning and other mid-level management, as per Newsom’s directive
(2) Find partners for Recreation Programming as per Harvey Rose recommendations; reduce unnecessary full-time staff and add part-time staff as per Harvey Rose recommendations
(3) Maintain funding for Open Space Task Force
(4) Create funds to support the establishment of PIDS (use OSF year-end supplement funds)
(5) Ask the City Treasurer or Budget Director to create a Revenue Work Group to invite community groups to generate ideas for new revenues and for cost savings for each department; direct each department to fully vet each idea and provide a budget incentive in 09-10 for the departments that implement the most ideas. 
Park Group Testimonials: Chloe Good, Outreach Coordinator (15 Minutes)
Revenue & Restructuring
1. Public/Private Partnerships, Ahsha Safai, Friends of Balboa Park Playground
Mr. Safai expressed his concern with RPD’s lack of ability to forger greater and stronger public-private partnerships. He questioned the effectiveness of the Director of Partnerships in soliciting partnerships that could help solve some of RPD’s financial problems. He suggested that, similar to Central Park, Golden Gate Park should be removed from the budget -- by providing its own stream of revenue, GGP would open up more money for other areas of our park system. Similarly, plazas and squares should be turned over to DPW. They should also be established as Park Improvement Districts (PIDs), similar to a CBD. Mr. Safai urged the Mayor’s Office to direct RPD to present an annual plan for public-private partnerships with specific revenue goals, foundation, and private donor targets.
2. Revenue Opportunities, Charles Spencer, Friends of Fillmore Parks
Mr. Spencer thanked the Mayor and RPD for helping with the 3-year revitalization project in Fillmore/Turk Mini Park. He also thanked the Mayor in advance for his assistance on the next project – Steiner/Grove Mini Park. Due to current budget constraints, Mr. Spencer urged Mayor Newsom and RPD to explore creative ways to generate income from the vacant and underutilized lands that are popping up all over the city due to changing land-uses. He suggested private/public lease relationships. This would require RPD to facilitate the development of recreational opportunities with small businesses, by making these assets available.
3. Park Improvement Districts, Debra Dolch, Friends of South Park
Ms. Dolch highlighted the need to establish Park Improvement Districts (PIDs) in order to augment the level of services provided by RPD. Neighborhood parks are not beind adequately maintained in a manner consistent with the goals of a great city and the public’s expectations. By creating PIDs, we would be able to augment RPD’s maintenance budget. In addition, PIDs would enhance park safety.
4. Facility and Program Access, Alison Collins, Friends of Helen Wills Playground
Ms. Collins talked about the recent loss of a playground director at Helen Willis Playground and how this loss has affected the community. Classes have been reduced by half and there is no access to the bathrooms on mornings and weekends. The Friends group wrote multiple letters to RPD, Mayor’s Office, Supervisor Peskin – nothing happened. These actions show us that families are not important to the city of San Francisco. Ms. Collins asked the Mayor for the following: a new Playground Director; access to bathrooms on mornings and weekends; to be informed of changes in services and programs to our parks and clubhouses; an end to unresponsiveness and spin for elected officials; for the Mayor to come visit Friends of Helen Willis Playground.
Capital Projects
5. Opportunity Fund, 2008 Neighborhood Parks Bond, Art Tom, Friends of West Sunset Playground
Mr. Tom pointed out that many parks in desperate need of renovation did not make the 2008 Parks Bond. He also pointed out that because of this reality, the Opportunity Fund is a very important piece of the Bond package. The community should have access to funds to renovate the “failed” playground in their neighborhood, such as West Sunset Playground. Mr. Tom suggested that the Opportunity Fund should run much like the Community Challenge Grant Program, and NOT a nomination process. The $5 million Opportunity Fund can leverage much greater private matches and good will for the City’s capital plan if the money is conferred to parks groups for projects and not sequestered in house by RPD. Friends of West Sunset Park is willing to leverage City Bond money with private dollars to give a gift to the City of a new playground. Mr. Tom asked the Mayor to make sure the Opportunity Fund is established so that it truly empowers SF’s neighborhoods and helps the communities realize millions of dollars in leveraged funds.
