If you’re hanging out on the sidewalks in San Francisco with wild abandon between the hours of 7am – 11pm, you’ll need to get up or risk being fined up to $500 and/or get 30 days in jail. After all, the Sit/Lie Ban is now officially in effect.

Does this spell bad news for the hordes of vagrants who occupy stretches of Haight Street, Civic Center and the 6th Street corridor? Or is it just business as usual?

Well, so far no fines or arrests have actually been issued (also, if you’re homeless, how in the world do you come up with the 500 bucks to pay the fine?) but cops have been getting people up and about and giving out warnings, along with slips of paper with information on shelters and public services. So far they’ve been instructed to “take it easy”.

That may be because very few people actually knew the ban was now in effect. While it was approved in last November’s elections, the ban did not go into place until last Thursday. Oh well.

• Tag: citations, city, homelessness, laws, sit/lie