Recreation & Fun

Today was a great day, not just for me, but for everyone who’s been waiting for the grand reopening of Hamilton Recreation Center and Swimming Pool in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood.

Hamilton is easily one of our most popular and most important recreation spaces, as it sits at junction of a number of communities, including the Western Addition, Japantown and the Fillmore, that rely on the area’s one and only full-service recreation center.

The center’s grand reopening, after a spectacular $18 million bond project, brought together a mix of folks who were eager to see the new center’s features, which include brand new multi-use community rooms, a new gymnasium and offices. The adjacent pool, which created most of the buzz leading up to the event, features not one, but two, indoor water slides.

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was on hand to help cut the ceremonial ribbon, as was 1996 Olympian Kenny Hamilton (triple jump) and London Breed, from the African American Art and Culture Complex.

But the day belonged to the members of the community, who were all eager to see the new Hamilton. Some were first-time visitors to the site. Others had a lifetime of memories from the old Hamilton. But all agreed that new Hamilton is truly amazing and its potential limitless in regard to the exciting new programming that can, and will, fill this space.

If you haven’t done so already, I invite all of you to Geary Boulevard and Steiner Street to check out the new Hamilton. And be sure to bring your swimming gear.

On Friday, November 6th our Department released its long awaited report on the fate of Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica.

In recent years, the popular golf course, owned by our Department, has become somewhat of a hot topic amongst golfers, environmentalists and city leaders. The golf course, you see, is the home of the endangered San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog.


This report, commissioned by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, looks at three possible scenarios under which the San Francisco garter snake could be allowed to thrive--- keeping an 18-hole course with some modifications, reducing the number of holes to nine, and scrapping the entire golf course and creating a nature preserve and park in its place.

A team of environmental consultants who are experts in all issues related to the garter snake worked over the past several months to study and evaluate the three scenarios.

Our department, in turn, will take the report and make its official recommendations to the Recreation and Park Commission and, ultimately, to the Board of Supervisors.

As general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, it is often my job to balance the interests of our park users and come up with solutions that make the most sense for all of us.

This latest report, I think, lays out a plan that accomplishes this. Modifying the existing layout of Sharp Park and maintaining a full 18-hole course seems to make the most sense here. The garter snake, which lives in three main wetland areas on the course (Laguna Salada, Horse Stable Pond and the connecting corridor between the two), would not only be able to survive, but thrive, by modifying the course layout and moving the existing 12th hole of the course.

Obviously, compromise leaves everyone a little wanting, but with the help and input from congresswoman Jackie Speier (D) and other local officials from both Pacifica and San Francisco, I hope we’ll be able to put this win-win into action. To hear an hour-long discussion on Sharp Park that aired on KQED radio this week, click here.