Dog owners in a quiet San Francisco neighborhood are feuding with the city over a baseball field where they like to walk their pups — but aren’t allowed to.
Jackson Park in Potrero Hill is zoned as an athletic field, meaning dogs are banned in order to protect the turf, which is reserved for use by schools and sports leagues.
Nearly 700 people have signed an online petition urging the city to rezone the site, demanding “equity for all park users.”
Some in the neighborhood claim they’ve faced repeated harassment from park rangers for walking their dogs there.
Paul Sears, who has lived in San Francisco for 10 years and organized the petition, said he’s routinely “chased out” of the park by rangers with megaphones while walking his dog, Dude, an Australian shepherd-husky mix.
But Sears and others aren’t giving up without a fight. They continue to use the park with their pooches, calling it an act of “civil disobedience” and insisting they have a right to the space. In recent weeks, Sears told The Standard he no longer obeys rangers’ orders immediately; instead, he takes a few minutes to leave.
“We’re just trying to get a piece of that park when it’s not being used,” Sears said. “They’re paying these staffers to evict people trying to use the park. It comes across in this militaristic way.”
At times, the encounters have turned violent, according to Carlos Carpio, who lives across the street from the park with his dog, whom he refused to name. Carpio alleges they were cornered and pushed against a fence by a park ranger as they attempted to leave the park on April 1, 2022.
“I just felt really targeted,” Carpio said. “I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough for him. … He was touching me, so I ran away, and he cornered me.”
Parks Department spokesperson Daniel Montes said dogs damage the athletic field, making it unsafe to play on and costly to repair. Montes did not respond to a request for comment on Carpio’s allegation of assault.
Jackson Park is one of the city’s most heavily regulated parks due to its frequent use by nearby schools and sports leagues, Montes said via email.
“Fortunately, there are 36 designated dog play areas throughout the city — with Berry Street and McKinley Square dog parks being the closest,” Montes said. “As stewards of the land, Rec and Park and our hardworking staff are simply adhering to the rules outlined in our park code.”
Berry Street is a 15-minute walk from Jackson Park, and McKinley Square is 13 minutes, per Google Maps.
Sears argues that his busy schedule running two companies doesn’t allow him to take such a long walk to let his dog out.
“For a business professional like myself, walking an extra 20 minutes is onerous,” Sears said. “I’m fully supportive of the folks who want to play ball. I think it’s great. But I don’t think the entire park should be zoned for it.”