Arterra: 6/4/08 (www.SocketSite.com)

While Arterra continues to shed its protective blue skin, the fences around Mission Creek Park’s sports courts have been stripped away as well. The basketball and sand volleyball courts are officially open for play. Just don’t hit long.

Mission Creek Sports Courts and Boathouse (www.SocketSite.com)

The Mission Bay boathouse will also soon strip its black wrapper to reveal a rather nice translucent blue shell on one side with wooden slats on the other. And as an aside, it’s getting to be nearly impossible to find street parking along Berry Street during the day. Perhaps a plugged-in resident reader can comment about the situation at night.

30 thoughts on “More Mission Bay Stripping: Arterra And Mission Creek Sports Courts”
  1. FYI, street cleaning happens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at midnight to 2am along Berry Street.

  2. I was kinda hoping that the fences would remain up around the sports courts and boathouse — I give it about 2 days before some ahole tags the whole place with spraypaint.

  3. Yeah, it seems giants fans have found Berry Street so [don’t] even try on game day.
    Anyone know when the 7th Street/Berry intersection will open? This is going alter the dynamics of the street signifigantly.

  4. Is the basketball court in a secured area or will it be accessible to others in the neighborhood? If it is accessible, it should be interesting when all the homeless people in that area find the basketball courts.

  5. The basketball court is not in a secured area and open to the public.
    Can someone explain what the boathouse is used for? Is it

  6. The boathouse has a lock on it and will be used to store kayaks/canoes for those brave enough to go down that creek.

  7. I am worried about the future of the park as well. It is a VERY nice addition to the neighborhood. I hope it doesn’t get destroyed… 🙁

  8. That park will be destroyed and/or become a camping ground for homeless people, now that there’s no fence to keep people out at night. It would be way better with a tall fence and a gate that locks at night – like the Helen Wills Playground in Russian Hill.

  9. Great park for Berry Street residents but I have to agree that it will get ruined in the near future unless they lock it at night.
    I agree that Berry Street is miserabe for parking at all times. Try stopping off at Philz and the only space is between the 2 Muni tracks. I see people parking there and running into Panera.
    With more building going on Berry, the block will just get worse. Plus its windy and usually spells because of the sewer.
    But I love the new basketball courts!

  10. Why did this take so long to open? I went by there a year ago and the construction and landscaping looked complete. So what took so long?

  11. Please correct me if I am wrong but the park has never been gated at night from the 4th St side? I walk there early in the morning on the weekends and while I did see a couple people sleeping on the benches once or twice, it never looked out of control.
    So, I don’t see how opening the park from the other side will dramatically change the situation.

  12. as long as you all go play basketball with me everyday, then the bums won’t sleep there.
    the park has been fenced off for quite some time, but you could still get in. if bums wanted to sleep there, they would already be there. but as far as i know, there hasn’t been any bums on berry.

  13. I’m not sure how enjoyable basketball will be with the heavy winds blowing every shot off trajectory.

  14. Hopefully the Mission Bay HOA’s security staff will keep the homeless/vandals from the courts. There’s a security guy that walks the promenade and park hourly during the day. That’s why you don’t see many homeless sleeping or loitering on the benches or on Berry st. It’s one of the advantages of living here is the security as well as the police presence at Caltrans and along the T-line.

  15. I just discovered a new word: Goldilocksy! As in “Arterra is a very Goldilocksy development.” As in, not too hot and not too cold … just right.

  16. I concur with runner’s high – that park is on my daily (well, almost daily) jogging path from Potrero Hill and I have neither seen many homeless in the park nor had to sneak through any fences from the 4th St. side. A few guys sitting on benches now and then, but I’m not sure what all the doomsdayers are basing this on. The park has been there in some form for a couple years and the Mission Bay staff have done a good job keeping the place up.

  17. You can get there by going through a fence on 7th/Berry then over the tracks, it will be a lot easier when they open the intersection though. It will basically open up the neighborhood to PH in my mind.
    As for the ‘usual’ smell- I’ve lived on the street for a few years now and the area does get an unpleasant smell now and then but its far from being prevalent. I would liken it to living near the coast or wetlands- now and then you are going to get some bad odors.

