Juan Bautista Circle

Juan Bautista Circle, considered the "heart" of parkmerced has served the community as both a small social gathering space, a excercise circle for both the elderly tenants, and young couples walking newborns. The full mature tree growth can be seen in its evolution on site @ www.historicaireals.com which showcases the change and growth of the landscape from its initial planting through today. The current development plans propose tearing out the circle area, adding 250,000 s.f. of adjacent retail and initially proposed bringing the lightrail through the center of Parkmerced. The owners were fined initially for cutting down trees located in the perimeter right of way, that belong to the city. The need to preserve and protect the existing tree canopy in the city of San Francisco brings into question the proposals to demolish a fully mature landscape design. There have been yearly "pruning" efforts that tend to leave long heavy burdened branches on trees that eventually snap off. The importance of tree maintenance and care have never been a consistent effort on the site through prior owners. The current owners have ignored dead trees on site, and consitently worked on reducing tree canopy, eliminating trees leaving stumps, and not engaging the residents organization on possible tree re-plantings on the private property site.