— By Jack Morse (@jmorse_) |
Since the northern half of Dolores Park reopened this past June, the city has stepped up enforcement on minor quality-of-life issues under the guise of reducing littering in the park. And so, when we noticed a park ranger at Dolores this past Saturday, we thought it would be interesting to follow him around for a bit and see his enforcement priorities for ourselves.
After warning a group for the crime of having a table, the ranger took a moment to hassle these guys about their amplified sound (apparently they hadn’t gone to the trouble of getting their speaker personally OK’d by Supervisor Scott Wiener).
He then meandered over to this guy and told him that having glass in the park could land him a $192 fine.
And in what had to be the most bizarre interaction of the day, the ranger then approached a clown and his sidekick who were at first too busy painting the faces of children to notice the ranger’s arrival. The clown’s tiny speaker (playing children’s tunes) needed an amplified sound permit, apparently. It seems spreading joy to children has no place in The New Dolores Park (™).
Having harshed the clown’s mellow, the ranger made sure this smoker knew he was sitting on dangerous ground. Smoking in Dolores is illegal, don’t you know?
Sipping wine quietly while you causally smoke a cigarette? That’s a double warning.
Standing around drinking a Trumer Pils? Don’t think so.
Oh yeah, and this table on the sidewalk has got to go.
It’s like no one saw the giant flashing road sign warning of $192 fines for having glass. This guy didn’t:
Nor did these ladies:
Nor this guy:
Nor these women:
And definitely not these women:
What’s that? You’re brown and smoking a cigarette?
Yeah that will cost you a ticket.
And again, no glass in the park.
Bros, seriously with the table? What were you thinking.
And the ranger practically chased this woman from the park for the crime of smoking a cigarette.
It’s important to remember that all of this occurred in the span of an hour and ten minutes, and by no means is the entirety of encounters between the ranger and parkgoers. Incidents not pictured include the ranger grilling a tourist for having sparkling water, and telling a twenty-something he couldn’t drink iced tea (the man looked totally dumbstruck for a second, and then gave the ranger the finger).
And while it’s upsetting that the city apparently now deems it an enforcement priority to have a ranger nanny-stating his way through the entire park, this is the obvious outcome of our elected officials repeatedly calling for increased policing in the park.
The park ranger’s actions this past Saturday left us wondering: is the real goal behind this crackdown curbing littering, or is there a larger desire to remake the park’s culture? Because if our representatives truly wanted to see increased police presence without stomping on park culture, then they could have worked to repeal the laws that criminalize that culture. Instead, they ensured the park was hit with more of the same broken windows policing that has failed to keep the park clean for years.
Comments (131)
That was totally cool the way you stalked this guy while he was doing his job as prescribed by the orders of his superior. The point at which a bunch of supposed grown-ups can’t use a public accommodation – like a city park – without trashing it is the same point at which they lose the privilege of breaking minor rules without being hassled by The Man. It’s become absolutely clear that San Francisco park aficionados aren’t capable of treating our parks like anything except landfills, so “Hooray, S.F. Park Ranger.” Ticket those fucks into the Stone Age.
Bingo.
Burt is short for Butt Hurt.
“as prescribed by the orders of his superior” is exactly what this story is getting at, if you read it all the way to the end.
i wish there were more people doing stories like this, not fewer.
Funny comoment Burt.
the new dolores does not have trash cans. And none of the above shown citations really had anything to do with littering. All for citing people who leave things behind, but let’s not be naive and blame increased enforceme of silly things on your so-called aficionados that trash the park.
“And none of the above shown citations really had anything to do with littering”
Q: Do you know what the number #1 piece of litter found in public is? Cigarette butts.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150504-cigarette-butt-litter-…
Unlike Japan, there is no culture in the USA of carrying around pocket ashtrays. Do you think these nice people are eating their butts when they are done smoking? Not likely.
Kudos to the rangers.
-mm
≈ Cigarettes are primarily a health issue because they put smoke in other people’s lungs. The smoke doesn’t become magically uncarcinogenic when it’s in a public park, just in case you were confused about magical things.
In addition, despite San Francisco having one of the lowest percentage of cigarette-smokers in the nation, the butts that end up going into the sewers have ended up choking marine life and aquatic waterfowl. Not all litter problems are about manicured appearances, you see.
