The Recreation, Culture, and Education Service Area encompasses much of what makes San Francisco a rich and vibrant city. San Francisco’s park system has more accessible green space than any other municipality in the United States. Dog play spaces, golf courses, urban trails, natural areas, and urban agriculture are all part of the City’s recreational portfolio. The Main Library and 27 branch libraries provide free and equal access to information as well as diverse literary and educational programs. Moving forward, the libraries will play an increasing role in supporting San Francisco’s resilience challenges. Our City museums—the Asian Art Museum, de Young Museum, Legion of Honor, and Academy of Sciences—showcase wide-ranging exhibitions and complement the City’s own civic art collection of over 4,000 objects and monuments. An essential part of the City’s social and cultural fabric is our student body; each year San Francisco Unified School District serves approximately 50,000 students, and City College of San Francisco serves approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent students. These San Francisco institutions honor the City's cultural histories while embracing the promise of the future.

Overview

San Francisco’s recreational, cultural, and educational resources drive our quality of life and underlie our shared experience as a city. Keeping these institutions in a state of good repair is a priority. Within each subsection of this chapter, projects are discussed in the following order: Parks (REC), Cultural Facilities (AAM, ARTS, FAM, SCI, WAR), and Educational Institutions (LIB, CCSF, SFUSD).

Parks

The Recreation and Park Department administers more than 230 parks, playgrounds, and open spaces, including two outside the city limits. The system includes 27 recreation facilities, nine swimming pools, five golf courses, and numerous sports venues. The Department’s responsibilities also include the Marina Yacht Harbor, the San Francisco Zoo, Camp Mather, and the Lake Merced Complex.

In June 2016, the voters of San Francisco approved Proposition B, a set-aside of the City’s General Fund for the Recreation and Park Department to fund ongoing and one-time capital needs. These General Fund dollars complement the voter-approved Neighborhood Parks and Open Space General Obligation Bond program. The bond program is comprised of measures that passed in 2008, 2012 and 2020. Park facilities are also supported by the Open Space Fund, a property tax earmark approved by voters in 2000. With these resources, the Recreation and Park Department continues to alleviate the department’s substantial deferred maintenance needs.

The Recreation and Park Department uses its asset lifecycle management tool to support planning efforts for deferred maintenance and renewals. First populated in 2019, with ongoing updates by the Department, the tool helps staff calculate deferred maintenance requirements and costs. The Department also has a comprehensive capital planning process to address the development, renovation, replacement, and maintenance of its capital assets, as well as the acquisition of new real property. The Department incorporates equity into its capital expenditure plan and its biannual budget. The equity analysis utilizes the San Francisco Planning Department’s Environmental Justice Communities framework, which was incorporated into the City’s General Plan and was adopted by the Recreation and Parks Commission to replace its previously adopted Equity metrics.

Cultural Facilities

With some of the oldest and newest construction in the City’s capital portfolio, San Francisco’s cultural institutions present a wide range of needs. From repairing the roofs of the Legion of Honor and Opera House, to protecting the de Young and Academy of Sciences against the foggy conditions in Golden Gate Park, to retrofitting the City’s Cultural Centers, to restoring the publicly held Civic Art Collection, the City’s arts agencies have distinct capital needs.

In November 2018, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which annually allocates 1.5% of the base hotel tax to arts and cultural purposes through the Hotel Room Tax Fund. Proposition E provide a set-aside for various arts and cultural projects, including grants and a cultural equity endowment. These funds also continue to support arts-related capital projects, such as the City’s cultural centers. 

Educational Institutions

Following the completion of the $196 million Branch Library Improvement Program (BLIP), the San Francisco Public Library is in the process of addressing two outstanding renovations (the Mission Branch Library and the Chinatown Branch Library) and construction of a new Ocean View Branch Library. The Library’s mission is evolving as access to technology has increased, and technology has taken
on a greater role in information literacy. The City is committed to serving the needs of local communities into the future and continues to program our spaces accordingly.

Although City College of San Francisco and the San Francisco Unified District do not fall within the City’s administrative purview, descriptions of their capital priorities are included here to provide a comprehensive look at the infrastructure needs across the City. San Francisco voters approved an $845 million bond for CCSF in 2020, and a $790 million bond for SFUSD in 2024 to improve and modernize school facilities.