Bernal Heights Pop-up Town Square Opening Party

Bernal Heights Pop-up Town Square

Event Dates: Daily starting Sept 6th, through next February (and perhaps longer)

Venue: Bernal Heights Rec Center Plaza

This Saturday, we’ll be creating a Pop-up Town Square on the blacktop at the Bernal Heights Rec Center. The goal is to transform the asphalt into a lush, welcoming space for the community and to initiate a broader conversation about revitalizing the Rec Center. In light of the ongoing playground closure, the blacktop will feature a new play amenity: a nature exploration area made entirely of fallen logs and other natural materials. This is an investment in the Rec Center that utilizes temporary materials to quickly pilot ideas for how this space can be used, with the hope that through this process, we can explore how this place can best serve the neighborhood. We invite neighbors to come experience the space, helping to test and refine what’s there and how it’s arranged. Neighborhood feedback will help ensure that the space reflects the desires of the neighborhood. 

Who is hosting this event?

The Green Street Fund is putting on the event in partnership with Greening Projects and the Civic Joy Fund. 

What’s the deal with this space? Will this space be made permanent? 

• This is a temporary activation of the blacktop that features simple amenities, including seating, shade, a kids’ play area, and lush greenery.
• Part of the impetus for creating this space was the realization that the playground would be closed for several months, and that our kids should still have a place to play.
• Another contributing factor was the long-term investment in this space envisioned by Greening Projects. While that vision makes its way through the grant process, this project can help test different layouts, amenities, and materials that will contribute to the long-term vision. 
• Bernal Heights is a special neighborhood and deserves a special place to bring neighbors together. The intention of this pop-up is to help envision what a town square could look like in Bernal Heights.
• Bernal Heights is hilly and dense, and this location—one of the few flat spots in the entire neighborhood—presented an opportunity to invest in the neighborhood’s public spaces. 
• This Pop-up Town Square enhances the blacktop with amenities to make it a more prominent part of the Cortland commercial corridor and a more useful community resource.     
• Modernizing the Bernal Heights Rec Center is critical, and the creation of this town square provides flexible space for the community and an added impetus to invest in the Rec Center. 
• This event is designed to initiate a broader conversation with the community about the future of this space and to engage our civic leaders in understanding the desires of the Bernal Heights community for its public spaces. 
• This iteration of the town square, and any that may follow, is part of an engagement process to assess how well the space serves the neighborhood and how different design elements resonate with the community.

Are there any other spaces in SF like this? 

• Other San Francisco neighborhoods have created similar small, magical community gathering places:
  • Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley includes a picnic area with tables/benches, rotating public art, and a children’s play area. 
  • The Noe Valley Town Square is a community hub that regularly hosts free events, including yoga classes, concerts, story time with the SF Public Library, and a farmers’ market. 
  • Lakeside Landing is a gathering space at the entrance of the Lakeside Village commercial corridor. Its greenery, seating, stage, and lights provide a space for the local community, transforming what was once an underutilized parking lot into a hub for local art, culture, and community. 

I have concerns about this project. To whom should I reach out?

Luke Spray: luke@civicjoyfund.org