A 15-year-old bystander died Saturday following a triple shooting that occurred Friday evening in SF’s Western Addition neighborhood near the busy Margaret S. Haywood and Jefferson Square parks, and two other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

As KRON4 reports, the teen bystander who was fatally shot Friday has been identified as 15-year-old Jayda Mabrey. Per KRON4, Mabrey's family held a vigil at Golden Gate Avenue and Laguna Street where the shooting took place. Mabrey's cousin Deshon said at the vigil that Mabrey's younger sister was at the nearby playground at the time and held her sister until emergency responders arrived.

“My little cousin was also there, her little sister, she held her as the bullets were in her body, she seen her sister turning purple,” Deshon said, per KRON4. “The gang violence does need to stop, you see it everyday but then when it happens to you and its your family, you see the actual outcome and  the actual feelings.”

Per the Instagram account Tenderloin Activities, Mabrey was a student at Gateway High School and was on her way home from the student walkout at Dolores Park when the shooting occurred.

The account Us4Us.Bayarea shared photos of Mabrey's family and friends releasing pink heart balloons into the sky in her memory.

Per Citizen, a fundraiser has been set up for Mabrey's family.

As KTVU reports, officers from the San Francisco Police Department arrived at the scene of the shooting around 5:13 pm Friday and found two other victims suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds in addition to Mabrey.

Per NBC Bay Area, the shootings took place near the bustling Margaret S. Haywood Park, which consists of a large playground, basketball courts, and a soccer field, with the nearby Jefferson Square Park a couple blocks north.

Per Citizen, back-up units were requested to help manage the crowd of onlookers.

Deadly Triple Shooting Near Basketball Court @CitizenApp

Golden Gate Ave & Laguna St, San Francisco, California, 94102 Jan 30 5:18:19 PM PST

NBC Bay Area spoke to a resident who lives near the park. "I heard the gunshots, I thought it was fireworks at first, but I didn’t hear the crackling afterwards," she said. "And so, I went to my patio, and I could see, everyone in the park was running out of the park.”

The suspect remains at large.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.”

Image: Tenderloin Activities

This post has been updated with information about the victim.

Mission Local published a profile today featuring “roller-skating engineer” Chris Duderstadt who has built 210 community benches over the past decade for fellow Inner Sunset residents to enjoy as part of the Public Bench Project.

Duderstadt, a retired machinist who ran a longtime business making custom tech and biotech machines, made his first bench in 1977 for a friend’s veterinary clinic. Since then, he’s worked on several other prototypes before landing on what he calls the “off the wall” design due to its slightly angled seat and backrest, which he found to be “comfortable for everyone.”

The first off the wall-style bench still sits on a steep hill near Ortega Street and 11th Avenue near where Duderstadt lived at the time. “I really like to put them on hills. If you’re going to hike up that hill, you need a place to rest,” Duderstadt told Mission Local.

See Mission Local’s post for a map detailing the various bench locations.

Image via Public Bench Project website

SF’s newest park has some retro charm in the form of benches and beams from the disassembled old eastern span of the Bay Bridge, as the $32 million Bayfront Park just opened Tuesday right next to the Chase Center.

You’ll recall that the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge was torn down starting in 2014, after that fancy new eastern span opened in 2013. So, what did they do with the disassembled pieces of the old Bay Bridge? Well, some of them are now part of the new Bayfront Park that just opened Tuesday, according to the Chronicle. The park makes benches and sculptures out of the rusty old steel beams, adding a fun, rugged charm to the new 5.5-acre park to a waterfront area immediately outside the Chase Center that was formerly a loading dock for Bethlehem Steel.

The Chronicle notes that the park’s designer, Surfacedesign Inc., was able to go out on the water while the old bridge was being torn down, and pick out their chosen planks of steel and old parts. “It was crazy being on the bridge picking steel out,” Surfacedesign partner James Lord told the Chronicle. “We handpicked it from the trusses.”

Bayfront Park just had its ribbon-cutting and grand opening Tuesday morning. “With the opening of Bayfront Park, we have reached another exciting milestone in our efforts to create a Mission Bay that is a thriving neighborhood with great open spaces, new housing developments, as well as world renowned health centers and sports institutions,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement issued before the ceremony. “I am thrilled to see this area transform from what was once a strip of dirt to become such an amazing park for residents and visitors to enjoy.”

