Neighborhood Parks Council (San Francisco)
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The Neighborhood Parks Council is a non-profit environmental organization based in San Francisco, California that contributes to the green movement by supporting and advocating for urban parks. The Neighborhood Parks Council supports the development of localized community groups interested in the stewardship and improvement of neighborhood/neighbourhood parks. Often, the Neighborhood Parks Council acts as a guide to community groups who aim to generate community support and raise the funds necessary for improving parks in San Francisco, California, for example by re-building a playground. This type of work involves myriad neighborhood groups and other organizations interested in the public health, safety, and quality of life for San Francisco residents. Branches of city government that are involved include the San Francisco Mayor's Office [1], the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department[2], the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the San Francisco Planning Department, the San Francisco Public Health Department. Landscape architecture firms such as Hargreaves Associates[3] are also involved. San Francisco's vision and plan for open space is defined in the General Plan: Recreation and Open Space Element [4]. The SF Department of Public Health has shown leadership in creating a public health assessment tool (Healthy Development Measurement Tool [5]) that links environmental conditions (such as access to quality parks and open space) to public health, and provides this data to city planners so that adequate consideration may be given to future development of communities.
Neighborhood parks tend to be a nexus of public life in urban areas, and the effort to improve green open space involves environmental, social, and economic challenges and dynamics.
The Neighborhood Parks Council is an advocacy group that encourages and promotes environmental health through the development of open space policies[6] and land use practices that benefit the overall physical, psychological, and economic well being of San Francisco residents. These efforts also include advocating for better and safer playgrounds [7].
The Neighborhood Parks Council has developed technology to engage citizens in monitoring and reporting issues of concern in their parks. ParkScan is an internet-based solution developed by the Neighborhood Parks Council that allows non-technical park users to generate reports online that are directed to the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD). This technology has been beta-tested in San Francisco, and is now available to other communities interested in improving the accountability and effectiveness of local government and recreation and parks departments.
Efforts to acquire and develop new open resources in San Francisco are lacking. The Neighborhood Parks Council (NPC) is active in advocating for new parks and open space, particularly in underserved communities. For example, NPC is involved in the development of the Blue Greenway[8], a 13-mile (21 km) portion of the San Francisco Bay Trail that runs along the southeastern waterfront of the city. The Blue Greenway initiative is a collaborative effort that includes stakeholders such as the Port of San Francisco, UCSF, and other community based organizations, in efforts to create new open spaces in the eastern neighborhoods of San Francisco. Even when resources are lacking, neighborhood groups have been successful in creating new kinds of community open space, such as Quesada Gardens[9], located in the Bay View of San Francisco.
The Neighborhood Parks Council is a project of Urban Resource Systems and was founded by Isabel Wade, Ph.D., an environmental planner. Dr. Wade has been responsible for incubating various projects including the Friends of the Urban Forest [10] and the AIDS Memorial Grove. NPC receives support from the City of San Francisco, and private foundations such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation [11].
Some of the more than 200 parks in San Francisco, California include: Alamo Square, Balboa Park, Buena Vista Park, Dolores Park, Glen Canyon Park, Golden Gate Park, Grand View Park, Lincoln Park, Lake Merced, McLaren Park, Mountain Lake Park, South Park, Sutro Heights Park, Washington Square Park, and Yerba Buena Gardens.
