San Francisco Blog

Gretchen Robinette

A luta continua

City officials set some tongues a-wagging last week when they poo-pooed one of San Francisco's more beloved civic rituals: the so-called "flash mob" event. These spontaneous outbreaks of urban silliness -- ranging from public pie fights to no-pants subway rides -- are a huge hit with participants but irk those left with the responsibility of cleaning up.

The Recreation and Park Department has singled out this year's massive Valentine's Day pillow fight on Justin Herman Plaza, with its copious amounts of down-turned-slime coating the city's streets, as one flash mob event with a particularly unpleasant aftermath. We wondered last week whether the city would take a similarly stern stance toward the Brides of March gathering, which featured men and women in bridal dress parading through the city over the weekend.

Today we got our answer: Rec & Park has no beef with the brides. "No trouble with them," Rec & Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell said. She added that the department doesn't actually take issue, generally, with the quirky flash mob gatherings in which the city takes such pride. Rowdier and less inspired get-togethers, such as bonfires in Golden Gate Park, are more the problem, she said.

"I can't think of any (events) besides the pillow fight that are kind of in that artistic category that have caused any significant clean-up damage," Seitz Gruwell said. "We're not a total buzz-kill on this. The pillow fight would be fine if people just brought a garbage bag with them and picked up a bunch of feathers on their way out."

Good luck with that next year.