Park Benches—Too Much of a Good Thing?

When Berkeley’s two largest parks reached their “memorial bench donation limit,” the city suspended the program. The Berkeley Parks & Recreation Commission revised policy for bench donations was just adopted by the city council.

In 1998, the city adopted a formal bench donation policy. The city has 80 parks, but decided to limit memorial benches to only the two largest parks: 48 benches for Caesar Chavez and 32 benches at the Rose Garden. In only a year, the bench limit was reached in both parks and new donors were placed on a waiting list. When the waiting list became too large, the city simply suspended the program. On April 26, 2007, the Berkeley Parks & Recreation Commission approved a revised policy on bench donations, limiting them to sites recommended by the staff and establishing what it considered reasonable criteria for granting park bench memorials. An honoree would have to be dead for at least a year and documented evidence presented of that person’s outstanding contributions to Berkeley parks. It would be up to the commission then to approve the nomination. On Jan. 15, 2008 the city council approved the commission’s proposal. Berkeley also plans to build a wall at the marina where memorial plaques could live.Berkeley isn’t the only Bay Area city concerned with too many memorial benches. Piedmont, a city only one-tenth the size of Berkeley has nearly 100 memorial benches.“We don’t want our parks to look like cemeteries, so we’ve had to get creative with them,” Mark Feldkamp, Piedmont’s parks and projects manager, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But generally, we try to be real cooperative with families and make it a positive experience. We don’t have a lot of rules.”

Piedmont is placing its surplus of benches at such venues as City Hall, at tennis courts and bus stops, but now is encouraging the donation of trees instead of benches.