Esprit Park Refresh: One More Call to Action, Plus Valentines!

There is much to love this February - and what better time for the Friends of Esprit Park (FoEP) to recap our progress and send a big public valentine to everyone who’s helped us get this far. But while Dogpatch neighbors held firm on their vision for an all-grass park with a designated Dog Play Area, park renovation plans have hit a last-minute snag. So, in addition to handing out valentines, we’re also issuing one more call to action especially for Bay Woof readers. 

The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department plans to present to the SF Parks Commission a design that would ban dogs in 50% of the park’s greenspace and does not include an on-leash area, forcing the elderly, disabled, families with pets, and people who want to picnic with their dogs, to only use the off-leash area. This plan would likely set a precedent for all other city parks. 

By the time you read this, the Friends of Esprit Park meeting and the Park Commission Capital Committee meeting will have already occurred. But you still have time to make your voice heard. Here’s how.

• Tune in and give public comment at the Parks Commission meeting, 10am, Thursday, February 18.  Remote access call in number to join the meeting by phone:  415.655.0001, Access Code: 187 225 1500 
  Download meeting agenda here.

• Email Park Commissioners at recpark.commission@sfgov.org 

Ask commissioners to stop the attempt to ban dogs from half of Esprit Park and instead move forward with a more equitable plan. You’ll find more details on our website at www.friendsofespritpark.org

Now back to those valentines...

For those who aren’t familiar with its history, Esprit Park is a small 1.8-acre park in the Dogpatch neighborhood originally created by the Esprit Company in 1982. Esprit founders Doug Tompkins and Susie T. Buell envisioned the park as a green oasis in what had been a primarily industrial neighborhood, and they enlisted landscape architect Drew Detsch to make it happen. Once the park was opened to the public, Dogpatch residents immediately fell in love with it. So when the Esprit Company hit the skids in 2001, neighbors organized to get the City of San Francisco to adopt Esprit Park as part of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department. 

Fast forward a decade or two and Esprit Park found itself in serious need of a refresh. After standing in mud during a summer drought, neighbors realized that replacing and/or rehabbing the park’s sprinkler and drainage systems, ground cover, and forestry couldn’t wait for the city bond process. Residents also recognized the need to formally reduce the off-leash dog “pawprint” to half the park as well as the need to reinvigorate the entire space for a sustainable future.

Meanwhile, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) was looking to make a substantial community investment to offset the impact of its three development projects in Dogpatch, but it needed guidance about where to target these funds. Luckily, Dogpatch neighbors were ready to speak up and show up!

Through surveys, workshops, clean-up days, and community meetings, Dogpatch denizens made their voices heard in record numbers. They made clear that Esprit’s facelift was much needed and would be a great benefit to the Dogpatch community, including UCSF students. After adding seats at the table for broader, more inclusive community input, the Esprit Park renovation rose to the top of the list for UCSF investment. Neighborhood support allowed the Friends of Esprit Park and Toes and Paws for Green Space leaders (part of the UCSF Dogpatch Cushioning Taskforce) to present a strong case to UCSF, resulting in a $5 million grant offer for park renovations. 

Which brings us to our valentines:

• We thank UCSF for responding to the data-backed groundswell of community voices and supporting Esprit Park. 

• We applaud SF Planning staffers John Rahaim, Robin Abad, and Seung Yen Hong for significantly extending their timeline and expanding outreach to ensure inclusivity for their review of Esprit Park as part of the Eastern Neighborhoods Public Realm Plan. SF Planning also secured $2.7 million in funding for the project, making the park renovation fully funded.  

• We send a special valentine to District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton and his team. After repeated unfortunate experiences with the Recreation and Parks Department regarding community input, we are most grateful for the leadership, caring, and demand for transparency from Supervisor Walton and his crew: Abe, Natalie, and Percy. Thanks to their efforts, in November 2020, two years into the project, the department finally held a community meeting where park design plans included those reflecting community consensus: an all-grass park with an off-leash Dog Play Area. We’ve worked hand-in-hand with the supervisor’s office to help ensure that the Recreation and Parks Department actions going forward are representative, fair, and without bias. This would not have been possible without the District 10 office’s partnership.

We are close to success, but we still need one more push to ensure leashed dogs are allowed throughout the park. Please join us at the Park Commission meeting on February 18 and make your voice heard.

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Friends of Esprit Park!