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SFist intercepted this email sent out today by SFPD Park Station Captain Teri Barrett. Teri, it seems, has an estranged relationship with the merriment for which San Francisco is/used to be famous. Leisure World we are not. Check it:
Teresa Barrett/SFPD/SFGO
To: Park Station SFPD/SFPD/SFGOV@SFGOV
[Date:] 05/20/08
[Time:] 11:21
Subject: Bay to Breakers 2008
I am trying to document how out of control the Bay to Breakers was this year. Drunks everywhere, people urinating on peoples front stairs, both females and males, and basically a very ugly event. If you have complaints please email me so I can convey our displeasure with the events sponsor and city officials. Thank you.
Captain Teri Barrett
Park Police Station
Are these the same cops who never seem to patrol Sixth Street, where it's LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME? Unbelievable. Send Teri your complaints of pee puddles, visible genitalia, buzz kills, and how SFPD's time could be better used to parkStation.sfpd@sfgov.org.
Image credit: tingley/Flickr
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Aside from the actual runners, Bay to Breakers is just an excuse for boring people to dress up like morons and get drunk in public so they can pretend, at least in their own minds, that they're interesting people. They're not interesting people, they're dullards. They should all be rounded up.
it did get a bit ugly near the end but really the only thing i minded was watching everyone fling their trash into the panhandle and gg park from the street. bottles were whizzing by me for the last few hours of the event.
overzealous merriment aside, for a city that generally considers itself to be 'green', this was pretty disheartening.
i think sf has built up enough environmental credit to bend our strict green rules for an afternoon.
I was a bystander at the race this year and I was thinking that it was starting to get that same ugly vibe that the Castro Halloween had the last few years before it stopped. I'd hate to see the B2B do the same thing but it's hard to stop an habitual drunkard from being a douchebag.
done and done. so idiotic that crackheads get to run rampant and use every alley of the mission as a personal toilet, but bay to breakers is what the SFPD is concerned about.
Ugh, another cop complaining about their job. What's new?
The race is basically divided in two: first hour are the runners/joggers/walkers and are generally well behaved; second hour are the drunks double fisting a bottle of cheap sparkling wine and store brand OJ.
Simple (easy, cheap, effective) solution: PUSH THE DRUNKS ALONG. The faster you make the drunkies walk, the less likely they'll be to actually finish the course with their push cart beer keg. After a few years, the hard core partiers won't participate and you'll have a decent race again.
Take it from LA on this one-- the Doo Dah parade does it every year without a hitch (except the running part).
Well, if this were the Southern Station or the Tenderloin Station captain who was appalled, I would be asking the same thing about 6th Street or Jones Street on a daily basis. However, I learned at the meeting last night discussing how to get more patrol cars out on the streets that each of the 10 SFPD District Stations pretty much act independently of one another. I suspect the activities that Captains from the Southern and Tenderloin stations do not have time to pay attention to due to stabbings, muggings, other violence ... the "quality of life" things probably get under the skin of the residents and the police who live on the western part of town a lot more quickly than it does downtown.
Why don't we see police on the streets very often? I guess they're spending a lot of time at their station waiting in line for an antiquated computer in which to enter their administrative crap (paperwork). We need to push the City to buy them some of those new fangled things called laptops that would allow them to enter information from their cars or from a table at the neighborhood coffee shop - allowing them to be in the neighborhoods keeping an eye on things instead of waiting in line for a computer at the station.
Bay to Breakers is just an excuse for boring people to dress up like morons and get drunk in public so they can pretend, at least in their own minds, that they're interesting people. They're not interesting people, they're dullards.
Actually, as a Bay to Breakers by-stander I gotta say I find this opinion much duller than a good portion of the costumes and floats I saw this year.
I assume you were writing the Great American Novel or discussing Heidegger at Farley's or dishing with the Algonquin Round Table while 60,000 people were having some silly drunken fun for the day and behaving themselves for the most part. Good for you.
I do think the event itself rides a fine line, but a few simple but tough-love tweaks like the one Ginger suggested would go a long way towards these issues. Make arrests of public urinators as a start--there's no excuse for that.
