Park Renovation: Rallying for a New Bella Vista Park
This is the story of a park that took seven years and $1.7 million to build.
Getting the money was the easy part.
Getting to construction almost didn’t happen. Here is how the children, guided by a small neighborhood group, saved the day.
THE PLACE
In Oakland’s upper San Antonio district, children nearly outnumber adults. In the middle of this low-income, intensely multicultural neighborhood sat the crumbling 1.6-acre expanse of Bella Vista Park, butted up against the overcrowded Bella Vista Elementary School. Essentially a desolate wasteland of cracked asphalt with tired basketball hoops and tennis courts with no nets, surrounded by a chain-link fence, the site had no landscaping, no bathrooms, no drinking fountain, no green, not even a place to sit down. It was a park in name only.
Getting the money was the easy part.
Getting to construction almost didn’t happen. Here is how the children, guided by a small neighborhood group, saved the day.
THE PLACE
In Oakland’s upper San Antonio district, children nearly outnumber adults. In the middle of this low-income, intensely multicultural neighborhood sat the crumbling 1.6-acre expanse of Bella Vista Park, butted up against the overcrowded Bella Vista Elementary School. Essentially a desolate wasteland of cracked asphalt with tired basketball hoops and tennis courts with no nets, surrounded by a chain-link fence, the site had no landscaping, no bathrooms, no drinking fountain, no green, not even a place to sit down. It was a park in name only.
The surrounding neighborhood offered no alternative gathering or play spaces. While the park was well utilized by Bella Vista School students during the day as a playground, the park belonged to drug dealers and gamblers at night. It was a rare morning when there weren’t numerous beer bottles and condoms left strewn about the park. The park was regularly covered with graffiti.
The children needed a safe place to play, teens craved after school activities, and adults wanted a community space to meet and relax. In sum, a new heart of the community.
The children needed a safe place to play, teens craved after school activities, and adults wanted a community space to meet and relax. In sum, a new heart of the community.
Friends of Bella Vista Park grows from a dream!
THE DREAM
In the late 1990’s, a small neighborhood group obtained funding to build a terraced school garden at the boundary between the school and the park. While digging in the new garden, the volunteers became deeply disturbed with dismal state of the ‘park’ inches away, and decided to focus on improvements. It was 1999 and the Friends of Bella Vista Park was born.
Friends of Bella Vista Park (FoBVP) began to work on ideas to renovate the park. Bella Vista School teachers asked students for suggestions. Interest snowballed. The group asked the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to partner with them. By Summer of 2001 TPL helped raise $1.7 million to re-design the park, with donations from private grants and foundations, city and state funds, corporate donors, and a $500,000 federal grant from the National Park Service’s Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program.
FoBVP could not believe its good fortune, nor could the school children.
THE CHALLENGES
The Byzantine story of the hurdles encountered by FoBVP is a fascinating study in a community's vision for a park renovation, versus the red tape and the roadblocks that can be encountered when ordinary citizens approach a civic improvement.
For the next six years the dedicated core of neighbors persevered, refusing to give up on the 600 children of Bella Vista Elementary School, the residents of all ages and cultures in the neighborhood, or their vision of a real park.
The obstacles included a shift in city park construction oversight agencies, loss of the original Landscape Architect, discovery of 86 feet of park incorrectly deeded to the school district, the threatened loss of $1,150,000 in funding due to paperwork delays and a recession, lengthy contract/funder negotiations, a city union grievance filed against the project, and the wholesale pullout of the fundraiser from all city projects.
Throughout these challenges, FoBVP held closely to the practice of listening to all sides, and to the principle that all parties wanted to see the Park built.
What follows are the specific practices that FoBVP found to be most useful in shepherding Bella Vista Park to construction.
In the late 1990’s, a small neighborhood group obtained funding to build a terraced school garden at the boundary between the school and the park. While digging in the new garden, the volunteers became deeply disturbed with dismal state of the ‘park’ inches away, and decided to focus on improvements. It was 1999 and the Friends of Bella Vista Park was born.
Friends of Bella Vista Park (FoBVP) began to work on ideas to renovate the park. Bella Vista School teachers asked students for suggestions. Interest snowballed. The group asked the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to partner with them. By Summer of 2001 TPL helped raise $1.7 million to re-design the park, with donations from private grants and foundations, city and state funds, corporate donors, and a $500,000 federal grant from the National Park Service’s Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program.
