Saturday night was the second time since the Great Highway closed that its concrete walls were defaced with graffiti, this time with misspelled messages of “gentriffy” and “Your bringing trouble.”  

Cars were permanently banned from the Great Highway on Friday, March 14, and it is well-documented that many Sunset District residents are pretty furious about this. Then the very first night the Great Highway was a car-free zone, vandals defaced a mural there with graffiti, in what sure appeared an attempt to express discontent with this new car-free arrangement.  

Now that those roads where cars used to drive have been permanently made into a park, SF Rec and Parks announced in a Monday afternoon statement that the walls of the new park have been vandalized and defaced again. According to that statement, the graffiti consisted of “slogans opposing the park,” which included “misspelled grievances such as ‘gentriffy’ and ‘Your bringing trouble….’”

Rec and Parks said in their statement that the spray-painted messages were “apparently left overnight” Saturday, and “were discovered Sunday morning.”

This graffiti was not on the same mural that was defaced the prior weekend. That 60‑foot mural entitled “A History of Play” (seen above) by artist Emily Fromm is located at the Great Highway and Judah Street. Whereas according to Rec and Parks, this graffiti was at “on the former Great Highway and surrounding areas near Noriega Street.”  

“People are loving the oceanfront park, and while there will always be a few outliers who choose to be destructive, we’re not going to let that get in the way of the community enjoying this space,” Friends of Ocean Beach Park president Lucas Lux said in the Rec and Parks announcement. “This weekend, thousands of people took advantage of the nice weather to use the park, even while it’s under construction. Destructive behavior by a few won’t get in the way of our work to make the coast enjoyable and accessible by all.”

The Rec and Parks statement added that “Rangers have increased their patrols” in the  areas affected by vandalism incidents.

Regardless of all this, the new park is still set to have its big public opening on Saturday, April 12, and we will soon know the name of the park. Aftre a naming contest, SF Rec and Parks has whittled the potential name down to 15 apparent finalists seen below.

Related: Mural at Great Highway Park Defaced Just After Highway Was Closed Permanently [SFist]

Image: @Boyddays via Twitter