A Center for everyone, with room to grow.
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We have programming for all ages. We've built strong community partnerships. We're busier than we've ever been. But we've outgrown our aging home.
Our recreation center is over forty years old and is in need of major repairs. And it's small size no longer meets the overwhelming demand. Let's build a modern recreation community center with more room to accommodate existing and future community needs. |
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Building a legacy for Lincoln's next generation.
Now is time to invest for the next generation. Let's ensure that the recreation center continues to play a central role in building a welcoming, diverse, and thriving community that enriches the lives of all families—now, and for generations to come.
Ever since it became a park in the late 1860's, Lincoln Square has been the heart of the Chinatown neighborhood and a welcoming place for people from all over Oakland and beyond. At the park, you can play basketball, chase your friend around the historic Junk Boat playground, help a toddler learn to climb at the tot-lot, learn to play soccer or join a line dancing class at the recreation center. Lincoln Elementary School, the second oldest public school in Oakland, is right next door and has partnered closely with the park for generations.
The existing recreation center hosts affordable recreational and enrichment activities for all ages, fun and friendship in after-school and summer camps, senior programs and family events, as well as cultural programming and special events for the entire community.
With no other public senior or recreation center in Chinatown or downtown Oakland, active folks of all ages convene for both formal and informal activities. With thousands of new apartments currently under construction downtown, over 5,000 new residents will soon be moving within one-half mile of the park. When more individuals and families move into the neighborhood, there will be additional pressure on our already bustling park and center.
Ever since it became a park in the late 1860's, Lincoln Square has been the heart of the Chinatown neighborhood and a welcoming place for people from all over Oakland and beyond. At the park, you can play basketball, chase your friend around the historic Junk Boat playground, help a toddler learn to climb at the tot-lot, learn to play soccer or join a line dancing class at the recreation center. Lincoln Elementary School, the second oldest public school in Oakland, is right next door and has partnered closely with the park for generations.
The existing recreation center hosts affordable recreational and enrichment activities for all ages, fun and friendship in after-school and summer camps, senior programs and family events, as well as cultural programming and special events for the entire community.
With no other public senior or recreation center in Chinatown or downtown Oakland, active folks of all ages convene for both formal and informal activities. With thousands of new apartments currently under construction downtown, over 5,000 new residents will soon be moving within one-half mile of the park. When more individuals and families move into the neighborhood, there will be additional pressure on our already bustling park and center.
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It's time to grow up.
By building a new multi-story community center, we can double our program area without sacrificing any existing outdoor play space.
Lincoln Square Park is already the busiest park in Oakland, with over 1,500 unique visitors each day, every day, seven days a week. Many of the programs are filled to capacity and there is so much more need than space allows. When the opera musicians come in to practice, they squeeze into the side storage room so the table tennis players don't have to stop. Then table tennis tables have to get put away quickly so the tai chi folks can use the space. They get replaced by the basketball players, who get pushed out by the volleyball players. Not to mention the community safety group that meets here, the political town halls that are hosted here, or the after-school and summer programs that are run out of here. The weekly schedule is packed, and demand is high.
Thankfully, the Golden State Warriors Foundation and the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation gave the gym floors a wonderful makeover a few months ago, but the reality is that’s just helping us get by a few more years. We now have a beautiful floor, but the roof still leaks. And we still have a long lines at the women's restroom, and much needed plumbing, electrical and structural issues to address. According to our space planning analysis, we need a modern center for Chinatown that is at least twice as big as it is now, just to accommodate the programming that’s already happening here.
Lincoln Square Park is already the busiest park in Oakland, with over 1,500 unique visitors each day, every day, seven days a week. Many of the programs are filled to capacity and there is so much more need than space allows. When the opera musicians come in to practice, they squeeze into the side storage room so the table tennis players don't have to stop. Then table tennis tables have to get put away quickly so the tai chi folks can use the space. They get replaced by the basketball players, who get pushed out by the volleyball players. Not to mention the community safety group that meets here, the political town halls that are hosted here, or the after-school and summer programs that are run out of here. The weekly schedule is packed, and demand is high.
Thankfully, the Golden State Warriors Foundation and the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation gave the gym floors a wonderful makeover a few months ago, but the reality is that’s just helping us get by a few more years. We now have a beautiful floor, but the roof still leaks. And we still have a long lines at the women's restroom, and much needed plumbing, electrical and structural issues to address. According to our space planning analysis, we need a modern center for Chinatown that is at least twice as big as it is now, just to accommodate the programming that’s already happening here.