I don’t think anyone is blaming the ranger personally here. It’s the policy (or, “orders of his superior,” as you put it) that’s the problem.
That says it all.
Scott Wiener’s brand new Uber conservative city… complete with suburban mall cop! He grew up in a very conservative small town in Jersey. Now he want to be Ron Conways lap dog in the state senate.
Mall Cops or creative space. I choose creative space.
@YogiBear - Because nothing’s more creative than inflicting your nicotine addiction on others. “Look at me, I’m a rebel artiste!”
@Jym,
You are right, if this is about smoking, inflicting second hand smoke on others certainly, is not creative. Its not nice behavior.
Right On SFRPD Park Rangers !! Keep doing the great job that needs to be done. Changing Park culture ? Uhh, yeah …… if that means hitting the asshole’s with monetary fines, then so be it !!
Fines for off leash dogs
From Park Culture to the new Mall Culture! The new conservative Frisco. Baby stroller approved by mommy bloggers from Noe Valley! Yummy!
Dear Mommy Blogger/Transplant, this is the City or San Francisco, add a bit more respect to
our beautiful City and leave the Frisco slang on the other coast !
4th Gen - “leave the Frisco slang on the other coast”? I guess you never listened to hip hop growing up here huh?
SF rap came from areas like Lakeview and Hunters Point. Those places don’t exist to the transplants (they only go as far south as Army Street…sorry, Cesar Chavez) so it’s hardly surprising that they don’t know nor remember the late and great Cougnut.
Frisco!
Being raised in The City I have found that people who use “frisco” tend to be less educated. Like bikers, rappers and gang types.
@scum - Hell’s Angels adopted it to underscore their outsider status, which is certainly legit. Others copied them to try to come off as cool as the Hell’s Angels. Now suburban whites are “rocking the Frisco” to come off as cool as the people attempting to come off as cool as the Hell’s Angels. #HTH #HAND
I’ve always called it The Shitty, but then again I’m from Santa Crust.
Burt, I couldn’t agree with you more! I was at the park this past weekend, too, and personally witnessed in an hour: two burners leave their empty six pack of glass Modelo bottles on the grass when they left, complaining the trash was inconveniently located for them, multiple hipster enclaves blasting loud amplified music at deafening levels, several wildly drunk dudes of varying ages and races sexually harassing women, and tons of people smoking, making it hard for the rest of us who are asthmatic and don’t want second hand lung cancer to enjoy the space.
I live in this neighborhood and have for years. I support this new push towards enforcing the laws. The park shouldn’t just be for millennials who don’t know how to enjoy the great outdoors without turning it into a loud, drunk, smoky nightclub!!
You can all defend the new Dolres Park rules and enforcements. I happen to be confronted by Officer Matias. Quite possibly the rudest ranger I’ve met. Dared my aquaintenance to snitch on others breaking the rules. Wrote him a ticket - no first warning - without telling us what he was doing. He was non-communicative excercising his authority and that made us feel really uncomfortable.
On point.
I’m with Burt.
If idiots want to flock to the park like lemmings and trash it, they get the police state they deserve. Bravo Ranger man. Hire another Ranger to help him.
I’m a 24 year neighborhood resident who doesn’t even want to set foot in the park anymore because of how overrun with yahoos it is.
As in, The park is too crowded, no one goes there anymore.
Yeah, but you get the police state too
Actually I believe there are more Googlers than Yahoos in the park but whatever…
Why not hire someone to collect cigarette butts instead and other trash? Oh right, there’s no revenue. Much better to hire someone to hassle people about tables and listening to music instead. /s
What is the point of this column ? Glass has always been illegal in the park as well as open container alcohol. The voters made it illegal to smoke in parks. “they should hire people to pick up litter and cigarette butts”?!? How bout a modicum of civic responsibility and do it yourselves, if you bring it in to the park take it back out with you, what the fuck is so alien about that concept?
SOMA you are completely wrong that Alcohol was always illegal in the parks.
Here is a Rob Morse SFgate article about the fight to extend making alcohol illegal in just certain parks 1998. Dolores Park was not on the list.