Totally agree. The parade of douchebags was particularly ugly this year. Some f**ker dumped a 12ft by 15ft silver spaceship in my neighbors drive. The traffic was completely screwed for most of the day and all because Chet and Amber wanted to dress up as sexy tennis players and troll through the city shouting "oh maaaa gaaaard" every 10 seconds. The only good thing was watching all the shivering wrecks trying to get cabs home to the Marina late into the evening. I think this event is done. Let's think up something new, then stop participating as soon as the sweater-draping, M3-driving crowd latch on.
I was on Fell Street at around eleven, and I thought it was a twofold problem:
First - all of the Burning Man types (you guys in pink? This means you) who stopped their big parties on Fell Street, joined up with pre-planned house parties, and never got going again. It's B2B, not How Weird. Keep. Moving.
Second - the cops should have been sweeping Fell much earlier. If they pressure the back, people won't stop. They gotta keep pushing people, as Ginger said.
But the responsibility is twofold; I'd be willing to bet that if the City just talked to the folks in charge of Burning Man, had them communicate to the camp leaders that they have to keep moving, that would be part of it. Also, if the City had a plan ("Fell Street will be free by noon," or whatever) and stuck to it, problem solved.
PS - yes, I know that your Burning Man camp isn't a problem, that you've been in San Francisco for six thousand years, that I don't know what I'm talking about, that your float was made completely of solar-powered wind turbines that were built with the solidified blood of human-rights-violating dictators, etc. I really don't care how morally superior you are. Just keep walking; it's really not that hard.
ok, folks let's remember that people were get SHOT at Castro Halloween. While the drunks can certainly be annoying and the public urination gross there weren't people going home in ambulances due to assault by a deadly weapon.
SF need to step it up with police enforcement and post B2B cleanup that's all.
"i think sf has built up enough environmental credit to bend our strict green rules for an afternoon."
-Brock Landers
NO!!! Seattle is always crowing about how green it is when they haven't done anything green since back before technology in like the 70's. Seattle is a cesspool of stupidity and a cautionary tale. No city should ever rest upon it's laurels! Abolish Bay to Breakers! Yay!
I had an amazing time at B2B this year and would be sad to see it go. There were NOT ENOUGH TOILETS OR TRASH CANS, so clearly, people were using the streets. It's a really good time!
people got shot at castro halloween because the supes decided that they needed to clear everyone out by 11, so that the whiny ass police could go home or whatever the fuck.
if they hadnt done this (pushed everyone out early, where, in the ensuing confusion, drunk people got mad/hurt/shot/stabbed) then there would likely have not been any shootings.
Not to be a total classist slag about it, but I witnessed several big fights involving obvious non-locals on Haight later in the afternoon. Aside from being a sausage fest, the street was incredibly aggro. Girls crying, screaming, bloody kneed. Guys resorting to fisticuffs over people accidentally bumping into them in the crowd. It felt unsafe, and it was for damn sure ugly.
As my friend Thomas put it, "Too many clowns and not enough escaped lions."
Ha!..Brock knows about 6th Street?. It's close, but not quite "all the time" on 6th street. It's my understanding that the mayhem and urinating only goes on for 23:58 hours out of the day. There seems to be some unwritten code among the streetsters granting a reprieve between 4:58am and 5:00am
At which point it dutifully picks up again
Dear TeamAwesome YOU NEED TO LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR BLADDER. And trash cans? Maybe you shouldn't be carrying arm loads of crap when you do a fun run. It really was not a good time for anyone who happened to live on the route. But you probably didn't see any of that, being all wrapped up in your own special moment.
I don't want to get to far off B2B but the Castro Halloween had several violent incidents over the years culminating in the shooting of 6 people.
And why shouldn't the police push the people out? It was Tuesday night in a residential neighborhood, it wasn't the whining ass police wanting the people to leave (they are getting overtime) it is all the people who live in the Castro who had to work Wednesday morning and want the party to end before 2am.
Basically SF residents need to learn that the party does indeed have to end at some point and they need to go the fuck home.
Dear Teresa,
It seems you don't like being a cop in a (relatively small) urban area.
You're in luck. The Dallas police dept is hiring. No parks to clean up, fewer homeless, nothing fun - maybe the fair? just rednecks, and Dallas moms in their Expeditions. Zzzzz.
***
I agree people should respect property and not piss on someone's front door, but last time I saw someone doing it, a cop was ten feet away turning a blind eye. The responsibility (and problem) is twofold indeed.
Some of the people who are making comments on this story sound like gentrification snobs to me. Events like B2B and the street festivals make SF the reason why people want to come to the city. A day of a little debaucery really isn't that big of a price to pay for a little fun. I say we leave the event the way it is, and just enforce more eco-friendly rules along the route. For one, there are very few bathrooms or trash cans along the route. Maybe if the city put big dumpsters every few blocks and increased the number of portable toilets, we can cut down on the amount of trash left behind.
It felt unsafe, and it was for damn sure ugly.
And again, this differs from the Haight on most days how? I'm only half-joking.
I'll take my chances against some old hippies and/or a frat guy from Stanford versus a crusty methed-out runaway any day.
Here's an idea: Gather up all the crap that was dumped outside your house by Chet and Amber, then mail it to the B2B sponsor, ING:
ING DIRECT
1 South Orange Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
It was fun.
The more transpants we get the more SF is getting uptight. relax,let people have fun a few days out of the year,or just move back to the mid-west.
The more transpants we get the more SF is getting uptight. relax,let people have fun a few days out of the year,or just move back to the mid-west.
I'm pretty sure for the most part it's the newest transplants who enjoy it the most. After a few years you start getting indignant about it, until the final phase, that of indifference.
badlydrawnbear:
if you're uncomfortable with the occasional inconveniences of living in a city, then move to fucking concord.
First they came for they gays and I was silent, then they came for the B2B drunks and I said nothing, then they came for?????????????
No not transplants, just regular people who don't like other people pissing on their property and trashing their street, that's all. Let's be real, the B2B crowd is predominantly a white, educated and by my guess back-to-work-at-the-office-on-Monday bunch. Exactly the types who would call the cops in a heartbeat if you so much as lit a cigarette within ten feet of their crappy apartments. These are exactly the sort of people who should not be given licence to roam around the city dressed in 80's aerobics gear screaming for cabs all afternoon. Basically, if you're at an event and you're wearing a rainbow afro wig, you do not belong here. There is a special place for you and it's called San Diego. Run along, all your friends live there.
Drunken merriment often eclispe personal responsibility, though it shouldn't. I don't think enough bad things transpired this year to put the kibosh on B2B. Implementing changes like Ginger suggested would only benefit those who live along the route. As a former resident of Fell at Cole I know things could benefit from a change.
Good God. When does the f*cking whining stop in this town? Jeez. Sure it could have been a bit cleaner, etc. but wtf? The City is becoming a place where people move here to whine, complain and say "me me me". And then they go join things like the neighborhood associations and start ruining businesses and homes. then some of 'em get elected. They're called supervisors.
last year they pushed the back of the race pretty quick. i think it was only around 11am by the time howard street was clear. what happened this year?
Joel -
You obviously live someplace dull like Glen Park. I live in the Haight and resent having to deal with all the stupid bridge and tunnel trash pissing everywhere and dumping their garbage without any consideration for others. Furthermore, with the exception of annoying passersby for change, the methed-out runaways who congregate in the Haight are far less menacing or irritating than fratboys en masse whose only reason for even being there is to be obnoxiously drunk in the streets, start fights with other males in some bizarre need to establish dominance, and find similarly retarded females to whom they can slip "roofies" in some desperate attempt to breed. People like this really need to be rounded up, summarily gassed, etc.
The Angry Young Man -
If you are going to move to a area like Haight you should have known what you were getting into. Its your fault. If you moved somewhere dull like "Glen park" then you can have your peace and quiet. Ever think people like you should be "rounded up, summarily gassed, etc.".....think about it.
I once went to New York at Halloween, got pissed and had a fantastic time. So I'm not going to bitch about people coming into SF to have fun.
