New Park Project Moves Forward at 17th and Folsom

Hear this, Joni Mitchell: Sometimes they un-pave the parking lot to make paradise. According to city planners, the area of the Mission at 17th and Folsom has a high need for open space, and they will soon get a new park in what is now a parking lot. As the Examiner reports, the project already has a $2.7 million state grant behind it, and Rec & Parks is moving toward purchasing the property, worth $2.3 million, from the Public Utilities Commission. (We really wish one city agency could just be nice and *give* some land to another city agency, but such is bureaucracy.)

Above, see the proposed design for the park, which includes a community garden, a mini-amphitheater/stage, an espaliered-fruit-tree fence, picnic tables, and a mural "celebrating Mission Creek."

And note, there are about a dozen other park/open space projects on the back burner, some of which have been sitting there for a decade or more, but this project happens to have some proactive backers behind it and seems to be getting done.