Last month, Friends of Jackson Park held its first in-person meeting at the Jackson Clubhouse since 2019. Roughly 100 people attended, including District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, District 11 Supervisor and San Francisco mayoral candidate Ahsha Safai, and mayoral candidate and Potrero Hill resident Daniel Lurie. The two-hour event focused on briefing community members on the approved park redesign and soliciting comments on preferred playground and open space features. Participants also discussed renaming the park.
“One option we’re considering is rededicating the park to honor Dr. Espanola Jackson, a Bayview-Hunters Point community advocate who passed in 2016. Ms. Jackson was instrumental in pushing for the closing of the former Potrero power plant, mitigating the soil at the Hunters Point Shipyard, (and) encouraging workforce development plans and local hire mandates in District 10. (She was also) responsible for the citywide free lunch program for school children,” said Jude Deckenbach, executive director of Friends of Jackson Park.
Jackson was among a host of community members who successfully advocated for closure of the Potrero Power Plant, including Goat Hill Pizza owner, Philip De Andrade, and the late Joe Boss.
Many of Jackson’s family members, who support the idea of rededicating the park in her honor, attended the meeting. Upwards of 175 other names have been suggested for the park, including rededicating it to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; former Hill resident Wayne Thiebaud, after the American painter of pop culture who died in 2021; and Two Diamonds, for the park’s two baseball diamonds.
The meeting opened with remarks from Friends of Jackson Park Board President Elain Sprague Stuebe, followed by Supervisor Walton and Deckenbach. It then segued into a historical talk on the park’s history by Peter Linenthal, director of the Potrero Hill History Archive.
David Fletcher, of Fletcher Studio, and Julie Jackson, of Jackson Liles Architecture, presented the approved concept design. The firms are collaborating with San Francisco Recreation and Parks and Friends of Jackson Park on park redesign. The meeting then broke into small groups to discuss what attendees would like to see in the children’s play and open space areas, including materials – like sand for play areas – trees and signage.
“We also discussed the fact that we need to raise $10 million more for the park. We’ve already raised a little more than $30 million in pledged and donated both public and private funds. Friends of Jackson Park has hired BuildingBloxConsulting, a City-based consulting firm, to help prepare FoJP to roll out a fundraising campaign in 2024,” said Deckenbach.
The meeting featured children activities, including face painting and the opportunity to draw on paper leaves “things we love about Jackson Park.” Many families were in attendance, including Daniel Webster and Starr King elementary students and children enrolled in San Francisco Recreation and Parks’ after school program at Jackson Playground. Magic Donuts & Coffee donated food and Le Marché Cezanne provided coffee for the event.
“After the meeting, people talked and got to know each other. There was a great feeling of enthusiasm and togetherness. We were happy to have our partners, San Francisco Recreation and Parks staff, attend the meeting to hear what the community had to say,” said Deckenbach.
