The Richmond District has had it.
After four consecutive weekends of major events that cumulatively will bring around half a million people to Golden Gate Park, the neighborhood's residents are reeling from the impact of crowds, noise, trash, drunken foolery, and traffic disruptions that have transformed their neighborhood into a nonstop bacchanal.
The surge of large-scale events began with the San Francisco Marathon in late July and continued through three days of Dead & Company performances, three more for the Outside Lands Music Festival, and one last large-scale concert on Friday, with legions making their way to and from Golden Gate Park through the Richmond.
Of course, when hundreds of thousands of revelers pour into a typically sleepy district, there are bound to be tensions — and complaints.
"Take your Outside fucking Lands and go fuck yourselves," read one rant submitted to San Francisco's 311 system. "Take your fucking Grateful Dead concert and go fuck yourselves. Take your Golden Gate Park concert and go fuck yourselves. This is a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood."
In the nearly 100 submissions logged with 311, residents reported pee bottles on the street (including an attached photo), cars blocking their driveways, smoking concertgoers, and trash on the sidewalks. Mostly, though, callers complained about the “insufferably loud” bass.
Residents have long complained about noise at Outside Lands. In 2019, two peace-loving San Franciscans even filed a California Environmental Quality Act appeal in an attempt to bar the city from renewing the festival’s permit.
This year, neighbors took to Nextdoor to air grievances, calling on residents to bring their gripes directly to Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond.
With the final major event of summer taking place on Friday, with a Zach Bryan–Kings of Leon concert expected to draw upwards of 60,000 specatators, The Standard visited the Richmond on Thursday to hear from neighbors directly.
We met longtime resident Maxine walking along Cabrillo Street near 40th Avenue. Her biggest gripes were the most common: traffic and noise.
"If you have 80,000 people trying to get Uber before and after the concert, these streets are clogged," said Maxine, who asked that her last name not be used. "Some place that might take me a couple minutes to get to, I have to plan on an hour just to get down the street because it's wall-to-wall Ubers."
The events have also limited residents' access to Golden Gate Park itself. Maxine said her regular walking route through the park has been blocked for three weeks due to staging and security zones.
And the noise impact extends well beyond the park boundaries, she said. During the Dead & Company's performances, the music was audible a mile away from the venue.
"At a certain point, if your house is buzzing and I'm a mile away, it's too loud,” Maxine said.
Resident Eric Fernandez said he doesn’t mind the noise, especially since organizers have adhered to the 10 p.m. sound cutoff. But the parking has been “ridiculous.”
"Basically, for three weeks we haven't been able to drive anywhere on the weekend because we know when we come home, that there will be no place to park,” he told us.
He experienced that firsthand, returning home Sunday night during Outside Lands. Fernandez said he ended up having to park two miles away from his family’s house.
"I drove around for almost two hours, trying to find a parking spot in my own neighborhood,” he said.
Fernandez would like to see Supervisor Chan and the concert promoters invest in better solutions that reduce the impact on residents, like improved public transit and allotted parking zones for attendees.
"You can't tell people that they can't drive their car for the entire month of August in their neighborhood. Like, people got lives,” he said. "The answer can't be to have people use Uber. It's crazy… build some public transportation out here.”
Longtime resident Mark Challert, who was walking along Cabrillo Street between 30th and 31st avenues, offered a more positive perspective on the events.
"I'm much more of the view that it's good to have these things," Challert said. "I'm glad San Francisco's got a lot of stuff going on."
Likewise, Maxine acknowledged the events' economic impacts and praised the cleanup efforts.
"The park does an amazing job,” she said. “Two days after this festival's over, it's gonna look like nothing ever happened.”