Kanye West performs at Outside Lands 2014
A couple of weeks ago, a reader sent us the latest “Boxscore” from Billboard magazine which lists concerts, their attendance, and gross ticket sales. At the top of the list for that week was the 2014 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival with $19,063,003 in gross sales and overall attendance of 202,963.
This was the seventh year for Outside Lands, which takes over several venues in Golden Gate Park for 3 days and nights in August every summer. Top headliners this year included Kanye West, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Killers, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Arctic Monkeys, Tiesto, Death Cab for Cutie, and the Flaming Lips.
Many of our blog readers have wondered how much of the event’s revenues actually go to the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, who is responsible for Golden Gate Park and is arguably the festival’s biggest advocate at City Hall. Rec & Park has always claimed that the revenue the department receives from the event is substantial and “brings vital economic boost to our parks and the City as a whole” according to Phil Ginsburg, Rec & Park’s General Manager.
We reached out to Connie Chan, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs for Rec & Park to get more insight into the revenues around Outside Lands. How much does Rec & Park actually earn, and how much does it cost the department to support the event?
“For 2014, the Department received $2,417,724 of revenue from Outside Lands,” Chan told us.
Chan also provided a breakdown of the revenue, which consists of a percentage of the event’s gross revenue, a per ticket revenue fee and dollars associated with maintenance costs for the event:
REC & PARK OUTSIDE LANDS – REVENUE DETAIL
|
11% gross revenue $1.25 per ticket sold Gardener Endowment Fee Polo Field Regeneration Fee TOTAL |
$2,059,771 $253,703 $89,250 $15,000 $2,417,724 |
And if you’re wondering where the permit fees are for the four main venues in the park that the festival uses – the Polo Fields, Lindley Meadow, Marx Meadow and Hellman Hollow – it’s part of the first line item. The permit fees are covered by either 11% of the event’s gross revenue or $1.2 million, whichever is greater.
We also found out how much Rec & Park spends to support the festival such as staff and other costs associated with the park and hosting the 200,000+ person event. Chan sent us back this detail:
REC & PARK OUTSIDE LANDS – COSTS
|
Maintenance Yard Park Patrol Gardener Staff Polo Fields Turf Crew Standby Pay TOTAL |
$17,583 $34,460 $24,465 $10,945 $1,312 $88,761 |
That $88k in expenses was then paid back to Rec & Park by the promoters after the event.
All told, Rec & Park received the $2.41 million in revenue plus reimbursement of the $88k in expenses related to the event.
So how critical is the Outside Lands revenue to the Rec & Parks Department budget? We found a Fiscal Years 2014-15 and 2015-16 budget presentation online which puts the department’s overall budget at $160.9 million for 2013-2014, with $137.7 million for operating budget (86%) and $23.32 million for capital budget (14%).
For 2013-2014, the department budgeted $59 million in earned revenue, which includes $6.5 million for “Permits & Facility Rentals”. Presuming the Outside Lands revenue falls into this category, it represents 37% of the expected revenue from rentals.
The crowd at Outside Lands 2014. Photo by Josh Withers
NEIGHBORHOOD IMPACT VS. ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Richmond District neighborhood, in particular some commenters on this blog, has mixed feelings about the concert and its effect on the neighborhood.
The festival drew just over 200,000 attendees to Golden Gate Park in 2014. Every year, the festival puts a strain on public transportation, and on residents who live near the western end of the park. They routinely deal with highly amplified sound from the multiple festival stages, blocked driveways and the effects of thousands of concertgoers coming and going from the park for 3 days and nights: public urination, litter, noise, and clogged streets.
Still, other residents welcome the festival and the energy that a top-tier music festival brings to the neighborhood, and many merchants eagerly await the influx of hungry and thirsty concertgoers who spend time in the neighborhood during the festival.
Neighborhood schools like Presidio Middle, Lafayette, Argonne and George Washington High also benefit financially by opening their lots during the festival and charging as much as $30 per day per car for parking. The proceeds, which can be as high as $10,000 for a single school for the weekend, go towards school programs.
The school lot fundraisers became so lucrative that in 2011, the city tax collector came calling to get their share. But legislation eventually passed that allowed school PTA’s to continue their “parking lot fundraisers” without having to give a share to the city.
