Bayview-Hunters Point and surrounding areas in the southeast side of San Francisco are the historical industrial heart of the city. They are heavily impacted by multiple pollution sources – ranging from the U.S. Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point, a federally listed Superfund site, to more than 150 Brownfield sites – where industrial operations or illegal dumping may have released toxic substances and petroleum chemicals into the soils.
Many local community groups, City agencies, and nonprofit organizations are working to clean up the area to ensure that it is a safe place to work, live, and play. One of these efforts is the Blue Greenway Initiative, a plan which re-envisions San Francisco’s south eastern waterfront into a 13-mile corridor of connected parks, trails, and open space.
The Blue Greenway will be an extension of the region’s Bay Trail, which provides a continuous 45-mile walking and biking trail around San Francisco Bay. The trail will serve as a connector between the southeastern neighborhoods and downtown, and it will provide much-needed open space for recreation in Bayview-Hunters Point.
While the completion of the Blue Greenway is years away, efforts to extend the Blue Greenway and Bay Trail have been going on for years – with major efforts from City leadership, SF Port, and SF Parks Alliance.
Currently, the San Francisco Department of the Environment, in partnership with the Black Coalition on Aids, SF Parks Alliance, Center for Creative Land Recycling, URS Corporation, and a host of other stakeholders and local neighbors, is assessing the land along the planned path for the Blue Greenway. The next step is to obtain funding, acquire access to sites, and conduct community outreach to ultimately clean up the contaminated sites and redevelop them so the Blue Greenway can be installed and residents can enjoy the green space and beautiful view of the East Bay.
This is not the first span of contaminated land in San Francisco to go through a great transformation. Just ten years ago, community stakeholders began cleaning up a contaminated military base on San Francisco’s northern side, which we now know as Crissy Field.
Map: Blue Greenway Open Space System Map, Port of San Francisco
Get Involved
Are you a community member who wants to give input on this project? Contact the Black Coalition on Aids.
Take a stroll through Heron’s Head Park and visit the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park.
More Information
San Francisco Brownfields Assessment Project (SF Environment)
Blue Greenway (San Francisco Parks Alliance)
Blue Greenway Project (Port of San Francisco)
India Basin Shoreline Redevelopment Plans (San Francisco Planning Department)
Green Connections (San Francisco Planning Department)
US EPA Region IX’s Yosemite Slough Web page