The issue was raised again in 2007 and 2008. At that time the BOS passed this legislation that defaulted to illegal, but made the decision if Alcohol would be legal in Dolores Park to the General Manager or the RPD commission, if the GM or commission determines that alcohol does not interfere with the public use and enjoyment of the park.
San Francisco taxes cigarettes. Cigarette tax funds the clean up of what is left behind by smokers.
The reason superiors and rangers are enforcing minor fractions, unlike before, is because of the over flooding amount of complaints, crowds, and litter at Dolores Park. Yea, drinking and smoking happened at the park, so did littering. But never did it happen at this scale.
Want them off your back? Be respectful to everyone; transplants, locals, enforcement, general public, etc. Don’t break the law, even on a minor level, on city property. Stop acting privileged because you pay taxes; we all pay taxes. Clean up after yourself. Hold others accountable instead of playing the blame game. You’re not part of an elite group, stop. Your paycheck does not determine your personality and give you any more rights than anyone else.
Being born and raised in San Francisco, I miss the culture that is quickly diminishing and deemed inferior to the new culture spreading like a plague. Transplants can add to the culture positively, by assimilating to the current culture set and bringing something new to the table without completely shattering the old. Add to the melting pot, not throw it out. That’s how it’s always been done, here, at least.
Totally agree. The park is for everyone. But not for people to impose their crap on others. Want to smoke, break glass and play music? Do it at home where it won’t bother others.
The author sounds comes off like a whiny, self-entitled know-nothing who wanted to write a clever hit piece. It was not clever.
Yep they leave the park looking like a landfill after they are done.
Funny how there’s always more money for stupid signs and enforcement of every ridiculous subchapter of park rules.
This is what happens when command and control types like Wiener, Mark Buell and Rec and Park President Phil Ginsburg are allowed to blow millions of taxpayer dollars per year on Rec and Park Rangers, and nagging bullshit signs attacking park goers rather than doing their jobs as public servants.
Would you like more bathrooms or trash receptacles to serve the most popular and crowded park in San Francisco? Fuck you! No extra bathrooms, LESS trash receptacles, and here’s a gang of mall cops to harass you for bringing a bottle of wine to the public park paid for with your taxes.
If you’d like to let Scott Wiener know how you feel about his decision to spend millions of dollars per year on enforcement of petty violations rather than working to repeal laws that criminalize innocent enjoyment of our parks, here’s his contact info:
(415) 554-6968 - voiceScott.Wiener@sfgov.org
City Hall1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244San Francisco, Ca 94102-4689
Dear Scott:
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely, Everyone except that guy above me.
False.
Yes, Thanks Scott Weiner! (and to all the citizens who showed up and voted at public meetings on where to put the trashcans and bathrooms) our Dolores Park Renovation WILL give us more bathrooms. Even now the new bathrooms beat the old and More to come. People who can’t make it to the curb with empty bottles can’t be counted on to take them anywhere, I hear. Don’t forget all the not so blown out parks other than Dolo and Ft Mason; spread the love all around our #goldplatedcity !
I’m all for this. Let’s drive these frat/sorority shitheads back to Isla Vista where they belong.
Isla Vista is actually known for not having frats and sororities. Maybe you’re thinking of anyone from Boston?
The Frat park is Fort Mason.
The frat park is San Francisco. We OWN this joint!
Yes, the frat park is Fort Mason and it has been trashed.
wait…we first criticized the “bros” from some big company who threw a party and left a bunch of trash but now we don’t like the ranger going after people? Dolores Park is full of DRUNKS, DRUGGED people and this is a park for Children as well!!! not for all these party people and you seem to be one of them?
I support 100% that this ranger did what he did because you know what? it’s a PUBLIC park
it’s not a place to:
- Smoke Weed freely
- Do drugs
- Get drunk and crazy
- Play super LOUD music
It is for:
-Children
- Families
- Enjoy the weather
- Play with your dog
-Have fun “without” affecting other people around you by (drugs, loud music, trash, drunks)
WONT SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN
uhhhhhhhh not sure what you read, but the post says that the ranger bothered a clown and “a tourist for having sparkling water, and telling a twenty-something he couldn’t drink iced tea”
And if you think this article is accurate journalism when he was eavesdropping, you have logic problems. The clown was linked to the amplified noise and for all we know the tourist’s sparking water was most probably in a glass container. You do realize that beer/wine is not the only thing bottled in glass? And if the tourist had Tejava iced tea–welcome again to the glass container rule. You weren’t there and neither was I but let’s not pretend this article didn’t have an agenda.
