Youth soccer players from the Mission District —who just months ago were kicked off a local soccer field by adult techies who had paid for the space— teamed up with local organizations to rally before City Hall on Oct. 17 to demand that the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission incorporate local communities more directly in setting public park policy.
This time, the Mission soccer players won.
Working with the Latino Democratic Club, the soccer players presented to the commission a list of policy changes that included safety and staff improvements, more equitable resource distribution, increased bilingual access and the creation of a community council to advise the commission.
“We came up with demands through a process with the community,” said Edwin Lindo, vice president of the Latino Democratic Club and one of the community organizers working with the soccer players. “The benefit is keeping these kids off the streets and keeping them on the fields.”
Before the rally even began, it was announced that the commission had accepted the youths’ most immediate demand: that it eliminate adult-use permits at Mission Playground and keep the fields lit on Sunday nights.
“We appreciate that Park and Rec met with us and conceded to some of our requests,” said Lindo. “But that’s just the beginning. We need systemic change within Rec and Park.”
A community outcry arose after a widely circulated Internet video, which had garnered national attention days after it became known on Oct. 10, rekindled anger among Mission residents who have witnessed their fields transform from beloved pickup-soccer playing grounds to the domain of adults paying for private access. The video showed the youth arguing with adults—later identified as employees of the tech companies Dropbox and Airbnb—who had reserved Mission Playground’s field for $27 through a Recreation and Park policy called “paid adult permit play.”
“The permitting process creates a two-tiered level of service for the parks,” said Gabriel Medina, Latino Democratic Club president. “This is about the kids trying to go to the soccer field and play, not just at Mission Playground, but at any playground.”
For many, the incident depicted in the video underscores deeper social issues that are driving a wedge between San Francisco’s community members. People like Mission activist Roberto Hernandez have criticized administrators like the Recreation and Parks Commission for catering to the city’s newer, wealthier population at the expense of longtime neighborhood residents.
“The fact is that they’re charging money to use parks now—when did that become a policy?” said Hernandez, head of Our Mission No Eviction and a longtime Mission resident who remembers when the parks were free and open at all times. “
People like Hernandez have been confused by why and how the Recreation and Park Commission instituted the $27 permit policy. To prevent further confusion, the soccer players and their supporters demanded that the commission collaborate with a community-appointed council to decide future park programming.
“It’s really about the community having a say and having governance,” said Oscar Grande, a community organizer for PODER and an advocate for the young soccer players. “We should create neighborhood district councils, and have special councils for young folks so that their voices are not marginalized. They’re the ones that are using the space 90 percent of the time.”
The soccer players have also demanded that the commission take action to correct safety concerns at the parks. Currently, Recreation and Parks does not employ fulltime security to supervise park activities.
“Unfortunately, Rec and Park does not have staff to do outreach,” said Medina. “The situation that happened at the playground could have been mitigated if someone had been at the park facility, like there used to be when I grew up with San Francisco. It’s a shame that San Francisco, with all of our new burgeoning wealth, can’t accommodate some children on the playgrounds.”
Activist groups at the rally made clear that the Recreation and Park Commission must revise its policies, not only for Mission Playground but for other parks as well, including Garfield and La Raza parks.
“The commission is aware that this is happening at other playgrounds,” said Lindo. “If policies are not changed at the other playgrounds, it will be a shortsighted approach by the Commission and Director Phil Ginsburg.”