In response to SFist Dan's post about the "guys in pink," I was part of that, and we kept moving all the way until we got to the bridge at 25th and JFK Drive. We stopped twice for potty breaks and once to blast music at a mobile bouncy castle. I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say we "never got going again" as we most certainly did. In fact most of us ended up at a house party in Cole Valley long after the race, and we certainly didn't leave our "port-a-party" sound system behind.
Get your facts straight, please, before you go making accusations.
I couldn't agree with you more, Angry Young Man... I left the Haight for many reasons; the biggest one being living across the street from Hobson's Choice For Douchebags. It was like a mini B2B every Friday night. The second being that my neighbour kept a rooster in her garden, but I digress...
Wow. You people need to chill. I live along the route at Masonic and Fell, and frankly I'm happy to see the steets liven up ONCE a year. It is a ton of fun if you participate. Sure there is garbage, sure there is public urination, but it isn't as if the garbage stays on the street for the entire week or people come up to your door daily to urinate on it (unless you live in the loin). Life would be rather boring without B2B, and SF wouldn't be what it is without the crazy shannanigans.
In the Catholic rest of the world there is an event called Karneval aka Mardi Gras. Same stuff happens, except not limited to just a route, rather it happens EVERYWHERE, and it is for 3-6 days depending on the location. It is a ton of fun, and I can see where it might get stressful for those with failing livers. We are tame by comparison.
But seriously. We're SF. We do this once a year. chill man. Let's not let SF become the Tri-Valley.
Angry Young Man - You tolerate you 'hood being used as a toilet every day by scum that obviously aren't from the City, but get all bent out of shape by the same thing when it is a bunch of frat boys and girls having fun one day a year? Please.
In the immortal words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
If only they rode fixies and listened to the right band, it'd be acceptable local color
Haight is a fine neighbourhood, as long as you live at least a block away from Haight street itself.
And since Fell is just a freeway for Sunseters commuting downtown most of the time and the panhandle a dog toilet and doss house for haight kids and the homeless, it's great to be able to have the quasi-blockparty that is B2B.
rageahol,
I actually enjoy B2B very much and didn't find it incovient at all, even though I live near fell and divis.
I think B2B should stay and is an great part of life in SF. All I was trying to say is the cops should do a better job of moving people along and policing the route and the city needs to handle clean up better (frankly they should take a lesson from Chicago that does amazing jobs of cleaning up after street fairs every weekend for several months)
See you at Pink Saturday!!! :-)
I say open Oak street up to traffic at 1 PM and get God sort 'em out.
I thought it was amusing that in spite of the large number of porta-johns that were set up in the Panhandle, lots and lots of "runners" were still pissing in the trees. I queried one gentlemen about his choice of public exposure vs portajohn, and he claimed that if my dog can pee in public, he can too. My dog does lots of things in public that I wouldn't really want to see a person do....
I live at the top of the Hayes hill so I certainly saw the full chaos and aftermath of B2B. Sure, I wasn't really excited about the broken bottles, pissing in my doorway or the dookie between the parked cars on my pierce, but the organizers were rather ill prepared. Everyone should have the decency to hold it, but 2 portapotties and a couple trash cans can't accomodate 20,000 drunks drinking their way up the hill. There were more at the bottom of the hill, but too little too late.
It did feel a bit out of control this year, but it is still a pretty impressive event. Just one of those events that makes SF such a great city.
If you really can't handle B2B, it is not that difficult to avoid it.
I must say I did enjoy walking home just as the very end of the parade was finally clearing through leaving crying drunk girls puking on the trees in front of my house. Reminded me of my days living in the TL...only the pissing, puking crazies were replaced by B&T coeds.
Looking forward to Wednesday street cleaning...
wait they didn't send street cleaners out at the end of B2B to clean up that night?
Well that's just pathetic of the city.
@Jonathan - there were several different groups of folks in pink; sorry, it's really hard to differentiate between groups of nearly-identically costumed people, which is why I put the "you know who you are" in there. If it wasn't you, then you weren't who I was talking about. No blood, no foul here.
You know what would have been fun? If I'd complained about a group of Juno runners. I'd have six thousand people banging down my door. It got to the point where we were yelling "Look, holy crap, it's Juno! at people just to confuse everyone.
48 comments!
