Bill Ma walked his dog Charlie through the high grass of Brooks Park in Merced Heights. He remembers when people talked about this park because of the gang infestation and drug deals.

“I think back 10 years ago and you wouldn’t set foot in this place,” said Bill Ma, 48, a certified public accountant who has lived in the area for 18 years. “I heard about people finding bullet shells.”

There have been neighborhood efforts to reclaim the park to make it someplace safe and beautiful. The park is home to a local neighborhood garden, native plants and most recently, large sculptures created and installed by art students at SF State.

Now San Francisco’s Park and Recreation Department has told neighbors in Merced Heights that the sculptures must be taken down because they did not fill out the proper permits to install them in the first place.

The sculptures were installed by students in the Artists in the Community class which encourages students to get out of the studio and work on pieces in public spaces. They were installed over the course of 14 weeks last semester.

The sculptures provide educational benefits to the children in the neighborhood. A large wind chime shows wind direction. A sculpture of an Ohlone basket-weaver in the gardens reminds children of the area’s history. And a large stone hand catches rainwater moisture to show how much water is in the air, according to the artist.

Neill Orje, 24, who is majoring in art at SF State sculpted the stone hand said they didn’t know anything about permits.

“Everyone put a lot of work into it,” he said. “I guess you can’t just go into a public space and pop some work in there. If it was taken down I’d actually be fine with it. That’s life, I guess.”

The fate of the art is up to the Mayor’s Office now, which has not made a decision yet.
Peter Vaernet, a resident of Merced Heights, said neighbors didn’t know they had to fill out a permit because they have been making improvements on the park area for years without the city’s approval.

According to Vaernet, residents have been renovating and taking care of the park since 1994. Residents of the neighborhood want to keep the art in the park and don’t see why it should be removed.

“I don’t see why they would take it out now. It’s not harming anybody,” said 20-year-old Kelly Schreiber, an undeclared major and junior at SF State. “It’s just a big hand and some wind chimes.”
Other residents agree that the art beautifies the park and humanizes it.

“I don’t know why the park people are so distraught about it,” said 58-year-old neighbor Jim Musselman while on his way to water his vegetables in the garden. “I hope they keep the artwork.”

Musselman said that the neighbors take care of the park and that he has never seen someone from Park and Recreation there.

“They put a really nice trash can at the end there,” Musselman said.
Bill Ma said the neighbors are going to lobby the Park and Recreation Department to keep the art.

“I remember this used to be a drug-infested, gang-controlled piece of property,” Ma said. “Having the art here is a step toward revitalization.”

At press time, the Park and Recreation Department had not returned calls from [X]press.
“Something is being worked out,” Vaernet said. “This is all about serving the people.”