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Now that boozing, urinating, and nudity have been banned from the ING Bay to Breakers race, a run famous for boozing, urinating, and nudity -- seriously, we're sorry; this is partially our fault -- residents have sounded off on the B2B Fackbook page.
Jon Schwartz: Hey ING! Great call. Way to ruin the number one greatest day of the year. You just gave me huge motivation to boycott everything related to your irrelevant company. Fix this mistake or plan to pay the consequences of a wrath so fierce, so strong, so unbounded.
A cold future lies ahead for you my friend, a cold cold future. SO very cold!
Joshua Bolitho: If this ban goes through, I hope the skies rain urine.
Tyler Heschong: Really ING? Changing what has become a near 100 yr tradition because those in charge can't properly plan a race. pitiful.
Main complaints related to alcohol: public urination and garbage.
Solution: rent more portable bathrooms and place them more frequently on the stretch near peoples homes before the park and place dumpsters along the route.
Cost: instead of paying additional $ to the SFPD for increased enforcement (aka no fun police), pay for the proper solutions to keep Bay to Breakers the SF tradition that it's gained legendary status for.
Danna Gutman: I'm actually going to close my ING account this week. Most of the balance had already been transferred somewhere else, but I think this is a good reason to close it.
Zander Freund: You people are terrible. You're trying to posture as if you support the culture of this great event when you are COMPLETELY DESTROYING IT.
Erin Callahan: Well, that settled it. Me, my mother and Stepfather and Father and Stepmother and my five siblings have all closed our ING accounts... Great job ING! We are all from the Bay area, all of my parents have taken part in this event. You are ruining it. You don't get our money anymore.
Garrick Hileman : losing Halloween was bad, but losing B2B is a full-scale catastrophe.
Trey Reasonover: How is enraging 99% of San Franciscans a good PR move? People are already angry at the financial sector companies. And now you go do this?
Really?
Yes, really.
In the meantime, you can always join "Screw the new Bay to Breakers rules; I'm drinking anyways!!!" -- some sort of grassroots B2B anarchist movement.
If you want to register to run B2B, check out ingbaytobreakers.com for more details.
Image: Jim Herd
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Oh boy, another thing to boycott/protest!
I was feeling all empty inside after the whole AA debacle ended.
This is better than the AA crapfest. People are actually boycotting companies because they are against public urination and the general boorish behavior of white middle class teendults? Activism fucking rocks!
Public intoxication and public urination are year-round SF traditions, not just BtoB happenings, at least in my neighborhood. And it's not only "white middle class teendults" who participate.
Boycotting ING will just get them more bailout funds.
It totally makes no sense to ban floats. The tiki hut is an absolute LEGEND.
I guess also letting KRON-TV broadcast the event is a bad idea too... that station sucks!
instead of protest... rebelleon: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66345051367&ref=ts
that's the right link for the screw you b2b group
I'm sorry, but these people are douchebags.
sf douchebags are the new anarchists. only they can save us from ourselves.
I'm going to print that on an AA t-shirt. Fuck! No I'm not (see how easy it is to fall into this trap.)
Not that I disagree, but it seems only fair to have ING let the SFPD deal with the issue of drunks urinating/littering/being obnoxious in public the same way they deal with homeless people committing the same crimes: that is to say, nothing at all.
I am sure this will cost ING tens if not dozens of dollars.
I ran the KP Half Marathon last week -- and really, if you're actually interested in running an actual race, consider the several fine half-marathons over the course of the year for you to get your exercise or hoped-for quality time and you won't have to bitch about revelers-- and the lack of porta-potties is a really substantial problem. It's not just Bay to Breakers.
If there's an "X number porta-potties per 1,000 participants" rule, it's ignored or inadequately enforced. Organizers have operational responsibilities in addition to just putting up corporate ad space. This is not just the drunken runners' fault -- runners pay a substantial fee to cover outdoor plumbing, trash pick-up, and enforcement of keeping non-registrants off the course. Runners deserve to be able to drink, organizers are paid generously to maintain a safe course.
And this "no nudity" thing should be a lawsuit. Lawyers, you're all still wealthy -- let's get some pro bono shit going to defend a long tradition of race course nudity.
I'm pro-B2B staying the drunken idiotic semi-entertaining mess it is, within reason.
I'm totally anti-this though
It's inevitable and unfortunate to see these sorts of comments. I suspect many of them are the much-reviled and stereotyped "drunken frat boys" who have compelled ING to implement such draconian measures. It is unfortunate that a destructive few have ruined this event for the rest of us. I think we can summarily ignore this "hold my breath until you let me have my way" protest since it will ultimately amount to nothing.
It is much more disconcerting that ING, the NOPNA, and the SFPD seem to have instituted these extreme measures without taking into account the many other compromises that could ultimately be more Pareto efficient for all parties.
Floats
Institute a registration process for all wheeled floats similar to the runners' registration, including a fee. On the day of the race, require all floats to show up at a specified site to receive their registration signs (which must be displayed at all times) with a valid photo ID and credit card, photograph the larger floats prior to handing them their registration sign. During the race, have officers or private security direct unregistered floats off the course, possibly fine the owners. Afterwards, match registered abandoned floats with their pre-race photographs and charge the associated credit card with a cleanup fee.
Public Urination
Provide more portable lavatories. If you want to recoup some cost, arbitrarily make some of them pay-to-use. Step up ticketing for public urination.
