Soon-to-Open Tunnel Tops Park Supports a More Inclusive Future
Favianna Rodriguez grew up in East Oakland, in a polluted neighborhood with hardly any trees and not many places to play outside. It’s a town she continues to call home.
“Reality in this country for so many people of color is not having access to nature,” says Rodriguez, an activist and artist. “My dream is to create art in beautiful, natural spaces—art that is also an invitation to play and to reimagine those spaces.”
Rodriguez’s dream is becoming reality. This weekend, on Sunday, July 17, the new 14-acre Tunnel Tops park opens to the public in San Francisco’s Presidio, a former military base turned urban national park that hosts around 10 million visitors a year. The Presidio spans 1,500 acres, about 5 percent of San Francisco, sprawling at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.