At a sidestreet entrance at 21st:
Bouncer Man: No. Get that out of here. No bikes.
1: Oh, it only has one-gear, it’s fine.
B.M. – Seriously, you cannot bring it in here.
1: Okay, where can I bring it in?
B.M. – Not here.
1: I know I cannot bring it in here, but what entrance can I bring it in?
B.M. – Not here.
Stranger: You can sneak it in at 16th.
B.M. – No! That’s not true! You can’t bring that in here!
So what other ridiculous stuff were people not allowed in with? Reader Ms Heidi reports that ice cream was a no-no. We have also received a tip that a resident of 19th and Alabama (a block east of the festival) had to show her ID to walk her dog.
This whole event was nothing but annoying. If it’s going to be such a clusterfuck with security, etc. why not move it away from the neighborhood streets so that people can get to-and-from their houses?
I was denied entrance due to my carrying a metal water bottle.
No bikes, one gear or not, makes sense if there are tons of people. Bikes aren’t made to be walked around in a crowd. Buy a lock and be sensible.
Are you serious? How am I supposed to look cool if my bike is locked up to some stop sign on Alabama? Haven’t you ever walked down Valencia St. on a weekend? Bikes are to be pushed by holding the stem, not ridden with the feet on the pedals.
How could they have an event in the Mission and not offer free bike valet?
There was free bike valet, but it was shunted out to 18th and Treat where no one saw it or knew about it, you had to cross a barricade to get to it, and then had to walk three blocks to the nearest entrance. I tried to tell the guards about it so they’d know where to send bikes, but they seemed to be rotating every hour.
I do bike valet at several dozen events a year, and Carnival is always the worst. They pay bikes lip service because they have to, but it was pretty ridiculous. There were about 25 bikes on Saturday and maybe 60 on Sunday. Woulda been several times that if it was in a visible spot. Events in the Marina and the Richmond give bikes more respect than Carnival.
After three years of living on Harrison during Carnaval, the secret of the Carnaval guards is as follows:
a.) They have virtually no training besides a short, restrictive list of rules they will blindly adhere to in all circumstances
and
b.) They never under any circumstances talk to each other or communicate in any way.
I was carrying my skateboard and they denied me, stating no “roller skates” were allowed. At first I tried to explain the difference between a skateboard and roller skates but he wasn’t having it. Ultimately I had to ditch it at a bar where the bar tender was kind enough to watch it for me. Once inside I saw about 15 people with skateboards who obviously snuck in through an unwatched side entrance.
I live on Harrison St. at 18th, and Carnaval is a nightmare every year. The security guards argue with us when we need to come in every. single. time. They argue when we have groceries (and god forfend the groceries include some beer), they argue when we need to carry things down to our car (parked for the weekend behind our building because of the carnaval madness), they argue when we need to come home after hours, they argue when we’re carrying drinks – hell, they argue with us when we’re carrying nothing at all! We’re often directed up to six blocks out of our way on foot when we’re standing outside the barricades practically within touching distance of our building. The security staff (despite assurances from the carnaval organizers) clearly has no training in how to help residents through this incredibly inconvenient weekend – and, indeed, seem typically to have no understanding that there ARE residents on Harrison in the first place. Today it’s all gone, but our building’s front is encrusted with trash and carnaval fliers and discarded drink cups. We hate it, hate it, hate it.
This is our third year and we’ve vowed that next year it’s to the airport on Friday night straight from work and return after it’s over Monday night. Bleh.
While the festivities are kind of, sort of fun, I have to agree with you that our neighborhood streets are filthy. I mean, hey, they’re pretty dirty to begin with, but walking our dog this morning there was a lot more trash than usual, discarded food containers, LOTS of glass, even more dog poop! What do we have to do to combat the disproportionate amount of littering East of Mission St?
Robocop.
No seriously, I don’t have any good ideas. I’m sure this is how residents feel along the b2b route, so I’m guessing we have it relatively good (aside from the other 363 days out of the year).
i would imagine that the promoters of the event are in fact required to clean up, but they don’t, because the event is ‘in the mission’, and folks that live ‘in the mission’ don’t give a fuck about garbage in their streets.
i’m being facetious, but it’s just another example of the mission having no voice, and no one giveing a flying fuck about the mission.
so, what can you do? lobby the propoter and the permit-giving office with a flood of complaints regarding limited access to your home (definitely illegal), complete lack of clean up, unsanitary conditions, etc.
i wouldn’t personally advocate a protest against the event itself – it’s a pretty important cultural event in the hood – but there’s NO REASON mission dwellers should have to put up with any more than inconvenience, noise, etc.
there ARE people responsible…there’s every avenue open for complaint, or dialog, or whatever.
Of course, one important thing we have to do is watch out for NIMBYism. That is the root causes of SF’s death of fun. The key is the find a balance between safety, cleanup and general respect for the neighborhood without becoming such a vocal burden that the city just shuts it down.
Also remember the mayor wants to be president someday, so he isn’t going to let a bunch of rowdy Missionites ruin his ambitions by getting all uppity. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see even more events get canned in 2010 so we might have no choice but to deal with it.
i would say that the cause of SF’s “death of fun” – and i really have no idea what that means – is the LACK of guidelines and rules that exist in most grown-up cities, allowing nightlife and tourists and residents and bums and hos and pimps and crackheads and businesses and dogs & cats to live together.
the whole childish “progressive” bullshit mantra of “i’m gonna do whatever the fuck i want whenever the fuck i want and that’s why i moved to sf and fuck you if you don’t like it fuck fuck fuck” that characterizes so much of sf “fun” just isn’t scale-able. more density (like at 18th & harrison) means the need for more care in curating interactions.
unfortunately, in the grown-up world, you just dont get to do whatever the fuck you want whenever the fuck you want. you need to consider your neighbors.
NIMBYism i agree isn’t healthy, but someone complaining about what Jessica L describes isn’t NIMBYism, it’s a desire for simple rights & courtesy, reasonably expected by someone living in a dense urban hood.
oh, and if our mouthing off in the face of risk to gavin’s meteoric rise (i have my doubts there) gets some attention on the hood, i am all for it.
If you are going to have an permitted event, you should have to clean up (or pay to have the city clean up) afterwards, no matter if it is on Harrison, at Dolores Park, or up Hayes Street. How difficult is that to understand SF City Gov?
yeah i’m the one with the dog who had to show ID. However, I didn’t have to show ID to walk my dog. I had to show ID to PROVE THAT I LIVED AT 19th and ALABAMA so that I could LEAVE Harrison St. and go HOME.
This sorry excuse for a security guard had a great time power tripping. Earlier in the day, when I first attempted to simply “cross the street”, the same guy told me “no dogs allowed” when there were dogs galore right behind him.
I’m all for community events and festivals and such, but if you piss off the residents here you’ll soon have to have to find another neighborhood to disturb. I say good riddance.