Are we Near the End of Something Wonderful?

Back in the '70s, the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department had more employees than the entire National Park Service of America. Reading that in a National Geographic, Rai, a smile came to my face. Here we are living in a city that has made parks in the city and recreation programs a fiscal priority. A city with policies like that is one we can be happy to live in.
Your Grandma, Rai, was part of this great organization. For 37 years, your Grandma was a Director for Parks & Rec, giving several generations of youth, adults and seniors the gift of nature, hiking, camping, and community. Her dream of being a Park Ranger was not realized but, in the end, she was able to give so much to so many people through the work that she did.
These days, however, the S.F. Rec & Parks Department is shrinking. As your Grandma's generation of employees retire, fewer and fewer are re-hired. The Department is not what it once was and with it comes the loss of so many great programs and the closure of playgrounds across the city.
Last week, Rai, we took you to one of the least known, but most amazing Rec & Park mini-parks in The City. The park, Cayuga Park, is way, way down in the very south end of the city, a tiny space of green wedged between a couple highways and right under the elevated transit rail. Every few minutes, the BART train passes overhead, screeching loudly as it does.
This park, however, is the product of the kind of love, care and devotion that your Grandma and so many others put into their community service for years and years. The Rec & Parks employee who once managed this tiny park and playground was also an artist. He worked with wood and logs. Today, dozens of his amazing carvings, painted in vibrant colors, fill every available space in the park. What once began as the work of one man is now a community project; many artists have continued to add carvings to the park over the years. Hidden away in the lush greenery that fringes the grassy open space are two trails that wind through the trees and foliage. At the beginning of one trail, a sign hangs from a gate made of twisted branches and ivy. Garden of Eden, it says, and walking along the meandering path, finding totem poles, carvings of angels, and expressive figures along the way, it certainly feels that way.
The art filled park is a gem yet virtually unknown. A Mom we met there that day told us that she's been coming here regularly for years and usually finds her herself alone in the park. You'd think that such a unique spot in the city would have made it into some guidebooks or city info brochures but it hasn't. It just sits here under the freeway ready to welcome any curious soul who values a green escape from the concrete of the city, a wanderer looking for inspiration, a citizen looking to be reminded of what the people running this city once believed was most important.