With all the hub-bub from the presidential hopefuls, it could be easy to overlook an important measure on the same ballot that will fix up our ailing neighborhood parks. On February 5th, San Francisco voters will consider Prop. A – a $185 million bond to repair and rebuild our neighborhood parks, recreation centers and park restrooms.

“Proposition A will preserve and restore San Francisco’s neighborhood parks,” says Glenn Snyder, president of the San Francisco Parks Trust Board of Trustees. “These are the parks we use every day for soccer and softball, for casual strolls and long distance runs, for pushing children in swings and watching birds in their nests.”

Prop. A will replace unsafe playground equipment, protect open space along the waterfront, repair every freestanding neighborhood park bathroom, improve earthquake safety in our recreation centers, plant trees in our parks, restore hiking trails, resurface athletic fields and provide matching grants for smaller neighborhood park improvements, which HVNA neighbors could apply for to make improvements to our parks!

“Every neighborhood in San Francisco deserves high quality parks and park programs, says Isabel Wade, NPC’s Executive Director, “and Prop. A will get us one step closer to this goal.”

Proposed by Mayor Newsom and the entire Board of Supervisors, the bond measure is the first step in a 10-year plan to restore the City’s declining physical facilities while holding property taxes steady. How is this possible? Prop. A bonds will only be sold as old bonds are repaid. According to City Controller Ed Harrington, this city policy results in “keeping the property tax impact from general obligation bonds approximately the same over time.”

Prop. A requires strict accountability standards including: listing all major projects in the bond ordinance and setting their budgets, a new city website so the public can track bond projects and spending, monthly reports on the bond program and annual meetings at Rec/Park and Port Commissions, annual independent audits by a citizens’ bond oversight committee that can stop the sale of bonds if anything is amiss.

The HVNA Board and a diverse mix of civic groups across the City have endorsed the measure, including: Neighborhood Parks Council, SPUR, Friends of the Urban Forest, Sierra Club, San Francisco Parks Trust, SF Democratic Party, SF Chamber of Commerce, SF Labor Council, Viking Soccer, the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council and the Planning Association for the Richmond.

Vote Yes on Prop A February 5th!

For more detailed information on the proposal please see www.fixourparks.com. For more information or to volunteer on the campaign to pass Prop. A, please contact: Patrick Hannan at 415/608-6699.