While it did get some art and landscaping two years ago, the Randolph and Bright Mini Park hasn’t been updated in 32 years. Now it’s time has come.
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The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, playground improvement nonprofit KABOOM!, We Are OMI and Friends of OMI Mini Parks held a volunteer clean-up at the micro park on May 11 to kick off community conversations about its future.
KABOOM!’s Jen DeMelo said she and her team heard from the community that they want a safe and clean place for gatherings, a nature-forward play space and existing tree stumps to be preserved.
“It was clear to me that the community really cares about the park and it's clear to me that there are some challenges that the community is taking accountability to try to resolve even though it's not really their responsibility if that makes sense,” DeMelo said. “There's some unwelcomed activity happening in this space. Because we know that that's a challenge across the city, residents are doing their part to clean it up and do their best to try to create a space that's safe for kids to utilize.”
The project, which will be completed late next year, will include improving pathways and creating ADA-accessible points, adding picnic/community gathering areas, upgrading the children’s play area with nature-based play features like those seen at the Presidio Tunnel Tops or the India Basin Heron’s Head Park and adding new site furnishings like retaining walls and landscaping.
Neighbors want to keep the tree stumps in the newly renovated mini park. | Anne Marie Kristoff/Ingleside Light
Last year, Mayor London Breed announced that San Francisco departments like
Recreation and Parks and Children and Nature would partner with KABOOM!, a national nonprofit dedicated to building kid-designed playscapes to end playspace inequity. This partnership includes renovating eight parks that are found within the City’s Equity Zones, which are defined by the State of California as communities with a high concentration of one or more vulnerable population characteristics, including Randolph and Bright Mini Park.
“I think San Francisco does an incredible job of understanding where the inequities of the past exist,” DeMelo said. “They have incredible data that is providing them with information that's helping them prioritize where they should be building. And we're excited to hold hands with them on addressing these issues.”
The first four parks in the first phase to undergo renovations include Randolph and Bright Mini Park, Silver Terrace Playground, Purple Playground in Crocker Amazon and the Tenderloin Recreation Center. KABOOM! is leading a fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $2.5 million that the city will also match.
In phase two, KABOOM! will fundraise again for another $2.5 million that the city will match. The next four parks haven’t been selected.
“The main goal is to ensure that kids have access to nature,” rec and park spokesperson Daniel Montes said. “These rich nature play spaces are so beneficial to kids learning, especially when they live in these big dense urban environments.”
Users of the park and residents are being asked to identify which elements and aspects they would like to see through the group’s online survey, which will be open until 5 p.m. on June 14 and pending further community meetings.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