The city of San Francisco and the concert’s promoter, Another Planet Entertainment, have always touted the positive economic impact of the festival on San Francisco.
A 2011 SFSU study, based on an online survey of 3,551 attendees of the festival, determined that “the total direct expenditures from the OSL Festival in San Francisco were estimated to be $27,072,270. Spending in the Bay Area outside of SF was $2,961,340. This resulted in total direct expenditures in the entire Bay Area of $30,033,610.”
Spending was primarily on food, lodging and transportation, and the data excluded the expenditures of the 27% of respondents who lived in San Francisco, making a point to try and quantify the economic impact of concertgoers coming to the festival from outside the city.
But the number most often quoted from this study is closer to $60 million, as Phil Ginsburg said in 2012 after the festival’s contract was renewed for another 8 years.
“The event has drawn over a half million visitors to Golden Gate Park and contributes an estimate of $60 million annually to the City’s economy,” Ginsburg said.
That $60 million impact is a best guess, as researchers from the study used a multiplier to theorize on the total economic impacts:
“The total economic impacts of direct expenditures from a festival can be measured in terms of increased regional sales, personal income and jobs. Sales impact is sum of direct expenditures, plus indirect and induced spending in the region. Sales are calculated by applying a multiplier to direct expenditures,” the research summary states.
Patrick Tierney, chair of the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Department and lead on the economic study, noted that city residents might be quick to notice the “inconvenience factor” of the festival, including increased traffic, noise and transit needs. “The economic benefits, although large, are not immediately evident,” he wrote.
“It’s good to see now how the whole community benefits,” said Tierney. “People spent money all over the Bay Area, although San Francisco clearly got the biggest benefit.” [SF State News]
A SHIFT IN VALUES
While few would begrudge Rec & Park their chance at revenue, many residents and park users have been dismayed at the shift that the department has taken with respect to venue rentals and permit fees.
In recent years, large concerts like Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (funded by an endowment by the late Warren Hellman) are applauded and welcomed, while smaller events have gotten the squeeze from rising permit fees.
The increase in fees is a key strategy of Rec & Park’s continued revenue growth. In their budget presentation for 2013-2014, they call for “Increased permits for facilities, fields and special events – $750,000”.
And while this strategy may be helping Rec & Park’s bottom line, others believe it has marred the integrity of the department and is chipping away at San Francisco’s spirit, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many residents and event organizers that use the park.
Due to the rise in Rec & Park’s permit fees, some long running events have had to close down or change venues.
The first major event to suffer the consequences was Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic, a vintage car show that began in 1988 as a gathering of a handful of vintage car owners.
It became an annual event, organized by former Rec & Park gardener and car lover Jimmy O’Keefe that drew hundreds of vintage cars to Speedway Meadow. People came from all over the Bay Area to check out the cars, picnic with friends, and help raise money for disabled children.
The picnic was such a cherished tradition that the Board of Supervisors presented Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic with a Certificate of Honor in 2006 in celebration of their 18th year.
But its feelgood status and charitable donations weren’t enough to keep Jimmy’s picnic off the Rec & Park chopping block. In 2009 and each year thereafter, their fees increased. Finally, after a protracted battle with Rec & Park that took the wind out of this sails, O’Keefe declared that 2013 would be the last year for the picnic. Their fees had gone from $1,650 in 2008 to just over $17,000 in 2013.
“We’re losing the identity of San Francisco,” Jimmy said when we talked to him about the picnic’s demise. “It was one of the few blue collar, working class family events left in San Francisco.”
Recently, another tradition in the park came to an end when Debardchery, a Medieval Archery & Bardic event announced they would no longer be using the archery range in Golden Gate Park for their event.
After 30 years, organizers had decided to move the venue to an archery range in Pacifica because of an increase in permit fees and unexpected restrictions that had never been imposed previously, like requiring a food handler’s certificate for their potluck picnic.
Debardchery organizer Lucien Canton says there are no hard feelings, just disappointment at having to leave the Golden Gate Park Archery Range after 30 years.
“We’re not looking to pick a fight with Rec & Park. It’s just unfortunate that they seem to have a “one-size-fits-all” mentality and don’t seem to make any concessions to small, local groups,” Canton said.
