Reader Janet C. forwards us this shite piece of news:
Per a posting on a list I’m a member of:
This weekend on the Bernal Hill was to be the Soap Box Derby. I have
just been informed that the event is illegal and SFPD with RPD Park
Patrol will force the cancellation of the event.Please be advised and
spread the word.
Thanks,
Sabrina
Safety Network Organizer
Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center
(415)206-2140 ext 155
Sucks.
Not sure where Janet starts and Sabrina ends, but, shit. Can anybody confirm? Is there a plan to resist? Should I bring my Kevlar? Link.
Update: Todd assures us: “Totally NOT CANCELLED.”
After the last year of the BYOB, when people took it to the streets, the cops got nasty and parked their cars perpendicular in the middle of the hills… They know what they’re doing.
Totally NOT CANCELLED, according to the organizers, whom I called yesterday, to ask about this very email. They say, “We race rain or shine, and the cops come every year, and its no big deal.”
Richard the Hater and SNAPAC (the Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee) are behind this, I just know it.
Whoops — James, that is.
so what is the word, did it go off or not??
Got cancelled around 3pm due to “neighbor complaint”.
WTF? It’s been happening for 8? 10 years?
interesting–i’ve heard different stories, one (overheard from the rangers) was that since they had no permit (for what i don’t exactly know) they couldn’t do it. and that they (whoever sent ‘the man’) knew the event from the adverstising online. janet–you seem to be on some neighborhood mailing list, and knew about the cancellation in advance–did anyone there say why?
but people still rode down other mysterious hills.
ah, check this out: video of the police:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=45752004
This event has been happening for years sans permit and nobody cared. Why was this the first year that it was shut down due to lack of permit?
Could it be that the people behind the Red Bull soapbox derby got pissy that their big corporate event could be outdone by one with no corporate sponsors? (Just a bunch of folks having a great time on a hill with a spectacular view).
Or is this part of the face of the “new San Francisco’s anti-fun campaign?”
Even Bernal Hill real estate companies talk about it on their website.. it obviously adds “charm” to the neighborhood. http://www.bernalhill.com/SoapBox.htm
And San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano attempted to intervene on behalf of the Soapbox Derby, (but to no avail — Ammiano was overruled by the bureaucrats at the Parks Department. Thanks for trying, Tom!)
tom ammiano can’t get anything done, except embarrass himself on ‘The Colbert Report’
he cant even help the neighborhood put on an illegal event and keep out the park rangers, what a joke…
thank god he is being termed limit out.
good riddance Tom A.
any guess on his new replace, i cant decide to vote for Dave, Mark or the other guy
I know nothing more than what I cut and pasted.
I live pretty near the top of the hill and it was real quiet yesterday. I was eyeball deep in finishing a paper, so never ventured outside to check it out. From the list I cut and pasted this from, there was some speculation about Red Bull complaining, but, that was just speculation.
Perhaps James the hater lives adjacent and complained. I’m sorry the powers that be are putting a kibosh on this; I guess it’s one more stake in the heart of live free or die Bernal.