Mission Mission

We were walking down Valencia this past Saturday evening when someone passed us from the other direction carrying a fairly standard ordinary metal chair.  Not too odd, until someone further behind yelled “CHAIR!!!” quite loudly, which caused the first to drop the chair and hurriedly walk away.

The voice turned out to belong to a waiter from Grub down the street who collected the chair and started walking back to the restaurant.  When asked what had caused the commotion, he explained that someone had simply grabbed the seat from an outdoor table as they were strolling by and tried to walk away with it.  They had gotten about a block and a half away before getting spooked by the pursuing waiter and dropping the loot.

Does this sort of thing happen often?  I also remember sitting in the Gracias Madre front patio area eating an overpriced but delicious nopales taco when a person who looked like late ’80s/early ’90s Robert Smith passed by on the sidewalk, then doubled back and into the patio to nab a few of the decorative blankets piled before the front windows.  All I did was chuckle that time, and the waitstaff didn’t seem to notice.

A blanket I can understand given San Francisco’s schizophrenic weather, but this begs the question:  Who steals a chair?

Lesson learned. From now on I’m keeping my bike under my pillow while I sleep.

This bike belongs to SFist summer intern Andrew Dalton! Bummer! I think he lives above the Popeye’s on Divisadero, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re up thataways this afternoon? (Or if you’re anywhere, really?)

Reader Hap L. witnessed a jacking like 10 or 15 minutes ago:

I just saw this guy smash the passenger window then drive off with this crappy light blue buick on 22nd street just east of Guerrero….

Should’ve locked through the rear triangle like we told you!

SFist reports:

A 15-year-old suspected gang member has been arrested in connection with the shooting death Hogs and Rocks employee Gaspar Puch-tzek. If you recall, Puch-tzek, a line cook at Hogs and Rocks, was shot and killed outside the Mission restaurant last month after getting off his shift.

Read on.

The Mission Police took a beating at Tuesday’s community meeting concerning increasing violence in the neighborhood.

On the bright side, they had a fun raffle during the event:

Eventually, Corrales managed to lighten the mood – just in time for the raffle. Latecomers and newbies rushed to get their names in for the monumental door prizes – police station pens, a mug and two Giants tickets.

“Can I borrow your pen?” one man asked the winner of a Mission Station pen.

“I came just in time for door prizes!” said DJ Brown who later won the tickets.

Congrats to DJ Brown and the other winners!

[via Mission Loc@l]

Beware, fare evaders!

The LA Times picked up on the recent gang violence in the Mission and was quick to point out that it is a gentrifying neighborhood. “What a contrast!” they say. Nothing new to you guys if you’ve read any Mission Mission comments, I’m sure. However, if lines like this:

On a recent evening, tattooed youth with yoga mats pushed past lines of workers wiring their day’s wages to relatives in Latin America.

strike you as mind-blowing perspective, then by all means read on.

[via Los Angeles Times; photo via fashioni.st]

One local business owner offers up his two cents on the topic of recent criminal activity at Valencia Gardens:

Here’s the funny thing, I own New Jack City the vintage throwback clothing store on the corner of 15th and Guerrero, AKA VG’s Territory, and on a daily basis deal with black women of all ages yelling, dudes rolling spliffs, and overall thuggish sh*t going on daily. So “why” you ask did I move into this location? I did it because it still has the heart of what SF was years ago. You need ghetto and richness living together in harmony to sustain a dope environment. Look at NY, LA, Chicago, DC, hell even Miami…all cities mixed with poverty and the rich, and all places Id rather live and own a business, then be stuck in the midwest with no mixed culture.

Read on for his take on why exactly there’ve been problems at Valencia Gardens lately.

[Photo by Google Maps]

Reader Jason left the following comment on our post about last night’s shooting/stabbing/car wreck:

7:25, I saw this car speeding away from the guerrero st shooting…was in my room, window open (streetside), heard 3 shots coming from the Valencia Gardens guerrero street entrance..then a pause, then full on 8-10 more..this was proceeded by people screaming, guy running and this car, scene above, speeding away north on guerrero…it’s 10:30 and cops still have the scene blocked off and are posted up outside..just used the Mission Mission images to confirm with the cops outside that this was indeed the car I saw. funny side note, the inspector’s first question to me was when my lease was up..she suggested moving. [link]

To which reader mission watcher responded:

I know that the cops have a lot on their hands and they can’t be everywhere at once, but it’s pretty infuriating that they suggest moving instead of actually doing their job and monitoring trouble spots like this one on Guerrero.

And it definitely appears to be a trouble spot. The night previous, our pal Erika tried to get a reservation at neighboring Mission Beach Cafe over the phone. The host told her not to bother coming in, and when pressed, explained thusly:

There is a man outside with an automatic rifle, so you probably should choose to dine elsewhere at the moment.

Serious trouble two nights in a row. Shall we all move to Hayes Valley?