Over the past few years, the tradition of heading to Hippie Hill on April 20th - by way of the Haight - has become almost as iconic as Haight Street Fair. By some estimates, the crowd topped 10,000 last Saturday.
Since the event is sort of grassroots (sorry), the city doesn't have as much control over things as they do for the other festivals and street fairs. There's nothing to permit, no official valve to control the event before it happens.
We talked to lots of folks who said that this year's annual drug swap-meet was bigger than ever, most likely because it fell on a Saturday. Park Station borrowed officers from other districts. Businesses closed early. A stroll around the 'hood after dark revealed heaps of garbage around every trashcan, a veritable river of paper plates to wade through in front of Escape From New York, and enough bits of left-behind clothing, shoes, and jewelry to conjure up a post-Rapture scene. The traffic was so intense that one person told us it took 35 minutes to get to his job, at Haight and Clayton, from Divisadero. From as early as 8:30 in the morning, traffic on every cross street from Masonic to Stanyan was bumper to bumper. At the end of the night, trying to get out of the city on Oak looked like this:
[Thanks to William Ryland for the photo.]
Generally speaking, the feedback we got from merchants and residents was that the celebration has reached a size that demands more city management. But this may not be possible without the city endorsing activities which are still technically illegal. Representatives from the SFPD Park Station told us they brought in more officers from other districts to help handle the crowds and help direct traffic, but reports of violent acts and people overindulging were still worse than ever. Not to mention which, it affects the Haight more accutely than other neighborhoods: even with the additional officers on patrol, the Haight still saw "absolutely" the highest spike (over other districts) in traffic, violence and violations on Saturday, according to Officer Thompson at Park Station. We know of at least one person who was medivaced from Golden Gate Park.
The merchants had quite a time of it, too. Booksmith closed early after a guy missing his shirt refused to leave the store because there were people "waiting for him" outside. According to employees present at the scene, the brawl turned into a hundred-person mob that took an hour to clear out. The decision to close the store came when it took officers "about 20 minutes" to get to the scene, since the foot and vehicle traffic was so thick. This is a picture of the street at the time of the incident:
Said another resident: "I was planning to go to the Ice Cream Bar, but the crowd was so horrifying that I literally turned around and ran away before getting to Cole. Traffic was AWFUL. The Haight was particularly loud and ill-mannered. I walked past Alamo Square earlier and it was packed to the gills, but not unpleasant. The Haight was kind of terrible."
A cashier at Haight Street Market said the closest thing we got to a positive comment about Saturday: "I'd take them anytime over the Bay-to-Breakers crowd."
Resident Allen Foster reported to us as follows: "The Upper Haight's been trashed, as have the Panhandle & west end of GGP. Surprising from such a mellow, mellow crowd. Maybe it's time for this event to get a sponsor or two, and get a city permit, cleanup contract, etc.? Sure could've used some traffic cops to keep things moving."
This captures the general response we got when asking around: the influx of partiers to the neighborhood renders residents prisoners and seems to make commuting and working a not only stressful but potentially unsafe situation for people employed on the street.
If the response is so unanimous, it seems that something has to be done for next year. What do you think? Stoners will be stoners? Or does the city need to intervene?
Tell us, or address your comments to Capt. Greg Corrales at [email protected].
We talked to lots of folks who said that this year's annual drug swap-meet was bigger than ever, most likely because it fell on a Saturday. Park Station borrowed officers from other districts. Businesses closed early. A stroll around the 'hood after dark revealed heaps of garbage around every trashcan, a veritable river of paper plates to wade through in front of Escape From New York, and enough bits of left-behind clothing, shoes, and jewelry to conjure up a post-Rapture scene. The traffic was so intense that one person told us it took 35 minutes to get to his job, at Haight and Clayton, from Divisadero. From as early as 8:30 in the morning, traffic on every cross street from Masonic to Stanyan was bumper to bumper. At the end of the night, trying to get out of the city on Oak looked like this:
