They’re closing the park

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Not that park you’re thinking of if you just glanced at the title, but nonetheless another important location in the neighborhood that Mission residents of many diverse cultures and proclivities all utilize cooperatively. I’m talking about Mission Playground, which is slated to close for renovation starting Monday May 9th and continuing well through 2012.

As it is, Mission Playground caters to the Latin American community by hosting epic soccer matches nightly, provides recreational activity for restless toddlers and a spot where couples actually trying to raise a kid instead of a dog can reliably go, and offers both basketball and tennis fanatics courts on which to get their game, among many others.

I’ll definitely miss the place, but hopefully it can come back from surgery better, faster, and stronger.  I wonder if the pool will stay open? At least we’ll still have the sunsets!

10 Responses to “They’re closing the park”

  1. redbearded says:

    Jesus christ calm down. It’s just temporarily closing. you make it sound like it’s closing for good and like there are no other parks people can go hang out at. Heaven forbid the City do what they need to to maintain our parks.
    I can’t WAIT for Dolores park to close just to see all the hipsters cry because they can’t hang with their bros and drink PBRs in the grass for a few months or so.

    • Ben says:

      Dude, I think you might be the one who needs to chill out. From the last paragraph:
      “I’ll definitely miss the place, but hopefully it can come back from surgery better, faster, and stronger.  I wonder if the pool will stay open? At least we’ll still have the sunsets!”

      Don’t let that get in the way of your hipster hate, though.

      And for something constructive: Garfield park also has a nice soccer field that’s well-utilized. Public swimming pool, too.

  2. Lawrence says:

    This is the only reliable hoops run in the mission. Bummer. And why does it take so long to renovate parks?

    • stiiv says:

      Probably coordinating a diverse collection of contractors.

      You can make all that shit happen fast, but it costs more.

  3. tc says:

    the pool closed in april.

  4. Dave says:

    They’re putting in field turf, like at Garfield park. New lighting too (which was donated).
    http://sfrecpark.org/documents/item5dGiftAcceptance022011.pdf

  5. CAPTAINAWESOME says:

    BUT WHERE WILL MY DOG PEE?!?!

  6. Yup, the asphalt soccer field is being replaced with synthetic turf and the lights are being replaced too. City Fields (my employer) is funding the new soccer field (we’re the same folks who did Garfield, Crocker, South Sunset, Silver Terrace and Kimbell with Rec/Park).

    Join us for a groundbreaking event at 5:30pm this Wednesday, May 11 to learn more.

    As for the park closure, the good news is that they plan to open the south side of the park (including the new soccer field) in mid-next year even while work continues on the clubhouse and other parts of the park.

    Here’s a little more detail about what’s going to happen. The water garden will be really cool for the neighborhood kids too.

    “Park repairs getting underway include remodeling the old and worn-down clubhouse for seismic safety and increased natural light, resurfacing the busy tennis and basketball courts, replanting a lawn, installing new childrens play equipment, improving park accessibility and safety, and replacing the old, asphalt soccer field with a state-of-the-art synthetic turf field!

    Following in the footsteps of other successful Mission District park renovations, a new water garden will feature ornamental fountains spraying mist and showering water for young children’s play and delight. A local artist, Michael Bartalos, designed a new decorative park fence along Valencia with whimsical characters and scenes celebrating the colorful and unique neighborhood.

    Most of the $7.5 million park improvements are funded through the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond. The non-profit City Fields Foundation is donating the soccer field renovation as part of the Playfields Initiative partnership with Recreation and Parks, which seeks to eliminate the deficit of sports fields for youth athletics in San Francisco.”

    Hope some of you can make the groundbreaking next week. And if you like the synthetic turf fields, be sure to sign the petition on our website (cityfieldsfoundation dot org) so we can do more!

    Thanks,
    P

    • Loren says:

      @Patrick

      Thanks for all the details! I’m bummed that it will be closed for so long, but hope the new turf field is an improvement.

      One thing I’m really worried about – most turf fields start getting extra money by selling permits to reserve the field (such as Garfield square).

      Will there be permits offered to play on the new turf field at Mission Playground? I really hope not. Permits may bring in money, but they push away the pick up games as teams / leagues show up and reserve the field. Currently, it’s the best place to play pick up soccer in the mission.. don’t let that go!

  7. Hi Loren,

    We agree. Mission Playground has a long and storied history for competitive pick-up soccer games and we wanted to respect that.

    We’d already been working with Rec/Park to make sure there is “open play time” at every synthetic turf field. Time’s been carved out and signs are being developed but haven’t been installed everywhere, including Garfield.

    So when we proposed the renovation at Mission Playground, I went with Rec/Park’s Bob Palacio and spoke with the soccer players who use the field to make sure they wanted synthetic turf (they do!) and to jointly come up with “open play” hours so they can continue to play there as they’ve done for years while still providing some time earlier in the day for younger kids and the occasional “permitted” game on the new field.

    The pick-up soccer players asked that these days and times be reserved for open play and Rec/Park agreed. When the field reopens a sign will be posted with the following hours:

    Mission PG Soccer Field Open Play Time
    All Ages
    Mon, Wed, Fri – 6:30pm – close

    Adults Only (15 and older)
    Sunday – 1:00pm – 3:00pm

    Youth Only (14 and under)
    Sunday – 3:00pm – 5:00pm