6. Improving Gift Making, Nancy Gonzalez-Madynski, Friends of Dolores Park Playground
Ms. Gonzalez-Madynski requests that the city make it easier for individuals and foundations to donate large sums of money for park improvements. Based on her experience in Dolores Park Playground where a funder wanted to donate $1.5 million, RPD did nothing to facilitate this type of private donation. Ms. Gonzalez-Madynski asked the Mayor to require RPD to work with the community in developing a protocol that simplifies and makes joyful the gift-making process. She also requested that the City make it easier to leverage private donations against public funding, specifically allow Dolores Park to use their 2008 Bond money to ensure the private funding of 1.5 million.
7. Community Process and Policies for Capital Improvement Projects, David Mauroff, Friends of Balboa Park Playground
Mr. Mauroff highlighted the fact that the rebuild of Balboa Playground was met with considerable resistance from RPD leadership – not only to the gift, but also to the contracting process and the execution of the project even after two approvals from the RPD Commission. Mr. Mauroff was very frustrated to find that the institution providing the core of what makes a city livable would prove to be so daunting and flawed with relation to community engagement. He said that RPD must do a better job of communicating policies, protocols, and procedures to the community so that projects are successful. RPD must also provide solution-based leadership. He also recognized a few outstanding RPD employees that made the Balboa project happen.
Accountability
8. Maintenance and Playground Safety, Linda D’ Avirro, Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon and the Excelsior
Ms. D’Avirro provided an example of the lack of maintenance and abatement of serious safety issues that plague playgrounds across the city. She noted that the problems are more issues of accountability and not funding. Ms. D’Avirro asked the Mayor to create repercussions for staff in their performance reviews if they fail to address outstanding safety issues. Given the importance of playgrounds, she also asked the Mayor to require RPD to set aside 10% of their contingency fund to be available for repairs of playgrounds.
9. Accountability, Shirley Moore, Candlestick Point Neighborhood Committee & Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association
Ms. Moore questioned why there are unqualified RPD executive staff allowed to operate the RPD Department. She suggested that RPD should hire individuals who could provide visionary leadership. She questioned why the General Manager is cutting gardener positions while continuously hiring overlapping layers of middle management. She expressed that the neglect of our parks is often explained by a lack of funding; yet no action is taken by the Dept to correct the wastage of funds reported by the RPD Audit in 2006. Ms. Moore says that it is apparent that the level of failure in RPD executive staff results in a failure to meet the needs of the Park system in San Francisco. She asked the Mayor why he allows the RPD to ignore commitments the Mayor’s Office has made to the public? Finally, Ms. Moore asked the Mayor to live up to his promise of providing a water meter in the Bayview.
10. Park Work Plans, Kate Scanlan, Friends of Mountain Lake Park
Ms. Scanlan noted that in 2006, the Mayor promised Work Plans for every park in San Francisco. In 2007, the NPC Coalition was told that Work Plans were a priority of the Mayor’s Office and of RPD. Ms. Scanlan also noted that we are now in the second quarter of 2008 and our parks are still without Work Plans. She highlighted the fact that we are up against sever budget constraints that will require RPD to execute its duties in an efficient and organized manner simply to keep up with the most basic park maintenance. She questioned how we can do this without requiring work plans. Ms. Scanlan told the Mayor that accountability must rest with RPD management who have been responsible for 3 years to deliver the plans. She asked the Mayor when we will see these plans. She said the community no longer has confidence in RPD to do them and suggests that they be contracted out using Prop C money. Finally, she recommended that the Mayor insist that the General Manager gets these work plans done and presents them to the Mayor’s Office at the rate of 15-20/month.
Summary Remarks
11. Summary Remarks, Tony Kelly, Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association
Audience Q & A with Mayor Newsom
Meredith Thomas, Program Manager, NPC
This section of the meeting was cut short due to time constraints. The Mayor responded to a small number of selected audience questions. All questions and comment cards that were submitted to NPC will be provided to the Mayor at the close of the meeting.
