Before believing the blame-and-shame gossip on social media, take a look for yourself.

Pope Park on Sunday afternoon: During the twenty minutes or so that I walked through the park, the population was seven people and one dog. This broke down to two couples on opposite sides of the park, two cops walking up a hillside, and myself. Nobody was playing ball or chilling on the playground. There was one car in the lot.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been the site of people gathering, but this was the least populated I have ever seen the park, and I have been there as early as sunrise on a normal day and seen multiple cars in the lot, with occupants.

As for the jackass behavior on Park Street Sunday afternoon involving cars and motorbikes, that’s a different story. Newsflash: You can keep physical distance and still put others at risk of injury.