Open Letter to the Parks and Recreation Commission

Dear Members of the Oakland Parks and Recreation Commission,

We are writing on behalf of Friends of Lincoln Square Park, to ensuring that our beloved downtown park and recreation center in the heart of Chinatown continues to play a central role in building a welcoming, diverse, and thriving community that enriches the lives of all Oaklanders — now, and for generations of families to come.  We share a vision for an expanded recreation center that anchors downtown recreation and urge you use your collective voices to support this project and push to include this once-in-a-generation project in City’s new Downtown specific plan.

Our Vision for an expanded downtown Recreation Center

Lincoln Square Park is the city’s busiest recreation center and park, with over 1,500 unique visitors each day, all day long. It is the only public recreation center in Downtown and serves residents of all ages, incomes and races from across the city and beyond. The adjacent bus stop at Harrison and 11th is one of the busiest in the system and provides much needed indoor and outdoor play areas for neighboring schools.  ​

Friends of Lincoln Square Park (FLSP) is a coalition of community leaders and volunteers including representatives from the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, local churches, family associations, the Wa Sung Community Service Club and other community organizations. We are working with the recreation center staff and the City to advocate, plan and fund the design and construction of an expanded and modernized recreation center that will be the center of Chinatown.  

The Lincoln Square Park Recreation Center (LSPRC) is 40 years old and in dire need of expansion and improvement. The current building is over capacity, as activities fill every room at nearly all hours. Pressure for more space is mounting as new residents move into the 5,000+ new apartments in Downtown leasing over the next year. A recent architectural analysis concluded that the facility floor area needs to be doubled just to meet existing demand.  

Our shared vision is a new three story recreation center with an indoor basketball gym, multipurpose and class rooms, space that can be indoor/outdoor, and a relocated Chinatown Hall of Pioneers as a central gathering space. This new building will have the space to host multiple simultaneous activities that bring together different generations and longtime and new Oaklanders.

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