Recreation & Fun

This morning I attended a department head meeting at the De Young Museum. In the afternoon I attended the Silver SPUR awards. Among the honorees were two park champions, Isabel Wade and Brian O'Neil. After the SPUR meeting, I met with our new Police Chief, George Gascon. The Chief and I talked about how to improve communication between our Park Patrol Officers and Police and specific parks where I feel we need a little more attention from our sworn officers.

Tuesday, November 3

Election Day. It was a split decision for Rec and Park. To the good, Prop C passed. Prop C grants us naming rights (again) at Candlestick Park and reserves any revenue generated for the purpose of hiring recreation directors. I don't expect Prop C to generate a ton of dough , but given the budget we will likely need to grapple with for 2009-2010. To the bad, Prop. E also passed. Prop E prohibits new general advertising which will make it even more difficult for us to raise badly needed revenue.

Wednesday, November 4

Today I held monthly office hours. Every month I set aside 3-4 hours for either staff or members of the public to meet with me, one on one, to discuss whatever is on their mind. Today was a staff day (I alternate). I met with several members of my staff who gave me advice, wisdom, recommendations, new ideas, complaints, inspiration and some new challenges.

This evening I met with members with the South of Market Project Area Committee (SOMPAC). We discussed some changes at the Gene Friend Rec Center. Beginning this Winter, we will be doing more of our own programming at the Center and for the first time we will have an afterschool program on site. After that meeting I attended part of my first Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC). PROSAC is a citizen advisory body that guides the department on open space and recreation planning issue. For more information about PROSAC and its membership, click here.






After issuing our report, it was time to end a long week with a little fun. At the end of the day, a few members of my staff and I had the opportunity to join some kids at Richmond Recreation Center for some late afternoon fun and games.

During the last few months (schedule permitting), I’ve been encouraging staff to join me for Friday Fun Days, special opportunities for our administrative folks to get out and experience other aspects of our recreation and park operations. After all, how can we expect to administer over our parks and programs unless we get out and use them ourselves? Friday Fun Day topics have consisted of us learning horticulture from our gardeners or meeting out in the park for a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee.

Today, we ventured out to Richmond Recreation Center, where Neighborhood Sevices Area manager Jim Wheeler (sitting in for Lorraine Banford), Assistant Recreation Supervisor Sean McGrew and the rest of the Richmond Rec Center staff had planned a fun-filled afternoon with the children who regularly attend the site’s after school program.

First, we all participated in an Edible Art class, where we made trees out of fruit and vegetables and rediscovered our inner-child by getting to play with our food. My tree was about average in looks but if there’s one thing I learned about edible art, it’s this: no matter what it looks like, it all tastes the same.

Later in the afternoon, we played some active indoor games, including a game called Protect the Chair, which is played pretty much as it sounds. A player stands in the middle of the room next to a chair while the surrounding players try to hit the chair with rubber balls. The player in the middle has to play goalie and deflect (or catch) the balls coming from all directions.

It was a great afternoon, and I think my staff got to see first-hand the excellent and important work our recreation professionals do on a daily basis.