Mission Playground

Mission Playground

SF Parks Department Suspends Permit Process For Mission Soccer Field

— By Kyle Kelly-Yahner (@kylekellyyahner) |

It turns out the Mission Playground is no longer for sale.

Yesterday, San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department repealed its previous policy allowing adults to rent Mission Playground’s soccer field. The decision is unsurprising after the Rec and Parks received tremendous backlash for quietly selling public space for private use, resulting in a bunch of Dropbox/Airbnb employees thinking they could book the Mission Playground without confrontation, as we watched in the infamous video we wrote about last week.

The decision is a step in the right direction, but not enough for one of the kids who was playing at Mission Playground the day of the tech encounter. During their pick up game against the adults who tried to kick them off the field, he claims to have been kicked in the back. The youth says he feels it was it was no accident, and plans to press charges against the man who allegedly kicked him.

He told Mission Local, “I’m not going down without a fight,” adding “I want an apology to my face.”

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 
Mission Playground

Protest Planned to Battle City's Soccer Field Policies

— By Jack Morse (@jmorse_) |

Following on the heels of last Thursday’s video depicting Dropbox and Airbnb employees attempting to kick a group of children off the Mission Playground soccer field, a protest has been planned by the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club challenging the city sanctioned system by which the tech employees reserved the field.

Scheduled to take place this Thursday at 9:00 AM on the steps of City Hall, the protest organizers state the following goals:

1) We demand an immediate end to the privatization of Mission Playground and for all public access be restored
2) We demand that all privatized use for adults of Mission Playground and other youth-used recreation spaces throughout the city undergo community review planned by the neighborhood
3) We demand that community customs and park traditions be followed and supported by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.
4) We demand full-time San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department staff for Mission Playground.

The youth of our city should not have to pay to use our public parks. Their health cannot afford it. Their safety cannot bare it. The relationships and community built from free play is what will help bring our City together. Join us and speak for the youth of San Francisco! Let’s keep our parks accessible to the elderly, disabled, poor and working-class.

The protest organizers seem focused not on the extreme sense of entitlement demonstrated by the Dropbox/Airbnb employees (some of which have apologized for their actions), but rather on the paid reservation system put in place by the Recreation & Parks Department, which fostered the conflict shown in the video. This is a good thing, as protesting the tech community is clearly a losing battle. And there is actually a chance that the city will take a look at their parks policies, which allow for the use of public space to be restricted to only those that can afford to pay for it. 

Previously on Uptown Almanac: