Supervisor Eric Mar: City Hall

School's out for summer

School is out and summer is finally here! The Richmond has so much to offer year-round, and summer time is no exception. For youth of all ages, the Richmond District YMCA has camps that cater to all interests. The Y also offers the Fitness and Leadership Experience (FLEX), a free program for middle and high schoolers that focuses on educating youth about nutrition and activities that promote physical fitness. The Y also has a program to train high school students to work as day-camp leaders. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.ymcasf.org/Richmond/camping.

If you need some insider advice on other Richmond District summer camps, I've found that the reviewers on the blog Parents Connect are happy to voice their helpful opinions. The Web site has a list of camps and other activities in the Richmond District, like Kids on Camera, an acting camp that trained the person who was the voice of Andy in the movie "Toy Story." For more reviews, please visit: http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/category/inner-richmond-san-francisco-ca-usa/resources/camps.

The newly-launched Richmond District Blog is a great resource for neighborhood activities. Please visit: http://richmondsfblog.com.

The Richmond District Neighborhood Center's 22nd annual Multicultural Children's Art Fair is on June 6. A beloved neighborhood tradition, the fair features dazzling performances by Swetha Dixit's Indian dancers, Dance Kaiso, Halau o Keikaili i and the Flying Angels. There will also be dozens of artist-led activities for the whole family! The fair will be at Richmond District Neighborhood Center, 741 30th Ave., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more great family activities, go to the Web site at www.rdnc.org.

Lincoln Park Steps

A group of dedicated neighbors, led by Anna Yatroussis and Meg Autry from the Friends of Lincoln Park, are organizing to create a wonderful tiling project on the staircase at the end of California Street at 32nd Avenue. The steps are a gateway to and from the surrounding neighborhoods, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Playground, Lincoln Park Golf Course, Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Lands End walk.

The steps are heavily used on a daily basis and show the scars of wear and tear. The Friends of Lincoln Park have put together a proposal to revitalize the steps and install artistic tiles on all of the steps and benches. This will completely transform the area and be a true public gift we will cherish for generations to come.

The Friends of Lincoln Park began the process by talking to members of the community about their tiling idea and eventually, they were able to get a coalition of neighborhood support to move forward.

The tiling design was inspired from historic photographs of Sutro Baths, buildings of the 1894 World's Fair in San Francisco, and the artistic vision of Aileen Barr, a renowned tile artist who has worked on many public art projects in San Francisco, including the award-winning tiling project on the 16th Avenue stairs in the Sunset District. She has designed a beautiful handmade Beaux Arts tile proposal that is supported by the surrounding neighbors and community, SF Board of Supervisors, SF Arts Commission and the SF Recreation and Park Commission. The restoration and tiling project will be conducted in two phases over two years to allow for fund-raising and to maximize community input. Phase one will consist of site preparation and emplacement of art tiles on the top retaining wall bench, mid-point benches and pillars. Phase two will install art tiles on the step risers.

The Friends of Lincoln Park have teamed up with San Francisco Parks Trust as its financial sponsor. If you are interested in donating to the California Street tiling project, please visit the Web site at www.sfpt.org/Default.aspx?tabid=279. For additional questions about the project, e-mail FriendsOfLincolnPark@yahoo.com.

These community projects are vital to livable and vibrant communities. I want to do all I can to support other neighborhood groups to do similar public improvement projects. There are also community challenge grants that communities can apply for to help them start public beautification and other projects. For more information about the Community Challenge Grant Program, visit: www.sfgov.org/site/ccg_index.asp.

Monthly Office Hours

Lastly, please join me at my monthly open office hours every third Thursday of the month. This month, my office hours will be on June 18, at 10 a.m., at the Royal Grounds Cafe on Geary Boulevard at 17th Avenue. Come by and say hello!

San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar represents District 1.