Park police in SF on lookout for 'trashers'

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Sunday, April 12, 2015
File of trash left at Fort Mason park in March 2015.
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Plastic bags seem to be the latest accessory for the leisurely crowd at Dolores Park on Saturday.

Volunteers passed them out and park patrons gladly used them.

"It's great, you know San Francisco has a reputation for being a really dirty place and anything we can do to fix that is awesome," said Sundance Bauman, a local resident.

"I can imagine a lot of people who are drunk and just bring a lot of stuff," said Diana Pea.

Supervisor Scott Wiener spent part of his afternoon with the volunteers said, "We've had a lot of challenges in the park with people leaving enormous amounts of trash, it takes a village to manage a park."

At Fort Mason Park in the Marina district of San Francisco, national park rangers used a different approach.

"If you have glass here, you will be receiving a citation. It will be a zero tolerance policy," said Chief U.S. Ranger Randy Lavasser.

Chief Ranger Lavassaer says his officers issued more than 50 citations in a few hours.

Glass is not permitted on federal park lands and that was the reason so many people were cited. Last month, the National Park Service took to social media to blast partiers who trashed the place. Among those blamed were contestants for a charity pageant called Mr. Marina.

People in the park seemed to welcome the increased enforcement.

"I think just the enforcement is probably good for people to be a little cognizant of the park and keeping things clean," said Ryan Croft.

The National Park Rangers will keep up these patrols through the spring, or at least until people get the message, to clean up after themselves.

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