FoBVP could not believe its good fortune, nor could the school children.
THE CHALLENGES
The Byzantine story of the hurdles encountered by FoBVP is a fascinating study in a community's vision for a park renovation, versus the red tape and the roadblocks that can be encountered when ordinary citizens approach a civic improvement.
For the next six years the dedicated core of neighbors persevered, refusing to give up on the 600 children of Bella Vista Elementary School, the residents of all ages and cultures in the neighborhood, or their vision of a real park.
The obstacles included a shift in city park construction oversight agencies, loss of the original Landscape Architect, discovery of 86 feet of park incorrectly deeded to the school district, the threatened loss of $1,150,000 in funding due to paperwork delays and a recession, lengthy contract/funder negotiations, a city union grievance filed against the project, and the wholesale pullout of the fundraiser from all city projects.
Throughout these challenges, FoBVP held closely to the practice of listening to all sides, and to the principle that all parties wanted to see the Park built.
What follows are the specific practices that FoBVP found to be most useful in shepherding Bella Vista Park to construction.
Planning Phase 2001-2005
INCORPORATE ALL WILLING HANDS
FoBVP held many design workshops and discussions with neighborhood residents over the years to ensure that the rich and ever evolving diversity of the upper San Antonio neighborhood was reflected in the final plan. Middle school students conducted door-to-door surveys in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Cantonese on park preferences, and students from both Bella Vista Elementary School and Oakland High School contributed many hours of design time each with visions of a special park.
Constant effort was made to outreach to the Asian, African-American, European and increasingly Hispanic adult populations in the neighborhood. Meeting and event flyers were posted in four languages, multilingual flyers were sent home with each Bella Vista student before an event or meeting, major meetings were held at the school auditorium, translation was provided at all school site meetings.
Still, adult response was sparse. The hands that showed up primarily belonged to 5 through 16 year olds, and to a small core of dedicated adult neighbors, parents and teachers. This was disheartening, but the eager eyes of the children who kept pestering for the park to be built inspired the adults on the team.
A crucial adult team member was the Parks and Rec After School Director serving the park. His participation was vital in engaging the older teens, and his star-like status and tireless dedication to youth brought teens out to festivals and design charettes who might have otherwise stayed away. Few had any fond memories of their asphalt recesses during elementary school, and many had heard promises of park improvements for years, however, they respected the After School Director. The teens’ participation was invaluable in the Park redesign, in attracting positive media attention and in demonstrating the worth of the project to funders.
LOOK TO THE MUNCHKINS
FoBVP believed that the hands that build the park would be the ones to cherish and nurture it. To this end children and teens have been included as designers, planters, weeders, sculptors and painters of the park in partnership with neighborhood artists, contractors and teachers.
FoBVP created a Junior Architects lunchtime program and other enrichment activities for students, including the opportunity to work with a local Sound Artist devising playground equipment that doubles as musical instruments. The Trampoline Drum and Slide Xylophone were particularly brilliant.
The Bella Vista Elementary School students proved a vital part of all fundraising, design, and rallying efforts. In 2001, the 5th grade Grass Committee (self-named) launched an upper grades letter writing campaign to state officials for parks funding. To the amazement of all, $650,000 was designated for Bella Vista Park in the State Budget. The truly miraculous part came next winter, when these funds were threatened due to the park construction delays and a recession. The 2002 Junior Architects Committee vigorously led a second letter writing campaign that was key in restoring the funds. An excerpt from a 5th grade class letter:
“We are writing to you because we want to change Bella Vista Park. It does not look like a park. It is like the desert or the moon! Lots of things are broken. The park is a pig-sty, and it is dangerous. We want you to come and see where we play. Please help us fix our park.”
FoBVP invited a fifth grade Representative to all official meetings whenever logistics allowed. The presence of a 10-year old student generally proved helpful in maintaining an adult tone during often difficult negotiations. The students benefited by having direct experience of community advocacy, and at least one student Representative proved himself future mayoral material with his astute observations and incisive deliberation summaries.