And while the park had a steep price tag of $32 million, it was largely paid for by the Mission Bay Development Group, even though the Port of San Francisco owns the land. The Mission Bay Development Group is responsible for a lot of the new development that’s gone into the neighborhood in recent years, and per Breed’s press release, “Future plans include the addition of a restaurant or concession area in the park.”

KPIX took some sneak preview footage of the park now that the fencing has been taken down. That report notes the park also has “bioretention guardians which are kept green with stormwater where rain is going to run off a slopy, grassy hill out here,” so that seems ecologically sound. And as seen in the rendering below, the park is elevated at 14.5 feet above sea level to adjust to the rising sea levels that the city’s eastern coast is preparing for.

The Mission Bay/Mission Rock neighborhood already saw the new China Basin Park open this past April, and Bayfront Park is about a mile south of the India Basin Waterfront Park area, also called 900 Innes, that just opened in Hunters Point this past Saturday.

Related: SF’s Most New Expensive Park Opening Saturday, as India Basin Waterfront Park Spruces Up Hunters Point [SFist]

Image: @ChaseCenter via Twitter

After breaking ground nearly three years ago, the pandemic-delayed Presidio Tunnel Tops park is making its big debut on Saturday and Sunday, with special events — and hopefully pretty decent weather.

The Presidio Tunnel Tops park, which sits in part atop the now ten-year-old Presidio Parkway tunnels connecting the former Doyle Drive to the Golden Gate Bridge, is the project of the Presidio Trust, with funding from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. It was designed by the landscape design firm James Corner Field Operations — best known for designing The High Line in Manhattan — and the project broke ground in late 2019 with a planned completion in 2021.

Sunday marks the official grand opening event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with live music, food trucks, guided tours, and more. But as Hoodline earlier reported, the ribbon cutting ceremony is actually on Saturday — and the weather looks to be slightly sunnier and warmer on Saturday, if you want to go for a less "grand" sneak peak.

As SFist reported back in the spring, the new 14-acre park includes two new lawn areas, Golden Gate Meadow and Anza Meadow, as well as a grass-covered amphitheater area called Presidio Steps, a Campfire Circle, a Bluff Walk, new overlooks and paths, multiple reservable picnic sites with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a new Field Station for kids with various activities and crafts focused on science and art.

There is also a new kids' play area called the Outpost, which the Presidio Trust describes as an "enormous outdoor playland [that] is like nothing your family has ever experienced." They continue, "Children will have unforgettable adventures by swinging, crawling, and climbing on huge play structures built from fallen tree trunks, boulders, and other natural things. Kids can build, make art, roam free on their own, or make up new games with friends."

The opening of the complete Tunnel Tops area comes a few months after the adjacent Battery Bluffs area opened to the public. That 6-acre part of the Presidio includes parts of the park that haven't been accessible to the public in almost a century — and includes a greenway that provides direct access between the Presidio and Crissy Field over the top of the other set of tunnels north of the Tunnel Tops park.

In total, that's 20 new acres of parkland that has been added for the public to enjoy.

"At Presidio Tunnel Tops there are places to see amazing Golden Gate views, enjoy a picnic or buy a snack, play in outdoor nature spaces for kids, and relax in the sun," the Presidio Trust says in an announcement. "It’s free and accessible for all. Imagine all you can do!"

Also in attendance at the Sunday grand opening will be multiple food trucks — including Curry Up Now, Poke A Go Go, Media Noche, and Satay by the Bay — and as we learned in May, the mobile food and beverage vendors will change over time, with applications reopening multiple times per year. There is also a 6,000-square-foot restaurant space in the new Building 201 in the Tunnel Tops area, and the Trust has not yet selected a restaurateur to take that space.

Previously: Presidio Puts Out Call for Mobile Food Vendors and Established Restaurateurs to Apply for Tunnel Tops Spaces

When Dolores's social distancing circles debuted, they were the butt of countless jokes — but their ingenuity is undeniable. This month, SF Parks Alliance is putting a light-hearted spin on those chalked circles as part of a new fundraising drive to show appreciation for our city's green spaces.

San Francisco's home to well over 150 parks, making the city one of the most accessible in the nation for residents to find a green space near their domicile. And as a collective, San Franciscans are well known for doting on their local parks; SF Parks Alliance's newest campaign that celebrates the "love and gratitude for our Parks'' is an ode (and fundraising pull) to said affection.

"While the past few months have changed our lives in many ways, they have also proved one thing undeniably: your parks are essential," read a release from SF Parks Alliance on the campaign, adding that amid the pandemic our local parks have become more than a mental health balm and social outlet – they've grown into "our schools, our gyms, our refuges, and communal backyard."

