Welcome to “I Love My Park”, NPC’s monthly column featuring interviews with people all over the city talking about the personal connections they feel to parks in San Francisco. If you are interested in appearing in this column in the future, please email us and tell us all the reasons why you love your park. To read the archive of past columns, click here.
This month: Amber Mederos, Dr. Alan Schneider and Alessandro Farana photographed at Washington Square Park on September 26th, 2008. Photo and interview by NPC volunteer Joyce Pedersen.
What is the name of your park?
Washington Square Park
How often do you visit your park?
Amber: I come to the park at least three times per week.
Alessandro: I come here about once a month.
Why do you love this park?
Amber and Alessandro (in unison): The people! We love people watching here, and the dogs are great. And we love all the trees.
Dr. Schneider: This park has many subcultures to it. In the morning the retirees come after meeting at a nearby coffee house. From 5-6pm a whole new community develops with the arrival of the dog owners. The groups get to know one another from spending time at the park. I just moved here this summer.
What is your favorite activity?
Amber: I kick the soccer ball around or read.
Alessandro: My favorite activiies at the park are soccer and frisbee.
What improvements would you make?
Alessandro: I would like to see water fountains. In Italy the parks have water fountains.
Dr. Schneider: I would like to see a fenced in area for dogs to be able to run off leash. In this neighborhood there are no other green spaces for the dogs.