WTF are you even talking about?
“And if the tourist had Tejava iced tea–welcome again to the glass container rule. “This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in some time
This isn’t real reporting, because if it was, the author of this piece of whiney drivel would’ve told you that the reason the sparkling water and iced tea were deemed illegal had to do with glass containers, not the beverages. And this disgruntled whiner also would’ve emphasized that the clown was cited for playing amplified music in a public park without a permit. You may not see this as a problem, but those of us who LIVE here are tired of the recent influx of self-styled DJs and horrible street musicians who create near-constant noise pollution in the Mission morning, noon, and most unfortunately, night!
Sharing a space doesn’t equate to “free-for-all”!! It means minimizing your impact on those around you.
I am so glad I’m not your child
Your parents probably think something similar.
A clown ,for having amplified music. A tourist, for having sparkling water(in glass) and the iced tea was in glass too. Try and keep up sweetie.
Ehh Loco,
The dog people are the must entitled people of everyone near the park. Hope the ranger busts them from here to Pluto and back.
Disobeying the rules.
Tearing up the lawn.
leaving their marks.
Messing with people picnics.
Acting like their running around is more important then people.
Sweetheart, the day you breeders outnumber the hear and soul of the taxpaying economy in San Francisco (everyone else) is the day that the park becomes a place FOR THE CHILDREN. Until then, take your snot nosed little shits back to Noe Valley.
what is wrong with you?
It’s not only “Breeders” who have children, SWEETHEART!
Turn on your radar.
That was an extreme troll like comment to make fun of the police huggers.
@TotesHilar - My busy techie lifestyle leaves me little time for parenting, or persuading anyone to have sex with me. That’s why I’ve signed up with City ChildShare, a nonprofit that lets me lease a little tyke for my visits to the park to bolster my disapproval of what’s going on there. When I’m done, I can just hand the little ankle-biter back to one of their many convenient child dropoff pods.
I hate to be a killjoy, but I also hate to have to listen to every dudebro’s shitty music when I’m trying to enjoy a day at the beach. And so I wish there’d been a ranger wandering the beach this weekend advising folks that no one wants to hear their stereo. Or at least enforcing a law banning same.
It’s a crowded city. That means that you can’t just bring the party with you wherever you go.
And apartments in San Francisco are small. Parks are a place to meet and socialize. Different parks have different styles. That’s good.
Why isn’t it “this is a crowded city, you’re gunna have to get used to listening to other people’s music” ?
Good work Ranger. He may need back up help on weekends.
I don’t even get why some of you live in this city. It’s a city. There will be noise.
Don’t understand why people are defending these entitled hipster kids with no manners who have ruined Dolores Park.
Because what you said isn’t true.
Put me down in favor of the ranger as well. ”Park culture” hit a tipping point a long while ago and now is just the self-entitlement of a set of people who want to use the park their way rather than share it with the rest of the community.
Yes, the culture has been this way a long time. And that culture has worked magnificently. The culture is why Dolores Park is the most popular park in the City. Let’s keep it that way, and send Mr. Ranger back to Jellystone park.
I’m just waiting for the organized backlash to come from the people who have been safely enjoying the park in that manner for a decade now
Good for the park ranger. Enforcement of the rules is necessary to keep this crowded city habitable. We need more policing like this, not less.
The park worked well enough before the City before so many new people came here.
The crowd means the park is working.
Maybe its not the crowd, but the new command and control types who are the problem.
The writer refers to the broken windows theory, which seems to have been bicotomized into two different meanings. Contrary to the writer, many theorist stress that the fixing broken windows, as the progressive alternative to more policing theory.
To apply the theory to Dolores Park, fix windows, or in this case fix the bathrooms, and the people won’t be pissing and dumping in the corners of the park and on the nearby homes and streets. The application of the theory seems valid, now that the bathrooms have been fixed, there truly is a lot less pissing and shitting on the homes and streets a block outside of the park.
