Private Play Spaces Pop-up as Government Support for Parks Shrinks

With winter break approaching, many parents, and their children, are looking for a spot to linger during the holiday season. Ongoing budget pressures are shrinking publicly available outdoor activities, and the Potrero Hill branch library is closed for renovation, forcing some residents to look for privately-sponsored play spaces to occupy their children’s time.

Venerable Jackson Park, at the corner of Arkansas and 17th streets, was created in 1855. In what was then called Potrero Nuevo, Jackson Square was “undeveloped and virtually ignored for more than 75 years,” according to San Francisco Parks and Playgrounds: 1839-1990. The park’s playground was built in the 20th century, and now features a fenced-in sand area and play structures suitable for the very young and the just young.

Earlier this year the number of after school, karate and other youth programs offered at the park was reduced due to budget cuts. Last month, the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) issued an abrupt notice that due to “a construction problem with Jackson Clubhouse that we would like to remediate right away” the facility was being closed, though the play grounds will remain open. “We have been working with structural engineers who have identified some repair work needed on the clubhouse,” Steven Cismowski, RPD neighborhood service area manager, said. “Part of that work will deal with hazardous materials. Until more assessments are made, we will not fully know the extent of the repairs needed. As a precaution, we have relocated interior programs to Potrero Hill Recreation Center.” According to RPD outreach, education, and customer service manager Lisa Seitz Gruwell, no time table has been set for the repairs.

Indiana Street resident Jackie Knutson is sad to see the programs go. “When I first had my baby we went park hopping a lot until we found Jackson Park,” she said. “It has such a community feel to it. My son loves it because there are always so many kids to play with. Director Mike Bross invited my son to come and join their baseball/soccer class on Saturday mornings. After that we were hooked and signed up for their playgroups and Friday afternoon sports class. Also we love the garden. Mike would take the kids back to the garden and let them water the plants. I now have a new baby and was hoping to be able to do a lot of the same programs with her.”

Eighteenth Street resident Renee Tan started Jackson Playground’s after school program when her oldest child began school in 2006. “It started as a two day a week program and has turned into a five day a week program, with a waiting list,” Tan said. “I think the Jackson Park programs are really important because they help foster community.”

For those with coins in their pockets, the neighborhood offers a few private play options while the branch library and Jackson Park clubhouse are closed. Pump It Up’s Inflatable Party Zone, on Mendell Street near City College of San Francisco’s Evans campus, has 15 foot tall inflatable slides that kids can’t resist, an inflatable climbing wall, and a mini-obstacle course. Just a couple blocks off Third Street, owners Shahab Layeghico and Fay Toolami invite children of all ages to bounce their way to ecstasy. According to Assistant Manager Sophie Formosa, Pump It Up is often compared to Chuck E. Cheeses, but it offers more privacy and no arcade. “There are two large arenas and each one has a different variety of huge inflatables with slides,” Formosa said. Birthday parties are common, but kids age two to 10 can drop by Monday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., for $10 Pop-In Playtime.

Donte Brown visits Pump It Up almost weekly because his two sons, Nate, seven, and Owen, two, love the big slides. “The play helps with hand eye coordination and teaches them to play nice,” Brown said. “It’s good to be at a place where everyone has a common interest.”

“We’ve had 15-year-old parties, 25-year-old, 40-yr-old, some business parties,” Formosa said. “There are no age or height or weight limits on the inflatables. We guarantee that kids will be ready for nap time after a party here.” Pump It Up opened in January, and is part of a franchise that’s individually owned and operated. “We’re doing well for our first six months, though summer had slowed down” Formosa said.

MyGym and recess urban recreation offer more directed play opportunities. Both spaces have combined traditional gym elements with their own approach to play time. MyGym opened in 2005 in one of Esprit Corporation’s remodeled buildings on Minnesota Street. It’s owned and operated by Marci Briskin, a Richmond district resident and mother of two. “Business is good, but we have definitely been affected by the economy,” Briskin said. “I feel very fortunate because I think it could be a lot worse and it’s actually been pretty good, considering.”

