Saint Andrews Plaza - Oakland

Saint Andrews Plaza, Oakland, California ¹

Saint Andrews Plaza is a public park in Oakland, California. One of Oakland's smallest city parks at only .17 acres, Saint Andrews is a concrete triangle bordered by 32nd and Filbert Streets, and San Pablo Avenue,

It has been used as a local gathering place for long-time residents, with elders (many who are disabled) using it as a community gathering space, and has also had problems with drug dealers, prostitutes and violence. Park users have in past years used the park to share food and maintain/clean the space.

Since January 2016, the city has taken steps to fence off the park from public use. It has held community charrettes to shape a new design process for that space. There is a citizen's committee - primarily comprised of local home owners - discussing ways to reshape how this area is designed and used, which the local church and others have used as an area of hot meal donation as well as clothing donations. Some have suggested the park might be better used if converted to a playground for children (with those who do not have children banned stepping onto the play area). Another suggestion was conversion to a small, fenced community garden. The plan also includes placing boulders as seating in the space to avoid anyone sitting there long or skateboarding there, and a locked fence that a local homeowner would take responsibility to lock and unlock to control access.

Despite the loitering at the park (the fact that many people have used the space as a gathering place), the neighbors living in the immediate area seem to look out for each other there.