Past Monthly Coalition Meetings

You can download fliers and notes from this page to learn about our past coalition meetings.

March 12th: Our Urban Forest

On March 12th the Neighborhood Parks Council hosted a Coalition Meeting to discuss San Francisco's urban forest. In particular, the meeting focused on the portion of the 2008 Neighborhood Parks Bond that allocates $4-million for tree improvements in San Francisco's parks. Karen Mauney-Brodek from the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) Planning Division led a discussion on the tree evaluation process that will determine how dollars from this portion of the bond will be alloted. Karen was joined by Mei Ling Hui of SF Environment , and Suzanne Whelan from Friends of the Urban Forest , who both spoke to the importance of trees in our urban environment, and outlined ways that community members can participate in promoting their existence. All panelists took audience questions throughout their presentations.

Preceding the discussion on urban forestry, Dawn Kamalanathan of RPD's Planning Division led a brief discussion on the status of RPD's clubhouses. In accordance with changes made to the Recreation program, RPD will be leasing most clubhouses throughout the city for private park-related use. Dawn explained where that process currently stands, and answered questions from coalition members.

For more information on the 2008 Neighborhood Parks Bond, please click here.

Click here for full meeting notes.

October 15th: The Future of Open Space in SF
On October 16th the Neighborhood Parks Council held a Coalition Meeting to discuss the future of open space in San Francisco. The meeting consisted of a panel discussion, followed by open space updates from city officials. 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.

Arden Bucklin from the San Francisco Unified School District and the Green Schoolyard Alliance spoke about ways to transform hardscape schoolyards into green oases for children. Susan King from Sunday Streets discussed opportunities for temporarily converting existing public space from functional to recreational uses. Maya Donelson from Graze the Roof reminded us of the wealth of space that exists on our rooftops, and the opportunities for agricultural space they could provide. Finally, Tom Arie-Donch from Interplay Design emphasized the importance of creating short-term, achievable projects that can mobilize communities to transform local land use.

Following the panel discussion, Astrid Hayarti form the Mayor’s Office and Sarah Dennis from the Planning Department gave an update on the Recreational and Open Space Element of the General Plan. This coalition meeting will mark the beginning of a series of open space planning workshops to be held through the city.

The Open Space Task Force, conceived by Isabel Wade and coordinated by NPC’s Karin Edwards, was launched in November ’07 and has involved several hundred city officials, park advocates, planners and community leaders. It is charged with creating a vision and Action Plan for San Francisco’s open spaces in the 21st century. Latest plans and an opportunity for you to share your ideas for enhancing the city’s green spaces can be found at http://openspacesf.org. Please contact Open Space Task Force Coordinator, Karin Edwards at (415) 621-3260 or kedwards@sfnpc.org for more information.

Click here for full meeting notes.

August 13th: The Future of Lake Merced
On Wednesday, August 13th, Nature in the City and the Neighborhood Parks Council held a very important meeting to discuss future conservation options for Lake Merced. Two other meetings will be held to discuss the recreation options and neighborhood concerns, but this meeting focused on thinking boldly about the nature and biodiversity conservation vision around Lake Merced.

The Lake Merced Watershed is a jewel among San Francisco’s highly valued parks, open space, and watersheds. Located in the southwest corner of the City, it is comprised of 4 interconnecting lakes and approximately 300 acres of upland parkland. The Public Utilities Commission is in the process of creating the Lake Merced Watershed Plan to sustain the health of the watershed while providing maximum recreation and education opportunities to the community in the context of a unique environmental asset. The meeting sought to gather input for the PUC from groups and individuals who share a commitment to restoration, enhancement and preservation of our natural areas and habitat.

The PUC and its advisory committee have developed preliminary objectives and concepts for future use of the watershed. This meeting included:

§ PUC presentation and discussion of the planning effort to date and a series of land use scenarios currently under consideration
§ Panel of stakeholders providing diverse perspectives and feedback
§ Opportunity for feedback and dialogue to help ensure a plan that maintains a healthy ecosystem while maximizing recreation and educational opportunities for the community

Click here for full meeting notes.

June 11th: Rec and Park’s Budget: How the Millions in City Budget Cuts Affects Our Parks
Our June 11th coalition meeting at City Hall drew about 30 community members who were interested in finding out about the Recreation and Park Department’s budget process, and the pending budget cuts for the 2008-09 fiscal year. The meeting included a presentation by RPD Director of Finance Katherine Petrucione, who gave an overview of the rationale behind the budget cuts, which amount to a $6.6 million reduction in general fund spending. Most of the budget cuts depend heavily on borrowing from the Open Space Fund, and cutting vacant positions to save existing gardening and custodial positions.

The Neighborhood Parks Council Staff recommends that Rec and Park create a budget working group NOW to plan for future budget cycles and help institute the many revenue-generating ideas the public has proposed in the last decade before they propose any future cuts to line staff and continue borrowing from the Open Space Fund. The Mayor’s Open Space Task Force is also working on addressing the department’s revenue need.

A key highlight of the meeting was a brainstorming session by the group to come up with ways of increasing RPD revenue to prevent future budget cuts in economically unstable times. A big thanks to Katharine Petrucione for presenting on the department's budget, and to Recreation and Park Commissioner Bonilla for attending the meeting. Click here to read notes from the meeting. Click here for a flier.

April 2nd: San Francisco's Failing Playgrounds and How NPC Is Raising the Grade
On Wednesday, April 2nd, the Coalition heard an overview of NPC's playground work to date as well as exciting details about NPC's Playground Initiative. Interested volunteers were also told how they could become involved in the 2008 assessment.

