Potrero Canyon Residents Get Fenced Out of Incoming Park

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

Residents on the rim of Potrero Canyon Park are coming together to fight against the installation of a fence that would keep their homes without access to the new $13.5 million park, slated to open in 2020.

After the project, more than 30 years in the making, was finally funded for construction, a temporary fence went up along the perimeter blocking off homes who were promised they would have backdoor access to the park, according to residents.

Now, close to 70 people have signed a petition that calls for the delay of a permanent border fence and a review of whether such a fence would be necessary.

“Our petition didn’t ask that there not be a fence,” said Potrero Canyon resident Finn-Olaf Jones in an email to the Palisadian-Post. “Our petition simply asks that Bonin’s office … wait to put up the fence until the park is completed so we can see if a fence is at all necessary.”

“We were told that there was going to be a chainlink fence around our home,” said Brooke Klein, a Potrero Canyon resident who also signed the petition. “We wrote emails [opposing that idea], so we didn’t think it wasn’t going to happen.”

To the community’s surprise, a large fence a few feet away from their existing fences went up as a “security measure” and to “protect the city from lawsuits,” according to Jones.

The new fence has now left an unaccessible space where large weeds and brush have begun to grow.

Although Klein was not happy about the park being constructed in the first place, she acknowledged it was beyond her control and instead began to look forward to having a doorway into the park that her kids could use to go play.

“Do I want people and animals walking right outside my gate all of the time? No, but it’s the city’s property and they can do whatever they want with it,” Klein said. “We were told we had full canyon access … Now, to use the park, we have to drive around to where the tennis courts are.”

Lisa Cahill, Councilmember Mike Bonin’s field representative, informed the petitioners that such a document was not necessary, according to emails obtained by the Post, and that options for the permanent fence were already being considered.

“Our office has been actively advocating for fencing options for months, so no petition is needed,” Cahill wrote. “We are already doing this work on your behalf.”

But Jones disagreed and claimed that the majority of residents along the rim of Potrero Canyon had not been consulted.

“Some of the people who signed this ‘worthless’ petition have lived here since they could still fish out of the canyon,” Jones wrote in response to Cahill’s email. “They, like most of us, were never consulted by the city, and when they gave their opinions, were ignored. Now that some of our representatives have made the ridiculous claim that this fence was our idea, we can finally say our opinion has been grossly misrepresented. This petition sets the record straight.”

Bonin’s office had not yet scheduled a meeting with the residents of Potrero as of Monday, June 17, according to Jones, but the neighborhood has planned a meeting of their own and the formation of the “Potrero Canyon Neighborhood Coalition.”

A spokesperson of Bonin’s office, along with Pedro Garcia, the parks engineer, were not immediately available for comment.