A local park, a proposed change, and a process that left neighbors with more questions than answers.
What Happened
On Saturday, neighbors gathered at Koshland Park for a Recreation & Park hosted open house on the upcoming playground renewal project. What was presented as an opportunity to learn more and provide input instead left many attendees with more questions than answers. The format, an informal drop-in session with no agenda or presentation, made it difficult to understand what was being proposed, how decisions would be made, or how community input would be incorporated. As neighbors compared notes during and after the session, a consistent theme emerged: confusion about the process, uncertainty about participation, and a lack of clear information about potential changes, particularly around access to the community garden.
The project itself is framed as a routine playground renewal, focused on upgrading equipment and improving the space. But for many neighbors, the most consequential question, how access to the garden may change, remains unclear.
This Isn’t New
For many neighbors, this week’s confusion was not an isolated moment. It reflects a longer pattern. Efforts to get clarity on the future of the garden date back over a year, with repeated outreach, limited follow-up, and ongoing uncertainty about how to engage in the process. This week’s meeting did not create that uncertainty. It exposed it. Many attendees on Saturday also pointed to the 2024 outreach effort, which relied on a survey that neighbors felt was biased and reflective of a predetermined direction.
What’s Actually Being Proposed
While the project is presented as an improvement effort, a key component under discussion is a shift in how the garden is accessed. The proposal would restrict access to the community garden, limiting entry to garden members and programming rather than maintaining open public access. For a space that has long functioned as part of the broader park experience, that represents a meaningful change. As one neighbor described in a letter to the City, this approach risks turning a shared neighborhood resource into something closer to a private space.
Why This Matters
Koshland Park is not an abstract space. It is actively used every day.
It serves as:
- a place for walking and reflection
- a gathering point for neighbors
- a source of connection in a dense urban environment
Open access is part of how the space works. It is not incidental. It is fundamental. Changes to access, especially when introduced without a clear public process, carry real consequences for how the space is used and who feels welcome there.
What Hasn’t Been Asked
Koshland Park has always evolved with the neighborhood, and not always cleanly. Earlier planning efforts left some needs unresolved. In particular, the absence of dedicated off-leash space has remained a point of discussion among neighbors for years, with prior expectations that it would be addressed elsewhere never fully materializing. Today, many residents, especially dog owners, still feel that gap. What makes the current moment notable is not just what is being proposed, but what has not been asked. Before redesigning the space or changing how it is accessed, there has been little clear engagement around a fundamental question:
Is the park, in its current form, actually serving the full range of community needs?
Without that baseline, it is difficult to evaluate whether proposed changes, including restricting access to the garden, are addressing real priorities or simply moving the space in a different direction.
What Comes Next
What’s become clear is not just that the process has been confusing, but that key segments of the community were not meaningfully included from the outset. Early engagement appears to have centered primarily around garden stakeholders, with broader neighborhood input coming later, and without clear structure. That sequencing matters. It shapes both the direction of the proposal and who feels represented in it.
We will be following up directly with Recreation & Park to seek clarity on how this process has been conducted, what decisions have already been made, and how community input will be incorporated moving forward. Prior outreach and correspondence have not yielded clear answers, and that needs to change.
At the same time, this moment presents an opportunity to address long-standing needs that have not been fully considered. For many neighbors, that includes the need for dedicated off-leash space. This has been an ongoing gap in the area, and one that should be part of any meaningful conversation about the future of Koshland Park. If this is truly a community-driven project, it should reflect the full community, not a subset of it.
References:
https://sfrecpark.org/1848/Koshland-Park-Improvement-Project
*Another session is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, 3:30-5:30pm