Quickly moving up on their outreach timeline, the Parks Department in collaboration with Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s office will host the first official public meeting on the upcoming Dolores Park renovation project. Titled “Shining Light on 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond Projects: Mission Dolores Park”, the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 3, 6-8 pm at the Dolores Park Church, 455 Dolores St.

News broke last week (though Park and Rec was not making a secret of it) that the greater part of Dolores Park would most likely need to close for over a year in order to accomplish a long needed and anticipated renovation. Many in the community on their lifestyle. A Facebook fan page “Don’t Close all of Dolores Park” has 1,200 member as of this writing. Rec and Park and Supervisors Dufty were again reminded of how much the residents of the surrounding dense neighborhoods depend on this park for open space. Philip Ginsburg, rec and park general manager, says he is now committed to finding a way to accomplish the renovation in stages, “if fiscally possible.”

The meeting is being billed as a forum for questions about the upcoming renovation, information about the project planning process and information on how we can get involved. Invitations went out Friday to the new park stewardship group, Dolores Park Works, the Friends of Dolores Park Playground, local neighborhood associations and other stakeholders.

The new playground project is being handled as a separate project and public input and planning for the Helen Diller Playground is closed. Construction will most likely begin in late Fall of this year and may disrupt much of the southern end of the park.