Mission Mission

Zing!

This is just kinda sad: In a major act of retroactive cover-your-ass, Kevin Montgomery — aftergoing all bro-douchey on local coverage of the detention of Amuse Bouche vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner last week (an important story in the, uh, Mission) — of Mission Mission shows new concern for the plight of the immigrant.

…

Follows a long story from a reader, presumably, about a kid scooped up and thrown into ICE detention. And you wanted us to know this because?

Let me get this straight, SF Weekly: some guy on the internet said something you don’t like so, in response, you launch a personal attack and lambast the general importance of Latino immigrants’ struggles, presumably, because they didn’t jump on some tired “street food” bandwagon?  Really?  Aren’t you supposed to be above that?  You are print journalists.  Homeless people use you for warmth.  I’m some guy behind a monitor who spends too much time at Bender’s.  I’m only used for warmth once every three years, average.

I know Mission Mission does not always tout the Weekly’s party-line and, yeah, we had a different take on this one, but we don’t get why that provoked two posts worth of vitriol from one of the Weekly’s editors.  I don’t think using the situation to promote a general discussion around the Missions’ immigration problems is so absurd.

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The skinny: the FCC fined Pirate Cat $10,000 and is effectively taking them off the air.  Instead, they will switch to an internet-only format and continue run the cafe on 21st.

Sometimes blockquoting a press release is just easier than reporting:

Pirate Cat Radio, a volunteer-run, community broadcasting organization operating out of the Pirate Cat Café in San Francisco’s Mission district, has ceased its terrestrial broadcast on 87.9FM in response to the latest demands of the Federal Communications Commission.

In a notice dated August 31, 2009 the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, “willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934” and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction.

By bringing to bear the full weight of the Federal government against continued broadcast operations, the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming.

The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934, and was given the responsibility of making a “fair, efficient and equitable distribution of radio service”, and to ensure that broadcasters serve the ‘public interest’.

It is hard to understand how fining the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, an entirely volunteer run community station, and effectively taking them off the air after 13 years, is an appropriate action and in the public’s interest There have never been any complaints over PCRs content. Pirate Cat Radio provides an important community service one that has been recognized by the Board of Supervisors in a certificate of honor. They are one of the best sources of news and regularly broadcast Al Jazeera and BBC bulletins. The news is read in every 2-hour DJ slot. They make regular valuable PSAs and publicize local events. They take an active approach to involving the community, by bringing local unsung heroes and talents into the studio. Pirate Cat Radio provides a voice and outlet for many sections of the community of the Bay Area which cannot make themselves heard anywhere else.

If the public’s interests are to be served then ‘ordinary’ people must be allowed to make their voice heard and to be allowed to express themselves creatively without regard for commercial success. The FCC’s policy instead seems to be protecting the airwaves for the big corporations to pump out their bland, homogenized wasteland offering dull limited playlists, banal chat and censored opinions. Until this happens people must continue to challenge the corporate domination of the airwaves.

Looking to the future, PCR can continue as an internet only station and the café/studio on 21^stst will continue to operate, but at least for the time being, but it cannot safely broadcast over the terrestrial FM band without possibly jeopardizing its volunteers and supporters. How this will affect the service is not clear yet, although it is true that the majority of their listeners are now online or downloading podcasts.

“Obviously this is a major disappointment,” says Monkey, “But we made a collective decision that Pirate Cat Radio must come off the public airwaves, until some method is found to change the law or get it authorized under existing law.”

(link)

Obviously this isn’t going to turn into an immigration blog because of one post, but I invited people to share their stories of real immigration struggles.  This is one of those stories:

you invited immigration stories on your blog so i figured i would share one. i’m a social worker working with immigrant youth, most of whom are undocumented.

in mid-september, an 18 year old client of mine, let’s call him carlos, went missing for two days. he was waiting for his uncle at a bus stop on 9th and market where a witness told his uncle that the police took him away. his family called the police to locate him, but could not find him. finally, carlos called his family and told them he was in an ICE detention center in arizona. apparently, an undercover police officer tackled him from behind and started asking him questions in english. he didn’t understand and this seemed to upset the police officer more. carlos said the officer hit him, put him in a police car, and took him to 850 bryant. he didn’t get a phone call until he was in arizona.

sanctuary city, not so much.

carlos and his family came to this country from honduras because their lives were being threatened. while i know it shouldn’t matter, this young man fit absolutely no “street” profile. if it had been almost any other client of mine, i might have wondered what he said to the cop or what he was wearing, but not carlos. this kid is all button down shirts and waist high jeans that are appropriately sized. he was enrolled in high school, he was an A and B student, and his attendance was great. i’ve gotten letters of support from all his teachers, sent him his transcripts, and attendance records, but the judge didn’t care about any of it.

his bond was set at $20,000, which is preposterous. the family can manage the 10% for a bondsman, but not the collateral. the alternative is to find a reduced rate or probono lawyer (impossible) to help him fight his case in detention. he would likely argue political asylum, and could spend years in detention fighting that case just to get deported anyway. all we want is for him to be breathe some free air while the wheels of justice turn, which i figured would be cheaper for the feds but perhaps not. the immigration system is uneblievably absurd and cold; they are treating this young man as if he had committed some heinous crime.

Since I’ve never seen a trick or treater on Capp before, I rolled over to Fair Oaks, which apparently is the sugary hotspot of the Mission.  I learned a few interesting things that night: 1) there are way more kids in the Mission than I thought and 2) I didn’t know I could eat 10 Reeses peanut butter cups in a sitting.

Most importantly, this kid’s sandwich costume might be the most badass thing I’ve ever seen.

Even wearing Converse kicks.  It’s like the Mission Taco met Mr. Pickles.

More Mission Halloween after the jump.

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I’m totally digging this Cup-o-Noodles Benz.  Bourgeois-Bohemian.  Park outside Boogaloos.  Trying to be something its not.

It’s the automobile equivalent of the Mission District.

Via Box Dog Bikes.

Just sayin’

I’d try to write something witty about this but my brain just fucking exploded.

(photo by aSILVA)

Drunk Cyclist is my all-time favorite blog because of shit like this (sorry, Allan).

Broke-Ass Stuart with the scoop.