SFist: New Rules for Bay to Breakers

LaraB

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:26:28 -0800

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)

RobInSF

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:23:20 -0800

i lulzd...

sfperson2000

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:09:06 -0800

IGN is a formula chain bank. The race should be banned.

dolemite43

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:46:24 -0800

I'm on Fell in the thick of it and I say go have fun, you guys. I know what it means to be tolerant. This is one day of the year - big fucking deal. I thought the raise in parking tickets was solely for b2b cleanup.

Jas

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:06:50 -0800

If only the mishhips would get together and fight this. Think of what they could do!

Akit

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:23:08 -0800

Chronicle just reported: You have to wear clothes. I hear flesh colored g-strings!

Angrybat

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:01:31 -0800

This is why we can't have nice things.

travin

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:41:09 -0800

What you said.

robjones

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:34:45 -0800

If you wanna give a nice fuck you to the NIMBYs on 17 May: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66345051367

sfbs

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:28:47 -0800

Thank you very much. I do appreciate the neon "old naked fatty" warning hats though. Gives me that split second to avert my gaze.

dantsea

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:26:27 -0800

Fuck Stockton! What? I thought there was a theme.

KatyG

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:22:22 -0800

Us old fatties are scrambling to comply with your demand.

jimH

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:16:42 -0800

I live on Fell. I don't have a fundamental problem with B2B. Maybe when I get old I'll move to Stockton.

EllyMental

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:04:23 -0800

Little worried about these all the new cops assigned to dump out beer and smack down on "floats". They would literally need hundreds to live up to their threats. Or else have some kind of checkpoint(?!) If they're serious in changing the way B2B ends up being, they'll need to make Oak St a police zone a la the Castro on Halloween.

sfbs

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:03:32 -0800

And more naked girls like the one in the photo, please. Less of the old fatties.

wolf1

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:47:31 -0800

WWSFD?

The Angry Young Man

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:46:32 -0800

A.) B2B isn't a marathon. A marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards long. B2B is 7.46 miles long. I know you are a gay, Brock Keeling, but that does not excuse you from knowing the sports. B.) As if. Good luck with those new rules there, ING. B2B is like the only annual event when the people who live in this city who are normally regarded as mere assholes get to act out in public in a manner that they think is fun and creative but is really dull, boring, and tedious, especially to all the lady artists in the lady artist co-op galleries on Valencia Street. They already deprived these Marina dwellers of Halloween in the Castro when they could leave their safely ensconced district to go point at gays in the street. Now this? I predict nekkid riots, police in the streets arresting sorority girls, etc.

bluecanary

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:46:00 -0800

I agree. I used to live on Oak, and a few years ago we moseyed over to Fell to watch B2B. Holy christ, did I come away glad I didn't live on that street. I could not believe the hordes of drunken frat boys blatantly pissing on people's houses. And I think "move to Stockton" is an inappropriate response. I don't think "I love people pissing all over my house" is a prerequisite to living in SF. My guess is if you polled every single person living here, less than 10 would say they moved here so their houses could be urinated on. OK, less than 20.

porkbun

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:20:50 -0800

I get dressed up, get drunk, and pay registration. I'll probably just do 2 of those 3 this year.

OrangeDrink

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:05:47 -0800

Money Money, kids. You forget B2B doesn't get any money from the city, so all those floats, red plastic cups, so on come out of their pockets. Oh, and the cops, yeah the race pays for that too. So the people who aren't registering, aren't paying for it, are the exact ones who are getting wasted and trashing the joint. Elegant solution to a money problem, really.

manys

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:02:09 -0800

By that measure, the Union Street Fair should have been banned long ago.

RobInSF

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:52:01 -0800

Let's face it. There will be nudity, floats, wheeled stuff and of course, lots of booze along the route. Go ahead and work off your checklist of banned things and there will be a whole bunch of people who didn't bother to read up on it.

dolemite43

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:50:35 -0800

"The city becomes even more of a mess that day" Huh? Are you saying that the city is, like, somewhat messy everyday? If you don't like normal city life then just GET OUT (said all Amityville Horror-styles)

suki

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:28:25 -0800

I HATE B2B and wouldn't mind if they canceled the whole damn thing. The city becomes even more of a mess that day and frankly the level of free floating aggression goes waaay up- it's just gross and i have no problem discouraging the frat element...it would be one thing if alcohol mellowed people out, but since it doesn't, it's hard fro me to get worked up about a no alcohol policy.

Jerry Jarvis

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:27:10 -0800

Wasn't nudity banned? That didn't seem to be endorsed. How can you enforce wheeling homemade floats down the street? It's not illegal. As far as drinking along the way that maybe illegal, but thats what the mack those camel packs for.

