The city’s Recreation and Park Commission unanimously voted on Thursday to recommend the Board of Supervisors accept a $28-million grant from the San Francisco Giants for a controversial renovation of Crocker Amazon Park’s ballfields, and to approve an accompanying agreement to carry out the renovation as a public-private partnership.
Once the grant is approved by the Board of Supervisors, the Recreation and Parks Department can formally accept the gift, which will be combined with another $22 million from the city’s 2020 Health and Recovery bond for a total of $50 million.
The current renovation plan connected to the grant has drawn criticism and public outcry from residents and a local group called Keep Crocker Real, which objects to certain aspects of the renovation.
Specifically, they object to a plan to use synthetic turf on five of the six renovated ballfields, and to remove 128 mature trees (Rec and Parks has promised to plant new ones).
At the meeting, Rec and Park commissioners and Rec and Parks’ director of partnership, Lisa Bransten, repeatedly underscored that voting to accept the grant will not obligate the city to adhere to the current proposal.
“The current document,” said Bransten, “is a very general illustration of the plan.”
“Money doesn’t fall from trees,” Commissioner Vanita Louie said in the discussion leading up to the vote. Still, Louie continued that her vote was not an endorsement of “any determination of any final design.”
Bob Hall, a leader of Keep Crocker Real, expressed doubt that the renovation will give up its synthetic-turf plans so easily. He pointed to a comment made by Dan Mauer, the Crocker Amazon renovation project lead at the Rec and Parks Department, in an article published by the San Francisco Standard, in which Mauer called the artificial turf “non-negotiable.”
Others in attendance also expressed caution.
“I’m here because the giant acceptance agreement between the Giants and the city is being considered before the community has fully vetted the design for the park renovations,” said District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen, whose district includes Crocker Amazon.
Chen has found herself in the middle of a battle that she has limited powers to resolve — supervisors have virtually no sway over Rec and Parks’ actions.
Currently, the proposal behind this $50-million renovation includes five synthetic turf ballfields (two full-size baseball fields and three youth baseball and softball fields), one natural-grass field, artificial turf dog-play areas and batting cages, a picnic area, an outdoor fitness area and dugouts.
Chen urged those behind the renovation proposal to set aside at least two natural-grass fields and retain at least two-thirds of the existing mature trees. She also called for minimizing fencing on natural grass fields, and allowing public access to the fields when they aren’t in use.
“I strongly believe that major investment in historically neglected areas must be responsive to community priorities,” Chen said.
The turf war is just getting started
Keep Crocker Real is still working on several fronts to keep the mature trees and real grass instead of the fake grass on the ballfields, said Hall.
Among them: Trying to get the San Francisco Health Commission to hold a hearing on artificial turf safety, sending out a survey to collect community ideas around “thoughts about upgrades and amenities that would be great for the park,” preparing to challenge the renovation’s environmental impact report (once it’s released), and seeking a resolution from the Urban Forestry Council objecting to tree removal.
Keep Crocker Real is also distributing information packets to all 11 district supervisors. Those packets call for a citywide moratorium on artificial turf pending further study. The group also circulated a petition calling for the same (it was at 1,598 signatures as of Thursday afternoon).
Finally, Hall added, the group is collaborating with In Defense of Animals, a California-based animal protection nonprofit, to protest the use of artificial turf in the dog-play areas, citing exposure to toxic chemicals, particularly during heatwaves. So far, Hall said, they have collected 7,298 signatures opposing the artificial-turf expansion.
Seeking the middle ground
Ahsha Safaí, the former District 11 Supervisor, who showed up at Thursday’s vote on behalf of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trade, said he is “in full support of” accepting the grant. Safaí, who led the district for eight years from 2017 to 2025, said the grant has been a long time coming.
“In my previous role, I was calling Jack Bair [chief development officer of the San Francisco Giants] almost on a daily basis, saying, ‘When are you guys going to raise your money?’” Safaí recalled.
Chen, meanwhile, has stayed firm on the necessity of input from the community, though she has repeatedly stated her appreciation for the investment the renovation represents in the “forgotten” District 11.
In a statement on March 16, Chen said the renovation “can’t come at the expense of the needs of our neighborhood park users,” and added that she had “the support of our Mayor, the SF Giants, and Rec & Parks to hold an additional community design meeting.”
The first of these meetings since her push takes place on April 26, just 10 days away from now. At the meeting, project representatives will present and discuss the concept design before the final vote to approve the grant goes before the Board of Supervisors.
“I am pleased that an additional community meeting was added. Our residents possess invaluable knowledge and they deserve equitable engagement in this process,” Chen said. “Crocker Park is a jewel in district 11, which should not approve any plans until we get this plan right.”
You can RSVP for the April 26 workshops at McLaren Park here for free.