The local non-profit raises a critical amount during its annual San Francisco parks gala — which was shuttered earlier this year. In a time when we need our parks the most, they also need our support, as well.

To both help with social distancing and garner much-needed financial support for SF's parks, the SF Parks Alliance is painting hearts with white chalk at popular neighborhood parks —  including Dolores, the lawn in front of the Conservatory of Flowers, McLaren Park, and others — as part of their "Heart Your Parks" campaign.

“It’s been amazing to see this visceral love for our parks, but 85 percent of nonprofits are not expected to end this year in the black," says Drew Becher, CEO of SF Parks Alliance, to SFGATE, reminding the populous that nonprofits are reeling in mass and most aren't going to come out of the fiscal year profitable... or financially solvent.

"As a nonprofit, we see this campaign as providing an opportunity for people to give back a little love to their parks while bringing smiles to park-goers' faces,” ​ Becher adds.

To contribute to the campaign, visit sfparksalliance.org/campaign/heart-your-parks where you can choose to donate from one of a dozen eight tiers, spanning the gamut of donations. A "Park Supporter" would donate $25, while a whopping $5K donation to the campaign cements the giver as a "Park Luminary"; donors who give $50 or greater will receive a custom "Heart Your Parks" bandanna. Every contribution during the campaign will be matched up to $50K by the Party for the Parks Event Committee and the SF Parks Alliance Board of Directors.

On social media, show your love for SF Park’s by hashtagging pictures of the social distancing hearts with #HeartYourParks.

For more information on the SF Parks Alliance, as well as locations to over 350 green spaces served by the nonprofit, visit sanfranciscoparksalliance.org.

Related: The 21 Best Socially Distant Hikes to Take in the Bay Area

Many Bay Area Beaches Shut Down For Labor Day Weekend To Prevent COVID-19 Infections; All SF Beaches To Remain Open

Image: Courtesy of Twitter via @SFSC415

Will promoter and old-school hippie Boots Hughston ever catch a break? The 68-year-old has been trying to get the city and County of San Francisco to let him produce a free concert in Golden Gate Park to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love and he keeps getting...the boot.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's Sam Whiting, there was HIGH DRAMA at Thursday's Recreation and Parks Commission meeting where the commish decided once again to turn down Hughston's permit request for his concert.

The commission took umbrage with the fact that Hughston apparently has no plans for security, safety, or crowd control. The hippies took umbrage with the commish being so uptight, man. Behold, the best (and most San Francisco-esque) quotes from the meeting —or at least the ones that made Whiting's piece:

• "If you name five things about our city going back to the beginning, one of them would be the Summer of Love — and these people are original Summer of Lovers." — Hughston’s volunteer counsel Angela Alioto, who gave her speech in English and Italian for reasons only she knows.
• "I'm not going to tell you who we have lined up for our event because you people will just pick it apart." — Kurt "Crowbar" Kangas
• "God forbid that somebody would get hurt." — Commissioner Tom Harrison
• "Sobbing." — Ann Cohen, the widow of Allen Cohen, the founder the city's first underground newspaper, the Oracle.
• "I have no problem with the Summer of Love or the people who run it." — Commissioner Larry Mazzola Jr.
• "Everybody is invited!" Parks and Recreation Director Phil Ginsberg who totally got his concert approved, although it's not a concert. It's a light show, so NBD.

Should Hughston let his dream die or will love find a way? He's only got a few months left before his Summer of Permit Denial is officially over.

Related: Oh Snap. The City Will Throw Its Own 'Summer Of Love' Concert After Rejecting Everyone Else's

After a year and a $5.3 million renovation that's just a few months behind schedule, Alamo Square Park finally reopens Wednesday, having been purposefully kept fenced off until the Bay to Breakers hordes are safely out of the vicinity. For months now, new turf and sod have been establishing themselves as tourists continue to be relegated to one awkwardly fenced corner of the park for their Painted Lady selfies. And now we will all get to see the park in refreshed shape, minus a few old and dying trees, with dozens more newly planted.

We learned about all the various improvements to the park back in the fall, and these include the re-turfing with drought-resistant grass, the addition of new accessibility paths, new benches and a water fountain/water bottle filling station by the playground, a new single-use all-gender restroom, and extensive improvements to the park's sprinkler system.

Rec & Parks general manager Phil Ginsburg explains to CBS 5 that "The renovation included replacing 30-year-old irrigation lines and 70-year-old quick couplers," and that post-renovation, this is going to save 2.5 million gallons of water per year.

The delays, which kept the park closed long past the initially estimated seven months, were caused primarily by our very wet winter.

Curbed tells us that there will be a reopening ceremony for the park on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

Also, it should be noted that the tennis court in the park is going to remain closed for further upgrades, and as Hoodline reports, those could take most of the next year. Rec & Parks still needs to a hire a contractor to redo the court, and in the meantime, it's being used as a temporary plant nursery.

Let's just hope that renewed attention to this renovated park doesn't bring the sort of sunny weekend party people who don't know how to pick up after themselves, a la Dolores Park.

Previously: Sod Laid, Newly Green Alamo Square Nears 'Late Winter' Opening

Progressive Supervisor Jane Kim has been somewhat pointed in her criticism of the Recreation and Park Department for its reticence to install needle disposal boxes in public parks, the Examiner reports. Rec and Park head Phil Ginsburg was under pressure from Kim at a meeting last week, that paper writes, in which she called sharply for boxes to be installed in such spaces.

“I know this is a tough discussion point, but I do think it’s important to have needle disposal boxes at our parks,” Kim reportedly said. “Not to encourage people to use, just so that there is a safe disposal site.”

But will intravenous drug users change their behavior and recognize the proper way to dispose of needles if there are more boxes for this purpose in parks?

Used needles on city streets had spiked according to an annual city report issued last November. While there are 10 safe needle deposit boxes in the city, the first installed near Glide Memorial Church in 2009, that's hardly a box at every corner. The other needle disposal box locations are listed here by the city's public health department. Pit Stops — a series of portable toilets in San Francisco — also have sharps disposal bins.

It isn't just illegal to drop a syringe on the grass at a park or the pavement on a street. Disposing of syringes in trash cans is illegal in the state of California, as Guillermo Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Department of Environment, tells the Examiner. "“Sharps or needles that are improperly disposed of in the black bin or recycling bin pose a health hazard to sanitation workers both to collection and recycling workers and indirectly to maintenance and mechanic workers when sharps jam bins and equipment."

Department of Public Health coordinator and syringe access/disposal community liaison Eileen Loughran tells the Ex she understands there are concerns about adding disposal bins to parks. “People always fear it will draw people to the hang out in the area. That’s not been the case,” Loughran told the paper. But she refutes the idea. “People are not drawn to hang out near boxes like they are water coolers.” She's open to adding boxes to public parks — but that's up to them.

Related: Interactive Map: Syringes And Poop Have Spiked On SF Streets, Says Annual City Report

For dog owners across the city, it's a familiar routine: Stand around while your canine poops, try not to stare lest someone walk by and think you're a weirdo, lean over with a plastic bag to pick up the goods, and then find the nearest trash bin to dispose of Precious's leavings. According to the Chronicle, however, that could all be about to change. Perhaps sick of letting all that good stuff go to waste, officials have launched a program to encourage the environmentally conscious to compost what was once considered mere garbage — likely ensuring a much richer terroir for our Napa and Sonoma vintner friends.

The program kicked off this past weekend in Potrero's Star King Open Space, and is remarkable for its straightforwardness. A company called BioBags is providing park-goers with compostable dog bags, a specialized receptacle, and a pickup service to haul away the future-fertilizer.

“We tried to start this dog waste collection initiative at Duboce Park and BioBag even offered to pay the cost for the first year but the city department in charge of the park would not allow it,” BioBag vice president of market development Mark Williams told the Chronicle. “So we’re happy the folks at the Starr King Open Space took us up on our offer to demonstrate this is an effective way to reduce landfill for Zero Waste objectives.”

Company officials told the paper that they believe this is the first such program in California, and that they hope to expand it to parks across San Francisco. With an estimated 120,000 dogs in the city, that's a lot of poop.

And, with the recent news that roughly half of the contents of our city's black bins are actually compostable or recyclable, the latest effort will helpfully get us a bit closer to the goal of zero waste by 2020. Or, at the very least, means less poop to step in at our city's parks.

BioBag and @sfenvironment are LIVE at @starrkingopenspace Block Party unveiling the FIRST compostable dog waste station in California! 🐶💩♻️

A photo posted by BioBag (@biobag) on Sep 25, 2016 at 2:48pm PDT

Related: Is Your Dog Worse For The Environment Than Driving A Car?

