A tribute to the Grateful Dead kicked off a busy month of concerts in Golden Gate Park this weekend.
It’s great for the San Francisco economy, but it’s causing weeks of traffic backups and parking nightmares for folks living next door in the Richmond District.
There was bumper to bumper traffic along Fulton Avenue as tens of thousands of visitors made their way into Golden Gate Park for day two of Dead & Company’s 60th anniversary tribute concert series to the Grateful Dead.
Nearly every parking spot along Fulton was taken, keeping parking enforcement on their toes and hardcore Deadheads putting their parking karma to the test.
“We got here probably around what? 11 a.m.? Yeah, about 11 a.m., and we got lucky because it was full everywhere,” said Hugo Prud’Homme of Ottawa, Canada.
Others chose to grab rideshares to the city and avoid the parking headaches altogether.
“You can’t park normally anyway. In San Francisco it’s hard,” said Scott Wilson of Petaluma.
Many of the concertgoers had to walk several blocks just to get to the point before they went into the concerts, and parked in the neighborhoods in the Richmond District. Some of the neighbors say all of the parking places were taken up and they’re more concerned this year because they’ve got this concert series and then Outside Lands and then one more — so a full month of parking issues for August.
“The street parking does get really crowded,” said Roger Flanagan of San Francisco.
“Actually, I took Friday off, so I can keep my parking spot on the street,” said Theresa Zhao of San Francisco.
Some 170,000 visitors were expected this weekend, followed by 220,000 for Outside Lands next weekend and tens of thousands more for Zach Bryan and the Kings of Leon concerts the following weekend.
Richmond residents have had to improvise when it comes to parking, especially in households with multiple cars.
“We’re having to basically park in my driveway and kind of rotate, and I anticipate next week with Outside Lands it’s going to be even worse,” said Zhao.
They’re taking it in stride though and trying to see the silver lining.
“I think we’ll be fine. Overall, it’s nice to have people in the neighborhood and it brings business, so it’s not negative,” said Flanagan.
These San Franciscans and their Deadhead visitors seem to be getting along just fine despite the competition for a very limited number of parking spots.
“It’s just like a beautiful vibe,” said Danielle B. of Oregon.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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