November 29, 2007
Late-Night Pizza Ban? That's Crazy Talk!
Noted Pizza-Roll fans, we're not one to patronize pizza establishments in order to stifle late-night sodium cravings brought on by binge drinking. (Really, with Pizza Rolls you transition from freezer to toaster oven to mouth in record time, seamlessly.) But the this idea of a late-night pizza ban is insane. There's no better word for it.
In North Beach fights breakout and mild vandalism occurs after bars close at 2 a.m. This chaos, typical for any city, makes some of our sensitive city dwellers cranky before bedtime. Or whatever. So, the City Planning Commissioners somehow got it into their heads that closing pizza parlors on the the Broadway strip, pizzerias that normally stay open until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., before 2 a.m. will solve a slew of problems. According to the Examiner:
Closing the parlors at 2 a.m. or earlier could curb violence and public drunkenness and reduce litter from pizza boxes and plates, Central Station police Capt. James Dudley told commissioners at the meeting. Dudley said earlier club closing times could also help solve problems in the area.
But the closure could spell out certain death for Cable Car Pizza and Broadway Express Pizza -- establishments that rely on the late-night revenue. Are lingering drunks such an issue for SFPD that it's worth forcing restaurants out of business? Seeing as how it's their job, can't the fuzz handle a few tipsy, Drakkar-Noir-soaked partygoers?
Although Central Station police Captain James Dudley whined to the Commissioners that "Cable Car Pizza allows people to congregate up to 3 or 4 o’clock...I’m tasked to manage the crowd, which is sometimes 30, 40 or more people," Central Station Officer Keith Matthew seems a wee bit more reasonable. He suggests more late-night options, saying that "a responsible walk-away pizza place on this end of the Corridor would assist in alleviating the long lines at other nearby eateries...and hasten the time it takes to clear the partygoers from the neighborhood." Word.
And according to Eater SF, the only thing that this ban could accomplish would be to "eliminate a cash cow for local eateries while simultaneously not solving the actual problem of drunken violence in the Broadway clubs."
Again, this idea is insanity as its finest. It should not be approved by the City Planning Commissioners. Though it probably will.
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How will the bridge-n-tunnel folk CAUSING the fights drive home without sobering up on a slice of greasy pepperoni first?
With the city trying to stop alcohol sales at NB fests and now this, why don't we just make North Beach a retirement community? You want to live in a quiet community move to Moraga.
Wow, 30, 40 people getting pizza. Sounds like a regular riot.
Jesus. Doesn't everyone know that the late-night drunken pizza run is a staple of a night out on the town? Think of all the people who'd be extra hungover and/or throwing up without the greasy deliciousness of getting pizza at 3 AM?
um....didn't North Beach just get rated like one of the top 10 neighborhoods of all time...as is?
San Francisco seems to get off on taking everything that makes it somewhat interesting and trashing it. It's hilarious. In a non-ha ha sort of way.
If late-night drunken pizza runs are outlawed, only outlaws will make late-night drunken pizza runs...
If I'm up at 3 AM, for some reason I never have much appetite
I second that.
let's just ban dudes in flip flops from coming into the city.
problem solved.
Yeah, who says that 30-40 people *need* managing? Besides a bored cop, that is. Have we gotten to the point where freedom of assembly is only allowed where the cops can be the gatekeepers? Seems counter to the intent of the amendment.
Why not go further? Why not close all the strip clubs, bars, and restaurants on Broadway? Heck, not just there, why not the whole city? Not just at night either, people are having way too much fun during the daytime and the city really needs to get a handle on that...in fact, how about we close anything even remotely interesting everywhere in the city except Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, and any store with a tie-dye motif on Haight (provided it's near Ashbury of course). That oughta show 'em...
I predict this will cause riots the likes of which would make Parisian muslim head scarf wearers proud.
What would be *really* funny is if the SFPD had patrol cars cruising NB between 1-3am on Friday and Saturday nights. They could pick off drunk drivers one after another. I'm sure that would temper things just a little. I live in NB and cannot begin to count the number of drunk "wooo" screaming fools who stumble down the street then hop into their cars and drive away.
I've lived in North Beach for 20 years now. Hearing the drunks stumble around hooting and hollering after the bars close is like hearing the wild parrots squawking overhead. That's just how North Beach sounds.
I actually sort of get a kick out of it. I sleep with earplugs but if I happen to be up late and hear the drunken crowds getting unruly, I usually take a seat near the window and watch them for a while...it can be pretty entertaining.
