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DUBOCE PARK UPDATE – DECEMBER 8, 2016
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| CRAFT FAIR THIS SUNDAY DECEMBER 11 AT HARVEY MILK CENTER
If you are looking for local, handmade gifts to give this holiday season, shop at the Holiday Craft Fair at the Harvey Milk Center for the Arts this Sunday December 11 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. There will be there a wonderful selection of unique gifts for all ages and interests. This a family event with live music, popcorn, interactive art demonstrations, and a holiday portrait photo booth.
The event features 22 vendors who were selected by a jury who determined the best fit of category and quality of merchandise. Samples of some the vendor offerings are shown below. For more information about the event, please contact Robby Roller at hmcaevents@sfgov.org or 415-554-8742.
The HMCA Holiday Craft Fair is sponsored by one of the Center’s non-profit partners, the McKinley After School Enrichment Program (ASEP). The HMCA/ASEP collaboration provides quality after school enrichment for families within our community.
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VOLUNTEER DAY SATURDAY DECEMBER 10
Join the Friends of Duboce Park at our next volunteer day this Saturday, December 10 from 10 a.m.-noon. We will be supervised by a Rec & Park gardener and all supplies, plants, tools, and gloves will be provided.
A special thanks to the volunteers who helped out at our November volunteer day. They removed a few trees in the playground and a bush in the planting triangle between the basketball court and children’s playground and replaced them with six new plants.
Contact rose@friendsofdubocepark.org or 415-255-8370 for more information or with any questions or comments. Our volunteer day is always the second Saturday of every month. 30 minutes or an hour of your time makes a big difference in the appearance of our park. San Franciscan residents contributed more than 184,000 hours in 2015 in volunteer service in San Francisco parks.
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Using funds from our last Tag Sale, Friends of Duboce Park is working with Rec and Park to repaint the faded playground equipment and repair or replace the two metal perforated staircases that are rusting, leaving sharp edges on the rusted areas.
Major tears on one of the mounds in the Youth Play Area has been repaired although the blue color of the fill material does not match the original blue color. This is also true of the worn areas under the tot swings in the playground, which have been filled numerous times with a blue substance that contrasts with the original beige surface.
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| One of the bollards in the Dog Play Area has been broken at the base.
After meeting with police on November 8 Robby Roller, Facility Coordinator at the Harvey Milk Center, reports, “Our homeless issues have gotten much better. The police department gave a stern talk to one of our regular homeless who was trashing out our platform (at the top of the main stairs) and going to the bathroom routinely and the guy hasn’t been back since.” Roller also said that Park Station “has been checking in with me as well, so I feel very good about the direction of the situation.”
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| Homeless individuals have been leaving urine, feces, needles, cigarette butts, and other trash on the balcony. Rec & Park custodians have been cleaning up these messes, a very unpleasant task.
The tree that was leaning and almost falling on the east Scott Street sidewalk was removed and will be replaced by Rec and Park.
The lower part of the Dog Play Area is very mushy and muddy after the recent rain.
Graffiti remains a constant problem and Rec and Park does a good job of removing it within 24-48 hours of receiving a report. All of the problems listed above were reported on the SF311 app or in an email report to Rec and Park. You can always also just dial 311 rather than using the app or email.
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A normal amount of rain has returned many brown lawn areas back to green. The edge of the lawn area next to the pedestrian path on the hill across from the water fountains had its fence removed after that brown area was aerated, seeded, and fertilized. The area currently is green again but looks overrun with weeds. Our gardener, Rich Hernandez, said it will look more normal after it is mowed. Before and after pictures are below.
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| Two worn areas in the Dog Play Area have been temporarily fenced after being aerated, seeded, and fertilized. One area is in heavily-used middle of the Dog Play Area and the other is the bare ground near the Potomac Street benches.
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| The large brown area near the benches in the upper lawn area was down to plain dirt in spots but is now green again.
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| WINTER REGISTRATION OPENS DECEMBER 17
Registration for Winter 2017 Activities, programs, and courses begins on Saturday, December 17 at 10 a.m. for classes starting in January. There are more than 1,300 classes for you and your family -- everything from Zumba and fitness classes to art and science courses. There are courses for all ages: tots; youth; tweens & teens; adults; and, adults 55 and older.
Courses being offered at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center include art courses for tots and youth; dance classes for tots, youth, and adults; courses in digital arts and new media; music lessons; sewing and knitting for youth and adults; theater and performing arts for youth; tot space and yoga.
A complete listing of all courses is available online at sfreconline.org or in the 2017 Winter Activities Guide available in the Harvey Milk Recreation Center for the Arts lobby. The catalogue offers course descriptions, times, and costs. You can register online at sfreconline.org or in person at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center or 12 other sites around the city between 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Recreation and Parks offers Recreation Scholarships to eligible individuals and families. More than $1 million in scholarships in Rec and Parks programs has been provided. Ongoing eligibility is dependent on attendance record. Please call Lillian Bautista, Scholarship Coordinator, at 831-2717 for information on how to qualify.
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| INTRODUCTORY PHOTO CLASSES STARTING The Harvey Milk Photo Center is offering numerous introductory photography courses in January as part of their Winter 2017 class schedule. Learn the controls of your digital camera in Getting to Know Your DSLR Camera Level 1, starting January 10. Develop Your Personal Vision, starting January 18, is designed for the photographer who wants to take their technical proficiency to the next level exploring concept, subject matter, and self-expression. If you are interested in learning how to develop your own black and white photos, consider Introduction – Black & White Printing – Darkroom, starting January 9. Learn some of the more creative aspects of night photography using flashlights, strobes and other electroluminescent devices in Night Photo – Light Painting, starting January 18. Registration begins this Saturday, December 17 for classes starting in January. The Photo Center is looking for volunteers to help run their wet darkroom and digital lab. Contact the Center at 554-9522 to sign up. Established volunteers are welcome to take a complimentary course of their choosing each season.