Freeloaders
Begin a campaign to reduce the number of freeloaders by increasing awareness of registration requirements for participants. I still have friends who live in SF who do not know it is "polite" to help pay for cleanup by paying the registration fee, even if you plan on just drinking and not running. If possible, institute a lower registration rate for participants vs runners to increase registration rate. I know this seems silly since runners generate far less trash than drinkers, but it's a common misconception among some drinkers that, since they're not running, they shouldn't have to pay for the "race." One battle at a time, people.
Trash
This is probably the most difficult one to combat. Due to the width of the streets, if you're in the center, you won't even be aware of additional trash receptacles. The best you can hope for in a huge crowd is more awareness of additional trash containers and an increase in registration to help pay for cleanup.
As a former frat boy myself, I know just how much fun it is to truck up a float and enjoy drinking beer in the sunshine with friends. Alumni come back for the weekend every year, and it is something much anticipated for many to catch up and enjoy in a shared tradition. Unfortunately, I also know some people who just can't handle their alcohol. Coupled with the festive atmosphere of the event and the relative anonymity of a sea of strangers, said idiots feel this gives them free reign to act like complete dickholes.
Like it or not, SF is inundated daily by people who do not live here yet come to enjoy all the benefits of our city. The Financial District, North Beach, SoMa, Mission, and Marina are all filled at their respective busy times with bridge and tunnelers and tourists who sometimes hamper what we feel is OUR SF experience, but inclusiveness and diversity (even unwelcome diversity) is what makes this city an interesting and vibrant place to live. I, for one, did not move here to become xenophobic.
We shouldn't let the actions of a small minority be representative of an incredible, uniquely SF event, of whom the majority of participants are generally respectful, law-abiding individuals looking for an opportunity to let loose a little before they go back to their daily grind in this depressed economy.
Why does everyone always scapegoat drunken frat boys? I have very few frat friends. and lots of drunk friends.
Go American Appy. Go B2B+Drinky
Don't worry SF. By the time B2B comes around, ING will be out of business.
B2B. American Apparel. Frank Chu....the perfect storm.
Whatever happened to trough urinals? Seems like they'd take care of a pretty big chunk of the urination problem.
Potty parity. Can't provide more efficient troughs because it might discriminate against those who don't stand to pee, even if it's more efficient for everyone.
(This is why AT&T Park has such long men's room lines, while Oakland Coliseum and Candlestick do not.)
It might take care of the urination problem but might create a anger management problem. Burbboys get a might upset with urbboys that git caught lookin'. Mix in revelry and alcohol, shaken not stirred, and you've got quite a, dare I say it, cock-tale.
Please join us!
Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74986731616
http://www.savebay2breakers.org
Please join us!
Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74986731616
http://www.savebay2breakers.org
No.
Go back to Omaha. Have a nekkid, drunken idiotfest there. I'm tired of cleaning up after you personality-free humanoids.
Stephen Fowler?
My hero!
Banning floats and overt booze will bring the bay to breakers back to how it was just a few years ago. Newsflash, a tradition isn't something you've done both years since you moved here.
First the North Beach Neighbors and now this. What a petty, angry group of NIMBY's this city is full of. The same people who protest the piss and trash in their neighborhoods for 1/365th of the year continually vote for the losers running this city (yeah I'm talking to you TAYM) and don't give a shit about this happening in other neighborhoods on a daily basis. Maybe Fowler truly is the face of the new SF progressive.
Chris Weekly, I think you fail to understand that I complain about the piss and trash in my neighborhood every day of the year and that I loathe Gruesome Newsom and, accordingly, have never voted for him. Furthermore, my Supervisor, Dreamy Mirkarimi, is not a loser. He rocks. Who'd you rather have in his place? Rob Anderson?
Why am I a bad person for expecting people not to run around nekkid, drunk, peeing and barfing all over the sidewalk in front of my pad? I get it bad enough on a daily basis thanks to the homeless youth (and their dogs) who flock to the Haight in search of some retard scene that imploded and died more than 40 years ago. The fact remains that had you kids not so badly abused B2B, ING would never have imposed these rules. you only have yourselves to blame and the fact that you want to point fingers instead of taking responsibility for your actions just demonstrates that ING made the right decision.
But does Dreamy Mirkarimi actually do anything about the piss and vomit?
Of course not! Still, he's hot and that's all that matters.
It sounds like San Francisco is not for you, perhaps it's time you move to a quiet clean slice of suburbia?
So I should stop working on my 2girls1cup float?
I think the problem with all these sorts of crackdowns on events is overreaction on the part of the city and event organizers. TAYM should re-examine his blanket stereotypes. They seem grossly ill-informed.
For what it's worth, my place doesn't get trashed so much during the race itself, it's the hours following as the massive throng drags its ruinously drunk way back from the beach. Right after they find out that they all can't fit on the next N.
"To make a statement, I propose that we do not attend the b2b, but instead congregate ELSEWHERE in SF. This will accomplish 2 things
1) Reduce the numbers on the b2b route.
2) Increase visability elsewhere, ie not on the b2b route.
Perhaps the police will then realize that they can not be EVERYWHERE in SF, at the same time. It would be in their best interest to have us at the 2010 b2b, instead of us running havoc elsewhere.
I know its a tough decision to not be at the b2b route, we might feel we're missing out. But look at the big picture (ie preserving b2b in the future) If we don't stand up and make a VERY loud statement / BOYCOTT this year, we may loose our battle.
Who's for meeting at Dolores Park ?
Who's for meeting at Chrissy Field ?
Who's for meeting at Glen Park ?(not a bay or breaker to be found, the ultimate b2b boycott statement)"