Although running up and down San Francisco's hills may be hard on the knees, the views it affords are easy on the eyes. Another plus: Cool, consistent weather makes for good running conditions year-round. Regular joggers may have all their favorite routes mapped out, but for those looking to get started or just to switch things up, here are a few favorites. Because the best place to start a run is from your front door, it's hard to prescribe a route that works for everyone. Instead, here are 10 great running hubs. Plot a route toward one and explore from there.


Buena Vista Park/Corona Heights
A quick and easy way to add some elevation to a run near the Haight or the Castro is to head uphill to Corona Heights Park and/or Buena Vista Park. Buena Vista is actually the oldest park in the city, and it has primarily one main loop of a path through it, accessibly from pretty much all sides — see some example runs from the Haight here and here. For a trail-running experience with views unblocked by trees, Corona Heights Park offers a 0.9-mile loop that's moderately busy, and includes 121 feet in elevation change. An added bonus: There are plenty of pretty wildflowers in the spring. Jay Barmann

The Embarcadero. Photo: kapshure

John Loo via Flickr

Woody (nose, left) and Gnocchi ponder the vastness of a car-free Great Highway. Photo: Eve Batey/SFist

Photo: joki.photo

via Save McLaren Park

duluoz cats via Flickr

Scott Hess via Flickr

Photo taken from the popular Twin Peaks lookout: Marco Hamersma

San Francisco's dogs have a new place to do their business this week, as city officials yesterday opened a brand new play area complete with fences and artificial turf. Bay City News reports that the doggie park is an addition to Lafayette Park, and is one of the few public parks in SF specifically catered toward canines that features all-synthetic grass.

The price tag? $305,000.

In addition to the not-grass, that money went to purchase a new gate and fence.

"Lafayette Dog Park is now a state-of-the-art dog play area that won't have to be closed during the winter," explained Rec & Park general manager Phil Ginsburg in a statement picked up by San Francisco Patch. "We now have a thousand hours of extra yearly play that wasn't available before."

Supervisor Mark Farrell was on hand for the ceremonial ribbon cutting, and he lauded the neighborhood community group that helped push for the renovations. "This project dramatically improves dog facilities for our residents and families," Bay City News reports Farrell as saying. "This project would not have been possible without the SF Rec and Park and the Friends of Lafayette Park. I am grateful for all of their efforts and commitments to providing more access and facilities for dogs and their owners."

The artificial turf is intended to allow for year-round doggie play (it won't get sloppy in those rainy winter months), and requires less water to maintain than traditional grass. This, of course, is not the first use of artificial turf in San Francisco. The Beach Chalet soccer fields actually elicited protest when it was first learned that they would be replaced with fake grass. Those fields opened in December of last year, despite the protest.

Artificial grass or no, we're sure the dogs of Pac Heights will be happy to have a new place to chase balls and sniff butts.

This post has been updated to reflect that the new Lafayette Dog Park is not the only park to feature all-synthetic turf as originally reported by Bay City News — the SoMa West Dog Park does as well.

Related: The 11 Best Dog Parks In San Francisco

San Francisco's Recreation and Parks Department has struck a deal with Ares Commercial Properties to potentially buy five parcels of prime SoMa land on 11th Street between Minna and Natoma Streets that together constitute about half an acre. The Examiner reports that the department's capital committee will discuss and vote on the purchase today, which would cost $10 million in total from Rec and Parks' Open Space Acquisition Fund. That fund's coffers received another layer of lining this year with the passage of Prop B in June, increasing the fund's budget by anestimated $3 million per year.

"Yes, we need more housing," Supervisor Kim, who represents the district, wrote to the Examiner. "But in order to plan and build more complete neighborhoods we must plan for open space and recreation as well."

The site could yield about 67 housing units, but “that’s not really the point here,” or so John Updike, the director of the Department of Real Estate, tells the Examiner. “The question is not how many additional units of housing could be derived … but rather how we accommodate all the incoming new residents of western SoMa by creating a more livable neighborhood, and that must include provision of park/open space land,”

As the Budget and Legislative Analyst wrote in its Policy Analysis report from 2013, "Parks are available in all Supervisorial Districts but park acreage per 1,000 residents ranges from a low of 0.17 in Supervisorial District 6 (which includes SoMa) to a high of 25.01 in Supervisorial District 2." As of now, there are nine parks in District 6 that average 1.4 acres and 20 parks in District 2 that average 87 acres, and yes, that includes the Presidio, which naturally skews things.