Maybe there are a lot of comments because there was something not quite right this time around.
From a completely unscientific sampling based on living one block south of Haight on Ashbury for 25 years, we noticed a lot of agreesion and stupid behavior on Haight we had not really noticed before after the run.
A lot of very tense people. The Haight Street bars were still full of trashed people 12 hours after the race started. You wondered if they had really done any running at all or just showed up in the Haight in costume.
The neighborhood consensus was, "this is the new Castro halloween" and these are the same people that ruined it.
"My dog does lots of things in public that I wouldn't really want to see a person do...."
Like having sex with dogs?
Re: cops, there aren't enough in part because of insufficient academy graduates. You get a bunch of cops retiring at once, they can't train, graduate, and integrate the new ones fast enough, and you have a shortage.
Sorry but I gotta chime in, just to give another vote to the camp I fall into.
Yes, I think it's a great event that gives the City a color no other city has. Trash and piss be damned.
I saw the Dresden Dolls that night at the Fillmore and Amanda Palmer was psyched that she was playing SF on the B2B day. That she saw stormtroopers and bumblebees together in a Starbucks just felt warm all over. How else but B2B? Where else but SF??
Um, the Bay to Breakers has been going on for, let's see, 96 YEARS. How long have all of you complaining about it been here??
Bay to Breakers is a grand event, unique to SF and should continue.
That said, I wish the participants would show a modicum of respect for the host city and not abandon their "floats," costumes and accoutrements in the Park or along Fulton near the beach.
I'm morally and intellectually superior to all of you jackasses. I chose to stay home and therefore have nothing to complain about.
So there. =0p
If you want a decent race, go to Los Gatos. I want it to be fun, and weird and a day when people can go out and have a good time.
BTW, to help cut down on the garbage it would have been cool if any of those dumpsters I saw had the lids opened so people could throw stuff away. And why was the one real bathroom I saw when I was walking (in the panhandle) surrounded by yellow caution tape and closed? When people are peeing on the outside of a closed bathroom, I think its prtty obvious what the problem is. If people have garbage cans and bathrooms, they will use them. If they dont, then you get what we had on Sunday...which I am ok with - at least for one day of the year.
I agree about the lack of garbage/recycling. It was ridiculous. There were like 4 recycling cans at the finish line despite the fact that they had tons of bottled water. Thank goodness for the homeless guys who took those bottles off my hands. At least I know those will be recycled.
But aside from that- wow. I can't believe the negativity. This race goes right through my neighborhood, and I love it. If I wanted order I'd live in freakin' Walnut Creek.
oh LULZ @ people saying that B2B and such festivals and "shenanigans" are what make SF a desirable city. Certainly B2B and other crusty festivals are NOT exemplary of San Francisco's desirability, beauty, progressive, inclusive spirit, or any of the other things that make this city so freaking awesome. They're more akin to the zillions of homeless people...yeah, i'm really glad that SF is nice enough to accommodate/attempt dealing with them instead of bussing them out to another city, but um...yeah...I really wish they'd just clean up their acts and get the hell out all ready.
C'mon...people who think B2B is the height of fun are kind of like...people who are excited to go to burning man for the first time this year bc they've been dreaming of and saving for it for the past 10 freaking years...lame...
and um...people who throw trash/poop/pee on the street or defend those who do by saying that OF COURSE that's going to happen when you don't put a dumpster and a port a potty at every intersection...ummm...O_O
Coolcucumber: B2B and "crusty festivals" to my mind do actually make SF a desirable city, because people are allowed to have a good time in a public space with their friends and enjoy their freedoms--be it drinking in public or marching nude--which in other cities would result in a beating from the local fascist police. San Francisco's inclusive and open spirit is reflected by the fact that it has crusty festivals and B2B. The fact that you would prefer some other form of entertainment and find this sort of fun to be lame is really a subjective qualification. I, for one, would much rather attend B2B and "crusty festivals" than not.
Also, I fail to see the logic in equating B2B and "crusty festivals" to the "zillions of homeless people," which you wish would clean up and leave. There is really no parallel at all.
