No complaints about fresh food.

San Francisco Recreation and Park Department officials who informed the Free Food Stand earlier this month that it would have to move out of Parque Niños Unidos said today in an email to the community that they are meeting with Dennis “Tree” Rubenstein, who runs the stand, and “working to find a good solution that can keep this open and available for the community at this site and still balance the various needs for our parks.

“Thank you for your email and sharing your concerns and expressing the importance of the Free Farm Stand to the community,” the e-mail, sent at 5:32 p.m., continued. “We look forward to getting back to everyone shortly. Thank you for your patience and for your input. It is very helpful.”

The email was signed by Dana Ketcham, manager of permits and reservations, and Eric Anderson, the park services manager for Area 6.

Connie Chan, a spokeswoman for the parks department, said Monday that the city had received four official complaints regarding the Free Farm Stand, one by phone and the others via email. Chan said that one of the complaints was from parents who raised concerns over the stand’s crowd disrupting a children’s birthday party at the rented clubhouse.

It was those complaints that helped persuade Rec and Park that the stand, which operates from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sundays, had outgrown the park and should move elsewhere.

However, the community has rallied around Tree and the stand, which has operated since 2008.

Chan said the city has received some 30 community responses. “Some have written explicitly in support of Farm Stand but some are just questioning what RPD is going to do, which we could not judge whether they are support or oppose Farm Stand,” Chan wrote on Monday.

Farm Stand visitors held hands last Sunday, expressing appreciation and hope for the stand’s future. For Rubenstein, a major purpose of the stand is to build community stewardship and to share the bounty with his neighbors.

Parents said on Sunday that they appreciate the free produce, which contributes to their children’s health and family’s wellbeing.

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Justine Quart knows everyone calls themselves a foodie in San Francisco, that's why she goes by gastro-ethnologist.

Before joining Mission Loc@l, Justine graduated from Brown University with a double major in Ethnic Studies and Visual Arts. In between gypsy stints abroad and working at a community health non-profit, she learned the delicate art of playing roller derby and making the perfect veggie burger. After working at the Discovery Channel Headquarters in Washington DC, Justine migrated to the warmer coasts of California to hone her reporting skills.

Aside from food, Justine likes to get nerdy about visual storytelling, experiential journalism, and investigative stories.

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  1. easy solution: hold the free farmstand earlier in the day. i’m there on sunday mornings quite often with my toddler and the place is deserted before 11, when everyone’s at church. why i might even email park and rec and tell them that!

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