Efforts to create a town
square on 24th Street picked up steam in January when the
project jumped a
hurdle to qualify for city funding, bolstering fundraising
efforts already
under way.
“We are very hopeful,” said Nisha Pillai, a
five-year resident of
Noe Valley and member since May of the group Residents for Noe
Valley Town
Square.
Neighborhood support for the project to turn the
blacktop parking
lot at Vicksburg Street into a public gathering spot has
netted $470,000 to
date, she said. The lot is the site of the popular weekly Noe
Valley Farmers’
Market, which would stay if the town square became a reality.
Chances of its materializing improved
significantly on Jan. 8,
when the Noe Valley Town Square was officially added to a
roster drawn up by
the Park and Recreation Open Space Advisory Committee, a group
that makes
recommendations to the Recreation and Park Commission as to
which parks and
open space to acquire.
The Residents expect to go before the commission
in March, when
they will ask the body to consider buying the parking lot
using open space
funds.
Their hope is that Rec and Park will kick in
something close to $2
million of the estimated $3.6 million price tag to buy the
property, Pillai
said.
“Noe Valley is one of the most underserved
communities in terms of
open space in the city,” she said. City planning policy
defines an area as deficient
in open space if there is no playground or park within a
half-mile radius.
“If we had the town square there, that would be
the only open
space within almost three-quarters of a mile,” she said.
At the same time, the group is working with the
park department to
hash out how the acquisition would take place if the project
were approved.
It’s not unusual for community groups to partner with the city
to maintain a
park space, but partnering for the acquisition is new
territory, so a new agreement
is being created, she said.
Looking to other sources for money, group members
Kate Sherwood
and Leslie Crawford are applying for a second round of state
grant money
intended for urban greening projects. Winners in the first
round of grants will
receive up to $1 million. (Winners won’t be announced until
summer 2014 at the
earliest, said a spokesman for the granting agency.)
Meanwhile, organizers continue their weekly
appearances at the
Saturday farmer’s market. A standard fundraising campaign
starts with an
initial large donation, but town square organizers are working
in reverse,
Pillai said.
“They decided to fundraise to see how much the
community supports
it, and they’ve been wildly successful,” she said.
A handful of neighbors have made significant
donations in the form
of matching grants. Both Patxi’s Pizza and Joel Panzer’s Real
Management
Company put up $24,000. Local residents the Mogal family (of
Eco+Historical
Homes), Rodrigo Santos, and the Russell-Shapiro family, who
own Absinthe
restaurant in Hayes Valley, put up $12,000 each.
Money raised beyond the purchase price will
determine how many
amenities the space can afford, Pillai said.
In addition to the farmer’s market booths,
planners envision a
space that will have trees and shrubbery, benches or other
seating, and
possibly a stage or other performance venue.
Changes and upkeep will be the responsibility of
the neighborhood,
not the Rec and Park Department.
