Locals in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point are celebrating a victory in a long fight to make the neighborhood a safer place for their kids.
On Monday, the ribbon was cut on Shoreview Park, which has undergone $3.3 million in renovations and has views across the Bay from California’s first skywalk.
But the centerpiece of this gleaming new park is the slide.
“It’s really fun,” Jordan told KCBS Radio.
Local kids play at the renovated multi-million dollar Shoreview Park in Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco, June 7, 2021.Kathy Novak / KCBS Radio
The park is something the Shoreview Tenants Association has been wanting for at least 14 years. President Janice Powell said when her kids were growing up, it was too dangerous to play there.
“There was really nowhere for the kids to play,” she said. “They had condemned the play area because it had so much stuff going on in there. It was just…it was nothing happy at all.”
Local children even held up protest signs demanding a clean park.
“Our kids couldn’t see it, but our great-grandkids and grandkids can,” Powell said. “And that’s the blessing.”
Association Vice President Belinda Rollins told KCBS Radio that besides the play structure, she is glad to see exercise equipment for adults.
“The exercise equipment, you know, that is so well needed in the community for people having a lot of medical issues,” Rollins said. “It gives the kids a lot of opportunity to exercise, the families to come together and exercise.”
Rollins also said that for a community that often feels overlooked, this is about more than a really fun slide.
"Anything is possible, but you have to fight,” she said. “You can’t give up, but it’s possible.”
Ribbon cutting at renovated multi-million dollar Shoreview Park in Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco, June 7, 2021.Kathy Novak / KCBS Radio