FoBVP held many design workshops and discussions with neighborhood residents over the years to ensure that the rich and ever evolving diversity of the upper San Antonio neighborhood was reflected in the final plan. Middle school students conducted door-to-door surveys in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Cantonese on park preferences, and students from both Bella Vista Elementary School and Oakland High School contributed many hours of design time each with visions of a special park.
Constant effort was made to outreach to the Asian, African-American, European and increasingly Hispanic adult populations in the neighborhood. Meeting and event flyers were posted in four languages, multilingual flyers were sent home with each Bella Vista student before an event or meeting, major meetings were held at the school auditorium, translation was provided at all school site meetings.
Still, adult response was sparse. The hands that showed up primarily belonged to 5 through 16 year olds, and to a small core of dedicated adult neighbors, parents and teachers. This was disheartening, but the eager eyes of the children who kept pestering for the park to be built inspired the adults on the team.
A crucial adult team member was the Parks and Rec After School Director serving the park. His participation was vital in engaging the older teens, and his star-like status and tireless dedication to youth brought teens out to festivals and design charettes who might have otherwise stayed away. Few had any fond memories of their asphalt recesses during elementary school, and many had heard promises of park improvements for years, however, they respected the After School Director. The teens’ participation was invaluable in the Park redesign, in attracting positive media attention and in demonstrating the worth of the project to funders.
LOOK TO THE MUNCHKINS
FoBVP believed that the hands that build the park would be the ones to cherish and nurture it. To this end children and teens have been included as designers, planters, weeders, sculptors and painters of the park in partnership with neighborhood artists, contractors and teachers.
FoBVP created a Junior Architects lunchtime program and other enrichment activities for students, including the opportunity to work with a local Sound Artist devising playground equipment that doubles as musical instruments. The Trampoline Drum and Slide Xylophone were particularly brilliant.
The Bella Vista Elementary School students proved a vital part of all fundraising, design, and rallying efforts. In 2001, the 5th grade Grass Committee (self-named) launched an upper grades letter writing campaign to state officials for parks funding. To the amazement of all, $650,000 was designated for Bella Vista Park in the State Budget. The truly miraculous part came next winter, when these funds were threatened due to the park construction delays and a recession. The 2002 Junior Architects Committee vigorously led a second letter writing campaign that was key in restoring the funds. An excerpt from a 5th grade class letter:
“We are writing to you because we want to change Bella Vista Park. It does not look like a park. It is like the desert or the moon! Lots of things are broken. The park is a pig-sty, and it is dangerous. We want you to come and see where we play. Please help us fix our park.”
FoBVP invited a fifth grade Representative to all official meetings whenever logistics allowed. The presence of a 10-year old student generally proved helpful in maintaining an adult tone during often difficult negotiations. The students benefited by having direct experience of community advocacy, and at least one student Representative proved himself future mayoral material with his astute observations and incisive deliberation summaries.
ReGenesis!
ENGAGE THE MEDIA
FoBVP’s 2001 ReGenesis Park Festival made a splash with Cambodian Lion dancers, multiethnic Taiko drummers, a High School Poetry Slam, and Bella Vista Elementary School Band and Cheerleader performances. The Grass Committee performed its original one act play about picking up trash in the park (consistently the children’s top concern). The local media responded to the cheerful faces and signs of hope by publishing a full color article in the city paper. The publicity helped give credence to the Park Dream, and increased the credibility of the neighborhood dreamers.
In April 2003, as city politics were slowing down progress, FoBVP orchestrated a Chalk Festival on the still dismal park site. Students and neighbors drew their visions for a new park on the crumbling asphalt, as face painters and star high school women’s basketball players held clinics nearby, and children worked with a sound artist to build and parade a musical float. 1.6 acres of sidewalk chalk was a story too colorful for the media to ignore, and the publicity gave the project new life once again.
While all efforts focused on the long-range goal of a renovated park, each of these events and their positive publicity helped to unify and build the community, and to sustain hope.
FoBVP’s 2001 ReGenesis Park Festival made a splash with Cambodian Lion dancers, multiethnic Taiko drummers, a High School Poetry Slam, and Bella Vista Elementary School Band and Cheerleader performances. The Grass Committee performed its original one act play about picking up trash in the park (consistently the children’s top concern). The local media responded to the cheerful faces and signs of hope by publishing a full color article in the city paper. The publicity helped give credence to the Park Dream, and increased the credibility of the neighborhood dreamers.