There is less need for law enforcement than prior to the 20 million dollar renovation, because the worst of the quality of life offenses has been brought down to a civil level, and more usage of the public space has been achieved.
DPClean, you don’t seem to understand what “broken windows policing” means. It’s the theory that aggressively policing minor but highly visible crimes, like vandalism and public drinking , will prevent crime in general by creating a sense of public order. It’s the rationale behind various laws criminalizing aspects of homelessness, and NYC’s stop and frisk law. It’s not generally thought of as a progressive policing policy.
Your example of “fix the bathrooms, and the people won’t be pissing and dumping in the corners of the park and on the nearby homes and streets” is not an example of broken windows policing. It’s an example of addressing the underlying cause of a problem.
This seems to be the author’s point, that rather than helping to address the trash problem by providing a sufficient amount of trash receptacles, the city is aggressively policing parkgoers and handing out $192 fines for esoteric ordinances like “drinking out of a glass bottle in a public park”, which I’d imagine most people don’t know is a law, or think should be illegal.
Carpenters fix windows not police.
I never saw a uniformed police resetting a broken window. Ever.
But yes,
You are right that those who favor ever expanding police powers are co-opting the “broken windows” phrase by adding “policing” on the end of it, and flipping the meaning.
That doesn’t change that the central insight of the broken windows theory, is that keeping a space so it looks cared for, picking up litter, painting out graffiti, fixing the bathrooms, planting grass on the dirt spots, trees, encourages the greater public to show love for the space.
The broken window theory is for spending money on gardeners, recreation directors, carpenters, and its wrongful flipped interpretation to use it as a justification for excessive exercising of police powers.
The broken window technique is an ancient law enforcement philosophy. Its’ basic purpose is to explain why it is just as important to enforce minor laws (ie:vandalism- broken windows, littering, and the like)as the major ones. If a society has laws which aren’t enforced it lessens the respect given by the public to the laws that really need enforcing ( violent crime theft etc.) No one is saying that cops should be fixing windows or anything of the sort, they are just referring to a metaphor whit which you are unfamiliar.
Broken Window theory was described by a Stanford research, Philip Zombardo, who tested that when he left an car on the streets of Palo Alto, it was left untouched, but after taking a sledgehammer to a single window, the rest of the car was attacked.
The theory was extended and that extension circulate by Kelling and Wilson to apply it to policing. The policing extension has been hotly debated. as this article relates,
So where exactly do you park your car?
@um… - It should be noted that criminologists aren’t too impressed with the broken windows hypothesis. Crime is primarily a function of economic distress, and an uptick in the real economy lowers crime. (By real economy, I mean an uptick that benefits most citizens, not a jobless recovery such as the one we’re in the midst of.)
An uptick in the economy brought crime down nationwide in the 1990s, which coincided with the application of “broken windows” concepts in NYC. The mayor and police commissioner in that city were quick to credit their approach, with very high publicity, but no actual correlation could be found. Crime went down in the parts of the city where the windows were still left broken, and crime went down in cities that didn’t use this approach at all.
“Stop & Frisk” actually goes beyond broken windows, as it has overwhelmingly targeted citizens who weren’t doing anything illegal, not even so-called quality-of-life infractions. Its only connection is that it’s another pretext for police state overreach, and one that’s been found unConstitutional.
My parents taught me not to litter.
Did he cite anyone for littering?
http://www.sfbos.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/ordinances13/o0283-13.pdf
Good Question??
Nope. He cited people for “potentially” littering in the future because they brought things they “might” leave behind. Welcome to precognitive policing.
Totally OK to shoot heroin on Market though!
and better fucking stay that way too! I’d really hate to have to do it front of Weiner’s pad.
Firstly, “Uptown”? Ain’t no such place here, you’re just embarrassing yourself. Secondly, Dolores Park is not meant to be used as your personal backyard. The park is a public commons that has published rules and regulations. Don’t like them? Too bad, take it somewhere else. As for the recent park “culture” you speak of, “al fresco frat party” is a pretty pathetic excuse for “culture”. Makes me long for the days of gangbangers, drag queens, and soccer Moms with strollers. At least the gangbangers and drag queens were interesting.
