San Francisco Bans Street Chess

All Things Chess
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Chess - now a criminal activity.

truthseekerdaily.com/2013/09/san … er-things/

Excerpt:

[i]A common sight in most large U.S. cities, street chess, has been banned in San Francisco after thriving for more than 30 years near Fifth and Market Streets.

San Francisco Police earlier this month confiscated boards, tables and chairs from the area where dozens of people, mostly homeless, play the game every day.

“It’s turned into a big public nuisance,” said Capt. Michael Redmond, adding that local complaints and narcotics arrests have increased over the past six months. “I think maybe it’s a disguise for some other things that are going on.”

Police admitted regular chess players weren’t a problem, but said the area had come to attract illegal gambling and drug use.[/i]

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There used to be chess outdoors in front of City Hall in Baltimore Maryland. At first, the city actually had chess along with miniture golf and it was respectable. The situation devolved into the scenario depicted in the OP’s article and the chess park was shut down. Literally. A large fence was placed around the entire park and the “renovations” took a couple of years.
Trees were removed. The chess tables (installed by the city) were removed. The wall was lowered etc. In short, the park was rendered as chess unfriendly as possible. Interestingly enough, the largest branch of the public library which used to ban even using a board to analyze chess positions, now allows chess playing in the library. The library even provides sets and clocks for use. The chess is anything but quiet and the street milieu has been imported inside.
It seems Baltimore is a leader at something besides winning Super Bowls…

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So much for the alleged liberalism of San Francisco. This is just another example of the over-policing of the country. The police have better things to do than harass chess players who are African American or of other ethnicities. Why don’t they go to the country clubs and bust the wagering on golf that goes on all of the time?

4

Let’s bring baseball into the equation, and perhaps, it is a good time to mention that Dodger fan being murdered
in San Francisco a few nights ago outside of AT&T Park, and one can clearly see the lack of police or security.
Security in general is usually beefed up when these rivals go at each other, so this banning kind of goes hand in
hand.

David A. Cole, USCF Life Member, Franklin, NJ

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I had no idea street chess was such a public nuisance. I say there are worse things those people could be into. And, yes, it looks like SF is becoming a big police state. I could make a political comment here, but I won’t.

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Stephen Colbert and Floyd Mayweather’s take on it (go to the 2:29 mark):

colbertnation.com/the-colber … mayweather

Apparently Magnus Carlsen is already the world champ.

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Colbert is overly influenced due to his crushing defeat in paper, scissors, rock at the hand of Carlsen.

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When this topic was posted before, I had posted a couple of other source links:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Endgame-S-F-police-shut-down-sidewalk-chess-4823376.php (San Francisco Chronicle)

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/18/chess-players-on-market-street-in-san-francisco-get-the-boot/ (CBS News)

And now also a later column from the Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Bring-back-the-Market-Street-chess-games-4830946.php

That one now states: A “chess in” is planned for Oct. 6 to play in the same area, the police harbor no ill will, the shutdown came because of fighting and drug use and even some of the chess players were complaining, and that the police is working with players to, “reactivate those games so that they’re [chess players] not being intimidated.”

There are also several other parks in the neighborhood… But mid-Market according to the column isn’t the safest environment in the world. That jives with what I remember from living in Berkeley for three years, but I never got over city-side much.

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The Empire has stricken back:

news.yahoo.com/dozens-play-chess … 29091.html

Dozens play chess in public to defy SF crackdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — At least for an afternoon, the chess players were back at the usual spot they’ve occupied for years along downtown San Francisco’s busy Market Street.

But instead of hustling a dollar here and a dollar there with deft openings and clever traps, the mostly homeless players and their supporters were playing Sunday in defiance of a recent police crackdown and ban on the public games. And they were backed by a brass band and several homeless advocates who helped organize the three-hour “chess-in” under bright, blue skies on a hot San Francisco afternoon.

Earlier this month, police confiscated chess gear, tables and chairs at the site.

Police said the games had begun to attract illegal gambling and drug sales to the area adjacent to a cable car terminal, which is a popular tourist destination. Nearby merchants had also complained about an increase in illegal activity.

“We don’t mind the chess players and would like to have them back,” said Cody Hunt, manager of an electronics store in front of which the games were played. “But lately, the games have attracted loud dice games and open drug deals, and nobody needs that.”

The chess players argue that the police response to the illegal activity that took place near the games was heavy-handed and indiscriminate.

“Have the drug deals stopped because chess has been banned?” said Andrew Resignato, a San Francisco resident who would play a game along Market Street occasionally. “It was an excuse to move homeless people away from here.”

San Francisco police didn’t return a phone call Sunday.

Police Capt. Michael Redmond told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that he agreed the chess players themselves weren’t the problem. But others used the games as a shield for illegal activities. Redmond said arrests and complaints from merchants increased in the area.

“It’s turned into a big public nuisance,” Redmond said. “I think maybe it’s a disguise for some other things that are going on.”

Hector Torres Jr., a homeless man who scratched out a living renting his chess equipment, tables and chairs to Market Streets players, said the games were a San Francisco tradition that attracted all sorts of players from all walks of life.

Torres and others said it’s unclear whether regular games will resume in their usual spots, someplace else or disappear forever.

“Chess isn’t a crime, and we aren’t criminals,” Torres said as he knocked over his king in resignation of a game. “San Francisco is about this kind of stuff. About diversity and differences. We just want to play chess.”

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Perfect for National Chess Week. USCF should send its ED to SF to hand out boards and sets. It would be a great and cheap publicity stunt for us.

This kind of raid happened in NYC as well.

nypost.com/2010/11/18/cops-bust- … ttan-park/

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Please note the first thread about this was taken down because of quoting entire news articles wholesale. I’m leaving the link there because hopefully only that post will be deleted this time around and not the whole thread.

Torres may not be a criminal, but unless he has a permit to use city sidewalks for it he may be in violation of both obstructing traffic and if he’s homeless I’d bet he doesn’t have a business license either to be renting equipment/tables/chairs. Aside from that, he would then be reponsible for the conduct of those using his services (in the sense that if this were a bar or other business, it could find its license suspended for repeated and willful violations.)

It could also be seen as taking advantage of a San Francisco tradition (chess on Market Street) to make money. I’m assuming it’s traditional, anyway… I came across an art print of “Chess on Market Street” the other day and the bus definitely looked vintage.