The City Responded

After several weeks, SF Recreation and Parks responded to the complaint letter sent in October. The response came from Jack Avery, Manager of Policy and Public Affairs, on behalf of General Manager Sarah Madland.

The full response is included below, but here's what it actually says — and what it doesn't.

On drug use and encampments

Rec and Park acknowledged the public health and safety concerns at Columbia Square and Victoria Manalo Draves Park and pointed to coordination with the Mayor's Office, SFPD, the Sheriff's Office, and the new SOMA Reset Center as the mechanism for addressing it.

The key admission is buried in the middle of that paragraph: Park Rangers cannot make arrests. They can act as "ambassadors and park stewards" and ask people using drugs publicly to move along. That's it.

This matters because it clarifies where the enforcement gap actually lives. The Rangers are the city employees physically present in these parks, and they have no authority to do anything beyond a verbal request. Real enforcement requires SFPD to show up — which is exactly the coordination problem residents have been raising for months.

The response says this is "a priority" for Park Rangers and that they've been directed to help ensure parks are safe. There are no metrics, no staffing commitments, no follow-up timeline, and no acknowledgment that "asking people to move along" has not been working.

On dogs at Victoria Manalo Draves

This is where the response gets more substantive, and more worth pushing back on.

Rec and Park's position is that dogs are prohibited on athletic fields for health and safety reasons: dog waste and residual bacteria on turf, and damage from digging and overuse. Fair concerns in principle.

But they also provided the actual Spring 2026 field schedule, and it's worth looking at carefully:

• Bessie Carmichael Elementary: Mon–Fri, 10am–3pm (PE and recess)
• America SCORES: Mon–Fri, 12pm (overlaps with Bessie Carmichael)
• Kickball League: Tuesdays, 7pm–9pm
• SF Youth Baseball League: Thursdays and Fridays, 5:30pm–6:30pm

Add it up. The field is in scheduled use roughly 25 hours per week. There are 168 hours in a week. That leaves ~143 hours per week when the field sits empty — including every weekend, every weekday morning before 10am, most weekday evenings, and the 3pm–5:30pm gap on Monday and Wednesday.

The health and safety argument is reasonable when the field is being used by elementary school kids for recess. It's much harder to defend when the field is empty at 7am on a Saturday, or 8pm on a Sunday, and the alternative is a neighborhood where dog owners have nowhere legal to let their dogs run.

Other cities handle this with scheduled shared use — designated off-leash hours on athletic fields during times the fields are otherwise empty. It's not radical. It's how Dolores Park, parts of Golden Gate Park, and athletic fields in cities across the country already operate. The policy Rec and Park described treats the field as if it's in constant use. It isn't, and they just confirmed it isn't.

A reasonable next ask: a pilot for shared-use hours on the VMD field during the documented gaps, with the same clean-up enforcement standards applied everywhere else.

What's missing

The response is polite, on-time, and walks through the policy. What it doesn't include:

• Any commitment to increased Ranger presence or SFPD coordination at VMD specifically
• Any metrics on how often Rangers currently visit the park, or what happens when they ask someone to move along and the person doesn't
• Any opening to discuss shared-use hours for dogs during the documented off-hours
• Any follow-up mechanism

It's a response. It's not a plan.

The full response

Hi Benjamin,

Thanks for reaching out to SF Rec and Park. General Manager Sarah Madland asked me to respond to your email.

I understand that there are public health and safety concerns with public drug use and encampments at Columbia Square and Victoria Manalo Draves Park. SF Rec and Park is working closely with the Mayor's Office, SFPD, the Sheriff's Office and other agencies to address these critical issues throughout the SoMa neighborhood.

The SOMA Reset Center provides a new resource for our law enforcement partners to bring drug users off our streets and help connect them with services. While our Park Rangers cannot make these arrests directly, they do act as ambassadors and park stewards and can ask people using drugs publicly to move along. This is a priority for our Park Rangers and we have directed our Rangers to help ensure that all our parks and facilities are safe and enjoyable to visit.

I appreciate your concerns regarding dogs at Victoria Manalo Draves Park (VMD). It is SF Rec and Park policy that dogs are not allowed on athletic fields, primarily for health and safety concerns. Dog waste and residual bacteria can remain on turf and soil after clean-up, which poses a risk to others using the field. Off-leash dogs can damage fields through digging and overuse, which can unintentionally lead to injuries.

While the VMD athletic fields are not in constant use, they are an important resource for kids and sports.

The Spring 2026 VMD Field schedule is below:

• Bessie Carmichael Elementary has a field permit Monday – Friday, from 10am – 3pm, for PE, recess, and similar activities
• America SCORES is partnering with the Bessie Carmichael and will utilize the field Monday – Friday at 12:00 p.m. during the Spring 2026 season.
• Kickball League utilizes field every Tuesday night, 7pm-9pm
• San Francisco Youth Baseball League (SFYBL) practices Thursdays and Fridays from 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Please let me know if you have any further questions

Best,

Jack Avery Manager of Policy and Public Affairs San Francisco Recreation and Park Department