San Francisco is paying extra attention to safety and crowd management with NBA All-Star events and the Chinese New Year Parade happening over the course of the next several days.
People in the city can expect detours near the event venues as well as more police visibility.
Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management, shared some quick advice for anyone who's in the city for the events.
"We just urge everyone to come into the city, be informed, stay safe," she said.
She said her department has already put up a web page at sf.gov to help people plan for getting around the city and to stay informed in case of an emergency or any change in plans.
"It could be not something bad happening but we have to change a route," she said. "Thankfully, looks like the worst weather is coming tonight into tomorrow, but if there's a change in the weather over the weekend, we need to change our plans in any way, we're prepared to do that."
The weather has already forced the NBA to cancel a Thursday night tip-off party in Thrive City.
While Chase Center is the focal point of All-Star weekend, there are events all across San Francisco. Pier 48 is hosting a concert series. Moscone Center is hosting fans crossover events. Privately-sponsored events are also being hosted at other spots, like Civic Center Plaza near city hall. Several basketball courts will also be installed at Union Square for the weekend.
Since Oakland will also be hosting some events, BART is beefing up its service to help people shuttle back and forth across the Bay. It will be running eight-car trains all weekend.
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"As well as special event trains, and that means that if we see any particular area of the system that's getting overloaded, we have trains ready to swoop in and help those riders out," BART spokesperson Anna Duckworth said.
BART held an event Thursday morning announcing the installation of new fare gates at all downtown San Francisco stations. The transit system's leaders said the new gates will help ensure everyone is paying for their ride.
BART police Chief Kevin Franklin said riders should expect to see quite a few officers as well, in addition to the system's crisis intervention specialists.
"When I talk to our folks, it's all about the visibility," Franklin said. "It's getting out in the system. It's being on trains. It's being in stations. It's being visible where the passengers are at."
