Earlier this year, CLC launched a Microgrant Project, inviting CLC staff to submit proposals for ideas that would build community and strengthen existing programs. Funding for field trips was a popular proposal and one of the first two to head out was proposed and organized by Nicky Transvina, who has shared her report below.
CLC visits Presidio Tunnel Tops November 17, 2022
On this highly anticipated day in November, we experienced the typical beautiful clear but cold SF weather, the bright clear sky and strong sun bursts making the vistas more crisp than ever. Everyone showed up wearing lots of colorful layers of jackets, scarves, and caps. Our group consisted of members from CLC Midtown Terrace, Cayuga, and Sunnyside neighborhoods. We anxiously awaited the National Park Service 37-passenger bus that was taking us to the new and highly acclaimed Presidio Tunnel Tops, a heavily publicized and SF’s newest tourist destination.
Everything was going according to plan. We had secured all-day parking at the church where we exercise and the local sandwich shop, Pop’s Sandwiches, delivered our lunches right to the bus driver’s door. We were ready to go as everyone arrived on time, an indication of how much we were looking forward to this special day. Our amazing group of primarily senior participants included several single ladies, a couple in their early nineties, a few more couples, a ninety-seven year old with her caretaker and a newly arrived family from Nicaragua. We also had one senior dog! We had seniors, junior seniors, a family, and a dog.
Our great driver got us to the Presidio in time to meet our Ranger/Host/Leader Fatima Colindres. She proved to be gifted in her job. Fatima is one of those people that when you feel her enthusiasm you realize she has the perfect job for her talents and personality. Even before we met her that day, she had been truly accommodating to ensure this would be an enriching and positive experience. She was responsible for a superb afternoon of walking, learning about what we saw on the walk, a lot of history of the Presidio and the indigenous people who once lived and loved this land. She is an amazing story teller. And her greatest gift was making everyone feel welcome and comfortable. She is a glowing example of how well diversity can work and that it is a precious gift!
Fatima was born in El Salvador and conducted her presentations and Q and A in English and Spanish. At no time did anyone feel left out. She flip-flopped between her dual languages without missing a beat so that her conversations ran smoothly and efficiently and it all felt very inclusive! The Presidio Tunnel Tops is a beautiful new park atop the new Tunnel to the GGB. It was completed in July 2022. I was fortunate enough to go with the SF Public Library in July on the same National Park Service bus and decided it would be a well-worth project to get our participants to this amazing location. When the opportunity appeared for the Connectors to apply for CLC Board-generated grants, I immediately applied for one to take us on this great field trip. Everyone had a wonderful time. .We also enjoyed time socializing over lunch in the beautiful courtyard that Fatima had reserved for us.
One of my major objectives was to get people connected across the neighborhood groups. And that did happen. I have even had a few people from one of the other neighborhoods come and enjoy the Midtown exercise class. Everything went very well that day. I learned from my supervisors that in order for an event to look like it was easy to plan and go smoothly, that tremendous amount of planning needs to take place. I admit I worked very hard on this event and fortunately it went flawlessly. I am happy to have had the assistance of two other Connectors Olivia Franco and Colleen Piontek, along with staff assistance from Noah Weaker and Joyce Watson.
This field trip was not only important to strengthen the connection between Connectors and the neighbors. It also helped Fatima and her supervisor Lucien Sonder meet their goal of making this wonderful park available to local SF and Bay Area residents. Even though it is popular with tourists, Fatima made a point of telling me that the Presidio and the NPS want this space to be available and accessible to all residents from all parts of the City as well as from the Bay Area. That left a very good impression on me. As the political scene in SF is sadly changing, many seniors and disabled individuals and others on the fringe of the City’s economic profile are feeling not only pushed aside but also pushed out. Sometimes we feel invisible and disrespected. We feel that we are fighting against the fading of our SF values of love, equality and sharing, the very things that drew many of our long-time city residents to San Francisco back in the day. When Fatima told me this in our final conversation I was truly inspired by her humanity and left feeling that things are not as bad as all that.