In April 2003, as city politics were slowing down progress, FoBVP orchestrated a Chalk Festival on the still dismal park site. Students and neighbors drew their visions for a new park on the crumbling asphalt, as face painters and star high school women’s basketball players held clinics nearby, and children worked with a sound artist to build and parade a musical float. 1.6 acres of sidewalk chalk was a story too colorful for the media to ignore, and the publicity gave the project new life once again.
While all efforts focused on the long-range goal of a renovated park, each of these events and their positive publicity helped to unify and build the community, and to sustain hope.
THERE IS ANOTHER SIDE TO EVERY ROADBLOCK
By the Fall of 2002, disputes over contract legalities, project oversight, park maintenance and boundaries threatened to doom the entire park renovation. FoBVP asked Bella Vista’s City Councilperson to mediate resolutions for each of these issues. The Councilperson diligently chaired a series of open and closed meetings between the City’s various agencies, the project’s Funder, and the School District that were crucial in keeping the project alive.
On Cinco de Mayo, 2003 at FoBVP’s request Oakland’s Mayor Jerry Brown, convened an uber meeting in his “Banishing Bureaucracy Meeting Room” that injected humor and crucial forward momentum into the ongoing negotiation process.
Earlier in 2003 the City Engineers Union filed a stop work grievance against the Bella Vista project and two other park improvement projects. FoBVP invited the Union Representative for a quickly assembled neighborhood round table. The Union aired their concerns, and the grievance was dropped soon after the meeting.
No single meeting ‘saved the day’, but at each meeting the project was either nudged forward or drawn back from the brink of disintegration. FoBVP’s lesson was to keep going, keep asking, and always follow up on official commitments! Eventually the project slid to the other side of each roadblock.
PRECISE AND CONCISE REQUESTS
Bella Vista’s City Councilperson, Danny Wan, remarked that he enjoyed working with FoBVP because the group asked for specific actions to solve particular issues.
FoBVP found that due to our intimacy with our neighborhood dynamics and the details of the park project, we could pinpoint the most effective course of action to meet park challenges. Officials could then act on these suggestions to beneficial effect.
By the Fall of 2002, disputes over contract legalities, project oversight, park maintenance and boundaries threatened to doom the entire park renovation. FoBVP asked Bella Vista’s City Councilperson to mediate resolutions for each of these issues. The Councilperson diligently chaired a series of open and closed meetings between the City’s various agencies, the project’s Funder, and the School District that were crucial in keeping the project alive.
On Cinco de Mayo, 2003 at FoBVP’s request Oakland’s Mayor Jerry Brown, convened an uber meeting in his “Banishing Bureaucracy Meeting Room” that injected humor and crucial forward momentum into the ongoing negotiation process.
Earlier in 2003 the City Engineers Union filed a stop work grievance against the Bella Vista project and two other park improvement projects. FoBVP invited the Union Representative for a quickly assembled neighborhood round table. The Union aired their concerns, and the grievance was dropped soon after the meeting.
No single meeting ‘saved the day’, but at each meeting the project was either nudged forward or drawn back from the brink of disintegration. FoBVP’s lesson was to keep going, keep asking, and always follow up on official commitments! Eventually the project slid to the other side of each roadblock.
PRECISE AND CONCISE REQUESTS
Bella Vista’s City Councilperson, Danny Wan, remarked that he enjoyed working with FoBVP because the group asked for specific actions to solve particular issues.
FoBVP found that due to our intimacy with our neighborhood dynamics and the details of the park project, we could pinpoint the most effective course of action to meet park challenges. Officials could then act on these suggestions to beneficial effect.
Vandalism Set Backs & Spirit Rally 2005
The park was still taking longer to develop than originally thought. Students returned to school in the fall of 2004 to the same grim expanse of broken gray asphalt, and morale was low. School classrooms were regularly trashed by vandals adept at breaking in and stealing school supplies. Then the kids came back from Christmas break in 2005 to find their play structure burned to the ground by local teen vandals.
