Impact Report Our Great Team of Staff and Board Members Makes It a Point to Get out Into Our Parks

2014Impact Report Our great team of staff and board members makes it a point to get out into our parks. This year’s excursions included an insider’s tour of the California Academy of Sciences, a boat tour of the Blue Greenway and digging into stewardship tasks at the Strawberry Hill Butterfly Habitat project. Board of Directors Staff Kelly Nice, Chair Matt O’Grady, Chief Executive Officer Evan Schwartz, Executive Assistant Courtney Klinge, [email protected] [email protected] Vice Chair Stephanie Linder, Director of Philanthropy Sonia Suresh, Program Associate Jonathan Rewers, [email protected] [email protected] Vice Chair Rachel Norton, Director of Policy and Communications Michael Yuen, Accounting Clerk Phil Arnold, Treasurer [email protected] [email protected] Christine Gardner, Secretary Steve Schweigerdt, Director of Stewardship Rosemary Cameron, [email protected] Past President John Stoner, Director of Finance and Operations Connie Goodyear Baron [email protected] Leith Brooks Barry Ana Vasudeo, Director of the Blue Greenway Thank you to our outgoing board Mollie Ward Brown [email protected] Nancy Conner Julia Brashares, Director of Street Parks members! At its September meeting, Carolyn Feinstein Edwards [email protected] the SFPA Board bid a fond farewell Chris Guillard Steve Bowles, Development Associate Jaime Jones [email protected] to Steve Gwozdz, L. Jasmine Kim and Jim Lazarus Lorren Butterwick, Park Partner Project Leader Mary McCue [email protected] John Ware. We are tremendously Brook Mebrahtu Kaitlin Fitzmahan, Policy Associate grateful to each of them for their Leah Pimentel [email protected] Mike Seidenberg Stacey Kaiser, Development Coordinator governance and guidance of our work. Tricia Sellman [email protected] Ken Weber Sahiti Karempudi, Park Partner Project Manager Marcel Wilson [email protected] Steve Gwozdz L. Jasmine Kim John Ware Highlights Supervisor London Breed and donor Carla Crane joined Parks Alliance CEO Matt O’Grady, SF Recreation and Park Commission President Mark Buell, Vice Presi- of dent Allan Low and General Manager Phil Ginsburg 2014 to cut the ribbon opening a transformed Kezar Triangle. Page 2. The Parks Alliance and the Department of Public Works celebrated the 10th anniversary of our Street Parks partnership, which has created over 125 parks, gardens and community gathering spaces 431 million from underutilized lots, $San Francisco’s parks and open spaces contrib- median strips and hillsides. ute hundreds of millions of dollars to the City’s Hidden Garden Steps, economy each year, a new study sponsored completed in early 2014, $3.12by the Parks Alliance and million the Trust for Public is a shining example of a Street Park. Page 3. Land has found. Page9 4. million Parks Alliance staff and supporters One$1.6 of San Francisco’s newest parks provided key advocacy support for three doesn’t look like much today, but acquisitions using the Open Space Fund: the acquisition of 900 Innes Avenue the Schlage Lock Factory in Visitacion this past year forged a crucial link Valley, Francisco Reservoir of the Blue Greenway, (soon to be Francisco Park) a network of trails, in Russian Hill and parks and bay 900 Innes at India Basin. access points Page 5. that has long been envisioned as the Crissy Field of the southeastern waterfront. Page 6. In the second year of our Action Grant program, SFPA Board Chair Kelly Nice (left) and CEO we awarded a total of $29,000 to support promising Matt O’Grady (right) enjoy our 9th annual Party park projects like Bloom Justice, a gardening and for the Parks with SF Recreation and Park General youth development program, and our Volunteer Manager Phil Ginsburg (center). Page 14. of the Year. Page 7. photo Drew Altizer Photography 2014 SF Parks Alliance Impact Report • 1 Stewardship Our Park Partner program offers park groups fiscal sponsorship services as well as support in proposing, designing and implementing park projects. In 2014, we provided major support for three new park projects: Kezar Triangle in Golden Gate Park, Hidden Garden Steps in the Inner Sunset and Dogpatch Playground. Kezar Triangle began with a donor and an idea: transforming a muddy stretch between Lincoln Way and Kezar Drive into an inviting meadow. With major funding from donor Carla Crane, the new Kezar Triangle— featuring auto- matic irrigation, native plantings, The Parks Alliance’s Steve Schweigerdt, donor Carla Crane and SF Recreation and Park’s Deputy Director of Partnerships a “Plot to Grow Abigail Maher worked closely together to bring the vision for a Art” and eco art new Kezar Triangle to life. installations contracted by SFPA and designed by Miller Company—has quickly become a favorite neighborhood gathering