San Francisco Bike Park Design Meetings!

April 29, 2011 0 Comments

The San Francisco Bike park is a go, with design meetings scheduled for this summer! The park will be for both BMX and mountain bikes, with dirt jumps and some ramps. Stay tuned for dates on upcoming meetings, and contact BRO if you are interested in helping.

At one time, San Francisco’s McLaren Park was the hub for the Bay Area BMX scene. Unfortunately, today the park is rife with illegal dumping, homeless encampments, and drug deals. Fortunately, this should change, because local bike riders are now working with the city to build the McLaren Bike Park.

A little McLaren Park history from Wikipedia:

McLaren Park was once a part of Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo_Viejo. When California was part of Mexico, its then governor Juan Batista Alvarado granted what is now known as McLaren Park to the local authorities in 1840.

In 1905, subdivisions of the land grant were drawn up and Daniel Burham recommended that the land where McLaren Park is today be a park. The land was purchased anyway by the Board of Supervisors in 1928 despite the bond measure being defeated. In 1934, John McLaren organized a dedication flag ceremony in the park, which had its name, and it is currently the second-largest park in the city.

A little McLaren BMX history from SF Urban Riders:

Here at SF Urban Riders, one of our favorite historical facts to point out is the original use of the sloping, grassy area below Mansell street in McLaren Park. (Note: This is not the area proposed for the bike park, but nearby).

During the late 70’s, this area was a well used, well populated BMX track, drawing children of all ages and their families out to the park on weekends to enjoy competition, fun, and social use of the park. Thanks to a variety of sources found online, we’ve found the following hisorical documents. Click on an image to follow them to their source.

The next photo was provided by Roger Serafin, who came to race at the McLaren track in 1979. His father happened to snap off this classic McLaren Park photo. Roger is still riding and likes to spend his free time at the dirt jumps. One of the spots he enjoys is the Calabazas Park in San Jose.

Now, in the exact same spot where many of these pictures were taken, the area is rife with illegal dumping, homeless encampments, and drug deals, but the type of fun you see above is the un-desireable usage that merits a sign posted.

For a perspective on what that meant to the kids in the neighborhood, here’s a support letter from Dustin Smith:

“I wholeheartedly support the development of a bicycle skills park in McLaren Park. I was born and raised in and around the Excelsior neighborhoods. McLaren Park has been my playground and secret riding spot all my life. As a kid BMX was a huge part of the local neighborhood culture. Bands of working class Latino, Filipino, Black and White kids used to run the streets searching out dirt jumps, backyard ramps, and asphalt fixtures. Armed with our dads tools we built dirt tracks & ramps at Cotter St, Alemany Blvd, Cayuga Park, Corpus Christi… Many of us joined race teams with the two local bike shops at the time- Borelli’s & R/P Racing- and traveled the state racing in BMX competitions.

As I raise my four kids less than a mile away from McLaren Park I am confident a bicycle skills park will cultivate a new generation of bike riders on the South East side of the city. I know first hand the importance of having positive recreational activities that fall outside of the traditional sports. Bicycling has been my life saver, it kept me out of trouble and connected me to a tight knit group of friends, including community members who supported us. I look forward to a bicycle skills park that is community driven and supported by local residents, community organizations, area schools, churches and small businesses.”

You can read more letters of support or write your own letter here. Also, be sure to sign the petition for the park here.

On November 16th, SF Urban Riders and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department held their first community meeting to discuss the possibility of a bike skills park in McLaren Park. The area in consideration is the partially paved unused area just outside Glen Eagles Golf Course along Sunnydale Ave.

This meeting is a huge step towards the realization of the first bike park in San Francisco. Over the course of the last year, there were a series of McLaren needs assessment meetings where bikes were not on the agenda. These previous meetings focused on sidewalk improvements, play areas, and general park maintenance. All very much needed, by the way. But, SF Urban Riders turned out a majority of bike park supporters that raised their hands, commented, and ultimately made their voices heard. The November 16th meeting was the culmination of the community support received at past meetings. Sometimes it may seem like a long road, and it may not seem like coming to a meeting and listening makes a difference, but this is proof that it does. Thank you to all have helped get us to this point.

At the Nov. 16th community meeting SFRPD Sports and Athletics Manager and native McLaren resident Bob Palacio, opened the meeting and told of McLaren Park’s BMX past. He handed off to SFRPD’s Leisure Services Manager, James Wheeler who explained his recently created role and the Extreme Sports programming that SFRPD is looking to create. He then introduced SFUR’s Executive Director, Dan Schneider and MBP Project Manager, Dustin Smith who presented the case to local community groups, leaders and families from the neighborhood surrounding McLaren Park.

The centerpiece of the presentation? Kids, bikes and more kids. Kids are the future (sorry to sound cliche’) and our future relies on getting kids outside and on bikes. As proof of SFUR’s commitment to the kids and the community, a dozen or so past SFUR events were showcased in the presentation such as the Vis Valley Street Fair, Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, McLaren Wrench Day, the SF Bike Expo Pumptrack and numerous trailwork events on Mt. Sutro and at McLaren Park itself. Pictures and stories of these events, as well as a strong partnership with the YMCA and SFRPD in creating kids mountain bike programs, demonstrated that SFUR is not a fly-by-night group of self-serving cyclists. We’re here to build a bike park AND strengthen the community and it’s children.

The presentation itself was also designed to explain exactly what a bike park looks like, who might use the bike park, and how it could benefit the community. Overall, the project received much support that Tuesday evening. There were many questions and comments about how a bike park would affect current paths and trails. Points of concern were the Sunnydale housing and how a bike park would serve it’s residents. And how bikes flocking to the bike park would affect traffic on the trails. Dan, Dustin and James responsed to those questions as best as possible, but a more detailed follow up will be posted shortly for public viewing.

Of the many positive comments a few favorites (paraphrased) were: “Are you sure this space is big enough?” and “That asphalt dumping area has been there for at least 20 years. Now you’ve got a group that wants to come and make something useful out of it? I say we should let them. And give them as much support as possible”. The latter comment was met with a room full of applause.

Thanks again to everyone that came out to the meeting. There will be more meetings. And each will be more important than the last. So, if you want a bike park, it’s time to get involved. Please stay tuned for next steps and future meetings.

Here’s a photo from the meeting:

Next Steps

The SF Urban Riders will be meeting soon about the bike park. If you would like to be involved, contact The BMX Riders Organization. Now is the time, if we get involved, then BMX can contribute to the design.

More information from Tom Borden of the SF Urban Riders :

“We are going to have a series of probably 3 meetings to solicit community input for the park design. We are waiting to get a letter of intent from the Park Commission before we go forward with that. Those would be a good time to bring in a crowd of riders.

Before then, it would be good to hear what you are looking for in a park. We are due to have a meeting of our park committee, or entire board, pretty soon. We will let you know.”

Follow the Mcclaren Bike Park on Facebook.