The students reacted by holding a protest march. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2005, 600 children and their teachers took to the street. They sang of their love for their school, having learned the tune for We Shall Overcome. They were accompanied by neighbors and reporters from every local TV station and newspaper. Their passion and protest inspired even more neighborhood residents to take part in the efforts to build the park. 600 students learned a profound lesson about the power of their message and combined voices.
The students reacted by holding a protest march. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2005, 600 children and their teachers took to the street. They sang of their love for their school, having learned the tune for We Shall Overcome. They were accompanied by neighbors and reporters from every local TV station and newspaper. Their passion and protest inspired even more neighborhood residents to take part in the efforts to build the park. 600 students learned a profound lesson about the power of their message and combined voices.
Since the Spirit March, there hasn’t been vandalism at the school, but instead, raised morale and classroom-initiated school-wide clean up and recycling programs.
The students’ march declaring their love and dedication to their school earned them a Crissy Field Environmental Heroes award in 2005 – an award usually reserved for high profile adult activists.
The neighborhood’s City Councilperson, Pat Kernighan, responded by committing $50,000 from her budget to ensure the completion of the project and the construction of a brand new play structure.
BOUQUET PRINCIPLE
Small tokens of gratitude and appreciation to officials and neighbors returned 100-fold in good will and project energy.
When FoBVP sent appreciation notes, often student-made, to officials who acted on behalf of the park project, an invaluable sense of teamwork was created. The historic role of official ‘bestowers’ versus citizen ‘receivers’ was shifted toward a more supportive dynamic.
The schoolchildren glowed when their lunchtime fundraising and design efforts were recognized with Club certificates or t-shirts. TPL staff were so deeply moved by the 2005 student march that they gave each participant a pin saying “I (heart) Bella Vista”. These small tokens validated the students’ heartfelt efforts and encouraged continued involvement.
The students’ march declaring their love and dedication to their school earned them a Crissy Field Environmental Heroes award in 2005 – an award usually reserved for high profile adult activists.
The neighborhood’s City Councilperson, Pat Kernighan, responded by committing $50,000 from her budget to ensure the completion of the project and the construction of a brand new play structure.
BOUQUET PRINCIPLE
Small tokens of gratitude and appreciation to officials and neighbors returned 100-fold in good will and project energy.
When FoBVP sent appreciation notes, often student-made, to officials who acted on behalf of the park project, an invaluable sense of teamwork was created. The historic role of official ‘bestowers’ versus citizen ‘receivers’ was shifted toward a more supportive dynamic.
The schoolchildren glowed when their lunchtime fundraising and design efforts were recognized with Club certificates or t-shirts. TPL staff were so deeply moved by the 2005 student march that they gave each participant a pin saying “I (heart) Bella Vista”. These small tokens validated the students’ heartfelt efforts and encouraged continued involvement.
Construction 2005 - Park Opens 2006!
THE PARK BLOOMS
Construction of the new Bella Vista Park began in earnest Spring of 2005 when workers tore out all the asphalt, and planted trees, grass, and a native plant garden. Drinking fountains, two play structures, a stage and story circle, basketball hoops, picnic tables, and benches were added, as well as a community garden. Space for community artwork was planned by etching areas for tiles into the seat walls. A wheelchair accessible ramp from the school and easy access from the 11th Ave entrance was built.
The renovated Bella Vista Park opened in October 2005, and provides a renovated open space for over 600 schoolchildren and nearly 10,000 neighborhood residents.
In 2007, Friends of Bella Vista Park was awarded a Community Development Block Grant that funded a bathroom structure with storage room. Fundraising efforts continue for capital improvements such as a tot lot area for parents visiting with very small children.
Construction of the new Bella Vista Park began in earnest Spring of 2005 when workers tore out all the asphalt, and planted trees, grass, and a native plant garden. Drinking fountains, two play structures, a stage and story circle, basketball hoops, picnic tables, and benches were added, as well as a community garden. Space for community artwork was planned by etching areas for tiles into the seat walls. A wheelchair accessible ramp from the school and easy access from the 11th Ave entrance was built.
The renovated Bella Vista Park opened in October 2005, and provides a renovated open space for over 600 schoolchildren and nearly 10,000 neighborhood residents.
In 2007, Friends of Bella Vista Park was awarded a Community Development Block Grant that funded a bathroom structure with storage room. Fundraising efforts continue for capital improvements such as a tot lot area for parents visiting with very small children.
