San Francisco Supervisor Danny Sauter introduced legislation during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to increase penalties for sideshow activities.
Sauter thinks that raising the maximum fines for misdemeanor sideshow offenses from $500 to $1,000 will help serve as a deterrent.
“This is the action we’re taking to make it clear that this activity does not belong in San Francisco,” Sauter said in a video posted to his social media with Mayor Daniel Lurie and Interim Police Chief Paul Yep.
Other major Bay Area cities, including Oakland and San Jose, already have $1,000 maximum fines in place for sideshow offenses. Some Bay Area jurisdictions also criminalize spectators, but Sauter did not specify if the proposed ordinance would impose penalties for observers not actively promoting or instigating the sideshow activities.
“We’re bringing this fine up to standards of similar municipalities to show that San Francisco is paying attention and taking this seriously,” Sauter said in a statement.
The proposal to impose harsher penalties for sideshow activities comes after the San Francisco Police Department last week executed an operation that cracked down on dangerous dirt bike activities where several riders were seen making illegal maneuvers and driving recklessly as a group. Arrests were made and several stolen dirt bikes were recovered.
“Last week, SFPD put together a great operation that got seven dirt bike riders off of the streets. Four arrests were made, but that was just the beginning,” Lurie said in the video. “We have to be relentless on it, and so I’m proud to be partnering with Supervisor Danny Sauter.”