It's been awhile -- weeks, at least -- since San Francisco has seen a dust-up over gentrification and the rise of techies, hipsters, bros, post-hipsters, steam punks and nouveau grungesters who are remaking the city in their own image. Or images.
The wait for the next contretemps is over. In fact, the contretemps itself is over, even before it really got up a good head of steam.
As reported Monday by SFist, an apparently new site-reservation policy at the Mission District's Dolores Park excited the ire of those who saw the program as another attempt by moneyed, digital, IPA-loving types to seize a beloved slice of San Francisco real estate.
Specifically, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department policy allowed people to pay to reserve limited patches of the Dolores Park lawns. You know, for picnics.
The department says it's been doing this for decades and that the reservable area of the park was 5 percent of its total square footage. The department also says part of the intent of the program has been to help pay for cleaning up trash left behind by park-goers. On its face, none of that sounds unreasonable.