“We do classes as well as birthday parties,” Briskin said. “Our mission is we do non-competitive gymnastics classes mixed in with movement and dance. We do age appropriate classes where we break it down per age group. Once you come in and try a free class and you want to sign up it’s $78 per month. You come to a class once a week and you can also attend a free play once a week. Kids are introduced to gymnastics, then they get to accustom themselves to music and dance. It builds self-esteem and they try lots of new things. They work on coordination, agility, and they just have a good time. We are not about who does things first. It’s just working with the child and making them feel good about what they’re doing here and having fun.”

MyGym doesn’t have the large inflatables or a sand box, but it does have a ball pit, a zip line and a rock climbing wall. “At 22 months and up we introduce a new toy to them every week, which we give them to manipulate in different ways and refine gross motor skills,” Briskin said. “There’s a definite programming in our classes.” MyGym offers classes for kids aged from roughly three to 13-years-old.

For those searching for a less structured program for their children under seven-years-old, recess urban recreation is the place to go. Lisa Nowell and Kristen Jamieson launched the Carolina Street business last year. “Come play!” is their motto. “So many kids are over-scheduled and have class after class after class but don’t get the opportunity to just hang out,” Nowell said. “More and more research is coming out about the importance of play and how vital it is to kids’ development. So that’s something that we wanted to provide. It’s for developmental skills, social skills, learning turn taking and those sorts of things, body awareness. Learning things like object awareness, like this thing is lighter than this thing and just exploring their environment.”

“They learn so much and I think especially in San Francisco, schools are so competitive that it’s, ‘I want to get my kid into second language immediately’, and when they turn two they need to be on a list for preschool and all those things,” Nowell said. “To let them just play can be a little daunting for kids. So to have a place where people can just come and hang out is, both for the parents and the kids, really important.”

Recess urban recreation has the added advantage of being a block and a half away from Jackson Park. “A lot of people like to mix it up a little bit,” Nowell said. “Come on inside! When you have to go to the bathroom, you want to have lunch inside, you’d be able to clean the kids’ hands and all that.”

Not as brightly colored as MyGym or Pump It Up, recess urban reflects the open space and clean lines of many urban homes. Kids can tumble and run in the 3,200 square-foot play area, but can also attend classes, like messy art and fun with food. There’s story time, play groups and a safe place for infants. Fees are membership based, like MyGym, but the hours are broader. Jamieson has a physical therapy background, and offers massage on site as an accessory. “You can feel totally good that your kid is having a great time and you can also have a massage or take a pilates class,” Jamieson said.

Visit www.pumpitupparty.com, www.recessurbanrecreation.com, www.my-gym.com or www.sfgov.org/site/recpark_index.asp for more details.

Organizers Ask Eastern Neighborhoods Property Owners to Invest in their Community

       Enjoy this shot of the coast near Ft. Funston.

     
     A group of citizen-activists, entrepreneurs and property owners in the Central Waterfront, Showplace Square, and Northeast Mission have launched an initiative to create an Eastern Neighborhoods Urban Innovation Community Benefit District.  The effort is modeled on the popular community benefit districts (CBD) formed around the City’s retail corridors.  

     While those districts focus mainly on sidewalk cleaning and graffiti removal, the Urban Innovation CBD seeks to spur economic development in the recently rezoned eastern neighborhoods.

    Urban Innovation CBD is working to convince property owners in the Central Waterfront, NE Mission and Showplace Square neighborhoods to pay a special tax assessment to fund improvement projects.  

    According to their website, www.urbaninnovationsf.org, those projects could include “branding, marketing and promotion of the district to businesses, brokers and outside residents and maintaining a website that promotes the neighborhoods.”  A nonprofit, public benefit corporation would manage the district, directed by the property owners who fund it.   

