2024 Project Update: A Year of Progress

Greeting Friends!

Happy Holidays from Friends of Lincoln Square Park. Good things are indeed happening in Oakland. We are thrilled to share these updates on our community campaign to build a new recreation and resilience center in Chinatown.

2024 was another busy year and marked the 10th year of community planning, organizing and advocacy since the Lake Merritt Station Area Plan was approved. It also marked the first year of our 5 year strategic plan to advance our mission: ensuring that Lincoln Square Park continues to provide a welcoming, inclusive and joyful home away from home, enriching the lives of individuals and families in good times and bad, for generations to come.

Campaign Update: We are pleased to announce that the majority of the construction funding is now in place, most recently with the allocation of voter-approved Measure U funding. In addition, the City is finalizing project permit approvals, the selection of a construction team will begin in earnest soon, and groundbreaking is now imminent. Given this progress, support from donors like you to ensure project completion and secure the future of the center is needed now more than ever. Please consider making a donation today.

In addition, we concluded another successful Lincoln Summer Nights festival season at the park, celebrated our progress at Fairyland, hosted multiple site visits from local and state officials (pictured above), gained local praise for park staff, and national recognition for our work in community resilience, raised additional funds from grants and donors like you, and continued to partner with APEN to advocate for funding, support the City and advance the project and park programs.

Thank You! We are full of gratitude for your donations and continued support and more confident than ever that after nearly 27 years of anticipation, we will at last be celebrating the start of construction with you in 2025. See our new FAQs page for more details on our recent updates, activities and project!

Cheers,

Tiffany Eng and Karen Dea, Co-chairs