Ironically, the archery facility in Pacifica that they moved their event to is managed by San Francisco Rec & Park, but the fees for their event were only $200. Apparently holding your event within city limits does come at a premium.
OUTSIDE LANDS APPROVED THROUGH 2020
In 2012, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved to extend San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s contract with Another Planet Entertainment, the promoters of the Outside Lands Music Festival. The new contract included eight additional years of festival production and increased capacity of the event to 75,000 attendants.
At that time, Rec & Park disclosed that under the new contract condition, Another Planet Entertainment would pay an increased rent of approximately $2.25 million dollars in 2013 and each year thereafter during the extension. The contract also funded a new year-round gardener in Golden Gate Park and $15,000 to support turf regeneration, both of which can be seen above in this year’s revenue detail.
For better or for worse, the city can expect an annual influx of 200,000+ concertgoers every August until at least 2020, along with annual revenues of an estimated $2.25 million to Rec & Park.
How other, smaller Golden Gate Park events will fare in the coming years remains to be seen.
Sarah B.
Outside Lands results in the unavailability of the Polo field to the community for about six weeks in all. The field is closed for event preparation for about a week before the event, the event lasts 3 days, and then the field is unavailable and locked for about a month after the event while it is in “recovery”. The other meadows aren’t really impacted for more then 10 – 12 days for prep, event, and clean-up.
I’m genuinely impressed by the clean-up and restoration actions at GGP so there’s really no evidence of the event after clean-up is completed. While there’s some element of cachet and romance to having the event in GGP I wonder if another venue could work just as well like Golden Gate Fields, Marin County Fairgrounds, or San Mateo Fairgrounds. Since the event is firmly established it could be anywhere and still draw a sell-out crowd. Maybe it’ll be time soon for it to move on.
This was a very well written and informative article. Thank you Sarah!
Great information. Thank you!
“For 2013-2014, the department budgeted $59 million in earned revenue, which includes $6.5 million for “Permits & Facility Rentals”. Presuming the Outside Lands revenue falls into this category, it represents 37% of the expected revenue from rentals.”
– You mean really just 4.2% of all earned revenue ($2.5m of $59m) which is just peanuts.
Nice article.
I understand there are some negative ramifications to these large events, and I am no big fan of the bloated Park and Rec. (here come the attacks…)
That being said, these events result in much needed revenue for local public schools such as Lafayette and Argonne through renting of parking spaces. For that reason alone I fully support these events.
Wow. It’ll be here till at least 2020. Awesome!
Great article, and nice to see all sides presented – it should be reprinted in a MSM publication, to get these facts out to all.
Outside Lands’ massively-amplified bass and drums cause residential structures adjoining the park to resonate in the same way that a guitar’s wooden sound box amplifies the vibrations of a string. The effect on residents is akin to living inside an acoustic guitar while it is being played for three days and nights.
Whether by artful design or honest omission, the concert is allowed to respond to noise complaints by measuring sound levels on the sidewalk. Those measurements completely fail to capture the structure-shaking character of the sound pollution.
In the end, $2,000,000 for Parks and Rec doesn’t justify putting a massive three days and nights concert in a residential neighborhood. Too bad that the Board of Supervisors has assigned itself the role of handling residents so that they don’t inconvenience the concert’s self-serving promoters.
I’ll like to know how much MUNI had to shell out for more buses and overtimes and police and SFMTA’s portion of their time to monitor all that activity. Everything adds up and not just with Park & Rec.
@Public Schools – Good point, I forgot about the school parking lots. Now that the city is taxing the schools for that privilege, what do the schools bring in annually from the big event parking and how much of the budget is it for the PTA’s or other org’s within the school that use the $?
Sarah B.
@Riley – The city and the organizers will likely never address the noise issue adequately in my opinion. Though many residents claimed the noise levels were better this year than in the past, esp. after the first night.
It would be interesting if someone could find a willing sound expert next summer to actually take readings in the neighborhood and test the sound thoroughly (gratis) so there is definitive data. Without that, no one that runs the event will take the complaints too seriously.
Sarah B.
To increase neighborhood goodwill maybe Outside Lands needs to required to have a couple of acts that have appeal to the oldsters instead of just for the hipsters. Paul McCartney was in that league but there aren’t too many others. Maybe they could sneak in a performer like Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Barbara Streisand, Stevie Wonder, or Celine Dion each year. Or maybe the answer is to end with Doo-Wop performers on the closing night – that may clear the hipster audience out early.
