Plus: Hundreds of San Francisco curbsides have been illegally painted over the past few months … and meet Dolo’s Dinosaur man.
San Francisco and tangible activism go hand in hand. Marches and rallies and sit-ins are intertwined with the city’s core; look no further than the Compton Cafeteria riot, an integral protest in the transrights movement, for evidence of just that. Over the weekend, that fever erupted with multiple protests across San Francisco aimed at staff and budget cuts to the National Park Service (NPS) and Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government.
Yesterday‘s Noon rally at San Francisco’s Tesla showroom had another large turnout with protesters crowded around the intersection and in the center island on Van Ness Avenue where hundreds gathered to protest Musk’s DOGE presence. Those in attendance admittedly and actively discouraged passersby and potential customers from purchasing a Tesla video — creative signage. These weekend protests outside Bay Area Tesla showrooms have become commonplace, and it looks like they’re no evidence of them stopping anytime soon.
Across San Francisco in the Presidio and other parts of the Golden Gate Recreation Area, federal workers and the public alike marched in solidarity with the National Park Service (NPS). Hundreds gathered to show disdain for how the federal government has handled NPS staffing and budget cuts — it’s, without hyperbole, absolute “nonsense.”
“We need to stop the nonsense,” John Goodwin, a retired park service worker for 27 years, told NBC Bay Area. Goodwin was joined by other park service workers in attendance, be them employees, retired, or recently fired; Goodwin, too, called for rehiring the workers who had been fired.
Calls to pressure federal representatives to protect and preserve our land, to celebrate the natural joy in the country, and to understand that we’re intrinsically tied to the wellbeing of our natural landscapes.
Famed primatologist and global conversation tour de force Jane Goodall has waxed for decades that nature is incredibly resilient — “[Mother Nature] wins in the end.” How this new Trump administration chooses to safeguard her through the NPS and other federal agencies and policy making will determine what side of that victory humanity will exist on.
What else transpired over the weekend? Let’s take a look.
Someone’s been busy (illegally) painting SF’s curbs. More than 140 illegal curb-painting complaints were reported by San Francisco residents through the City’s 311 online portal from mid-June 2024 through January 2025 — the major complaint being that the red paintings illegally fabricated SFMTA parking boundaries, presumably to allow neighbors to more easily park in their neighborhoods. More info.
The famed LED dinosaur that walks around Dolores Park moonlights as a lawyer while the sun is out. Trevor Mead can be seeing often turding out of his apartment at 20th and Dolores come nightfall, cloaked in an blue LED repilian armor, prowling nearby Dolores Park and other parts of the Mission District; the suit also can roar, bark, sing … and even fart. More info.
San Francisco’s hyped Ocean Beach Park finally has an opening date. On April 16th, San Franciscans will, at long last, be treated to the permanent City park that’ll span for two miles along the Upper Great Highway, making it SF’s second permanent car-free corridor and first designated as an official park. More info.
Feature image: Courtesy of Instagram
