Following the past week's uproar over the reservations-vs-pickup-game debate surrounding Mission Playground's soccer field, Rec and Park general manager Phil Ginsburg gave in last night and told members of the Latino Democratic Club that the reserved-play nights at that particular field would be going away. As Mission Local reports, this is according to Oscar Grande, vice president of the club, but this morning's planned protest at City Hall and public comment during today's Rec & Parks meeting will address the "systemic" problem of permitted gameplay at fields across the city.
The public kerfuffle, as you surely know by now, stemmed from this video that surfaced last Friday (after being shot in August and uploaded to YouTube in late September) of some Mission youths staging a planned protest-of-sorts of their own one night upon the 7 p.m. arrival of two teams of tech bros (one from Dropbox, the other allegedly from Airbnb) who had the field reserved from 7 to 8. An argument ensues over whether the permit the bros have is valid given the longtime tradition of pickup games at this field an argument, really, that needed to go to Rec & Parks, but the video clearly made the statement loud enough for the department to hear.
The protest will be addressing other demands made by the club, which include the creation of a "community council based on city districts that determine the programming and staffing regarding parks in the district" and better Rec & Parks response to "unsafe playing conditions both on the field pertaining to maintenance and off the field pertaining to public safety."
Previously: The Tension Over Soccer Fields Is Not About Tech Bros, It's Too Few Fields, Says Chron
Mission Soccer Bro And Dropbox Both Apologize For Soccer Field Scuffle; Protest Planned For Thursday [Updated]