It's time to storm the Barrycades.
Obabble has closed The Cliff House and has now forbidden a local contest to build sandcastles on Ocean Beach.
Starting today, the Cliff House will go dark indefinitely, likely as long as the shutdown lasts. The temporary closure of both Cliff House restaurants — Sutro’s and the Bistro — not only means that the 150-year-old San Francisco classic is closed, but also that one of the city’s top-grossing restaurants is closed; back in 2010, the Cliff House was reported to earn $11.5 million in sales annually.
During the hiatus, servers and cooks will not get paid, according to a receptionist at the restaurant, though managers and receptionists — who will still be working — will continue to get paid.
And for those wondering, other restaurants on federal property, like LouisÂ’ up the road and Dixie in the Presidio, are unaffected so far because they are lessees of the National Park (thatÂ’s how LouisÂ’ explains it, at least); businesses like the Cliff House and the also-shuttered Warming Hut are concessionaires of the National Park system.
Inside Scoop SF » San Francisco?s iconic Cliff House closed due to government shutdown
A popular youth sandcastle contest on San FranciscoÂ’s Ocean Beach is the latest local victim of the federal government shutdown, event organizers said today.
The Leap 30th Anniversary Sandcastle Contest was planned for Saturday, but the continued standoff in Congress over the federal budget is causing organizers to postpone the event until a later date.
Thousands of people were expected to attend the free event, with more than 20 local schools participating. Leap, a local arts advocacy nonprofit, has held the contest for the past three decades.
In a letter sent to participating schools and teams, event organizers said officials with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area notified them on Monday that the contest could no longer take place since Ocean Beach is part of the GGNRA and is closed.
Because a budget was not passed by Oct. 1, all federal services deemed “non-essential” have been shut down until an agreement is reached.
“We were told that we could be fined for trespassing and that our permit was no longer valid,” the letter said. “We were also told that our event could be shut down by park rangers or by San Francisco police.”
The letter continued, “This is very upsetting news for all of us who have worked so hard to put the event together.”
Federal Shutdown Means No Ocean Beach Sandcastle Contest
So, by shutting a restaurant that pays concession fees to the Feds, the government is taking in less money as well as putting a bunch of lower income people out of work.
And by saying that using a wide open beach is "trespassing", Obabble is spending money to keep school kids from playing in the sand.
Heckuva job, Barry!
Not you Christian...the handles from the water spigots being removed.
