Author: Gary Chen

“It gives me a place to feel like a part of something. Like you come and that’s your space and you get to know the people that are around you. It makes you feel like you belong somewhere, not just an outcast.”

“If you’re going there regularly, you get to know the people and they become a part of your extended community and sometimes it extends beyond just meeting there and you become friends with that person.”

“I’m 73 years old. I need to sit down! Park benches seem to be disappearing everywhere.”

“I think the more you can focus on making public spaces usable, then they would be more appreciated and the more you restrict public spaces, then it doesn’t serve anyone’s interest.”

“I take him to the children’s library at least once or twice a month because there’s a lot of children in there and they have story time.”

“I’m making good progress on my book and so this is allowing me to just keep going forward with it and I think that’s something really positive for me.”

“It has most of the elements that make it really great plaza: the beautiful architecture, the history, access to a lot of different places, it’s centrally located.”

“This is the heart of San Francisco. This is where you would expect you would be taken care of in San Francisco.”

“I still come here because it brings me back. It reminds me where I came from.”

“I like when the Farmer’s Market is here. It’s very happy.”