Recreation & Fun

It’s three days until I run the San Francisco Marathon, which will take me by or through 10 Rec and Park properties. After my early training run through Golden Gate Park before work, I visited Boedekker Park in the morning and Dolores Park in the afternoon.

At Boedekker Park, I met up with representatives from the Trust for Public Land. TPL is one of our department's strongest partners and they are helping us fund capital and program investments in several of our parks.

Unfortunately, despite signs saying that Boedekker opens at 10 a.m., the park -- which is located in the heart of the Tenderloin in one of this City's most challenging intersections -- was locked. We waited until 10:30 and when staff still had not arrived, we were forced to call Park Patrol and ask them to drive across town to open the facility. I was quite frustrated. When we say one of our facilities will be open at a specific time, I expect us to keep our commitments to the public. I anticipate making some operational changes to ensure that staff are communicating directly with their supervisors and managers when they are late or absent and I will be holding my managers directly accountable for making sure our facilities are open and operating as advertised to the public.

In the afternoon, I toured Dolores Park. This park was certainly open. The problem at Dolores Park is that it has become so popular, our staff is having trouble keeping it in the condition which this city jewel needs to be. An aging and broken water system and a few irresponsible park users make our challenges even greater. But, boy, I love this park and once infrastructure and playground renovations are complete in a few years, it will be a world-class open space.

Dolores Park served as the temporary home to 1,600 families displaced by the 1906 earthquake and fire.