Sometimes you need a reminder that San Francisco's best features aren't the ones that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Buena Vista Park — the city's oldest park, perched above the Haight — remains one of those quietly spectacular places that justifies the absurd cost of living here. Walk through the tree canopy on a clear afternoon and you're suddenly transported somewhere that feels nothing like a city that can't figure out how to keep its escalators running.

The park's towering eucalyptus, Monterey cypress, and coast live oaks create a dense woodland canopy that filters the light into something almost cinematic. It's the kind of place where you can forget, for a few minutes, that SFMTA just raised parking meter rates again.

Here's what's remarkable about Buena Vista Park: it works. No task force was convened. No $4 million consulting study was commissioned. No nonprofit with a suspiciously vague mission statement was contracted to "reimagine" it. The trees just grow. The trails just exist. People just walk them.

That's not to say the park doesn't have its issues — anyone who's wandered the more secluded paths after dark knows it could use better lighting and more consistent maintenance. And Rec & Parks' budget somehow keeps growing while basic upkeep across the city's green spaces stays inconsistent at best.

But on a good day, Buena Vista Park is a reminder of what makes this city extraordinary at its core: world-class natural beauty, accessible to everyone, no $15 admission fee required.

It's a free public good that actually delivers value — a concept our city government could stand to study more closely. Maybe skip the consultants this time and just take a walk through the trees.