Parks

1. In what ways do you feel parks contribute to San Franciscans’ quality of life? I feel as though parks give San Franciscans an opportunity to relax and enjoy the beautiful days. The parks as well give us a location to meet with friends and family for a special occasion.

1. What park in your district do you use most and tell us what you like most about it. I use the Patricia’s Green park most frequently. I like Patricia’s Green Park because of the cleanliness, art shows, and events that are held at his park. I also like the fact that the neighborhood takes good care of this park. The sidewalks are clean, the plantings are beautiful, and it has a place for children to play.

1. Which park in your district appears to need the most help and what do you propose to do about it? Sgt John Macauley Park is in some need of assistance. We need to find either private or public funding to help out to clean and fix up the park. In addition I notice there is a playground, but see drug dealing occurring around the park. Maybe we could work with law enforcement to help deter people selling drugs from hanging out around the park.

1. From your observations, what are the 3 most important issues facing recreation and parks in San Francisco? How will you begin to address these issues if you are elected? 1. Budget Cuts: I will advocate the need for funding for our parks, we need to save our city parks. 2. People working the parks: We need good, dedicated people working the parks. 3. Law Enforcement of our parks: We need to enforce our laws of people who are going to sell drugs, and do other crimes in the park like vandalism and graffiti are prosecuted.

1. What is your view of the role of volunteer community park groups? What commitment do you make to working with these groups to improve our public open spaces? I believe the volunteer community park groups are important to ensure are parks stay open, and are in good shape. I would advocate for these groups to ensure they exist and continue to help. However we need to ensure these groups do not shut down parks, all parks in San Francisco should be open to the public. I would hope these groups assist with keeping the parks clean and safe for everyone to enjoy. A day at the park.

1. ParkScan.org is a website that enables park users to report maintenance concerns to the Recreation and Park Department. If elected, how would you promote this tool? I just looked at the site, and I love the idea to report items that would be of interest to Park and Recreation Department. I would let the constituents know of this tool.

1. NPC’s Green Envy study identified many neighborhoods that lack playgrounds and neighborhood parks. How would you address these park and open space deficiencies? We have a shortage of funding across the city of San Francisco for all departments. If there are particular parks who the public feels need additional items to make it more appealing to them, maybe we could get them involved on a voluntary basis to assist with finding grants and private donations to achieve the items they seek for a park. My relations with Park and recreation has been a positive one. I believe the people at Parks and recreation are doing the best with what they have to work with.

1. Deferred maintenance of things like irrigation systems continue to plague the park system. With little funding available to fix these types of problems, what would you propose to improve park maintenance? Once again we need to seek volunteers in neighborhoods around each park and possibly have park day on a Sunday where people could come out and help clean up the park. Irrigation systems are expensive and are needed, city funds are limited and private donors and grants may be a possibility for irrigation issues.

1. San Francisco currently has no citywide open space requirement for new development. In areas such as the Eastern Neighborhoods, which are already deficient in open space and could see a tripling in residential density in the near future, this oversight could create unlivable communities severely deficient in parks. Would you support a citywide open space requirement for all new residential development so that every neighborhood can have green space for play, exercise, and respite from urban life? Absolutely, as we continue to grow in San Francisco both in residential and business space, we need to have set guidelines based on blocks as to open space. Parks are a very important part of any community and especially in San Francisco.