After years of fighting and a ballot proposition that spurred a recall campaign, a two-mile stretch of San Francisco’s west coast will officially become a park on April 12. The last day to drive on the Great Highway will be March 13.
In the meantime, the public can weigh in on what to call the new park, which has thus far been referred to as the Great Highway Park or Ocean Beach Park. Residents will be able to provide feedback at a virtual meeting March 18, when the Recreation and Parks Department will select finalists. Voting will then open until April 2.
At a brisk and blustery press conference on the Great Highway Saturday afternoon, Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg said his department had already received more than 250 name suggestions, including “The Great Parkway” and “The Coastline.”
He described the park as “the largest pedestrianization project in California history.”
“While the wind is ripping a little bit, we are warm and vibrating with excitement,” he said.
Ginsburg added that since it first closed to cars in 2020, the Great Highway has consistently been one of the city’s top three most-visited parks.
After its park status becomes official, the city will install murals celebrating “surfing, sea life, and neighborhood history,” as well as skateboarding features and a bike pump track.
“When we take space that was for cars and it becomes a park, it is always successful,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, long a champion of pedestrianization projects. He mentioned Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, Crissy Field, and, most recently, JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park as examples.
The 2020 closure of the Great Highway to cars was one of several efforts to give residents more outdoor recreation space during the early pandemic, and voters approved a permanent park by passing Proposition K in November. In December, the park won state approval.
But the initiative remains divisive. While voters passed the ballot measure by a 10-point margin, nearly every precinct in the western half of the city voted against the closure, and No on K demonstrators made themselves heard at both the Proposition K victory party and Saturday’s press conference.
Even among those who support the park, there are disagreements about the specifics of the plan. Resident Mike Nohr, 62, said he was against any art installations that might obscure his view of the waves.
“People should be able to come out and just enjoy the ocean,” Nohr said.
Artist and independent curator Devon Bella, who lives in the Outer Sunset with her husband and two children, was also concerned about the installations.
“We found the process to be highly rushed,” Bella said, bracing against the stiff breeze. “There was no transparency.”
She added that she was concerned about the environmental impacts of asphalt painting, and at least in the near term would rather see dance and other performance art less likely to leave a mark on the space.
Bella said she was helping organize a series of “listening sessions” where local artists could share their thoughts on the art installations at the park.