Finally, ummm? c'mon man, if you gotta go, you gotta go. Haven't you ever drunk a liter of beer and had no place to go? Maybe I'm just too progressive for this city because I've lived in Europe, but I particularly am a firm believer in public urination (not defecation) when the urge is imminent. So if you don't put up port-a-potties, you know what the result will be.
As far as garbage goes. Yeah, people should be mor respectful and carry their garbage with them, but they don't. And since you can't fine every single person for littering, you might as well put up some trash cans and recycling bins so people can throw their garbage away. It is just common sense.
Coolcucumber raises a few excellent points. I would agree that anyone who considers Bay to Breakers to be the height of fun are lame. Hence my original point - excluding the running junkies and assorted Kenyans who are there to actually run the race in hopes of scoring cash prizes, the rest of the fools out there are simpletons and dullards.
Furthermore, I must hasten to point out that events like this "race" are hardly limited to San Francisco. Other American cities suffer from occasional depraved breakdowns too. Maybe you creatures should spread out across the country and find those cities. Go forth, take some of this boisterous SF fun with you back to your native square states. I'm sick of my city being used as a n amoral play space for the future young Republicans of Omaha who're out here merely to sow their wild oats.
Another thing, all the whiners like largo01 who excuse people's bad behavior (i.e, tossing garbage, peeing and crapping everywhere, etc.) as , I dunno, mere human nature, need to "talk to the hand." Maybe it is "human nature" in progressive Europe, which is like, not here. I always thought of Americans as being all law and order and since the law says, "don't toss your garbage or pee and crap everywhere," I'd expect people to comply. How self indulgent of me to expect people to refrain from their ape like human nature out some semblance of respect for the people who're being impacted by their actions. Really, the lack of accountability is truly remarkable. You're all like the welfare queens of the 21st century. All freeloaders need to be rounded up.
Congratulations, Brock, I see this morning's Matier and Ross basically blamed the whole debacle on YOU! Yay!
Beat me to it, Angry. We're famousish!
I'm an Inner Sunset Yuppie with kids and I'm basically on board with the general sentiment of the list--it's a great event, but perhaps a little more police round up at the end and a bit more control of the pissing and trash. More bathrooms and better crowd management seems in order.
It's a great event and even the business school kids out for a drunken march can't spoil it.
For one, I'd volunteer to work the route and pick up trash during the event--not in a scold kind of way, but merely as a way to be a host to my neighborhood.
By the way, a huge number of Bay to Breakers folks end up at the Marina after the race--carrying on the stupid shenanigans they began in the Haight. It's like a mix between the Republican National Convention and Octoberfest, with lots of puking out of parked BMWs.
Despite the focus of drinking and partying on this website, B2B is not simply a drinking festival. There are 20,000 people that actually run the race. Sure, it's a "fun" run for the most part and the focus is as much on dressing up and running or walking with family and friends and not everyone is trying to set a PR. I had a much different race than most people as I was one of the serious runners but I don't begrudge people from having fun or even drinking.
But the "fun" part of the race has changed. People always dressed up or drank alcohol but that was secondary or simply part of the fun. Now, the primary purpose for some people is getting loaded. They don't walk or "run" the race. They simply go to Hayes Hill and maybe a little ways into the panhandle and simply get wasted.
And it's not unique to San Francisco. At one point maybe this race was unique. But all over the country there are immature young people that enjoy getting dressed up and then drunk. There are plenty of "races" like this. Go to any college town and you will see it. It may be fun but it does not make San Francisco unique.
Jaded ex burning man goers should be made to empty the porta potties at b2b next year.
Three of my friends were assaulted when they took part in the walk portion at the end of the race. Other participants were too busy harassing and assaulting others to come to their defense. As for police presence, that amounted to a cop telling a bunch of street kids that if they were going to drink in the open, "they needed to drink with the festival".
Forgive me if I don't file that under the "quirky, progressive merriment that makes SF what it is". Misogyny and homophobia are not progressive values. Violently acting out one's misogyny and homophobia is immoral and, until the Christofascists get their way, illegal.
As for 6th street, I walk down that street frequently. It's an open sewer, but nobody's ever assaulted me. Sounds like it's way safer than B2B.
