The Revitalization of Golden Gate Park

Mar 31, 2022

According to The Trust for Public Land, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is ranked the third most visited park in the entire country, out of parks in 100 cities coast to coast.

Over the years, the park has struggled to maintain its beauty with deteriorating infrastructure, homeless encampments, and even packs of coyotes.

Today, that has all changed. When you walk through the park, you will see its wonderful revitalization from the renovated children’s playground to its new tennis courts, and better maintain walking trails. When you look around, you’ll see families, joggers, groups playing basketball, seniors all enjoying the park’s beauty.

During the pandemic, the park has been closing a 1.5 mile stretch of John F. Kennedy Drive to car traffic on Sundays to allow families to enjoy the park safely. It’s become popular among pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter enthusiasts, and has doubled the park’s estimated daily attendance from 150,000 to more than 300,000 since the pandemic.

Mayor London Breed has voiced her desire to now close the street down permanently. Having personally witnessed the benefits of closing this street, I do support this decision.  Allowing people to walk, ride and simply take a walk inside the park truly provides a getaway for those who simply want to take a break from our busy and often unpredictable lives.

The revitalization of Golden Gate’s gardens and its lakes is particularly exciting to see. Its world-class museum and Academy of Sciences have put an international spotlight back on the park.

What is particularly nice to see are the renovated playgrounds, allowing parents to take a much-needed break while their kids can play safely.  Beyond the playgrounds, Golden Gate’s makeover includes new irrigation systems and sod, larger picnic areas with new seating, ADA-compliant entrances, pathway repaving, a volunteer-built butterfly habitat, a community bulletin board, and a bioswale designed to capture and infiltrate stormwater runoff.

I write these articles to bring attention to things that San Francisco needs to address and improve. As a native San Franciscan that has now lived here many years, I have seen the beauty of this city deteriorate and I want us to own these challenges and make it great again. I commend those in charge of Golden Gate Park as well as those who have led the charge to bring it back to its glory. It proves that we can still get it done.

Image via Pexels

 

Written by: Hans Hansson

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