Take Back Your Parks!
As we approach the final approval of the RPD 2007-08 budget later this summer, we are appealing to you for help with a very important issue: the equitable use of open space in San Francisco. Click here to see three easy ways you can help. To read a recent editorial in the Chronicle on this issue, click here.

As you probably know, San Francisco's six public golf courses that are managed by the Recreation and Park Department lose millions of dollars every year and consume more than 400 acres of park land in our dense city of 49 square miles. As a "solution" to this problem, RPD is currently considering a proposal to transfer management of a number of courses to a non profit organization, which would mean this land would continue to be used solely for golf for at least the next 30 years.

We believe that San Franciscans would benefit more if the land were dedicated to other recreational uses. It's a question of equity to meet the demands of more city residents.

NPC and the Equitable Use of Open Space Coalition believes it is only fair to ask the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to postpone any decision on its public golf courses until the City studies alternative uses for some of those courses. We believe that public land should not be given away without proper analysis of alternative, potentially more cost-effective recreation and open space uses that may benefit a greater number of San Francisco residents.

San Francisco has three times as many public golf courses as Chicago, a city with four times the population. Meanwhile, San Francisco's public golf courses are being used at 40% capacity, with the exception of Harding. A 2004 Recreation Assessment Report indicates that San Francisco residents ranked golf courses 16th out of 19 desired types of facilities. The same report concluded that there are dramatic shortages of other types of recreation facilities such as playfields, basketball courts, skate parks, and nature trails in our city.

Despite the fact that golf is not a high priority recreation for the people of San Francisco, RPD recently presented a proposal to relinquish control of hundreds of acres of public land presently dedicated to golf courses, without the essential consideration of all potentially much-needed uses, and without adequate public process.

Act today and urge the City to consider alternate uses for this land!

What You Can Do
1. Sign our petition
If you want to stop public land giveaway in San Francisco. please sign our online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/publand/petition.html. We are thrilled to report that we have gathered more than 2,000 signatures so far! Join the environmentalists, soccer clubs, baseball leagues, fiscal watchdog groups, and other recreation advocates who have formed the Coalition for Equitable Use of Open Space and signed our petition.

2. Attend the upcoming press conference (date TBD) on the steps of City Hall. As soon as we select the date, we will send out an email alerting everyone of the details. If you have any questions in the meantime, contact Chloe Good: cgood@sfnpc.org, or 415.621.3260 x. 116.

3. Write a letter or email to elected officials
In order to ensure the equitable use of our Open Space, it is important that we urge our public officials to study the best use of this land to meet the needs of San Francisco residents. Write a letter/e-mail to your Supervisor, the Mayor and the General Manager of the Rec and Park Department. Download a sample letter here. Please copy cgood@sfnpc.org on all your correspondence.

Send letters to:

Mayor Gavin Newsom: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
Mailing address:
Mayor Gavin Newsom
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

Board of Supervisors: board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org
For a list of individual Supervisor email addresses, click here.
Mailing address:
Board of Supervisors
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-5184

Yomi Agunbiade, General Manager of the Rec and Park Department: yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org
Mailing address:
Recreation and Park Department, 501 Stanyan Street, San Francisco, CA 94117

To learn more about the golf issue in San Francisco:

1. Download the National Golf Foundation report, released by RPD in February:
Report | Appendices

2. Read more facts about the golf program, click here.

3. Read recent articles in the news:
Click here to read May 16th letter to the Chronicle editor by Isabel Wade, Jill Lounsbury and Sally Stephens.

Click here to read an April 16th letter to the Examiner from NPC Executive Director Isabel Wade discussing the problem with RPD's recent action to lower golf fees for Pacifica Residents at Sharp Park, while raising fees for San Francisco residents.

On April 26th, the Board of Supervisors heard several options for managing the city's public golf courses, in a presentation by the RPD Planning Division. Read two articles below:

• City Golf Course Debate -- Supes Face Few Options: San Francisco Chronicle, April 26th
• City Seeks Turnaround of Troubled Golf Courses: San Francisco Examiner, April 26th