SF man says citations he received for inflating 50-person rafts at Dolores Park are 'bogus'

A San Francisco resident says he is using his experience of receiving citations at Dolores Park to raise awareness about the number of people being cited for "bogus" reasons by Recreation and Park rangers.

Clarence "Sparr" Risher, who works as a computer engineer, was slapped with three citations when he brought two massive inflatable life rafts to the park on Nov. 11, and in a Reddit thread he shares his experience where a debate is unfolding around whether rangers should have stopped him.

"If you were just flopping a raft around as a way of claiming space or disrupting other people's enjoyment of the park, that's one thing, but if it was more like, 'Hey everyone, come play in my raft!' and drunks and children alike were taking you up on that offer, then your raft's impact on society was a big net positive," shares raldi.

"I'm amazed at the positive comments here cheering for you," writes thecementmixer. "By your logic everyone should be able to bring tents and inflatable structures to the park, and at the end of the day there's no space left! The law is enforced for a reason, to not make a precedent."

Inflatable life rafts deployed at Dolores Park on Nov. 11, 2017. Inflatable life rafts deployed at Dolores Park on Nov. 11, 2017. Photo: Victoria Dobbs / YouTube Screen Capture Photo: Victoria Dobbs / YouTube Screen Capture Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close SF man says citations he received for inflating 50-person rafts at Dolores Park are 'bogus' 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department's Connie Chan also responded to the incident with a statement: "Our job is to maintain fun and safe recreational spaces for people to enjoy. And for this person who inflated two giant 50-person life rafts in the middle of a busy park and impeded on everyone else's ability to enjoy the park, the answer is yes, he was cited for violating the park codes."

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Spread across a grassy hill overlooking downtown, Dolores Park is among the city's most beloved outdoor destinations. On sunny weekends its 16 acres often attract a festive crowd who spread out their blankets and beach chairs, uncork bottles of wine and cook elaborate meals on portable grills.

It's a place where people like to congregate and share their creative endeavors, and it's not unusual to see park-goers doing hula-hoop tricks and partner yoga, walking slack lines tied between the palm trees, dancing to the sounds of bongo drums and setting up temporary art sculptures. But the Park and Rec reservation website indicates that a special event permit is required for any event "requiring special set ups of stages, tents, barricades, fences or other items."

The park's popularity in recent years has spurred a number of issues including massive pileups of trash, destruction of the grass and landscaping and vandalism of the children's play equipment. There's also been a recent bout of violence, including a shooting and stabbings. Two Rec and Park rangers patrol the park everyday for eight hours, and the San Francisco Police Department has recently added to its daily foot, bicycle and car patrols.

On Reddit, Risher shares that he assumed he would receive a citation and told SFGATE he was willing to take the risk to spread the word about his and friends' experiences with "permit denials and ranger harassment" in Dolores Park.

"The rangers often threaten people with citations in order to scare people away, and most people just give up," he says. "I am willing and able to fight, and possibly pay, the citations, so I got them in order to find out what they would be for, and which, if any, of them would be legitimate. Once I find those things out, I'll publicize the results, so other park-goers will have a better idea of what legitimate (or not) citations they might get from the rangers."

Risher purchased the self-inflating, 50-person life rafts used from a cruise ship company because they make fun trampolines when turned upside down. To test out his new purchase and have some fun, he brought them to the park on Nov. 11 with the intention of sharing his giant toys with friends and anyone interested. Even though he says the park wasn't overly crowded (possibly due to the Veterans' Day holiday), he was approached by a ranger as soon as he pulled the cords to start the inflation process.

"As they were inflating the rangers said I need to deflate them immediately," he says. "I told them I'd deflate them later after folks had played on them."

That's when the rangers called the San Francisco Police Department to intervene.

"They threatened to take me to jail because I didn't have my ID on me," says Risher, whose girlfriend had his wallet and was on her way to the park.

Risher says he opted to not try getting a permit because he has attempted in the past and only ever hit a wall. About a year ago, he was turned down when he requested a Dolores Park permit for a decertified hot air balloon that he sets up like a wind sock.

The ranger eventually gave Risher three citations for failing to obtain a permit (code 7.17), failing to obey order (code 4.13) and setting up a structure without a permit (code 3.12).

On Reddit, Risher questions each of the citations writing:

3.12 is definitely bogus; that's "CAMPING PROHIBITED" and describes structures you can inhabit or camp in.

4.13 sounded legit at first, since I didn't immediately deflate when asked to. However, upon reading the park code, I see that "REFUSAL TO OBEY LAWFUL ORDER" specifically calls out lawful orders given pursuant to 4.14, and 4.14 specifically and only calls out the prohibition on fighting, loud and unreasonable noise, and the use of offensive words.

7.17 might be legit depending on which of the 25 permit-requiring activities they want to describe us as having engaged in. I won't find out about that until the court date.

"I hope I can gather more information that's useful to share with other park-goers," he adds.