I believe “Uptown” is a reference to the bar of the same name on 17th and Capp, which is a place here. Kevin used to hang out there until they got rid of PBR. Come back KevMo! Tecate is a fine beer, and won’t give you the shits like that other brand
Enforcing the law is not against the law.
BRAVO. following around a park ranger on a busy day and watching him speak to people. i was there, assclown. we spoke and he was kind and friendly. he favored explanation over blind-less enforcement. he warned many to put things away, to turn it down, to clean it up, just as he should. yes, please take the fucking beer pong table elsewhere bros. we just got the slimy, dog-shit ridden, needle-filled park back together again. and how many tickets did he hand out? i see one for smoking, and probably because the cheesedick wouldn’t put it out. and a HUGE fuck you (and shame on you uptown) for trying to imply classism and racism (you do realize the ranger is hispanic right?) you shitty, bratty, entitled bad writer punk. in short: eat dicks, and go to frat mason next time. but first, eat dicks. -B
Thanks for your public service B.
I couldn’t agree more. Your comment should be the story, and the “story” should be one of these whiny entitled commenters’ you see down here (e.g. YogiBear).
Thank you for the best comment I’ve seen on here. The cluelessness around here is astounding.
This punk blogger probably thinks he/she is a “journalist” like the woman who filmed SFPD’s response to a lunatic street person (who happened to be black). Neither of these folks are journalists–just as holding car keys doesn’t make you a car mechanic, publishing your whiny comments online doesn’t make you a journalist. Grow up, get a clue–and yeah, eat dicks first.
The pro ranger crowd’s main argument seems to be that the rest of the public should eat dicks. Cool, they must be right.
no, the message is, “there are laws. the ranger’s job is to enforce them. don’t like the laws? quit the adolescent whining, get organized, and work to change them. in the meantime, please put out your cigarette and pick up your trash.”
This conversation is about organizing to return the law to the pre-2008 status,
And to to use your words, stop whining about people organizing for reasonable rules and enforcement priorities. That the American way.
Thank you for letting us all know your primary midnight terror is eating dick. (BTW, it’s much more enjoyable to suck it instead…)
Thanks for reppin The Public. You’re doing so well, The Public. And thanks for determining that I’m “Pro Ranger,” which thus creates an antagonistic relationship between Pro vs Anti Ranger, or is it Pro vs Anti Public, or is it Pro vs Anti Enforcement. You’re tactic is arbitrary and false. I am not one or none of either.
WHAT I am saying is that the basis of this article is INCORRECT. I was there, I saw and heard the ranger speaking. I saw and heard the responses from The Public, and I, as a member of The Public, as well as many others, am tired of people trashing the park. Beyond that, I am saying (ya follow?) that the allusions and allegations made in this “article” are both irresponsible and inaccurate.
I’m a 3rd generation member of this City, so everyone who wants to call NIMBY, or THIS IS OURS MORE THAN YOURS bullshit can shut that shit down hard. This whole City has had a “Don’t be an asshole” policy for a long time, and what this article suggests (because, we’re talking about the article), is that people are not taking care of themselves, their neighbors, their space. You can play music in the park, you can have a beer in the park, I was there again this weekend, no one is harshing your mellow. But you can’t be a dick.
So don’t.
Actually, “B”, it’s Rec and Park who are being assholes by forcing every last bit of park code and city rules down the throats of the park going public who are seeking to innocently enjoy public space. You are an asshole and a fascist for cheerleading this attack on the people of San Francisco, so please put away your pom poms and go ahead and eat all those dicks that are the focus of your obsession.
Have a nice day!
assholes and dicks. That’s the best a 3rd Gen native SF‘er can do> I don’t think so.
get over your narcissism.
Semi & Regular– An attack on the people of San Francisco! Fascists! Narcissists!
“I can’t leave my garbage all over the place and bring my beer pong table and my amp to the paaark.” Who needs to get over what, now?
Regular, your apostrophe is the wrong way. So is your greater-than symbol, but who knows. Regular is as regular does.
And thank you, I will eat dicks. I’ll gobble them up, right after I take my blanket and plastic cups and iphone speaker and trash home from Dolores. Suckafree, beyotch.
