In a move that would potentially impact the Haight heavily, a Board of Supervisors subcommittee put forward new city legislation that would close city parks from midnight to 5 AM, with a $100 violation penalty.
The new law, put forward by Supervisor Scott Weiner (District 8, our neighbors to the south in Castro and Noe Valley), "improves our current patchwork unenforceable park hours policy by establishing a baseline closure of 12 AM to 5 AM for all parks, with exemptions for walking, biking and driving through certain parks," according to a statement on Weiner's website. The law was supported by Phil Ginsburg of the city Recreation and Parks Department, which has cited the extensive costs of in-park camps, as well as the chief of the SFPD, and in a 2-to-1 vote made it forward from the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee. Now, the Board is discussing possible restrictions to the law (for certain kinds of activities, say, for example, riding your bike through the Panhandle at 1 AM). The full Board is scheduled to vote on the new law October 29. The park closure legislation is the first city law since Sit/Lie expressly designed to target the city's homeless population and attendant problems. Other local supporters of the law include Richard Magary of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, while the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council takes a more skeptical view. It's unclear at the moment what the effect of such a law would be on the Haight, which is bounded on three sides by Buena Vista Park, the Panhandle, and Golden Gate Park, all three of which operate as large de facto homeless encampments at night. Sit/Lie has made it possible legally to clear the sidewalks of people sitting between 7 AM and 10 PM, but would a park closure law put more homeless people back on the street and in shop storefronts from midnight to 5 AM? It's hard to say. If you have feelings about the proposed law, you can contact your District 5 Supervisor London Breed at [email protected].
The new law, put forward by Supervisor Scott Weiner (District 8, our neighbors to the south in Castro and Noe Valley), "improves our current patchwork unenforceable park hours policy by establishing a baseline closure of 12 AM to 5 AM for all parks, with exemptions for walking, biking and driving through certain parks," according to a statement on Weiner's website. The law was supported by Phil Ginsburg of the city Recreation and Parks Department, which has cited the extensive costs of in-park camps, as well as the chief of the SFPD, and in a 2-to-1 vote made it forward from the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee. Now, the Board is discussing possible restrictions to the law (for certain kinds of activities, say, for example, riding your bike through the Panhandle at 1 AM). The full Board is scheduled to vote on the new law October 29. The park closure legislation is the first city law since Sit/Lie expressly designed to target the city's homeless population and attendant problems. Other local supporters of the law include Richard Magary of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, while the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council takes a more skeptical view. It's unclear at the moment what the effect of such a law would be on the Haight, which is bounded on three sides by Buena Vista Park, the Panhandle, and Golden Gate Park, all three of which operate as large de facto homeless encampments at night. Sit/Lie has made it possible legally to clear the sidewalks of people sitting between 7 AM and 10 PM, but would a park closure law put more homeless people back on the street and in shop storefronts from midnight to 5 AM? It's hard to say. If you have feelings about the proposed law, you can contact your District 5 Supervisor London Breed at [email protected].
