Posted on by Sarah B.
The Examiner reports today that city officials are considering “shutting down parks overnight and allowing cops to jail chronic trespassers.”
Unlike most major parks in metropolitan areas, Golden Gate Park does not close. It’s legal to be in the park at any hour, but you can’t sleep there. Despite it being illegal to camp in the park, it does little to deter homeless encampments. And police don’t have many options other than to issue citations to campers which are usually dismissed in traffic court. Mayor Newsom met a homeless man with 52 citations to his name who continues to call the park home.
A summer of violent incidents in the park has drawn attention, once again, to the homeless problem and potential safety issues for park patrons. On July 1, three people were attacked by dogs that belonged to homeless campers (who were never identified). A few days later on July 4th, a man was stabbed near the Conservatory of Flowers. And just this week, a homeless man was beaten to death near Kezar Stadium.
Most parks in other cities are closed from 10pm to 6am, which if applied to Golden Gate Park, would give police the authority to arrest campers for trespassing during overnight hours. So far the idea is just in the discussion phase, as are other ideas to beef up patrols overall during nighttime hours in the city.
What do you think? Is closing Golden Gate Park in the late night hours the right solution? Would it matter to you if it was technically off limits from 10pm until 6am?
Sarah B.
