The April 28 spring quarterly meeting was a perfect example of what makes Glen Park great: SF PUC canceled its public power presentation at the last minute, and neighborhood historian Evelyn Rose stepped in to fill the gap.
Announcements
Upcoming events: Congressional District 11 candidate forum (May 6), Refuse Refuse cleanup (May 23), Boba with a Badge (June 10), and the 2026 Night Markets (June 20, July 18, August 15, September 19). See the blog sidebar for upcoming dates.
Business news: Celtica Wellness Sanctuary opened April 25, new classes are on offer at Soluna, the Destination Bakery building is for sale, La Cigale was recommended in the Michelin guide, Tony has started Idol Vintage Pop Up boutique in Critter Fritters and Glen Park Station celebrates its 100th birthday in August.
Traffic
SFMTA is looking to improve safety and traffic flow around freeway onramps and offramps at Monterey and Bosworth. The agency said it will present preliminary plans to the public this summer.
Neighbors on Arlington are discussing ways to better signify the street as a Slow Street.
Development
In December, the SF Historic Preservation Commission declared 15 buildings in downtown Glen Park as historically significant and designated a swath of the neighborhood as an historic district. The Board of Supervisors approved the designations in January.
The owners of the Kern Street parking lot have submitted preliminary plans to develop eight four-story three-bedroom townhomes.
2026 GPA grant recipients and Neighborhood Heroes
The on to the fun stuff: the GPA’s 2026 grant recipients were announced and celebrated.
Tracy Damiano passed around copies of Sunnyside Elementary’s literary magazine, The Rey. Thanks to the Glen Park Association’s $2,000 grant, the school will be able to give each student a copy of the magazine. Glen Park gets to enjoy pages of this year’s edition on the walls of many local cafes, including Café Belo and Cup.
A student from the Center for Creative Exploration described the joys of painting at the studio. There will be limited free spots for Glen Parkers at an upcoming workshop, thanks to the GPA’s $1,000 grant.
Beth O’Leary of Glen Park Beautiful talked about the beautification of the concrete Bosworth pedestrian overpass. Earlier this year Public Works cleaned and painted the bridge blue to match nearby Glen Park Elementary School, and then the fun part began. Students from the school worked with artist Ross Holzman of the Create Peace Project to create a tile mosaic that turn the concrete bridge pillars into works of art, in part thanks to the GPA’s $2,000 grant.
Sophie Constantinou talked about the work transforming the Bernal Cut from a trash-strewn concrete wasteland into a native plant garden path. New signage will describe the region’s history and plants, thanks to a $1,000 GPA grant.
Constantinou and Glen Park Beautiful are just two of the neighborhood’s gems: people who spend the time to secure grants, liase with artists, navigate city bureaucracy and round up neighborhood volunteers to make something unused or ugly into something beautiful, and the next part of the meeting was devoted to these heroes.
Nicholas Dewar described the evolution of the Glen Park Greenway from weeds to oak woodland.
Marian Dalere talked about the fourth year of partnering with Refuse Refuse, which organizes trash pick-ups citywide. Glen Park’s cleanup regularly attracts a couple dozen volunteers, and together we have removed 1,291 bags of trash from Glen Park in that time.
Ramon Clark talked about the hardworking merchants, a growing community thanks to the new businesses that are opening. He announced the formation of the Glen Park Entertainment Zone, an official designation that makes hosting events in downtown Glen Park easier and more seamless.
Glen Park History
Evelyn Rose finished out the evening with her history presentation. Rose, of the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project, quizzed the filled meeting room at the Glen Park branch library about GP history, and if you knew where the street name Mizpah came from, you were one of the few.
The Glen Park Association is grateful to these wonderful partners and to all the neighbors whose hard work keeps Glen Park great.