    According to Steering Committee member and NE Mission resident Kate Sofis, Urban Innovation hasn’t yet estimated the cost of the assessment.

    “We have not yet begun calculating the various assessment scenarios.” she said.  “We will be doing this step once the initial survey results come back from the community, which will in turn help inform the services most in demand.”

Despite Continuing High Real Estate Prices, Vacant Buildings Dot Dogpatch and Potrero Hill

     

      With the launching of the Art in Storefronts campaign, the Mayor's Office of Economic Workforce and Development has taken a creative approach to beautifying vacant storefronts. Under the pilot program that started in September, art installations are to be placed in vacant storefronts in the Bayview, Tenderloin, Mission and Central Market neighborhoods. Dogpatch and Potrero Hill could opt into the program after January 2010. But for now, vacant stores and houses in the neighborhood are following their own path. In fact, several empty buildings in the community have unique stories.

     The former Hair Fair salon, at 1512 20th Street, is one of the Hill's longest standing vacancies. Its owner, Virginia Samaduross, is in her nineties, and two of her neighbors agree that she just doesn't care that her property sits empty. According to Julie Arvan, who lives on Rhode Island Street across from Samaduross, she’s pitched Samaduross many ideas about what to do with the salon.

     "She's very independent," Arvan said. "But she does have a man named Russ who takes care of her." Russ preferred not to give his last name, but he did say that Samaduross used to run the salon before her mother got sick. That was three decades ago. "Her nieces live above the salon," he said. Kayren Hudiburgh, owner of Good Life Grocery, which is two doors from Hair Fair, said that she’d inquired about Hair Fair, but that Samaduross wasn’t inclined to sell. Chiotras Grocery occupies the ground floor of a building only a few doors down from the Samaduross and Arvan homesteads on Rhode Island Street.

     Chiotras Grocery owner Ramzi Harb pointed out that a recently remodeled house at 830 Rhode Island St. had been vacant for a couple of years. The Edwardian style house is owned by the Chiotras family trust and had a complaint filed against it from the Department of Building Inspection in September. The complaint said that an 8-foot fence behind the house had been torn down in May and not replaced. That fence ran along Kansas Street resident Lisa Rasmussen's property line. She thought the house had been empty for two or three years also. "There were a lot of rats there when it was vacant," she said. The house has now been rented and a Chiotras family spokesman declined to comment for this story.

Potrero Hill Festival

     (Go ahead and click on the band images for the full effect!)

     October 17 saw the Potrero Hill neighborhood explode into celebration with the 19th Annual Potrero Hill Festival.  Held this year on 20th Street high above the city, the Potrero Boosters Association attempted to bring some business to the sometimes neglected retailers on this scenic street.  Eighteenth Street tends to attract most of the commercial attention here, not least because it is two blocks further down the hill.
     Nevertheless, the festival was pretty well attended if not quite rivaling the Haight Street Fair or North Beach Jazz Fest.  Mezisto, pictured above, featured the horn section from San Francisco's own Tower of Power.  I think this photo turned out pretty well.  The big dude wasn't much of a singer, but they were more about the music than the lyrics.

     Also featured at the party was a petting zoo; this being a family neighborhood and all.  I couldn't resist this critter.
     Naturally, I crave Belgian waffles.  Score!  Seriously though, they had tons of great food vendors.
      The best part was the Bobbie Webb Smooth Blues Band lead by local sax man Bobbie 'Spider' Webb.  PHUNKY!!!!!!  This was the dance portion of the show, and Webb didn't hold back by leading off with JB's 'Sex Machine'.  I said this was a family event right?
     Webb brought the funk despite it being the middle of the day.  It was a delight and a surprise to hear some funky music after watching Aztec dancers and the aforementioned Mezisto.  No disrespect to those performers, but when it comes to a party, I gots ta have the Funk! 

It's Friday Mutha*****!

