S.F. parks projects may get a big boost
$545 million bond eyed for 2019 ballot
Several major projects at San Francisco recreational areas could receive funding much earlier than originally anticipated, thanks to some inventive financial maneuvering by city officials.
On Friday, Mayor Mark Farrell is expected to issue a letter directing City Administrator Naomi Kelly to create a $545 million bond for park projects that could go before San Francisco voters on the November 2019 ballot.
Over an estimated 10-year period, that money would be used to fund sizable — and expensive — renovations at Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, the Gene Friend Recreation Center South of Market, Peace Plaza in Japantown, the India Basin Waterfront Park in the Bayview and Kezar Pavilion in Golden Gate Park.
“This secures the future of our San Francisco parks for the next few decades,” Farrell said. “These large projects will literally transform San Francisco and benefit neighborhoods and communities throughout our city. There’s nothing I could be more excited about than
“We have to acknowledge the importance of bringing open-space improvements to low-income communities, who rely on it for their physical and mental health. ”
Malcolm Yeung, deputy director, Chinatown Community Development Center
making sure the future of our parks in San Francisco are secure,” he said.
The city has two $185 million parks bonds up for consideration, one in 2019 and another in 2025. But on Farrell’s directive, the city’s Capital Planning Committee will combine those two bonds into one.
The five big projects are in the planning stages, and Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg said each is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars — most over $50 million.
Time is of the essence, he said. As construction costs in San Francisco continue to balloon — a side effect of the city’s prosperity and building boom — the prospect of soon accessing such a sizable pot of money represents a “really exciting and important opportunity for San Franciscans and for our city’s park system,” Ginsburg said. “It’s expensive to do these projects and to do them right.”
Most of the potential bond revenue would be put toward those five projects, but not all of it. The park department has identified $1.5 billion worth of needed renovations and improvements throughout the city, and some of those smaller-scale projects would also receive funding, Ginsburg said.
“It’s important to underscore that this is not the sum total of the need,” he said. “There are other neighborhoods and other park functions that will need some investment.”
A bigger parks bond would also be a welcome resource for many community organizations working closely with the city on projects considered vital to their neighborhoods.
“I can’t emphasize enough how much this would mean to the community, and how much of a social justice issue it is,” said Malcolm Yeung, a deputy director at the Chinatown Community Development Center, which has been involved in the park department’s planned overhaul of Portsmouth Square.
“We have to acknowledge the importance of bringing open-space improvements to low-income communities, who rely on it for their physical and mental health. It’s a matter of equity,” Yeung said. Portsmouth Square is often referred to as Chinatown’s “living room,” and is relied upon heavily by the community, especially by those living in “shoe box” apartments there, Yeung said.
The Capital Planning Committee, which City Administrator Kelly chairs, charts the city’s course for issuing bonds, staggering them over time to provide funds for needed projects but without taking on so much debt that property taxes need to be raised.
Farrell’s letter also instructs Kelly and the committee to grow the bond by an extra $100 million “in currently identified additional (debt) capacity,” and to explore tacking on an additional $75 million, if possible, after the committee completes an update to the city’s capital plan.
Other departments with planned projects of their own, like the Municipal Transportation Agency, could advocate for a portion of that extra debt capacity, which could bring the overall size of the parks bond down slightly.
The Capital Planning Committee, which is made up of various department heads and city officials, would first have to vote on the merged parks bond plan before sending it to the Board of Supervisors. If it passes the board, it would go before voters on the November 2019 ballot, where it would require a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Voters approved a $185 million parks bond in 2008, which helped pay for major renovations at Dolores Park. Another $195 million parks bond was green-lighted by voters in 2012 and, of that, money was invested in playgrounds, like those at Sgt. John Macaulay Park and Washington Square Playground. Farrell also has proposed setting aside some money for public spaces in his budget, which he’ll present to the Board of Supervisors on Friday. That includes $1.49 million to further the development of the Civic Center Commons plan, an ongoing effort to turn Civic Center into a recreation and public gathering hub. Another $2.3 million would go to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which is working on a plan to activate more unused spaces for public use.