Robin Lewis, a Dolores Park neighbor and Mission High School graduate, discusses the placement of pathways with with fellow park users (from left) Austin Chu, Ollie Graves and Morgan Allen. Photo Grace Rubenstein

An ongoing series of public planning workshops, held to gather community input on the renovation of Mission Dolores Park, is demonstrating the many different ways people who love the park view its role in their lives.

The workshops began in June and since then people have been weighing in about their priorities, hopes, fears and desires for the 13.7-acre park.
And there are a lot of wants.

Dog owners want to preserve the place where they play fetch; the San Francisco Mime Troupe wants to safeguard a space to continue giving free performances; Slack-liners want to protect the palm trees where they string up their ropes to walk on; the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Federation of San Francisco wants to ensure that no tennis courts are eliminated—everybody wants something different.

But there’s one thing they all agree on: more bathrooms. On sunny, crowded days the line for the bathroom snakes far up the path from the clubhouse, prompting some people to relieve themselves in the bushes.
Another point of agreement is that community members don’t want to see their beloved park much changed.

“Overall, people want to keep it the same but make it better,” said Steve Rasmussen Cancian, the project’s designer and principal of Shared Spaces Landscape Architecture. “That’s the challenge.”
How many park-lovers get their wishes fulfilled remains to be seen. A 2008 bond measure to rehabilitate the city’s parks earmarked $13.2 million for Dolores. After rebuilding of the playground, which is currently under way, $7.9 million remains for the rest of the park.

Certain fixes must be made. The bond measure specified that the project would include repairing the courts, field and clubhouse; restoring pathways; upgrading irrigation and lighting and improving accessibility for the disabled.
Beyond that, the plans depend on what the city can afford and the community desires. The Recreation and Parks department is using a process of “co-designing,” meaning they let community members generate the ideas rather than presenting a list of predetermined options to choose from.

Last Thursday in the Everett Middle School cafeteria, park goers participated in the third of five planned public workshops on the project.

Clustered into 12 groups of seven or eight people each—groups that, like the park, drew people of all ages, races and affiliations—they tackled questions of where to locate pathways, bathrooms and picnic tables.
The groups at the workshop discussed and decided their votes in relative harmony.

But Robin Lewis, a park neighbor and Mission High School graduate, remains skeptical.

“Wait until the actual plan is up there and nobody got what they wanted,” he said. “Then we’ll see what happens.”

Robert Brust, a dog walker and member of the Dolores Park Rehabilitation Project Steering Committee—a group of 25 neighbors, merchants, and representatives from local organizations guiding the design process—said that concerns like Lewis’ were the reason for the workshops.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and fear in this project,” he said. “It’s the unknown; they’re messing with something you love. This process is going a long way to relieve some of that fear.”

The next workshop is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 6:30 p.m. Updates on the location will be posted at http://sfrecpark.org/doloresparkproject.aspx.

The community-input phase is slated to wrap up in October, with construction to begin in fall 2012.