Tonight's town square community brainstorm wasn't nearly as well attended as past community meetings, but the turnout was decent for a warm summer night in July. And maybe because of the Tea Party antics at the June 30 gathering, there was a beat cop onsite and facilitator Meredith Thomas opened with a list of Ground Rules (We turn off cell phones; We stay on topic… etc). Everybody behaved and after a brief overview of the proposal, the meeting divided into brainstorming groups that reported back with ideas.Topline summary: The Neighborhood Parks Council is looking for some (any!) sign of consensus in Noe for a Town Square. And they got it. From the community brainstorm sessions, two themes emerged:
- Let's not put a building there
- Let's make it a community space
Beyond that, Noe Valleyans dreamed of an Italian piazza, a parking lot with green space, a skate park, a movie theater, a dog run, a playground, park benches, a duck pond, a farmer's market every day, a food pantry, a bandshell, a clubhouse… and everything in between.
Next steps: The San Francisco Neighborhood Parks Council and the city are having the NV Ministry parking lot land appraised – an estimate of the cost to buy the land from the current investors and Ministry will be revealed August 30. In the meantime, the ideas from and the temperature of this meeting will be considered by city planning. If there's a recommendation to move forward, alternative concepts would be presented to the community for more input.
[Image: St. Peter's Square, Vatican City]
A skate park? Ugh. Better to leave it a parking lot. Love the idea of a piazza tho.
ReplyDeleteTime to stop scoffing and accept skateboarding. Embrace it or the youth will resent you. Better to have them somewhere where they are accepted and not in the shadows, running from cops and engaging in anti-social behavior. Wake up
ReplyDelete