INCLUDE ART
The Bella Vista community began with myriad dreams for their 1.6 acres: baseball, basketball and soccer areas, safe tot playground, big kid playground, community garden, performance stage, bathroom, green areas, and a track, to name a few. Many of these were achieved, and some more are in the planning stage.
What surprised all was the impact the single art element has: the Entry Gate. The Gate, crafted by Eric Powell, an area artist, is a marvelous construction of found nuts, bolts and gears, and incorporates images of local historical figures F.M. “Borax” Smith and Gertrude Stein. The gate’s artistry imparts heart and spirit to the Park, a core goal from the project’s outset.
The Bella Vista students participated in a tile art project and a mural project, led by Bella Vista teacher, Pam Consear, and FoBVP volunteers, which adds further beauty and ownership to the park.
The Bella Vista community began with myriad dreams for their 1.6 acres: baseball, basketball and soccer areas, safe tot playground, big kid playground, community garden, performance stage, bathroom, green areas, and a track, to name a few. Many of these were achieved, and some more are in the planning stage.
What surprised all was the impact the single art element has: the Entry Gate. The Gate, crafted by Eric Powell, an area artist, is a marvelous construction of found nuts, bolts and gears, and incorporates images of local historical figures F.M. “Borax” Smith and Gertrude Stein. The gate’s artistry imparts heart and spirit to the Park, a core goal from the project’s outset.
The Bella Vista students participated in a tile art project and a mural project, led by Bella Vista teacher, Pam Consear, and FoBVP volunteers, which adds further beauty and ownership to the park.
STEWARDSHIP IS FOREVER
The work of the Friends of Bella Vista Park has entered a new stewardship phase, this time lobbying for more recreational programming to serve youth and the diverse community.
This is a goal echoed by members of the neighborhood watch and crime prevention councils in the Bella Vista neighborhood. Members of these groups recognize that in addition to direct development benefits for neighborhood youth, there is also a potential neighborhood-wide benefit if young people can be given access to healthy activities.
Plans are afoot to hold an after school ecology club to provide service learning opportunities for students to help teach environmental awareness to the community, and an after school art club to help lead art tile and mural projects at the park, and an after school skateboard club. We hope to recruit a tai chi teacher to lead a morning exercise class for Asian elders. FoBVP members, together with the faith-based neighborhood group TRYBE and the 17Y Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council, are hosting family friendly events in the park: Halloween Party (over 600 have attended annually each year since 2009), National Night Out BBQ (300 attendees annually since 2009); Easter Family Event; Earth Day Spruce Ups; Summer Splash Day; Outdoor Movie Nights (monthly on Friday nights in Summer since 2010).
The work of the Friends of Bella Vista Park has entered a new stewardship phase, this time lobbying for more recreational programming to serve youth and the diverse community.
This is a goal echoed by members of the neighborhood watch and crime prevention councils in the Bella Vista neighborhood. Members of these groups recognize that in addition to direct development benefits for neighborhood youth, there is also a potential neighborhood-wide benefit if young people can be given access to healthy activities.
Plans are afoot to hold an after school ecology club to provide service learning opportunities for students to help teach environmental awareness to the community, and an after school art club to help lead art tile and mural projects at the park, and an after school skateboard club. We hope to recruit a tai chi teacher to lead a morning exercise class for Asian elders. FoBVP members, together with the faith-based neighborhood group TRYBE and the 17Y Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council, are hosting family friendly events in the park: Halloween Party (over 600 have attended annually each year since 2009), National Night Out BBQ (300 attendees annually since 2009); Easter Family Event; Earth Day Spruce Ups; Summer Splash Day; Outdoor Movie Nights (monthly on Friday nights in Summer since 2010).
Community Events in the Park!
Thanks to everyone who helped to make our Annual Bella Vista Park Easter Event such a great day: Easter egg hunt, crafts, relay races, Easter celebration service, potluck picnic, balloons, bounce house.
Community members spruced up the park, filled 800 Easter eggs, cooked, made crafts, played music, and contributed to build a connected and hope-filled community.
Community members spruced up the park, filled 800 Easter eggs, cooked, made crafts, played music, and contributed to build a connected and hope-filled community.
