dolores park reopens
The highly anticipated completion of the first phase
of a $21 million renovation at Dolores Park in June
posed a complex challenge. How do you protect a
major capital investment and change the culture
around an uberpopular park that has, in the past,
resulted in a slew of maintenance challenges and
cost taxpayers more than $750,000 a year to pick up
trash at the park?
Timed with a grand opening celebration event
featuring a Silent Disco/Leave No Trace theme, a
community-led campaign to “Love Dolores” was
launched this summer. With area merchants,
community leaders and volunteers leading the
charge, park users were asked to show the park some
love by taking their trash to curbside disposal and
recycling bins, smoking on the street instead of in the
park and choosing to use aluminum cans versus glass
bottles, which are harder on our parks.
Park goers were also asked to take a social media
pledge to Love Dolores and share their message with
their friends and family. In the first three months
after the opening, there were some promising results.
+67% of all trash was diverted from landfill
+500 volunteers and 13 community groups spent
+3,170 hours doing outreach to park users
Hundreds of people pledged to Love Dolores and
shared their posts online
The second half of Dolores reopens in early-2016.
THREE-MONTH UPDATE VIDEO ON DOLORES PARK