     This is the view from McKinley Square on 20th Street near the top of the curviest part of Vermont Street.  The park itself (that I was standing in) was improved last year with new play structures and sod for the doggies. 
     The hump off in the distance is Mt. Davidson and if you squint, you can see Bethel Christian Church in the middle.  It's the array of dark triangles that looks like it could be one big housing complex.

   It being Friday afternoon, there was virtually no one at the park.  There was also no one at Jay's Deli, about five blocks away.  The windows were papered over and just a sign that said they were closing for awhile.  I called Jay and he said that since he just got back to the states, he would have to talk to me on Monday. 
    The sign on the door said it was due to 'circumstances beyond their control..'  He said he'd talk to his wife and then speak with me.  I have to say that he has my attention now.  He spoke with a thick Australian accent, so maybe his brother got arrested back home or some other embarrassing family situation. 
   

Baraka now Sunflower

     Baraka restaurant had been closed for almost a year, but the building has finally been transformed into a snazzy new Vietnamese joint.  Baraka was too expensive for me, but it always got great reviews.  Sunflower should be a good draw in Potrero Hill just because it is different.  Goin' there Friday night!
http://www.sunflower-restaurant.com/
The Web site still says 16th Street, but don't be fooled, it's on Connecticut at the corner of 18th (across from Goat Hill Pizza).

Green Power SF

      The battle over the City's only remaining power plant continues as the state's energy regulators voted to keep the plant open for another year.  It looks like the Potrero power plant will close at the end of 2010, but it is not yet certain.  I spoke with Joe Boss, who wrote an op-ed piece last week in the SF Chronicle and he seemed pretty pissed that PG&E was so aggressive in preventing the City from getting into the power production business.
      The Mirant owned plant on Illinois Street between 22nd and 23rd must remain open because state regulators want to be sure that there is enough power to maintain the system.  There seems to be some disagreement here, but according to the city attorney, no one wants the plant open except the regulators.  I'll be attending a city hall meeting on Thursday and hope to learn more then. 
   

MUNI misadventures

     I worship the City and MUNI is my alter.  I spend so much time riding around on the #29, #54 and #43 that pretty much nothing happens that I haven't seen before. 
     On a recent visit to the Potrero Hill neighborhood, I had the opportunity to ride one of the longest MUNI routes around; the #22 Fillmore.  It goes completely across town and through many neighborhoods, and as it happens, through Potrero Hill as well.  It goes down 18th Street which is kind of the main commercial artery of the hill.  It's perfect. 
     This route serves plenty of school kids and many of them love to act out on the bus.  Thirteen through 17 year olds have nothing to do in this town.  It's a town for grown ups, so the teens get into trouble because they are bored. 
     In this case, they weren't bothering anyone, but you could tell the old people were avoiding going to the back of the bus.   I especially loved the music played through the mobile phone speaker.  It amazes me how good the sound is coming out of those things! 
     So when ever a kid gets on, they first look around at the graffiti and see who they know that has been on that bus recently.  It's like they are reading the paper!  Then they look around real quick to see if anyone is looking and pull out the paint pen; these thick marker type writing implements that drip indelible ink. 
     One young man crossed out what I can only presume was his rival's tag and scribbled his mark on the wall.  He was only on for a couple stops and probably lived close by, but he had to leave his stamp on that bus.  He also worshiped at the MUNI alter; something many young and elderly alike have done for years. 
    One of the downsides to MUNI in Potrero Hill is the lack of electric buses.  The terrain does not allow the extensive overhead wires like on Market Street.  The buses have to chug up 18th and the diesel fumes spew out; plus they are loud. 
    Alan Wendroff has lived in the hill for almost 40 years and he thinks there should be more busing with easier transfers on MUNI.  "One day they'll figure it out," he said.    Perhaps, but until then, those bored teenagers and people like me will have to keep it real on the people's transportation; The San Francisco Municipal Railway. 

High on a Hill It Calls to Me

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