About Save McLaren Park
   
   

 

Save McLaren Park was formed spontaneously. . .

. . .by neighbors and friends of the park who attended an “Informational Tour” on April 10, 2010.

Overflow crowd at April's meeting
Overflow crowd at April's meeting
SMP photo by Ken McGary
At the beginning of this tour, Jeffery Bowling from the San Francisco Disc Golf Club told us that this was “essentially a done deal” and that this public meeting was a “courtesy” to us regular users of the park to let us know what they were going to do. We were uniformly outraged at this complete lack of public involvement for such a significant change in land usage in a park so near and dear to our hearts.
CBS5 interviews meeting attendees
CBS5 interviews meeting attendees
SMP photo by Ken McGary
 

 

 

 


This talented and motivated group of local citizens then came together to bring the community out to the second informational meeting at the Crocker Amazon Clubhouse. We were told that construction was to start in late summer, so we knew we had to act rapidly. We put up posters of wildflowers and views that would be lost, we informed everyone we came across in the park, we spread the word in every direction.

Crocker Amazon autitorium overflow during Rec/Park meeting on disc golf in McLaren
Crocker Amazon clubhouse overflows
during Rec/Park meeting on disc golf in McLaren
SMP photo by Ken McGary

 

 

 

 

SMP's first picnic meeting, June 2010
Poster by Tom Scott

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a few short days, we managed to pack the house to overflowing on April 20, and though we asked for and did not receive equal time to present our case, we made it clear to Rec and Park Department representatives that we will continue to insist on a full public notification and public process, and a full environmental review for any plan to build disc golf infrastructure in McLaren Park.

Dozens of volunteers went on to collect just over 3,000 petition signatures to show city officials your commitment to preserving the unique natural areas of McLaren Park. We currently have over 1,000 names of McLaren Park's friends and neighbors on our email blast list. Our Sunshine Ordinance document requests and other research convinced the Park, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC) to call for Rec & Park Commission hearings on the issue, and Commission President Mark Buell consequently called for further hearings. 

There is still much to do before we can be sure of saving McLaren Park's living history, but ALL of you who pitched in to our efforts last year should give yourselves a big attagirl or attaboy for making a real difference in our community. No doubt about it, folks in City Hall and McLaren Lodge have heard our concerns and know that we are watching the issue very closely.

 

Back to top