Boeddeker Park, more formally known as Father Alfred E. Boeddeker Park, is an urban park in the
Tenderloin neighborhood of
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. This 1-acre park was renovated and reopened in 2014, especially intended to serve the needs of people in the surrounding neighborhood who experience amongst the highest levels of poverty in the city. The park was completed with a large mural, Everyone Deserves a Home, on the building above the park in 2016.
History
The park was named after
Father Alfred E. Boeddeker, a Franciscan friar who served the
Tenderloin community for over forty years and founded the
St. Anthony Dining Room to serve food for the poor and needy of the area. The park originally opened in 1985, and quickly became emblematic of urban decay with a lack of safe playground space for children and the growth of public drug sales. Though the area of the Tenderloin was generally diverse, the park became associated with violence and danger, causing the diversity to stay away as it increasingly became associated with drugs and crime. The park was later infused with a $9 million renovation and reopened in 2014.
Features
The park includes an outdoor park with large lawn, adult exercise area with outdoor fitness equipment, a basketball court, youth play equipment, a walking path with accessible ramps. The park also has a clubhouse with a multipurpose room, office, and restrooms.
Recognition and awards
Boeddeker Park won an American Institute of Architects San Francisco Honor Award for its design, a collaboration between
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
, th
San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department an
WRNS Studio It is certified by the Sustainable SITES Initiative for its park sustainability systems.
See also
*
10-Minute Walk
The 10-Minute Walk, also known as the 10-Minute Walk to a Park, is a parks-advocacy movement led by The Trust for Public Land to ensure that everyone in the United States lives within a ten-minute walk to a high-quality park or green space.
Hi ...
References
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Parks in San Francisco
Urban public parks
Parks in the San Francisco Bay Area