The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is not happy with the Mr. Marina contest for being a certain kind of trashy. The GGNRA posted several photos and messages to its Twitter and Instagram accounts this weekend showing a ton of trash left behind by partiers at the Great Meadow at Fort Mason.
Seriously? Why would people treat their public park this way? Who do they think will clean this, at what cost? Sheesh pic.twitter.com/UVOwlCq9x9
— Golden Gate NRA (@GoldenGateNPS) March 15, 2015
Thank you to the people who helped cleanup the mess left by yesterday’s un-permitted event fundraising for the “Mr Marina” contest. I wonder if they raised as much money as it took to clean this mess up . . . again.
A photo posted by Golden Gate National Rec. Area (@goldengatenationalparks) on Mar 15, 2015 at 8:11pm PDT
This Saturday there was also a rather drunk and rowdy St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl in the Marina, which was separate from the Mr. Marina fundraiser. (I live in that ‘hood and saw many an adult sitting on the sidewalk, being forced to drink water by friends who were over their shit.) It’s possible that the perfect storm of public day-drinking and people turning their brains off in the name of a holiday may have made this weekend an especially poor showing of responsibility and class.
Mr. Marina organizer Brianna Haag explained to me that the Mr. Marina contestant who hosted an event at the park on Saturday “had about 50 friends gathered for his fundraiser as well as a designated point person who was in charge of cleaning up the mess.” Haag also said that the contestant had emailed the Parks Department before his event but did not hear back about the need for a permit or other considerations. Haag admits that she doesn’t know for sure how well the group of Mr. Marina friends cleaned up, but considering the size of the park and how lovely the weather was this weekend, I’m not convinced that this littering problem can be neatly pinned on them.
The GGNRA told curious Twitter followers that they have been stepping up patrol and adding larger trash and recycling bins when possible, but one would hope that personal responsibility on the part of people who visit the city’s parks would go farther. GGNRA Representative Alexandra Picavet suggested, “pack it in, pack it out is a good plan. Carry the bag to your home to dispose of it there” and it’s worth reminding people that you are not supposed to bring glass or barbecues to the city’s parks. According to the park officials’ Twitter, a group of youth cadets and volunteers helped clean the park up this morning. Thanks to those people, and to everyone else, let’s do better.
[H/t: Ginny Hunter, Images via Golden Gate National Rec Area]
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