SF Residents Disappointed Over New India Basin Waterfront Park
By Emily Thorsen
San Francisco’s newest public space: India Basin Waterfront Park.
The $200 million project began in 2021 and sought to combine this area with the existing adjacent India Basin Shoreline Park. The park is now home to a food pavilion, a makers’ shop, and an operations and maintenance building.
India Basin also features two new public piers, a floating dock and a 5,580-square-foot ground mural titled “Lady Bayview” by Raylene Gorum.
Former mayor London Breed and other community members celebrated the opening of this historic park on Oct. 19, 2024. The nearly $200M price tag on this new park makes it the most expensive in San Francisco. The funds were made accessible by the $756,728 allocated from extra funding by the California Habitat Conservation Fund Grant Program. This money went towards refurbishing the surrounding environment, as well as bringing the India Basin Waterfront Park to life.
However, San Francisco residents feel this is a waste of funding, considering the limited amount of space available to park visitors.
“After reading the SFGATE article on how wonderful the new park is, my friend and I decided to go and visit. We were actually surprised and very unimpressed with how much the cleanup and rebuild cost,” said San Francisco resident Stacy Sultana. “We were discussing this while looking at the map with some locals. All of us agreed that that money probably could’ve been better spent on new housing.
“Another issue I recognized at the rebuild was the landscaping is overbuilt and overpriced,” continued Sultana. “The plants that were planted are simple, local drought tolerant plants, yet they had a major landscape architect do the work, too much money. I am a local landscaper. The huge irrigation system is unnecessary and it was leaking the day of my visit.”
The demands of residents in the Hunters Point and Bayview districts have historically been neglected by city officials. This new park, in its entirety, seeks to bring forward shared community spaces for San Francisco residents to enjoy, including those who reside in the Hunters Point and Bayview areas.
India Basin Park is nestled between India Basin and the Shipyard at 900 Innes Avenue.
I guess $200,000,000 doesn’t go as far as it used to. I appreciate The Guardsman bringing awareness for people to discover and decide for themselves. Thanks -RP