Anyone who thinks B2B or street festivals are unique to SF needs to travel a little more.
The solutions for next year are simple, though. Make sure that the race organizers provide ample outhouses/trash/recycling. Then have SFPD enforce littering/public indeceny rules. If folks can justify such behavior to themselves in the name of living in San Francisco, the city should at least make some $ off these knuckleheads.
You tube movie of Alamo Square during the B2B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baKPCFMh3aY
As a 5 year resident and annual B2B house party host on Fell on the panhandle, I'm over it.
All you who are comparing my panhandle neighborhood to Sixth Street- go to hell. We have a nicer, more educated, more community involved neighborhood. Come by the panhandle on a typical day, and you can see that it's beautiful and there is community investment there. Sixth st is not nice.
Second, all you people who hung around the neighborhood after 11:30 ruined B2B. You were too drunk. You broke two windows at my place. One of you even crapped in my backyard!
One of you sneaked in to my place demanded to use the head that 20 friends of friends were already lined up at. When I refused, you sucker-punched me and I had to drag your drunk ass down the stairs in a head-lock. When I got you out, you sucker-punched me again. Thanks.
And the guy who threw a bottle through the living room window and then had his friend punch my other friend. Thanks.
If you really want this party to continue, practice restraint, don't get so drunk that you are a problem. And also, pay me for my windows and clean up my back yard.
Basically, all you college-greek types with unimaginative costumes: You ruined the whole event.
i didn't go this year for the first time in 10 years. last year, during the starting mile or so, i almost got into a fight with a group of frat boys dressed as the duke la cross team. they were purposely throwing tortillas like a frisbee at people's heads.
i had a feeling this year might be worse. maybe it is time to get rid of it.
oh well!
another institution that is san francisco goes by the wayside. i doubt most of us that live here will miss it.
drunken costuming is the hottest trend!
The Angry Young Man: For the record, I do not condone public pooping. Neither do I condone littering, though I do think it is inevitable and should be reasonably dealt with by placing garbage bins along the route (for the litter not the poop). But dude, urinating in the park harms NOBODY. If that is true, then boy scouts are a menace to society for urinating in our beautiful natural parks.
Also, Americans = Law and order? what?! There are enough laws on the book to put any one of us in prison for anything. The only thing that stands in the way of you or me getting sent to jail is the DA who decides which laws are trendy. It is totally political. As a Californian, you should realize that you are living in the Wild West. yee-haw.
Mulligan: Wow, that sucks. I sympathize. I never let anyone into my place during B2B. I grill on the sidewalk.
Has anyone noticed that every time the establishment of this city starts screaming about how terrible such-and-such event is, more often than not it's because of their lack of planning? In many cases the lack of planning is quite deliberate, giving them license to complain and justify their budget problems.
Hello?!? This race has been going on for a long time. It's really not that difficult to prepare for and plan the event when you know almost exactly what is going to happen.
Keep a close eye out on the police department's activities. Their pr campaign is slowly rolling out their plan to significantly change the budget, staffing and function of the city's police force. This week's announcement of the district remapping and the carefully worded story in the examiner about how North Station needs to be rebuilt - using an un-subtle tactic of suggesting the station could be car-bombed at any moment because there building is also a parking garage.
When might you start complaining and scaling back the pride parade? You wouldn't dare. So apply that thinking across the board.
BRB is an institution. It's OUR institution. Stop fuckin with our culture because you don't have the gift of forethought and planning or just simply don't want to do the paperwork. We'll gladly pay you for extra staff and even overtime.
Sounds like Fong and her minions decided not to do their jobs - again. How difficult is it to have 4 SFPD cars and a couple wagons at the rear of the line moving the crowd forward? This ain't rocket science people.
I'm a 6th generation SF native, never been a frat-boy, live right by the end of the race, and this year, like every year, I walked over to my Grandma's house on 44th and Fulton and we went and watched the end of the race and waited for my sister to go by.
If she wasn't offended by all the drunks and bouncing penises (peni?) then why are all of you? She's an old lady, people, a retired nurse and a widow. How are you going to be so up tight? Grandma J is a nice lady and she thought it was hilarious.
It's just pee, people.