Would love to see rangers actually enforce leash laws, too.
I support every one of those laws. No smoking in the park. No glass. No amplified sound. The first is intended to make it safe for other people to go the park and breathe fresh air–which seems like a no-brainer– and to reduce the amount of cigarette butts on the ground. Those are non-biodegradeable by the way. And the best case scenario is that they stay on the ground unless someone picks them up. Worst case scenario is they wash into a storm drain and end up in the Bay.The second is intended to make it safe for other people to walk around in the grass without getting their feet cut up by broken glass.The third is to allow people to go to the park without having to listen to the noise that somebody else considers music, or the lecture that somebody else wants to give you about going to Hell. It’s nice to be able to speak and hear in a conversational tone and listen to, say, the sound of the wind in the trees. Getting a permit to have amplified sound means that sometimes there’s amplified sound and sometimes there isn’t, and there’s a mechanism for people to object when it’s too much.
Yeah, most people I know go to Dolores Park for “the sound of the wind in the trees”. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
This is ridiculous. Why shouldn’t the park ranger try to keep glass and cigarette butts out of the park? Because you think you’re entitled to make it your own backyard where you and a bunch of other transplants get drunk and high and loudly play crappy music because the rules don’t apply to you so common sense things like no alcohol in the park are a surprise? What the serious fuck!
Ya +1 for the plastics industry! They’re keeping us safe! Mom always said “more plastic in this world the better!”
safe from what?whom? Ignirant
You can all defend the new Dolores Park rules and debate how they are changing the culture of the city. However, that doesn’t mean the park enforcers have to be jerks. I happen to be confronted by Officer Matias and he was quite possibly the rudest ranger I’ve met. He wrote my acquaintance a ticket for smoking - no first warning - without telling us what it would be for. We were apologetic and sincere about not knowing these new park rules, yet he would not acknowledge we were even talking to him. He even dared my aquaintance to snitch on others breaking the rules.
Officer Matias was non-communicative exercising his authority and that made us feel really uncomfortable. Should this be accepted as the new way of conducting order and enforcing laws?
There would not be increased enforcement if there was not an increase in problems at the park. This crowd has failed to police itself, and now finds it is being policed by others. And they’re surprised? If they don’t like it, they can crawl back onto their air-conditioned corporate bus and go trash their coporate campus. (Pssst–they won’t like it down there either, kids.) Welcome to grow-up time–it’s harsh at first, but you’ll learn to love it.
100% supportive of the ranger.
SO sad - glad the feds are in charge of ocean beach! Enforcement will never happen there!!! These are my art installations! insta @iamtrashingob
Was this posted to Reddit or something? A lot of weird losers in here who should move back to the ‘burbs.
It would bring me a lot of satisfaction to pepper spray, punch or billy club people blasting music, leaving garbage, acting like dicks etc.
While I think those people suck, so do interweb tuff guyz.
yes, yes, public executions as well !!
People that applaud this time of petty authoritarianism should be tarred and feathered. They have no place in a free America and they are dangerous. Screw the NSA and AT&T, screw the new douchies that embrace the police state. Long live Victor Jara! Long live the truly Free!
Who in the hell are all the young Republican NIMBYs who’ve descended on this post to comment? Reality check, morons: Dolores Park has been a haven for smokers, tweakers, adults that hulahoop, people playing boomboxes, and yes, people drinking out of glass containers (gasp!) for a hell of a lot longer than your sorry asses have been here. Go back to Wisconsin or wherethefuckever.
That is true.
I was born in Wisconsin and I bet I have been here a hell of a lot longer then you. I remember when the park was a hangout for gangsters and junkies.
woah - you think the “we like a clean park” crowd are young? I don’t think so - I’m on one of their neighborhood googlegroups. I haven’t met them, but their emails do not read “young.” They are probably NIMBYs, but they also clean up the park. literally, these are neighborhood nellys who spend their Saturdays doing neighborhood clean ups. They have block captains. It’s a type of personality that is very nessisary for the smooth functioning of a human settlement, and on balance, we are lucky to have them.
The new enforcement at the park sucks, but I also feel for these moms who are on cleanup.
