Mission gentrification personified (2014, homes, neighborhood)

[jade408]

Looks like tech guys attempted to use rude behavior to strong arm some kids/teens off the soccer field.
Bros Attempt to Kick Kids Off Mission Soccer Field | Uptown Almanac

[beb0p]

1. One group of guys have a permit that they paid money for to play in the field. That should be the end of discussion right there. If you have the permit you have the right to play.

2. I've been on both sides of the fences, I've been told to get off the field and I've told people to get off the field. And I've seen much worse interaction than what is shown here.

3. I don't get where people just automatically assume all of the guys are techies and they live in the Mission. Soccer fields are limited in the city, I've driven to Outer Sunset to play games and I don't live anywhere near there. I have played with die-hards who drove from the Marin County/East Bay/Peninsula to play games here.

4. The permit has a time limit. If you've booked 7-8 pm, that means another group is coming at 8-9pm so it's paramount that the players get the game going on time and leave timely. Every minute counts with a permit, so there is added pressure to get people off the field and start the game.

5. When you book a field, you have already accounted for enough players to play on opposite sides (be it 8 on 8 or whatever); to include the kids means some guys who had already paid their share of the permit don't get to play. That's just not a workable solution.

6. I thought the kids were way out of line by not refusing to leave the field. I've been through this enough times to know how it normally goes down - the guys with permits show up, the guys already there are taken by surprise, there are some back and forth, and eventually a permit is presented and one group just say, "F it! Let's go find another field!" I have never even heard of people refusing to leave the field. Even one time when fights broke out, one group eventually decide to leave and let the permit holders play.

7. This is nothing personal, but if I have a permit and you're hogging the field, you need to leave. It's that simple. If you don't leave then you're stealing my money and ripping me off. I will not be as nice as these evil techie gentrifiers.

.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by jade408

Looks like tech guys attempted to use rude behavior to strong arm some kids/teens off the soccer field.
Bros Attempt to Kick Kids Off Mission Soccer Field | Uptown Almanac

Disagree completely. This was my posted response on that blog:

I honestly blame the city for this. You cannot charge people to use a public facility and then expect the people to handle their own scheduling controversy when kids probably have no idea that certain days are reserved for paying people - let alone if someone paid for that day or not. If the city wants to place a staff member at the park when people have the field reserved and enforce the rule, then the idea to charge becomes acceptable, as long as you still give kids a chance to use it without having to pay as well. Driving kids away is the last thing I’d want to do from a public space.

If I paid $27 for use of a space though, I would like to get my money’s worth, and I’d have an expectation that the field would be ready for me to use. It shouldn't be up to me to play police when kids or anyone else is using the space that I paid for.

I’m not a tech person, and I don’t play one on TV either. I grew up close to a number of Hispanics and delivered pizza to a lot of horse farms in KY when I was a youngster. I have a great deal of respect for the Mission and the tradition of the area. I didn't watch the video, but this sounds to me like another example of the natives, or other anti-tech people blaming the tech people for their troubles, when in reality, the issue is truly with Parks & Rec in this case. Yeah, tech people are generally entitled, self-absorbed brats who think money can buy them whatever they want, but consider what you’d do if you paid money for a service, only to be told that other people are using that service right now, so you lose out on that money.

If your answer to that consideration is that “they’re rich tech people - $27 means nothing”, then you’re as bad as them.

[jade408]

The city mishandled things completely (as i mentioned in my own social media posts). If they chnaged the rules, it is is abundantly clear they did an awful job publicizing it, particularly if there is a long history of puckup games. They should positionnstaffers there innthe evenings to talk tomthe park users about the new rules. And not assume people come to the city meetings or see this stuff in the newspaper or read the fine print.

The. Techies" admitted they were relative newcomers to the neighborhood, and probably only started coming to the park after it was renovated. Unlike the kids who were there when the parked sucked and now that it is "nice." Think about it from that perspective, it was "your park" for your entire life, and after the city ignored it for years it is finlly nice. the minute is is nice all these newbies come demanding space!

I'd rather consensus build tyan comfront, so I would havve affered to share, and play against tge kids. And then get my money back from the city app with a pointed complaint on poor handling of the process from Parks and Rec.

The problem isn't the fact the reservation didn't work, it is the fact the newbies care so little about tgeir neighbors, in the place they jnfiltrated, they feel no need to even think about making amends. That's why people are POed. The newbies do not even remotely care about tge neighborhood and its residents. In a short period of time, the Mission lost its neighborhood connectedness with gentrification.