Bad LisaLives! If you're not a part of the solution you're a part of the problem. Can't you see the damage and, dare I say, Jihadist anarchy you're fomenting?
cowsaymeow beat me to it. this is just more evidence that the uptight, yuppie NIMBY's moving to this City are completing ruining it. If you want to live in the 'burbs, GO MOVE TO THE FUCKING 'BURBS.
This is, ladies and germs, a Big City(tm). And in Big Cities(tm) there are tall buildings, and not a lot of street parking, and it gets noisy, and dirty, and crowded, and there are bars and restaurants and all sorts of shit to do (the reason you moved here in the first place), and yes, drunk people partying on a Saturday night.
We could just go and shut down the whole city to make these jerkoffs happy. Or, more reasonably, we could just go and round up all the NIMBY jerkoffs, put them in a big sack, tie a rock to it and dump them off the GG Bridge.
What's the next target? Late-night taquerias? OH THE HUMANITY.
I agree with LisaLives. The drunks stumbling up my street at night for the obligatory drunken escapade to Coit Tower is just part of the experience of living in North Beach.
I, too, have been known to drag up a chair and watch the hilarious proceedings, including: slutty drunken teen getting into fight with equally slutty drunken mother; a girl in a very drunken fight with boyfriend, shrieking "Fuck you and everything you stand for," (which my husband and I have adopted and use frequently just for the humor value); and the inevitable bridge and tunnelers getting their cars stuck as they try to park on my street.
Besides, isn't food supposed to help sober you up? The last thing these guys need to do is get into their cars on a stomach filled with nothing but booze.
Maybe instead the cops could just get off their lazy, cafe-sitting asses and do their jobs by arresting the miscreants, rather than trying to put people out of business.
There are far too many North Beachers who are trying to turn this neighborhood into a gated community rest home, and I for one, am sick of it. To the suburbs, you crabby old folk.
Bluecanary, LOL at "Fuck you and everything you stand for."
Actually that line comes from The Young Ones, series one, episode 3, and I quote: "Rick: Neal, I hate you and everything you stand for!"
Brava, Lisa and Blue Canary. I can't decide which is more offensive, the lazy San Francisco police force or Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Peskin who want to turn North Beach into Presidio Heights.
"bridge-n-tunnel folk CAUSING the fights"
I know for a fact that it is not all out of town people causing trouble on weekends in North Beach
A lot of local gang members and kids are part of the problem
But then that might not be as politically correct to bring up
Its easier to just blame those crash suburbanites right
Hey, here's a crazy idea - how about Mark Leno trying to change the laws around closing times again, so you don't have every bar in the city dumping people onto the streets at the exact same time, thus leading to the unruly behavior that this ban is trying quell? When Britain liberalized their licensing laws, there was a noticible drop in fights and street crime of the sort that seems to be at issue here: discussion of extended closing times and article citations on SFScene
A ban like this would cause ranch dressing futures to plummet.
Seriously, last time I was out late nothing but a bunch of drunks stumbling into the pizza place, ordering their slices and bellowing RANCH CAN I HAVE SOME RANCH DRESSING RANCH CAN I HAVE SOME RANCH.
never underestimate the power of ranch dressing. it's a siren song for sure.
I'm with PhilG, pushing last call back to 3 or 4 sounds like a much better solution. Was it 2004 when the Late Night Coalition was busing people up to Sacramento to lobby for it? But MADD and the CHP shot it down. Stoopid.
I heard recently that San Jose is trying out letting bars stay open until 3AM without serving alcohol. All I could find about it was this:
http://www.sjdowntown.com/bus_nightlife.html
That seems reasonable enough, but it makes me think of two questions: Why do they need a pilot program if they're not serving booze? And how much motivation is there for bars to stay open later if they're not selling booze and the workers aren't getting any more tips?
there are bars that are open past 2am without serving alcohol. they cost $20 a head usually, to subsidize the loss of alcohol revenue. and they all play awful house music.
3am/4am bar last call? one can only dream. never gonna happen. one of those things we have to accept. SF just isn't as cool as it thinks it is.
"3am/4am bar last call? one can only dream. never gonna happen. one of those things we have to accept. SF just isn't as cool as it thinks it is."
agreed. for years i would bitch about why this wasn't a reality, but...it isn't. and you're right, it never will be.
I heart Bluecanary's comment and everything it stands for!
My country, right or wrong, except for ranch dressing on pizza.