Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers (CPBB) is a non-profit membership organization founded to ensure that the traditions of the annual Bay to Breakers footrace and revelers parade are permanently preserved. CPBB is dedicated to ensuring Bay to Breakers remains a fun, safe and responsible event for both citizens of San Francisco and the Bay Area and visitors from all over the world, with a goal of zero negative impact on residents and neighborhoods along the race route.
CPBB was formed in 2009 to fight race organizer AEG’s “zero tolerance” ban on floats, nudity and alcohol, which caused an overwhelming outcry by supporters and participants of the 100 year old event from all over the world. Within two weeks, more than 25,000 people joined CPBB through online communities like Facebook, and CPBB was able to successfully fight AEG with the support of Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and the entire San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In 2009, all zero-tolerance bans were lifted and the city witnessed one of the most responsible, respectful and fun Bay to Breakers in years.
In 2010, however, race organizer AEG announced new restrictions on floats and alcohol, limiting float participation to a short 1-mile route starting in the Panhandle and ending shortly after entry into Golden Gate Park. Once again, CPBB fought these new restrictions and won, and floats were able to start at the beginning of the race and go almost the entire distance of the race route as in previous years. Unfortunately, the move by AEG to add more restrictions after such a successful year made it clear to CPBB that AEG had a long-term plan to destroy the Bay to Breakers tradition and turn the event into a homogenized 12K race. AEG’s goal was two-fold: 1) sanitize San Francisco “culture” from the event, and; 2) make the event as profitable as possible.
Shortly after the 2010 race, AEG moved quickly to garner the support of neighborhood associations such as NOPNA (North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association) in order to once again accomplish their mission of permanently sanitizing Bay to Breakers for the upcoming centennial event in 2011. During the 2010 race, AEG willfully abandoned a key barrier at the intersection of Hayes St. and Divisadero St. where the course turns “left” at the bottom of the Hayes St. hill, spilling thousands of revelers into the NOPA neighborhood where there were no appropriate barriers or police. As a result, there was a negative impact to the surrounding neighborhoods, which resulted in NOPNA and other neighborhood associations getting organized to demand better resources and protection on race day.
Unfortunately, AEG used their own mis-management as a ploy to garner support from NOPNA, other neighborhood associations and city hall to completely ban alcohol and floats from the 100th anniversary race in 2011 and limit participation to only 50,000 registered runners, thus permanently changing one of San Francisco’s signature traditions into a basic 12K road race.
CPBB is dedicated to reversing these unnecessary and egregious restrictions and permanently removing AEG as race organizer. For many years prior to AEG, Bay to Breakers was organized by local San Francisco non-profits. CPBB believes the event should be placed into the hands of a local non-profit who can dedicate the entire financial resources generated from registrations and sponsorships to ensuring a fun, safe and responsible event that is inclusive of all constituencies and consistent with the values of San Francisco.
Please join us:
- Facebook group
- Email (sign up in right nav)
- Advocacy
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CPBB’s goal is to work with race organizers and city officials to find constructive ways to maintain the traditions of the race. You are invited to share your views and collaborate with other users of this discussion board. The views and opinions expressed on the discussion board do not necessarily reflect those of CPBB. You are responsible for your content, and you assume all risks associated with the content you submit for posting and with your use of the discussion boards. You may be liable if, for example, your content contains material that is false, intentionally misleading, or defamatory; violates any third-party right, including any privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right; is unlawful, including illegal hate speech; harms minors; or violates or advocates violation of any law or regulation. CPBB reserves the right to remove, screen, edit, or reinstate users’ content from time to time at its sole discretion and without notice.