Committee approves six-month behested waiver for India Basin Waterfront Park fundraising, requires reporting and limits staff who may solicit

The government audit and oversight committee on March 20 forwarded a resolution authorizing certain officers and employees of the mayor's office and the Recreation and Park Department to solicit donations for the India Basin Waterfront Park initiative, the committee record shows.

Lisa Branson, director of partnerships at the Recreation and Park Department, told the committee the India Basin Initiative is a public–private effort led by the department in partnership with four nonprofits — the National Trust, the San Francisco Foundation, the San Francisco Parks Alliance and the community nonprofit A. Philip Randolph Institute — to transform a vacant lot and adjacent underperforming park in Bayview Hunters Point into a restored waterfront park. Branson said the partners are combining roughly $125 million in public funds with an original private target of more than $75 million and that roughly $2.4 million remained to be raised at the time of the presentation. "We are committed to continuing to fundraise until we cut a ribbon on the last section of the park to deepen the investments in the community," Branson said.

Branson described the project's equitable development plan (EDP), which directs partners to focus private fundraising on arts, culture and identity; youth opportunities; workforce and business development; connectivity; transit access and safety; healthy communities and ecology; and housing security. She said remediation work was completed in 2022 and the first section opened to the public in October 2024; construction on the final section is expected to start soon with an opening scheduled in early 2028.

Public commenters representing local organizations spoke in support. Kirk Grimes, senior program manager at the A. Philip Randolph Institute and a Bayview resident, said the project "is a community project that truly invests in local nonprofits and businesses." Micah Pinkston, executive director and founder of From the Heart, described the park as "very important" to community programs his nonprofit runs. Chika Mezi, a program manager with the A. Philip Randolph Institute, said she has worked on the project "from day one" and supports the waiver.

Chair Jackie Fielder introduced amendments to limit the waiver to a specific list of Rec and Park staff and to require a report to the Board of Supervisors 60 days after the waiver's expiration; the committee adopted the amendments. The committee voted to forward the resolution, as amended, to the full board with a positive recommendation. The roll call recorded three ayes and the motion passed.

Branson told supervisors the department posts donor information in compliance with the Sunshine Ordinance on the India Basin website and said the campaign cabinet includes community members and philanthropic leaders working together.

The resolution authorizes a six-month waiver, effective upon approval, and does not itself appropriate funds. The committee's action clears the path for named officials to solicit charitable contributions under the behested-payment framework and asks for a post-waiver accounting to the Board of Supervisors.