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PHOTO EXHIBIT OPENING TONIGHT, PHOTO CENTER CALL FOR ART
eXposed, a juried exhibition of street photography, opens tonight at the Photo Center, 5:30-8:30 p.m. The Harvey Milk Photo Center and the McLaren Lodge will house the exhibition, which runs through January 22.
Exploring the streets from the Marina to Excelsior, from the Embarcadero to Outer Sunset, the photographers of the SF Street Photography Group spent years documenting the lives of everyday people throughout the 49 square miles we call San Francisco. They capture commuters, shoppers, culture-seekers and tourists alike, all contributors to the rich fabric of life on the City’s streets. Their images also examine the deep-rooted social contradiction that exists here, where the harsh realities of living in the streets intimately co-exists with über-sophisticated urban cool. Details can be found here.
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| The deadline for submissions to the juried Nocturnes & Noir Exhibit starting on February 11 has been extended to December 15. The show is curated by Tim Baskerville, Director, The Nocturnes Night Photography Group and Dave Christensen, Director, Harvey Milk Photo Center. According to the Curator’s Statement, the title of the exhibit hopes to shine some light on two schools of thought regarding Night Photography (NPy).
The first, a romanticized landscape photography of Nocturnes, traces its origins to the late 19th century, the Pictorialism movement, and later on, the efforts of the Photo-Secessionists. The second style of NPy – Noir – was heavily influenced by German Expressionism, Surrealism, and associated, as early as the 1920s and 1930s, with the newly formed cinema, which attained its apex in the Classic Film Noir period of the 1940s and 1950s. More information is available here.
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Two of the city's most anticipated holiday events took place recently in San Francisco parks. The Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square kicked off the holiday season on November 2 and will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. through January 16. The 87th annual Holiday Tree Lighting at McLaren Lodge took place last Thursday. There was caroling, a snow play area, carnival rides, holiday lights, live entertainment, and of course, Santa.
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| Willie "Woo Woo" Wong Playground, a half-acre park nestled between Sacramento and Clay streets, provides vital open space in Chinatown, the city's most densely populated neighborhood. But these days, it's in a state of disrepair: it's not ADA-compliant, and has plumbing issues and missing bathroom stall doors, according to a Hoodline article on November 30.
Thanks to the 2012 San Francisco Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond, the playground, which is named for a Chinese-American USF basketball star of the '40s, will soon receive a $6 million facelift. But another $4 million is still needed to upgrade its clubhouse, which hosts after-school programs, a community youth center and the Community Tenants Association.
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| The long-awaited completion of the South Park
renovation project has been delayed. The project, underway since last November, was originally set to finish in August or September, but is now likely to stretch to February.
According to Rec and Park representative Joey Kahn, the delay is due to complications with the park's storm and sewage system, which were discovered last month. Khan said the delays shouldn't contribute too much to the project's $2.8 million price tag. "We are currently assessing the cost of the delays, but at this point, it appears to be minimal, because these delays were offset by contractor delays."
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| After almost a year of construction, Hilltop (Sundial) Park had their grand opening on December 3. The totally removed park, constructed in 1979, showcases new accessible paths that lead to the new playground, a new skateboard park, restored great lawn, and the infamous sundial. The park is located at La Salle and Whitney Young Circle in the Bayview. The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPAG) schedule for 2017 does not include an event at Lake Merced this year. The Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic
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| was first held there in April 2014 but the title sponsor will not return this year. Title sponsorships cost between $3 million to $4 million annually, including the a $2 million purse and the event is looking for a long-term partner to keep the LPGA in San Francisco. Legislation was recently introduced by Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, Malia Cohen, and Eric Mar would direct the Rec and Park Department to install and maintain a memorial in Bernal Heights Park in honor of Alejandro “Alex” Nieto, the 28-year-old who was shot and killed by police in 2014.
JOIN FRIENDS OF DUBOCE PARK
Annual Membership dues for a Supporting Member are $25 per person and entitle you to voting privileges and participation in the governance of the organization. Your dues help cover the few costs we have, such as our website, newsletter, movie nights, and insurance. Dues paid now are good through 2017.
Your tax deductible membership is gratefully accepted and should be sent to Friends of Duboce Park, 79 Scott Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. Friends of Duboce Park are a 501(c)(3) organization. General Membership is still available at no cost but does not carry any voting privileges. Another way to show your support is by getting involved. If you are interested, please contact President Doug Woo at doug@friendsofdubocepark.org.
Our Mission Statement includes the following: "to organize and represent the collective interests regarding Duboce Park; to beautify and promote safety within Duboce Park; and, to initiate and/or support beneficial neighborhood projects on behalf of Duboce Park."
DECEMBER-JANUARY CALENDAR
Thursday, December 8, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Opening Reception: eXposed SF Street Photograph Exhibit. Harvey Milk Photo Center. Visit harveymilkphotocenter.org.
Saturday, December 10, 10 a.m.-noon. Friends of Duboce Park Volunteer Day. Contact Rose at rose@friendsofdubocepark.org or 415-55-8370.
Sunday, December 11, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Holiday Craft Fair. Harvey Milk Recreation Center for the Arts.
Monday, December 12, 7-9 p.m. Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association General Meeting and Holiday Celebration. Churchill, 198 Church Street. Visit dtna.org.
Saturday, December 17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Winter 2017 Class Registration. Visit sfreconline.org.
Saturday, January 14, 10 a.m.-noon. Friends of Duboce Park Volunteer Day. Contact Rose at rose@friendsofdubocepark.org or 415-255-8370.
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