Thank you for the very informative article, you’re a great writer, Sarah! I have been wondering about these numbers for years, having lived – close by, I might add – through every Fest, so far. How do the Youth Sports activities fair with the new fees and Park/Rec’s new attitude towards rentals? Where do those soccer practices end up when they cannot afford to practice on grass? That would be good to know in the future…Thanks again for keeping our community well informed!
Sarah- your best reporting to date! Outstanding coverage. If only the mainstream media would cover such issues as comprehensively.
@Riley get off your couch and have some fun every once and a while. You’re such a stick-in-the-mud. I wish i knew where you lived because i’d be sure to show up and throw a beer can in your yard every year until 2020.
Thanks for the information. It is missing the costs for added calls to 911, DPT, SFPD and SFFD and any associated OT. There is a lot that can be hidden, omitted and highlighted with accounting roll-ups.
Excellent article with a great overview of the basic numbers. I appreciate the information. It appear that the event is generally a revenue generator for San Francisco and for the promoters. Some incremental costs such as DPT, SFPD and SFFD calls and overtime may not be included. However those services are mostly fixed costs and there are events most weekends that generate additional calls. Last weekend it was the Folsom Street Fair.
I have been on the polo fields the past two weeks for soccer games and there does not appear to be any permanent damage. I do not believe that Outside Lands is the only reason that those fields are closed for a few weeks during the Summer. The grass needs some time off from heavy use to regenerate and that time is between Outside Lands and the Fall Soccer seasons.
Thanks again for the information.
I agree that 2 million seems like peanuts but that notwithstanding I hope the promoters get their act together in other ways that will benefit the concert goers and the community. The primary issue is one of tickets and how easily counterfeited they are. My daughter’s friend’s ticket was a counterfeit and the gate staff told her that that particular ticket had been scanned hundreds of times. These thieves are making a lot of money like this, a lot! Apparently other festivals issue wristbands with a chip so not only are they not able to be duplicated but they can allow for in and out privileges which would allow for more money spent outside the park so that neighborhood businesses can really benefit. With concert goers unable to leave all day they really can’t do that much money spending in the hood!
Great article and research. But — I can’t help but notice that the car drivers (this time Jimmy’s Car Show) are — yet again — complaining about relatively minor fees.
Why is it assumed that private automobiles deserve to be stored indefinitely on public property at nearly no cost? It’s a $10,000 – $25,000 object you own that takes up a huge nearly 96 square feet of public space in the 2nd most dense city in United States. Quit complaining and pay your fair share…
@mcas – Are you familiar with Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic? It was a one day event that raised funds for charity. So I’m not sure why you’d say “private automobiles deserve to be stored indefinitely on public property” when it is a 1 day event? And the picnic always paid their event fees, but a 930% increase over 5 years is ludicrous – and the reason they had to finally walk away.
https://richmondsfblog.com/2014/04/17/after-25-years-steep-permit-fees-shut-down-jimmys-old-car-picnic-in-ggp/
Sarah B.
Another indirect measure of financial impact on neighborhoods…..A lot of the local schools open up as parking lots, which would otherwise sit empty, so they can earn some $$$$ that they could really use.
@Administrator: No, mcas is not familiar with Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic. He’s a new transplant. He read “car” and that got him spouting off on something he knows nothing about. I do wish people would learn about the history here before they annoy others with their ignorant comments. “Relatively minor fee” indeed.
We members on the PTA at Jefferson Elementary are thrilled with the annual OLF, and the up coming Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival!
We accept a $30.00 per car “DONATION”, to avoid taxes.
We raised about $7,000.00 last year per event. It goes directly to the children.
-ss
…. And their classroom needs via the PTA.
I am happy with putting up with three days of noise and wackiness at GGP during Outside Lands–I’m on 24th near Clement and this year we could hear Kanye’s beats pretty clearly if we opened our window–it’s a small price to pay for living close by. There are the occasional drunken Bronanigans and whatnot which comes with any major music event, but overall I haven’t had a distinctly horrible experience, both as a concertgoer and a neighbor. In fact, quite the opposite. We’d have gone this year if we hadn’t had other plans the same weekend.
