In his 13-year tenure as general manager of RecParkSF, Ginsburg has presided over one of the most transformative periods in the world-famous park system's history.
“Statues reflect a society's values at a fixed moment in time for eternity,” he said on a recent walk among the 19th century heroes and empty plinths in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse. “Whereas parks, like cities, like societies, are constantly changing and evolving.”
But the parks, and Ginsburg himself, are hardly immune from The City’s rough and tumble politics. Ginsburg’s skill at leveraging philanthropic donations for park improvements — totaling nearly $200 million over the course of his tenure — has drawn suspicion from ethics reformers hoping to tamp down on City Hall corruption. His efforts to generate new revenue streams for the park system by permitting more vendors and events have long irked lefties who accuse him of trying to “privatize the parks.
“I hear this guy’s voice in my head every day,” Ginsburg said as he sidled up to McLaren’s side for a photo op. “‘Don’t screw it up.’” Some progressive groups, including the local Sierra Club chapter, the League of Pissed Off Voters and the San Francisco Tenants Union, joined fiscal conservatives in opposition to the measure. Their concerns included the department charging admission for non-residents at the Arboretum, the plan to add artificial turf and lights to the Beach Chalet soccer fields and the cancellation of free events like the Power to the Peaceful festival.
“Parks are not just hard infrastructure, but they're also social infrastructure,” Ginsburg said. “Great cities facilitate unique, special moments, whether it's food in parks or music in parks." Ginsburg is speaking of the behested payments measure that went into effect this year in the wake of the Mohammed Nuru scandal, in which the disgraced head of the Department of Public Works funneled nearly $1 million in de-facto bribes into an account that he controlled with the Parks Alliance.
“Twenty-first century city government can't do it alone. You need partners and you need friends, it doesn't matter whether we're talking about parks or homelessness,” Ginsburg said. “And there is no park system in the United States of America that doesn't rely on philanthropic support.” Ginsburg describes the debate around JFK Drive as “a conversation between the past and the future.” Once a devoted motorist, Ginsburg has recently become an avid e-bike rider, using JFK to commute from his Sunset District home to Rec and Park headquarters at McLaren Lodge or meetings at City Hall. “I've come to understand that true environmentalism is preserving or enhancing urban density,” he said. “That’s how we save the planet, by creating dense, functional cities.
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