Cleanup of Lincoln Park a success

On a Saturday morning in July, Richmond residents and park advocates gathered for a painting workday and sand cleanup at Lincoln Park Playground.

The workday, organized through a partnership between the Friends of Lincoln Park, SF Recreation and Park Department (RPD), and the Neighborhood Parks Council (NPC), involved repainting the pressurized wood play structures, which require consistent sealing to prevent arsenic leeching, and sifting trash, cigarettes and animal waste from sand.

More than 25 residents and volunteers, including several children helpers who painted the equipment, and Pete the Bulldog came together to clean up the neighborhood playground at Clement Street and 34th Avenue.

"It was so nice to see the community gathered together for the workday," commented Albert DiPadova, community organizer for the Friends of Lincoln Park, an organization dedicated to improving of Lincoln Park.

"As the community organizer, I was so excited to see the outpouring of support. Many community groups came together to help, and this project was a good example of how much interest there is in the Richmond District. There's a lot of families and people willing to get involved," DiPadova said.

Volunteers from George Washington High School helped and a free lunch was provided by Pizza City.

The workday was the second of 10 workdays organized by the Neighborhood Parks Council and the Recreation and Park Department to clean up some of the City's most run-down playgrounds that received failing grades on NPC's Playground Report Card conducted this spring. Lincoln Park Playground, which serves as an outdoor play space for many neighborhoods in the Richmond, received a failing grade for issues such as paint deterioration, missing equipment, and poor sand quality.

The Friends of Lincoln Park are looking forward to a second workday on Aug. 9 to replace the sand, which is being donated by NPC, and are organizing around a playground redesign project. The redesign is currently in the process of approval, moving towards a complete renovation and reconstruction to begin in early 2009.

For more information, visit the Web sites at www.sfnpc.org/playgrounds and www.friendsoflincolnpark.org, or e-mail playgrounds@sfnpc.org.

- Som Pourfarzaneh