[On a more musical and local note, I’m also thrilled that Outside Lands opens up the smaller stages to many local groups and gives them some pretty solid exposure. And pretty much every small-time band I’ve seen there usually opens up their show staring out at the crowd in awe going…”Wow. This is really *cool*. I didn’t expect this many people!” If anything, OL does an excellent job of not just showcasing big names, but pushing the smaller ones, and I deeply appreciate that. I’ve become fans of bands I’d never heard of previously, thanks to OL.]
That said, I am saddened by the skyrocketing fees for smaller events like the Car Picnic. I’m surprised that Park & Rec hasn’t created some kind of tiered fee setup that would help smaller events afford to rent the area. Maybe they do, I’m not sure, but that’s something I they should perhaps look further into.
Sarah: I try to follow stuff regarding Rec and Park, Golden Gate Park, and Outside Lands. Congrats on the single best article I’ve read on Outside Lands and its impacts. If there is a way to nominate this article for investigative / policy analysis journalism, let me know and I’d be glad to do so.
@jzj – Appreciate the compliment!
Sarah B.
@Stacy – Thanks for the info on what Jefferson raises with the parking lot fundraiser.
Sarah B.
A colleague/locally elected official responds in an email to me:
There’s an error right at the beginning.
” takes over several venues in Golden Gate Park for 3 days and nights in August every summer.”
In fact, it takes over a huge swath of the Park for TEN DAYS, not 3. A chain-link fence keeps the public out of jogging paths, fields, and other amenities.
Thanks for an excellent article. There sure are a lot of non-accountables missing (police, fire, etc), but one gets a better sense of the situation: Rec & Park has a guaranteed large income injection, regardless of what some of the residents think/want. That isn’t necessarily bad, nor are the funds raised for local schools. It’s going to be with us for a while – the thing to do now is to work as a community to mitigate the downsides, celebrate the upsides, and ensure that the city doesn’t perpetuate a single-vision business model at the cost of LOCAL smaller events/usage (as has already been the case).
Thank you Sarah for your great, informative article. I am sorry that our car show and picnic had to end, but I ‘ve heard rumors that a group has been putting together a car show and picnic in GGP on Oct 18th. Maybe you can find out more information with your resources.
Maybe someone can help me understand why there can’t be a balance of the smaller events that have become traditions eagerly anticipated each year along with these huge events. Why can’t they accommodate Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic, the Debarchery event, and the one cyclocross race on Middle Drive that uses pre-existing trails for its course? These are great events, too! Why can’t Parks & Rec have different tiers of permit fees for these small local events versus the overwhelming events like Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass?
Between this policy and overriding all the ecological impact studies to the contrary to move ahed with putting down artificial turf and big overhead lights on the soccer fields, GGP is no longer a true “people’s park” as originally intended.
@Lydia – Rec & Park does have a variable fee system with the initial divide coming between what they call “commercial fee” and “non-profit fee”. For example, here is a list of fees per venue for special event rentals, broken down by those two categories:
http://sfrecpark.org/permits-and-reservations/special-events/special-event-fees/
There are other fees involved; you start the reservation process on this page on their website:
http://sfrecpark.org/permits-and-reservations/
So what you pay to hold an event on rec & park property has to do with whether the event is run by a commercial or non-profit enterprise, how many people will be attending, what impacts will the event have on the venue (amplified sound? selling food or merchandise? etc.) and other things. It’s pretty complex actually and the lack of upfront understanding/fee transparency for event planners causes a lot of consternation in the process, as well as Rec & Park trying a one size fits all approach.
Rec & Park would benefit from an “event wizard” on their website, where you could put in the info for your event (date, duration, #people, sound?, food?, selling stuff? etc.) which would then spit out an estimate on what it would be to hold your event at a specific venue.
Sarah B.
This is an excellent article, which answers many questions, but am still left wondering -At what cost to our quality of life?
During OSL, if I don’t attend, I am basically a prisoner in my own noise amplified home for three days. Groceries at Safeway or Andronico’s forget about it. Pre/post show interloper noise and bad behavior. Parking near my own home, good luck.
GGPark is whored out so often it has me resenting any event, the spate of charity fun runs, awareness walks, festivals and even freebies like this weekends Alice show.
