Where Do You Hide?

San Francisco, California is glamorous, fabulous, amazing…and extremely distracting. Around every corner San Francisco seems to offer something new, fun, and beautiful; for example, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, SF MOMA, and China Town. Not to mention that San Francisco has some of the best restaurants in the country, phenomenal shopping, and (although, they may be a bit windy) beautiful beaches. This 7x7 mile city has so many hidden gems; including, Sociale an Italian restaurant hidden down a tiny shadowed alley and the often overshadowed independent book store City Lights.

Stress factors! School, parents, relationships, work, bills, debt, deadlines, traffic jams, errands, chores… and I’m sure you agree, that list could go on forever. I am a city girl, I grew up in Chicago; which is three times the size of SF, so I definitely understand the struggle of trying to find some ‘peace and quiet’ in a city that never sleeps.

Philosophical! As you have all learned over the course of this semester, I tend to be a pretty ‘deep’ person, so to speak. No matter what the assignment may be I always seem to find some obscure angle and get all philosophical…I even managed to make going to a baseball game about much more than just strikes, outs, and innings. Anyway, don’t think for a second that this assignment is going to be any different.

Alright, now that I have your attention and you are completely confused as to where I am going with this… let me (try to) explain. As college students (and of course professors), there always seems to be that “to do” list that never goes away; and no matter how many things you complete and can cross off the list, there is always 15 more things to add. However, living in one of the most amazing cities in the world I often find myself forgetting to ‘email that guy about that internship’ or ‘call Grandma to catch up’ (because she has left 8 guilt-tripping messages) and find myself caught up in some San Francisco escapade. Somehow, I rarely find myself feeling guilty that certain “to do’s” linger on my list for weeks at a time, because honestly life is too damn short! And who knows where life is going to take us and when, before you know it you may be stuck in Birmingham, Alabama and we all know it won’t even begin to compare to our beloved San Francisco.

San Francisco has endless possibilities for eating, shopping, and adventuring… but sometimes the most satisfying thing is to find a ‘place’ to hide from the overwhelming, stressful hustle and bustle of city life. A perfect place to do this is on the tiptop of Telegraph Hill where you will find breath-taking panoramic views and 74-year-old Coit Tower. Coit Tower was built in 1933, and is dedicated to the SF firefighters who ‘fought a massive blaze’ after the devastating 1906 earthquake. Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill both have fascinating stories. Another fabulous place to see in SF is the Exploratorium, which is a public science museum, which has beautiful buildings like the Tactile Dome and the Palace of Fine Arts. Even Ocean Beach has endless activities to get involved in; including, surfing, kite flying, and bonfires.

However, it is not the 210-foot concrete tower, the science facts, the surfing, or the famous wild parrot flock that resides on the hill that draw me to these various places in San Francisco. When I am stressed out and trying to hide from everything and everyone, I run away… and go the top of Telegraph Hill or the benches outside the Exploratorium and so on. These places are my escape; the views are spectacular and the people watching are to die for. If I have one suggestion for any of you, it is to find a place like this of your own.

The Root of the Problem

When local residents set up a garden in an open space on Fulton and Stanyan opposite famed Golden Gate Park, they set off a firestorm of controversy that reverberated throughout the urban gardening community. This gardening group did not have the one thing that scores of other community gardens have, and it's not potatoes. The crucial ingredient lacking in this latest attempt at city farming was the legal right to use the land.

The small patch of land adjacent to the apartments on the corner of Fulton and Stanyan is owned by the same out-of-state landlord who also owns the apartment complex. The landlord is not interested in having a community garden on the site, never gave permission to place a garden there, and is actively attempting to have it removed. In the city of San Francisco, the landowner is well within the law to kick the gardeners off the property. Indeed, this is the only regulation on starting a community garden in San Francisco, said Jude Koski of SFGro, a major community gardening organization in the City.

"It would be one thing if it were public land and it weren't being used for anything," said Koski. "But if the owner decides they don't want them [the community gardeners] on that land, that's it."

Koski said his group has offered to broker a deal between the gardeners and the landowner, but such an agreement looks unlikely given the owner's present disposition. Koski said that SFGro is ready and willing to step in if both sides are ready to negotiate, but won't force the issue.

"The site has a lot of question marks," said Koski.

It seems those questions may be answered with a resounding, "No." If the landowner refuses to participate in negotiations, residents at the garden may have to get their vegetables at the local grocery store instead.

Community Garden

Along the busy intersection of Fulton and Stanyan Street, a block from USF, lies a 4-month old garden teeming with rows of fruits and vegetables. Green onions, strawberries, mustard greens, lettuce, snap peas, and potatoes are just some of the produce one can find planted there. Amidst the bustling cars, tall buildings, and fast paced life of the city, the garden, although only taking up a small space, has become a place where city dwellers with a green thumb can use their talent, as well as eat healthier. With the carefully laid out rows and walkways, one can assume that the residents who contribute to this small “garden of eden,” treasure it. This can be seen when a male resident of the building adjacent to the garden yells out of his window to a dog walker, whose dog is lurking among the crop, “That’s there to eat!”

Gardens are minimal in a place where space is limited. Two major gardens that can be found in San Francisco are located at Yerba Buena and the Golden Gate Park, which boasts a botanical garden and a Japanese tea garden.