  18. I went by the park about 8:30 this evening. They’ve done a great job with it–for an urban parquette under a freeway this is really, really nice. Much of the landscaping is native bunchgrasses, only a few bits of high maintenance lawn.
    There was a 5 on 5 full court basketball game going on, a couple more guys warming up on another court.
    As the editor noted, the sand volleyball court isn’t useable without some sort of additional backstop, maybe a 6 foot high net strung at the edge of the canal. Otherwise, about once every other game a ball is going to splash, and there’s no easy way to fish it out. That’s unfortunate, because a permanent net there will look a bit ugly. Maybe they can keep one in the boat house that can be set up when the court is in use.
    As for smell, give it a rest folks. Just the occasional whiff of salt water marsh, not sewage. You live on the edge of salt water, you’re going to get that smell. On the walk down the promenade from 3rd st I actually got more whiff of dog crap than marsh–some dog owners need to be a bit better socialized.
    Also, I saw 2 mission bay patrols in the 30 minutes I was there. Still, I have to expect the taggers will get to the park eventually. It will be important to paint over the tags immediately when it happens.
    All in all, I hope the park thrives. The combination of freeway overpass, native landscaping, water, and houseboats actually gives the spot a bit of character–much more so than the relatively sterile condo building corridor you see from Berry St. If they can get more retail going on Berry the place will start to feel like a neighborhood.

  19. Arterra is shaping up to be the best looking building in the area. Nice to see something a bit different.
    The park is fantastic as well. I have been walking past the area for a long time and have been wondering why it has taken so long to open.
    The other side of mission creek has remained free of graffiti and homeless for a few years now so I expect this park to do the same.

  20. @Delancey – I was the guy in the yellow throwing up all the bricks.
    We played for about 3 hours last night and the biggest problem with the courts were that they were so dusty. We had guys tripping and falling all over the place, but even with that, the courts are an AWESOME addition to the neighborhood. I expect that there will be plenty of people there all the time and the homeless problem that people are talking about it is completely exaggerated. Let’s just wait and see what happens, yeah? There will be lots of residents in the area, people using the basketball courts and the volleyball courts, and Mission Bay patrols all over the area. This is going to be great for the area as it was for us last night.
    However, I am worried about the landscaping. Even with the barrier wall under the hoop, balls were rolling into the landscaping and people were running all over the plants to retrieve them.
    Also, I don’t think there are any bathrooms?

  21. now if we could just get some local tennis courts in the neighborhood it would be great. I get tired of always having to schlep to the mission or drive to my secret favorite courts with easy parking (I’ll never reveal where).

  22. @will —
    If the landscaping you’re concerned about next to the bball courts is the bunchgrasses, they should do fine as long as their root systems are established, though there may not be enough light under there for that. They’re evolved to deal with grazing and trampling. Still, I think it was brilliant to put the courts under the freeway–you can play at mid-day and not get fried.
    BTW, I should mention that the little park on the opposite side of the canal has had a lot of cleanup work done over the past 18? months, mostly I think by the houseboat residents. It’s shaped up well. Now if we can just get that damned propane tank and tires off the bank between the two bridges…

  23. I played some hoops there last night. I agree with will. The dust is a big hazard issue on the court. While there is an empty lot across the street that will eventually disappear I imagine, it seems the dust is automotive particulate matter from the ramps above. Stirring up a pigpen cloud of that stuff and inhaling deeply didn’t seem so healthy. I doubt I’d play there again for that reason, although the fresh, flat court was nice. Also not sure why the lighting never kicked on. My guess is Rec. & Parks will NEVER sweep that court, so bring your own broom. Dig the blue lights coming from the boathouse though. Who gets access to that? Smell was a non- issue last night on court. But if you walk to within 20 ft. then you got a nice wiff. Like everything in this town – it will get tagged with some graffiti in no time. Flavor. Might be getting too upscale for the homeless cats now. I saw lots of folks walking dogs and chatting, like a magazine ad.

  24. I went and checked out this park this weekend. I am happy to report that it was a really nice facility–the basketball and sand volleyball court were in great condition and well-maintained. HOWEVER…there was just one (small) problem. The volleyball court is directly UNDER 280. No sun. Ever. What a waste of money and poor planning. SF has one sand volleyball court in the whole frickin city and it’s under the highway and never sees sun. This town is run by a bunch of imbeciles.

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