www.sfgate.com     

---

Chronicle Watch
Working for a better Bay Area
- Suzanne Pullen
Thursday, June 24, 2004

What's not working

San Francisco's Lake Merced is popular with runners, walkers, roller- bladers and bicyclists. Since 1986, ChronicleWatch tipster Wilma Mobbs has walked around the lake five times a week and thinks it's one of the most beautiful places in the city. But lately, Mobbs says, the 4 1/2-mile lakeside path "looks like a Third World country." The path is littered with debris, and trash cans are scarce, according to Mobbs and other tipsters. "It's just awful, " said the 73-year-old Glen Park resident. "I've never seen anything so ignored. I'm ashamed." Tipsters also complain that the dirt path designed for runners -- which runs alongside a larger asphalt one -- has become impassable in spots because of the overgrowth of weeds and bushes. Mobbs said she recently injured her ankle on a badly eroded section of the path and is worried about other pedestrians. "The dirt path is better to run and walk on, especially for older folks like me," Mobbs said. Status: Parks spokeswoman Becky Ballinger told ChronicleWatch on Tuesday that her agency will look into the trash problem and path maintenance. "We have one gardener for the entire 317 acres of park there, not including the golf course," she said. "It's really the poster child for the poor funding of our parks. We're absolutely desperate." 

Who's responsible: Yomi Agunbiade, San Francisco parks department's acting general manager, (415) 831-2700; yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org