AUGUST 2009 VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH:
Becky Perrine, Crocker Amazon Park Advisory Committee
What are your favorite aspects of volunteering at Crocker Amazon?
I have several favorite things about volunteering in the park. I love meeting and working with neighbors and park users. Having a neighborhood park that accommodates so many different activities at the same time but is also the gateway to vast amounts of open space is really special. The park attracts a diverse crowd, which is one of the things I love about living in the Excelsior. My gardening skills are pretty basic so I’ve really enjoyed learning from Park staff and gardeners, although there aren’t nearly enough of them. (My least favorite thing is mulching, but I have found it is a great group activity.)
What inspired you to do this work?
I live right next to the park, walk my dog in the off-leash park everyday and play soccer at the awesome new turf fields. However, I was really inspired to get involved after seeing my neighbor, Matt, tackle an area that was being chronically used a dumping site. I had filed a few complaints about various things in the park in the past, but wanted to do more than just complain (not to say that 311 and parkscan.org aren’t great resources) and it was my luck that others had laid the groundwork for regular workdays.
What are your hopes for Crocker Amazon?
For a long time, and much longer than my time in the neighborhood, Crocker Amazon has had a bad reputation. I get reminded of this every time I call for a cab to SFO. The new turf soccer fields are a tremendous asset to the park, the neighborhood, and the City and have impressed even some of the local skeptics. Having said that, Crocker Amazon is much bigger than the soccer complex and desperately needs modernization to its infrastructure. Most of the fencing in the park is reminiscent of a prison yard, which really hurts its aesthetic appeal. I’d like to see recycling bins make an appearance some day. Given the age of a lot of the park’s infrastructure, I think that there is tremendous opportunity to implement green solutions for drainage and irrigation, water permeable walking paths, and lighting.
I’d also like resources and attention paid to this park’s tree situation. We lose trees every year and have many old and sick trees in disrepair. We need a plan to reforest this area. Finally, I’d like to see users of the soccer fields take better care of them or lose the privilege of playing on them. We need our park staff for other things than picking up garbage and sunflower seeds!