Onetime

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:58:33 -0800

I recall them announcing the same thing a few years ago. The thing is that the rules only applied for the actual race (the one people run?!). The real fun is the mass party that follows the race which I think is unsanctioned. Hopefully this is still the case. And why would they put out more dumpsters if they are banning all of the things that end up on the ground anyway?

periqueblend

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:56:10 -0800

I hate B2B but come on! let people have some fun. This town is getting awfully squarepants!

wsanders

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:41:23 -0800

The alcohol ban seems a natural reaction - I've been volunteering for a few years and last year, for the first time since I've been volunteering, we had to call 911 for some serious fighting going on.

Akit

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:38:30 -0800

Floats, costumes, and centipedes makes the event so much special and unique . Why no floats? Are they missing something like hand brakes?

izzyizzy

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:33:42 -0800

i live on the route and honestly, it's sparkling clean the next day. i think the annoyance is greatly outweighed by the fun. if you're really so aggravated, just leave for the weekend, it will be clean by the time you're back. or just get hammered--nothing like booze to pull that stick out of your ass.

SFist_Dan

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:33:32 -0800

Floats are pretty traditional in B2B, as are costumes. Drunken assholery is not. Somewhere along the line, lots of people decided that the race was B2Panhandle, and just stopped there. Idiots, ruining things for everyone else.

porkbun

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:29:38 -0800

Here's the official facebook page where you can praise them or air your grievances: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ING-Bay-to-Breakers/122208920450

Akit

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:26:14 -0800

No wheeled floats? I miss the tiki hut that serves margaritas already! As for hiding beverages, it's as simple as a paper bag.

lejohnnyc

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:23:15 -0800

Yawn. One. Big. Yawn.

turtle_276

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:15:37 -0800

With regard to this particular event, I would prefer to be called a NIABY. This sort of disrespect is not cool in anyone's backyard.

RinconHillSF

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:14:15 -0800

The costumes and personalities that come out for this event are a lot of fun ... seems like the new rules can't be enforced if the course isn't closed, sapping the fun away. As it is, I imagine a lot of the folks who come to party and leave the kitchen and living room a mess, so-to-speak, aren't contributing to the clean up funded by the folks who actually paid to participate.

sfbs

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:07:41 -0800

Word. No one would be complaining if the race just did laps around the Tenderloin.

gmlight

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:03:41 -0800

Every day we see people in this town pushing wheeled objects, drinking and getting drunk in public, and leaving a footprint (including trash, urine, and feces). These folks are generally referred to as bums, homeless, etc. Apparently NIMBYs can look past this 364 days a year, but have a problem with it on the third Sunday in May.

fizzandpop

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:00:29 -0800

I used to live on the route and agree that it is a total douchefest shitshow. And it involves running, which I think is the most useless waste of human energy imaginable. However, my new house is slap bang in the middle of the pro-life, christian-stop-killing-babies event and the other Saturday I had to endure a constant parade of non-baby killing inbreds from Stockton traipsing past my door all day with their sad little signs and third-world fashions. I parked on the sidewalk so they had to shepherd their countless children out in to traffic, but that didn't seem to stop them gaping at me whenever I took the dogs for a walk. So what I'm saying is—all groups of people doing something that I am not involved in cause me irritation and therefore should not be doing it.

SFJoe

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:59:00 -0800

This idea will work fine. The children who can't handle their liquor will be the same ones getting busted for being too dumb to know how to hide it.

porkbun

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:51:11 -0800

I'm always perturbed by people who just want B2B to be a race for people wearing silly hats. You know how much easier it is to fine people who piss and shit in public than stopping everyone from drinking?

SFHope

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:42:55 -0800

A friend summed it up for me as: "Everything fun in life is a little dirty. Really fun things can be *really* dirty." I can corroborate in that fun places to live tend to be dirty, while very clean places tend to be very boring (and often scary in their exercise of authority). That said, there are also many boring dirty places. =)

jimH

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:39:20 -0800

You NIMBYs are worse than the drunken frat boys, of course. Why don't you all move to Stockton, CA? I hear "it's a good time to buy" in that neck of the woods.

sfbs

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:21:41 -0800

Good luck with that. Like it or not, booze and floats is what the "race" has become. I live right on the route and I admit that it is pretty heinous after everyone comes through, but it is still a pretty awesome spectacle.

turtle_276

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:16:13 -0800

This is excellent news for those of us who live along the route. Your "a few festive joggers urinated in public" comment is a gross (and likely intentional) understatement. The disrespect for the neighborhood was both disgusting and not at all surprising given the frat-boy-esque nature of many of the participants.