[ohhwanderlust]

1) The city cannot just suddenly implement paid reservations without making these changes known to the general public.

2) Everyone has already paid to use this public park -- through taxes. So I disagree on allocating usage based on who can pay more. Should be first come first serve.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by jade408

The city mishandled things completely (as i mentioned in my own social media posts). If they chnaged the rules, it is is abundantly clear they did an awful job publicizing it, particularly if there is a long history of puckup games. They should positionnstaffers there innthe evenings to talk tomthe park users about the new rules. And not assume people come to the city meetings or see this stuff in the newspaper or read the fine print.

The. Techies" admitted they were relative newcomers to the neighborhood, and probably only started coming to the park after it was renovated. Unlike the kids who were there when the parked sucked and now that it is "nice." Think about it from that perspective, it was "your park" for your entire life, and after the city ignored it for years it is finlly nice. the minute is is nice all these newbies come demanding space!

I'd rather consensus build tyan comfront, so I would havve affered to share, and play against tge kids. And then get my money back from the city app with a pointed complaint on poor handling of the process from Parks and Rec.

The problem isn't the fact the reservation didn't work, it is the fact the newbies care so little about tgeir neighbors, in the place they jnfiltrated, they feel no need to even think about making amends. That's why people are POed. The newbies do not even remotely care about tge neighborhood and its residents. In a short period of time, the Mission lost its neighborhood connectedness with gentrification.

I really like your point of view, especially the section in bold, but it's not really clear whether that would have worked out at all, given the resistance from the kids. Dealing with kids is always a slippery slope, and I think society in the US in general has become more entitled, with SF being the epicenter of it, due to the tech boom.

There are just people who are more confrontational than others, and what I'm sure used to be the mantra of SF-ites (peace and harmony and the like) seems to be dwindling with the change in society, because the peace types aren't financial boons for the city coffers.

[krudmonk]

****ty comment toward the neighborhood aside, this is more misdirected bull**** from the fashionable left, and the skin colors on display here play right into the popular narrative (which is of course a legit point in many other cases). As with the Google bus temper tantrums, the whimsically wacky SF stereotypes are blaming people who work so they can play. Gentrification is a large-scale policy issue, and continuing to combat individuals will do little to stop it.

Yes, the problem is the parks department that sought to pimp out their land without notifying the people who regularly use it. Villify the "who cares about the neighborhood" guy, but his team there just looks to have done what they thought was proper procedure. It sucks for the neighborhood kids, yeah, but the Dropbox team didn't meet and legislate to boot anyone off any turf. They simply showed up to play a game and walked into a hypocritical blogosphere of other whitebread techies who also have lived in their SF homes for much less than a lifetime.

[Malloric]

It does actually personify it pretty well.

Gentrification of the Mission these days is really between technies with more money and blogger-type "creatives" with less money.

[3rdGen SFan]

What's preventing the wealthy from constantly reserving the park field as they can afford to but the Mission kids probably can't?

Twenty-seven dollars each time to use the field could add up to a lot. Aren't the Mission natives struggling enough as it is with the costs of housing? Would the gentrifiers rather the kids turn to gang activity since they're being pushed out of the park (which they've been playing in for years prior to the changes of privatizing formerly public parks)?

The modern city officials obviously only care about packing in wealthy people to raise revenue and their own salaries. Why so many citizens put up with the city officials, aka traitors to SF, is beyond me. I wish Mayor Ed Lee and the other traitors to SF would go back to wherever they came from and sell their hometowns instead (or have they already done that prior to moving here).

What's next, an app to pay a fee to reserve our public beaches and public park benches?

[toni650]

The field is only bookable Tuesday and Thursday nights during approximately a 4 hour period, according to what I read, and that's only been the last few months apparently. So it is mostly accessible to the public for free.

Originally Posted by jade408

The city mishandled things completely (as i mentioned in my own social media posts)
I'd rather consensus build tyan comfront, so I would havve affered to share, and play against tge kids. And then get my money back from the city app with a pointed complaint on poor handling of the process from Parks and Rec.
.

That's the kind of thing that shakes my faith in humanity. They argued for SO LONG. Wouldn't you get into problem-solving mode at some point? Reminds me of that saying, "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?" They're all there for the same reason, why not just play soccer already?

Also I think at one point in the video one of the kids suggests something like "let's play for it" but I'm not going to watch it again to be certain.