San Francisco’s beloved Golden Gate Park is no longer in the running to house a recycled-water treatment facility.The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Recreation and Park Department announced Wednesday the facility is now planned for the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Plant and a portion of the nearby California Army National Guard Armory property. Read More
Every day around 3 p.m., a closed-off portion of Waller Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood becomes a symphony of wheels rolling on pavement and clanging on benches.The half-block area on the southeastern side of Golden Gate Park was recently outfitted with temporary ramps and obstacles to create a skate park. Opponents say noise and graffiti are prevalent, but supporters say skaters would have no place to go without it. Read More
The primary organizer of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco — a boat race with the oldest active trophy in international sport — is also well-schooled in parks. He is the chairman of the board of the Golden Gate National Park Conservancy and a Recreation and Park Department commissioner.As America’s Cup Organizing Committee chair, what are your responsibilities from now until 2013? Read More
Christine Gardner is a co-chair and primary organizer for Friday’s Party for the Parks, a collaborative celebratory fundraiser between the San Francisco Parks Trust and the Recreation and Park Department, at Golden Gate Park’s Carousel. For ticket information, visit www.partyfortheparks.org. Read More
The Sunshine Task Force caught the Recreation and Park Department violating San Francisco’s Sunshine Ordinance.
Recreation and Park Policy and Public Affairs Director Sarah Ballard wrote the Commonwealth Club protesting its planned presentation “Golden Gate Park Under Siege.” Ballard and her boss, Phil Ginsburg, tried to cancel the presentation by maligning the panelists, writing they would “incite an audience.” Read More
A few years ago, a visitor to the Marina Green who came down with a case of the munchies would have just one option: the snack kiosk on Little Marina Green.
For a chart of Recreation and Park revenue sources over the last five fiscal years, click on the photo to the right.
Today, that hungry visitor has three options: the kiosk, the Beach Hut at the Crissy Field Center and a soft-serve ice cream truck that has a permit to operate at the park’s entrance. Read More
Sometimes, what one group sees as practical another considers morally repugnant. Such is now the case at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Efforts to avoid cuts to maintenance and recreation budgets through revenue-generating partnerships have been reviled by a handful of critics who are wary of the intrusion of private interests into public spaces. Read More
San Francisco police and city officials today are launching a “Safe Summer in the Parks” initiative, which calls for an increased law enforcement presence in The City’s green areas over the coming months. Police Chief Greg Suhr and Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg planned to join other city officials this afternoon — the first day of summer — to announce the initiative at a news conference in Golden Gate Park. Read More
Phil Ginsburg, the director of San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department and surprise candidate for the upcoming executive director vacancy at Muni, said he’s not interested in becoming The City’s transit chief. Read More
Bella the swan is moving out after receiving a less than gracious reception from her brother and sister-in-law at the lagoon near San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, Recreation and Park Department officials said.The family drama began Sunday when Bella rejoined her brother, Blue Boy, and her sister-in-law, Blanche, after spending more than a month recuperating from a fractured webbed foot at her birth home in Point Reyes. Read More