spot. In Dogpatch, community leaders decided they were tired of being The Kezar site also features the “Wood Wave” the only neighborhood without a single playground, and vowed to sculpture carved from a single Monterey Cypress log by artist build one. The Parks Alliance helped them raise over $100,000 for Chuck Oaklander. the project and supported them in working with the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority (SFMTA) to design and build the new play area at the Authority’s Woods Mini-Park in their neighborhood. The lovely littleDogpatch Playground designed by Groundworks Office opened in August 2014. Hidden Garden Steps began after neighbors in the Inner Sunset noticed the beautiful tile work on a public stairway at 16th and Moraga (a previous project of the San Francisco Parks Alliance and the Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association). Their own stairway, at 16th and Kirkham Streets, was often covered with graffiti The Hidden Garden Steps. and didn’t feel safe to use. With fiscal sponsorship from the Parks Alliance and support from our Street Parks partnership with the Department of Public Works, the neighbors raised money from over 600 donors and designed a new tile project with artists Colette Crutcher and Aileen Barr. 2 • 2014 SF Parks Alliance Impact Report Dogpatch Playground A partnership between the Parks Alliance and the SFMTA helped neighbors build a new playground in Dogpatch. Park Partners Alemany Farm, Friends of Alta Plaza Park, Friends of Amphitheater at McLaren Park (AMP) Angel Alley Street Parks Athens Avalon In October, officials from the Balboa Park Playground, Friends of Department of Public Works and Bay Area Open Space Council Hidden Garden Steps Russian Hill Improvement staff and supporters of the San Association Bernal Gardens, Friends of Jackson Playground, Friends of Francisco Parks Alliance celebrated SailSFBay Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema Japanese Tea Garden, 10 years of this innovative public- Bicycle Music Festival Friends of the SF Bee-Cause private partnership at Dogpatch’s Bloom Justice Jerry Day SF Lawn Bowling Club Progress Park. Once a neglected BRANCH Joe Dimaggio Playground, Friends of SF Tennis Coalition site in the shadow of the freeway, neighbors now enjoy Progress BRITE Jungle Stairs SF Urban Riders Park’s meadow area, bocce ball Buena Vista Neighborhood Kezar Triangle, Friends of Shared Schoolyards Project court, fitness area, dog run, and Association Kids in Parks South End Rowing Club, Boathouse Renovation more. Street Parks are “spaces Cabrillo Playground, Friends of Lafayette Park, Friends of South Park Improvement Association between places”—neglected Calle 24 SF Latino Cultural Larsen Playground, Friends of District Storrie Ord Neighborhood Group street medians, sidewalks, public Laurel Hill Playground, Friends of stairways and other unimproved City Guides Strawberry Hill, Friends of Lincoln Park Steps, Friends of rights-of-way that communities Climate Action Now! Sutro Stewards Linden Living Alley can organize around and transform Connecticut Friendship Garden Tigers on Market Marina Community, Friends of into verdant gardens, parks, and Corbett Heights Neighbors Tunnel Top Park Marina Earthquake Monument community gathering spaces. Dahlia Society Group Upper Douglass Dog Park, Friends of Since 1994, more than 125 Street Diamond Heights Boulevard McCoppin Square Urban Sprouts Parks have been created. Median Project Mission Community Market Dogpatch Playground Working Group Mountain Lake Park Playground, Friends of Dolores Park Playground , Friends of Muriel Leff Mini Park, Friends of Dolores Park Works Ney Street Neighborhood Watch Douglass Street Steps Coalition Noe Courts, Friends of Earth Day San Francisco Noe Valley Rec Center, Friends of Esprit Park, Friends of NOMAD Gardens Fair Oaks Community Coalition Northridge CommUNITY Garden Fallen Bridge Mini Park, Friends of Oak Woodlands, Friends of Far Out West Dune Community Palou Garden Garden Pennsylvania Gardens Francisco Park Conservancy Penny Lane, Friends of Franklin Square, Friends of Persia Triangle (Pavement to Parks) Friends of Grattan Playground Pioneer Park Committee Garden for the Environment Plant*SF Gateway Park Potrero Sustainable Living Group Vermont Street Neighbors DPW Director Mohammed Nuru and SFPA CEO Matt O’Grady joined Geneva Car Barn and Precita Valley Neighbors Victoria Manolo Draves Park/ Power House Gene Friend Rec Center, volunteers, DPW staff and Parks Presidio Heights Playground, Friends of Alliance staffers to celebrate Geneva Community Garden Friends of Visitacion Valley Greenway 10 years of Street Parks. Golden Gate Park Band, Friends of Progress Park Washington Sq Park, Friends of GreenTrust SF Residents

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