Prior to our playground presentation, we held an overview of an exciting new way to reduce your impact on climate change and help our failing playgrounds. The City of San Francisco's Solar Subsidy Program is making solar power extremely affordable for San Francisco homeowners. NPC is excited to announce a partnership with a solar company, SolarCity, which will donate $100 to NPC's playground campaign for every system they sell in San Francisco this year that results from a lead from an NPC volunteer. Bruce Karney, SolarCity's Community Programs Manager, will speak about this unique opportunity to accelerate the greening of San Francisco while reducing the city's carbon footprint. For more information, visit http://www.solarcity.com/

The company's unique partnership with NPC could provide $10,000 or more to help renovate San Francisco's 'failed' playgrounds that received a D or F in NPC's playground survey. CLICK HERE for a meeting flier.

February 13th, 2008: Stopping the Proposed Closure of Candlestick / GGNRA Big Year
On Wednesday, February 13th, we heard from a Candlestick State Park Ranger, Literacy for Environmental Justice, the California Parks Foundation, and local community members on the proposed closure of Candlestick Park and had a lively discussion about what we can do to stop the closure. For more ways to get involved and meeting notes, please click here.

Brent Plater also discussed the 2008 GGNRA Big Year: a race to save the Golden Gate Recreation Area’s endangered species. For more information on the GGNRA Big Year, visit www.ggnrabigyear.org.

January 29th, 2008: Community Opportunity Fund: Designing an Effective Program
On Tuesday, January 29, 2008 a diverse group of small grant program experts and community members discussed models of effective small community grant programs, lessons learned and program elements that should be incorporated into the $5 Million Community Opportunity Fund grants program that is part of the February 2008 Prop. A Parks Bond package. To read complete meeting notes click here.

December 5th, 2007, 6-8pm: NPC Holiday Party
Thank you to all who came to the annual NPC Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 5th at the NPC office! A special thanks to Supervisor Sandoval, Supervisor Mirkarimi, Supervisor Chu Fiona Ma’s Office and all the park advocates that came out to share in the holiday cheer! To see photos from the holiday festivities, click here.

November 14th, 2007, 6-8pm: Park Safety
On November 14th the NPC coalition met in City Hall and heard from a panel of safety experts that are building communities around previously unsafe parks. These communities have transformed violent venues into playgrounds that attract toddlers by utilizing neighborhood watch programs, community partnerships, private security, Park Patrol, beautification projects, programming and more!

Thank you to all of the organizations that participated in this informative panel: South Park Improvement Association, SF Safe Crime, the Quesada Gardens Initiative, Mission Neighborhood Resource Center and the Department of Public Works Landscape Architecture.

Meeting Highlights
• A community can hire off-duty police officers or private security to patrol their park, but it is expensive. Click here for more information.
• SF Safe can help you set up a neighborhood watch program in your neighborhood that results in a network of neighbors getting to know each other and able to work together in a time of need.
• The Quesada Gardens Initiative, a Crissy Field Heroes Award recipient, transformed a median in the Bayview into a lush landscape through the hard work of community leaders. To hear the inspiring story, click here.
• The Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, also a Crissy Field Heroes Award recipient, connects homeless and resident populations to clean up Capp street in the Mission and build community through their Adopt an alleyway program. To hear the inspiring story click here.
• John Thomas, a Landscape Architect for the Department of Public Works, discussed how specific design elements can greatly improve the safety of a park, such as appropriate lighting, and layered landscaping that keeps sight lines open but also creates an interesting park. Click here for his notes about designing parks with safety in mind.

For full meeting notes, click here.

October 10, 2007: Revitalizing Parks on the Eastern Shoreline: Warm Water Cove
Warm Water Cove is a neglected, largely unknown and underutilized park owned by the Port along the eastern shoreline. On October 10th, Mike Ernst, city planning student and the first Piero N. Patri fellow, shared his innovative plans to expand and revitalize Warm Water Cove Park. His presentation proposed to expand the park by converting surrounding lots and creating an active, multi-use space that serves as a piece of the Blue Greenway park network along the Eastern Waterfront.

Some of the key community feedback heard at the meeting included making the park more accessible to the surrounding residential communities and accentuating the waterfront park quality. Chris Guillard, Landscape Architect, CMG Landscape Architecture, set the stage for the discussion by explaining the importance of combining a clear vision for a park with community input in order to provide a well-designed space that the community will use. Click here to view Mike Ernst’s presentation and meeting notes. Click here to download a flyer.

September 5, 2007: Parks and Open Space Bond: One Strategy for Addressing Our Parks' $1.7 Billion Need
On Wednesday, September 5th park advocates from each district gathered at City Hall to hear Dawn Kamalanathan, Planning Director of the Recreation and Park Department, and Dan Hodapp from the Port present the proposed park bond projects. Following the presentation, park advocates gave their feedback. Click here for meeting highlights and detailed notes.

August 8th, 2007: San Francisco’s Open Space Frontier: The Eastern Neighborhoods
Click here to read highlights from the current plans for open space in the Eastern Neighborhoods, Hunter’s Point Shipyard, Candlestick Point, Pier 70 and Brannan St. Wharf.

June 13th, 2007: Fundraising For Your Park
Creative ways to fundraise for your park will be discussed, such as foundation grants, brick donor projects, corporate solicitation, and advocating to your Supervisor. Panelists include representatives from Mayor Newsom’s office, The Stewardship Council, San Francisco Beautiful and the Friends of Rossi Park.
To download a flier for the meeting, click here.
To read the meeting agenda, click here.
For notes on fundraising strategies, click here.
For a list of grant sources, click here.

January 10, 2007: Volunteering In Your Park
A discussion on how park groups can utilize the new RPD Volunteer Policy. Click here to download flier.