Will the annual Dolores Hill skateboarding event go ahead – and how will police respond?

It appears the annual Dolores Hill skateboard bombing will happen, whether the city approves it or not, on Saturday, September 6, according to a legal coalition and community group trying to prevent last year’s police fiasco.

The response from the police, the mayor’s office, and Sup. Rafael Mandelman’s office: Don’t show up or you risk arrest.

If the event happens, there will most likely be injuries as well: the city has installed traffic points on Dolores Street, which will be dangerous if skateboarders hit them at high speed.

City officials say they have tried to warn the mostly young skaters to stay away, but that has rarely helped.

From Rachel Lederman, an attorney representing scores of young people who faced alleged police abuse last year:

San Francisco youth skaters are expected to compete in the annual Hill Bomb on the evening of July 6, as they have done for the past decade. SFPD’s public statement indicates that the response will be the same or worse than last year, instead of taking action to protect the safety of youth and reach out to the community as they had previously publicly stated.

It appears that municipal authorities have once again failed to prepare for the event by contacting and working with skaters to address safety concerns and protect young people as they should. Instead, the SFPD is already threatening another law-breaking event by police: a mass arrest. The SFPD falsely claims that the 2023 arrest involved “people who chose to continue committing acts of violence and destruction of property,” while the SFPD knows full well that it carried out an arbitrary arrest of juveniles by to guard and chain. The SFPD’s announcement that “we will do the same this year” shows that the SFPD has previously endorsed unlawful behavior and has failed to respond to the community’s requests or learn lessons from its past misconduct.

The Latino Democratic Club signed that letter.

There is no formal organization representing the teens who show up to drive down the hill. That’s frustrating for police and city officials, of course, but the same was true for Critical Mass, and the city managed to keep that unsanctioned event safe.

I understand the challenges, the insurance issues, the crowds and the potential for violence.

But as long as the police and publicity do not keep the skaters at bay, it appears that the current approach will not be successful. That could lead to more mass arrests, more injuries and more lawsuits.

The issue of a state-level rent control bill is once again before the Board of Supervisors, and assuming all eleven members are present, we will see a vote Tuesday/2.

It seems likely, based on the comments made by the supes the last time this came up, that at least six and probably seven or eight members will be in favor of putting the city on the agenda in support of the bill.

sup. Catherine Stefani and Matt Dorsey spoke out against it. sup. Joel Engardio is a possible third no vote.

If all the other supes vote “Yes,” the mayor cannot veto the resolution. If one more vote No, she can do so – if she wants to side with the big landlords and against every tenant group in the state.

The tenants could make a big deal out of it at that point in the mayoral race. Sup. Aaron Peskin supports the bill; it’s pretty clear that Ahsha Safai is a Yes vote, or the sponsor, Sup. Dean Preston, wouldn’t have asked for an extension when Safai had to leave the last meeting before the vote.

I’ve asked Breed, Mark Farrell and Daniel Lurie what their positions are and have not heard back yet.

This leaves no room for vague answers; either you are with the tenants or with Big Real Estate.

That meeting starts at 2 p.m., but this will be one of the last agenda items.