I blame NextDoor.com
Although I totally agree going after people that do not take care of the park and care less about leaving their trash behind being totally disrespectful; it does bother me that with a city on whose streets are overpopulated by homeless slums, bums and drug addicts that constantly trash all other parks (as I see them daily) nothing ABSOLUTELY nothing gets done. Topping it off with fact that we pay them too just totally makes me sick. San Francisco law makers….knock know and wake up. Lets go ahead and annoy the hell out of those of us who enjoy one of the few urban outdoor things to do.
Smoking isn’t nice and cigarette butts on the ground are ugly, but what up with the influx of comments from the fine folk from Idaho? Do they think that problem is only in Dolores Park? That stuff happens all over the City, balance.
fuck the dicks. eat a bag of clits.
Hard to see how the activities of this ranger will help with cleanup. I suppose if they harass enough people then perhaps Dolores Park might become clean due to lack of use! Maybe that’s the intended cleanup strategy! That would take a lot more rangers. Instead, why not focus on the trash?
You shouldn’t have sympathy for people handing out tickets or getting paid to clean up trash, they are earning a job and that’s respectable. People taking hand outs for harm reduction and pooping on the sidewalk, well that’s another thing. The people in the park, whether in SF or outside of SF have a right to be there and have a good time. I don’t care if you remodeled it and added new curtains (new water irrigation, and poor quality restrooms). IT BELONGS TO THE PUBLIC - we are paying for it! These enforcers need to be on the streets cleaning up the real mess and it’s a shame we have to deal with this, we pay their salary. The same goes for all your elected officials, City Council, and board of supervisors, these fools are getting paid $200,000 per year to shit around all over us. Raise your voice and be heard this bozoo crap has got to go!
Whoever is adding all the fascist, authoritarian, prudish, cop-loving comments to this thread is obviously not a real San Franciscan. Ron Conway or some equally noxious corrupt douchebag is probably paying someone to sit around and fake a conservative majority.
I bemoan the pastel frat kids as much as anyone and I’d way rather have the drag queens out there still, but the way to deal with that is to give the frat kids some good acid, take them to Burning Man and teach them the joys of polyamory and anal sex.
I am in the fence!!!
on the one hand, this pig is a fucking parasite in this city and should be exterminated with only the most extreme prejudice.
on the other hand, I love seeing white millennials given tickets for bringing their craft beer hipster lifestyle out in the open where civilized people can see them. Woe unto you SF tech nerd! No one wants you here (or anywhere).
SF truly should just be evacuated, leveled, and turned into a giant sanctuary for exotic birds. No humans allowed.
@Knave - Since when is Modelo considered a “craft beer?” #EpicFail
Ok, young people need to wake up and get activated in SF. You don’t realize we are living with the most corrupt political regime in the nation? They see park goers as an ample resource for revenue: people who can actually afford to pay $192 tickets. I’d would be so pleased to see actual enforcement anywhere else in the City, how about Civic Center or right around City Hall? Why are we not seeing enforcement there? Because the City gave up on policing that area and there is obviously no revenue in handing out tickets or actually forcing people not to shoot heroin. Those folks are given sympathy and every potential hand out to just turn around and do the same shit tomorrow. Thank you Ed Lee, you give us every reason to vote for anyone you corrupt POS.
Only in Backwards-Land would this Park Ranger be criticized for what he was doing.
Fuck this earbud culture of bullshit. Amplified sound was better, yeah I get no glass, no smoking, whatever but really you can’t have a boombox? If you think they are loud then you must wear shitty ass headphones too much. What happened to hearing sounds in the streets? I guess this is SF were you don’t hear music coming from cars because everyone doesn’t want to offend their uber driver with their shitty taste. Yeah people listen to shitty music, so what let a motherfucker live. It’s not going to kill you, it’s just music and it exists. Put on your janky ass headphones if it’s a problem. I say bump that shit because it’s fun to post up, crack a beer and play some tapes.
Hey Techie fuck face, go back to your racist white suburb. fuck you boring ass, rich, no soul having techie zombies…you deserve to get spit on, SF is not your home and it never will be. good job rangers, keep ticketing these no talent fuckheads… fuck your life techie, leave SF. you are not welcome here, you fake techie clown!! when you see them in the street call the techie out and let them know they are pieces of shit!!!