Kezar Stadium was created 35 years ago by a push from the community, to take the abandoned 49er site and to create an open recreational and youth sports center. Recently, the community worked hard to get Rec and Park to rebuild the track to professional standards, with the help of high school coaches and parents.

Thousands of kids and high school students have played on the Kezar field. Tens of thousands of everyday San Franciscans have run on the track or simply enjoyed siting on the grass, enjoying this great public facility.

Key to this was the adoption in 1991 of a simple rule: no booze at Kezar. Alcohol is the “gateway drug” for pro sports. No booze, no pro sports. It has worked for 35 years to keep Kezar for San Franciscan kids and all of us who paid for it.

Now Phil Ginsburg, GM of Rec and Park, wants to lease it for at least 20 Saturdays a year for 7 years to a pro soccer team. And the team wants to sell beer, wine, and hard liquor, so Ginsburg wants to break the 35-year ban on alcohol at Kezar.

Many neighbors and neighborhood groups oppose this proposal, including the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council [HANC], for these reasons among others:

1. Oppose privatization of this public facility. Weekends are high usage days for neighbors and high school teams. In addition, we'd lose additional days due to Rec and Park's “protect grass fields” policies.
2. School, kids, and adults need public soccer fields to play on.
3. The sale of alcohol at Kezar is prohibited in SFRPD code, and allowing it could set a bad precedent for more private rentals.
4. The pro soccer team, the Deltas, has not considered the impact of 5,000-10,000 audience attendance on the neighborhood parking and traffic.
5. Installation of TV quality lighting would be a negative impact on the neighborhood.
6. Rec and Park has not done outreach or planning with our neighborhoods.

Please join us in writing to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission to oppose pro soccer, attend the March 17 meeting, 10am, City Hall Room 416, and share this petition.

San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission, recpark.commission@sfgov.org 501 Stanyan Street, San Francisco, CA 94117, cc: HANC, info@hanc-sf.org.