GGPark is a public good which should be open to all of us all of the time, and since they cannot really justify prohibitive fee increases, Rec and Parks should not be in the revenue business.
Long live Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic….
Great article. For me, if they could control the bass noise, it would go so far to keeping residents somewhat happy (even with the other issues).
This article is little more than a regurgitation of Parks and Rec rationale for OL! Of COURSE it looks good, because there has never been a close look at these events. the promoters run “projections”, based on what?
Here is the key line:
“The increase in fees is a key strategy of Rec & Park’s continued revenue growth”
Translation: we’re going to turn an intimate park into a promoter’s dream, and we’re going to see our revenue numbers rise through the roof, even if it destroys GG Park’s aesthetic. Baloney!
@Dina
How did the event “destroy” the park and since when is Golden Gate Park an “intimate” park? The park is one of the largest urban parks in the United Stats and contains two excellent revenue generating museums as well as other year round revenue generating facilities ranging from a carousel to a restaurant.
Hyperbole makes legitimate positions appear weak.
Sarah, I looked at the break down for non-profits to rent Speedway Meadow. It states $9,900. as you have seen from the Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic billing statements issued by the R&P our non-profit was charged more like $17,000. for our special non-profit event! I am just wondering how come?
@Julie – I can’t speak for Rec & Park (nor would I ever want to!) but my guess is they are coming up with some (unjustifiable IMO) impact fee from the cars or other unlisted fees that are not disclosed on their site. Wasn’t that one of their chief (bogus) complaints – that the cars damaged the meadow? Ironic given that Jimmy was a GGP gardener for so many years. If anyone knows how the lawn would be affected, it’s him.
The Rec & Park fee structure needs to be much more transparent on their website in my opinion. Because what ends up happening is people get an estimate, but when they actually apply, they can come upon hidden fees that were not disclosed initially. But I think part of why it is not transparent is because event organizers would feel nickeled and dimed, which ends up happening in the end, just in an indirect, more frustrating way.
Sarah B.
Sarah, Thank you for your take on the fee scale. I think you are correct.
In response to Richmond District Blog post, “Outside Lands: A closer look at Rec & Park revenues and the event’s impact,” the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department would like to clarify a few of the issues highlighted. We look forward to and appreciate large events such as Outside Kands that bring such a great economic impact to our city, but in addition the Rec and Parks Department also values and supports the smaller more intimate events in Golden Gate Park.
Within the past 5 years we have permitted over 3,000 picnics in Golden Gate Park each year for things ranging from birthday parties to school gatherings to senior center events. The fees for the permits range depending on the size of the event, and 60% of these events were at the lowest possible permit rate of $30.
Two of the events in particular that you pointed to in your article, Jimmy’s Car Show and the Debardchery Event had other issues that led to their relocation or cancellation.
Jimmy’s Car show decided early this year to cancel as the two great volunteers who worked on putting on the event for the past four years decided they no longer wanted to run the event and thus Jimmy’s Car Show’s board decided to not continue after their departure. We are pleased to say that a new group of volunteers have stepped up and will continue Jimmy’s Car Show this year. The event will occur on Saturday Oct 18. Allegations that the event cancelled due to a spike in fees is not true . Since 2010 the fee structure for Jimmy’s Car Show has not changed. The fees increased less than 5% per year due to the mandated cost of living increase in the Park Code and additional staffing fee due to the need to have additional Rec and Park staff to support the event.
In regards to the Debardchery Event, the fees are the same as they were last year. The issue with the event was that last year we learned they were staking their tents into the grounds last year, and due to the variety of irrigation lines that run under the field we prohibited them from staking moving forward. Staking can break or damage underground irrigation lines and heads. We do not allow staking anywhere except under direct supervision. With the drought, it is even more important that we protect the park’s water infrastructure. The issue was not over fees but over staking.
It is the responsibility of the SF Rec and Parks Department to provide and maintain safe and beautiful parks, and the permitting fees and impact fees helps to fund and ensure that we are all responsible for our overall impact on the parks.
In closing, in managing over 4,000 acres citywide and permitting over 3,000 events of all sizes in Golden Gate Park alone, we strive to meet the needs of and collaborate with groups, parties and events of all sizes to enjoy and help preserve our parks.
Dana Ketcham,
SF Rec and Park Director of Permits and Reservations