SAN FRANCISCO – Racist graffiti and a noose found at a San Francisco park happened days after a woman was told she could not have her dog in the playground by the head of a youth organization.

The woman vowed to do everything possible to shut down this group, officials said on Friday during a news conference at the park hours after the vile messages had been painted over.

“That disgusting racial slur that was written all over this building does not define who we are as a city,” said Maria Su, director of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families.

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The vandalism at Merced Heights Playground on Shields Street is being investigated as a hate crime and a direct attack on the nonprofit called Youth First.

“This is not tolerated. And it will not be tolerated. We will continue to celebrate Youth First,” Su said.

Renard Monroe, Youth First’s founder and executive director, said that someone had spray-painted “N- First” on the building.

“It was destroyed by hate,” Monroe said. “The N-word. It said, ‘N-word First’ because we’re called Youth First, so they were kind of aiming that word toward our program.”

Officials believe the vandalism is a direct response to an incident at the park last week when a woman with her toddler daughter and their dog were near the playground, in the upper terrace area, where dogs are not allowed.

When Monroe told the woman to take her dog to the lower terrace of the park, where dogs are allowed, she told him, “No (N-word) is going to tell me where to go,” he recounted.

Supervisor Ahsha Safai said, “Then it turned into the N-word. It turned into threats. And the woman said, ‘I am going to make it my job to shut down your organization.’”

Following the threat, state licensing officials visited the park based on an anonymous tip, questioning whether Monroe’s operation was a childcare facility when it is actually an after-school program.

“People show up saying the music’s too loud. And then today he (Monroe) shows up and there’s spray paint and a noose hanging on the door,” Safai said.

Officials said the incident is a grim reminder that there is still division and hatred, even in a city as diverse as San Francisco.

“Everyone that doesn’t believe that racism is still alive – and still alive in San Francisco – it absolutely is. But guess what? We’re not going to be broken by it,” the supervisor said.

While no suspects have been publicly identified, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins assured that once the case reaches her office, “We will do everything to make sure the person or persons responsible for this are held accountable.”

Jenkins said, although the messages were abhorrent, the hate beneath the vandalism can’t be ignored.

“We have to bring attention to it, as much as we don’t want to give what this person did attention, San Francisco has to recognize how much work it still needs to do,” Jenkins said.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan.

The San Francisco Giants once again fell to under .500 after a loss on Thursday and they now sit 6.5 games out of the Wild Card. After bringing in a new manager in Bob Melvin and giving out a lot of money in free agency, as well as a big trade, there was a lot of optimism surrounding San Francisco heading into the season.

Although there have been bright spots, such as the emergence of young players like Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald, the season as a whole has been a disappointment. One of their big free agent acquisitions, Matt Chapman, expressed that.

“It’s not fun. We know how precious each win is and how important these games are, so this one stings. We get back to San Fran and we’ve got another important series coming up — obviously, you look at the standings, and you know, it’s not looking great for us right now, just because we need to climb back into this thing. But we do play the teams ahead of us still coming up. And I think we can still control our own destiny,” the third baseman said.

It will definitely be an uphill battle if the Giants want to have a shot at playing in the postseason. After games wrapped on Thursday, there are currently three teams ahead of them for the third Wild Card spot. The New York Mets, who are the first on the outside, have a 3.5 game lead.

“There are still 27 games left, so a lot can happen. In September, everybody’s tired. Sometimes, you’ve just got to dig deep. We do play the Padres and the Diamondbacks quite a bit. … Everybody else is playing tough games too. There’s no reason why we can’t make a run. I think we know we have the talent in this room, we just have to get things going. We’ve had bad road trips before, and it seems like when we go home, we get hot again,” the 31-year-old continued.

While he is correct in that they play two teams in their division who are ahead of them in the Wild Card, it’s still going to take a lot of work. San Francisco will have to play their best baseball over the last month of the season to make a dent.

In 2024, the team’s longest winning streak is just four games, something they will likely need to surpass if they want to make a run. The Giants will have to dig deep, to say the least, and they will need to stay healthy and rely on their pitching.

SAN FRANCISCO – Some small businesses in San Francisco are opening up and expanding, leading some residents to wonder if the city has turned a corner.

Cheers and smiles marked the grand opening of a new store on Thursday on Polk Street.

The Bi-Rite, a local grocery store chain owned by the same San Francisco family for half a century, opened its third location in Russian Hill.

“There’s always cycles. There’s always ups and downs. If anyone thinks it’s going to be otherwise, they’re fooling themselves,” said Bi-Rite owner Sam Mogannam.

Despite the rough post-pandemic recovery for San Francisco, Mogannam remains optimistic.

“There’s a lot of energy and momentum to bring this city back to life,” he said.

San Francisco resident Isabel Baer said she has noticed a significant change.

“I’ve noticed a quick comeback from COVID in the past 12 months,” Baer said.

New stores are also opening in the San Francisco Ferry Building, where 95 percent of the retail shops on the ground floor are leased out, according to their website.

“I have noticed it’s busier in the afternoons,” said Oakland resident Traci Lim.

Meanwhile, on Valencia Street, the famed Slanted Door is set to return to its original location for the first time in 20 years.

“We’ve been working with every landlord that has a vacant storefront,” said Manny Yekutiel, who owns Manny’s, an event center and café, and heads the Valencia Merchants Association, representing about 500 independent businesses in the neighborhood.

“There are four new art galleries that have opened up, that are doing gallery events in just the last six months,” Yekutiel said.

Yekutiel notes that while new businesses are opening, it doesn’t mean it’s easier to do so in San Francisco.

“It’s harder. We have fewer tourists, higher costs,” he said. “But we take chances, we take risks. We’re go-getters.”

This renewed sense of drive, hope, and hustle is echoed by Mogannam.

“I’m always optimistic about San Francisco. There’s no place more special than this,” he said.