“Parks play a vital role in improving public health, the environment and our communities,” Rec and Parks spokesperson Elton Pon said in a statement to the paper. In this case, the SoMa properties could be razed in order to provide accommodations for one active use like a playground, tennis or basketball courts, and a passive green space. Still, that could be meaningful, as a Rec and Parks staff report remarks, noting that “the location is in a relatively park-poor area where the nearest public open spaces are ½ mile to 1 mile away.”

In 2012, Kim put together an open space task force that eventually identified the 11th Street properties as a viable set of parcels. However, since existing retail tenants would be given the opportunity to remain until 2024, a new SoMa park would still be on the far end of the horizon if approved.

Related: Rec & Parks Gardener Calls 'Love Dolores' Campaign 'Useless', Rails Against 'F**king Awful' Park-Goers

Bringing a bit of cheer to our Monday morning is the fact that today is the summer solstice — the longest day of the year and the first official day of summer. What's more, atypically for a summer day in San Francisco, the National Weather Service predicts that today will hit almost 80 degrees in the city.

That's the kind of one-two punch that means you can lounge the evening away at the park or the beach, basking in the sunlight and remarking out loud that life sure is grand.

To get down to details, the sun is expected to set at 8:35 p.m. tonight, giving us just under 15 hours of daylight (here's a handy map that shows how much light different parts of the US are getting today), and the predicted high is 78 degrees. (The Weather Channel conservatively puts the high today at 70.)

The warm weather should stick with us all week, with temperatures remaining in the 70s all week. So take off work a little early, grab a local beer, and head to the beach (or one of the best hills in SF) — after all, the days only get shorter from here on out.

Related: The 16 Coolest Outdoor And Patio Bars In SF

A brand new Mission Bay park is surrounded by fences — locked up and off limits to the community — even though work on the park was finished months ago. The reason? Well, it's complicated, of course, but CBS 5 reports that a big factor in the park remaining closed to families is that the Board of Supervisors hasn't formally approved it yet.

The Mission Bay Children's Park needs to be approved by the Board, something which strangely has not happened even though the park has been fully built, and then according to the channel there must a review period. That, and the fact that construction work is still happening on an adjacent road, has created enough red tape that families are not allowed inside.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this extremely delayed opening has some neighbors feeling frustrated. “The first opening date we heard was November,” Mission Bay resident Beth Roy told the channel. Neighbor Danielle Swaney says that she was told "it would be opening in January," and that she's not the only one confused at the delay. “My daughter asks me every day if I can go open it with scissors,” related Swaney.

One neighbor decided to take action, and on a February day used bolt cutters to break the lock. As evidenced by a photo posted to Nextdoor, the community took advantage of the unexpected opening.

“We got a weekend to play,” Swaney said. “The place was flooded with kids and parents. It was amazing.”

According to the Mission Bay Development Group, blame for the delay in opening the Mission Bay Children's Park lies not with the Board, but with city regulations requiring that work on surrounding streets be completed before the park can open. "The City of San Francisco is currently working closely with the developer to complete construction and acceptance of the streets fronting the park (Long Bridge and China Basin)," a statement reads. "These streets must meet the city of San Francisco's requirements prior to park opening to ensure safe paths of travel to and from the park."

The new target opening timeframe is late summer of this year.

Related: Arena Opponents File Lawsuit To Block Warriors' Move To Mission Bay

We all got the memo that Alamo Square would be closing this month for a nine-month renovation, and the fences went up all around the one-block park just in time to keep Bay to Breakers partyers from collapsing there. But a great many tourists have not gotten the memo, and they make their trips to take photos with the Full House houses only to find they have very limited space to do so now, along the sidewalks on Steiner Street, and it is causing a bit of chaos, as you can sort of see in the photo above.

This crush of picture takers who can no longer climb up to the vista of the park to get the backdrop of the city skyline behind the Painted Ladies is expected to appear daily along Steiner, looking dismayed, through February when the renovation is expected to be complete.

Meanwhile, in addition to replacing the park's irrigation system, the city is removing trees, and this always upsets people. The plan is to remove 10 to 12 trees, as Hoodline reports, some of which are sick and some of which, planted around 1900, have reached the end of their natural lifespan. One very tall Monterey pine came down Monday afternoon, which you can see in the video below.

A tree expert apparently thinks that 105 of the park's 166 trees are on the decline, and an effort is being put together to buy replacement trees — it will just be very sad if all those old trees have to go away, and things will look very, very different.

Previously: Alamo Square Will Close For Nine Months Starting May 10th