…and it’s called Square-anoia. Creator Clay Smith explains:
It takes your foursquare checkins and maps them with nearby reported San Francisco crime — so, in my case, I discovered when I went to Mission Chinese last week there were 3 nearby assaults reported.
Hopefully this will somehow increase the relative safety of foursquare users in the Mission.
Hopefully. Try it out here.
[pic from @PhilBronstein]
The former Chronicle editor paints a dark picture of The Mission in his new column on SFGate, saying about violence allegedly perpetrated by local MS-13 members, “If they don’t shoot straight, though, the next news story might be about you.” He goes through the current MS-13 trial, commenting on their Disney-esque nicknames, Tweety, Spooky, Goofy and Droopy, while just two months ago he patrolled our streets on a serious mission with Guardian Angels like Scorpion, Puma, Robo Cop and Maverick.
We all know there is a violence problem in our neighborhood. A lot of us just live with it, hoping we don’t get caught in the above mentioned crossfire. But like I said before, it’s our neighborhood, we do have a responsibility to look out for each other. I can appreciate that Mr. Bronstein wants us to understand the gravity of the situation, but I feel like the harshness of the language (like the title, right out the gate, The murderous gangs that stalk the Mission) creates a sense of a divide, when in fact we’re all living with it, those of us that live here. The divide is real, I don’t pretend to think that MS-13 members meet up in Bar Bambino or stop by Self Edge for some new jeans. I guess I just tend to think that it’s more helpful when speaking to a broad audience to speak in a way that seems to head towards a better understanding, rather than fear.
I agree that people who perpetuate violence aren’t “charming and colorful piece[s] of the neighborhood tapestry, like the murals on Balmy Alley”, but separating them from the rest of the people who live here, and preventing more people from turning to violence, isn’t as easy as any of us would like to think. No matter where we want to draw the divide, the fact is that we all influence each other, and solving these problems is an ongoing process.
Youth Outlook TV interviewed a couple of young Latin American Mission natives about growing up in gangs, recent gang injunctions, and something that rhymes with “smentrification”.
Mission Local reports:
The 37-year-old victim ended his picnic early and thirsty.
He was sitting in Dolores Park at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday when a 20-something male approached him, pulled out a knife and demanded a beer, police reported.
The suspect then decided he wanted more than one. He took the 12-pack and fled.
Wow, man. That’s a way better story than the thing I saw at Dolores Park last night. Watch your backs.
[Photo by Paul Mison]
UPDATE: Our buddy Lindsey adds another perspective:
We were walking home from the Uptown last night around closing time when two dudes came sprinting at us northbound on Shotwell. The lead guy’s pinstriped Yankee hat flew off as they passed us. At the end of the block, they turned left, but not before dropping something. It sounded bigger than a cellphone. We turned back and took a look, and it turned out to be a handgun. I immediately took a picture and then called 9-1-1.
I said, “I just witnessed what I think was an undercover police officer chasing a suspect. They dropped something. It’s a handgun. So I’m standing here on the corner of 19th and Shotwell with a handgun.” The operator shrieked, “YOU PICKED UP THE GUN!?” “No, no, no, I’m just standing next to it.” Right then a squad car arrived and officers started questioning us.
The lead officer took one look at the weapon and said, “Damn, that’s a nice gun.” We couldn’t describe either of the sprinters, so at that point we weren’t much help. After a few minutes, an undercover officer arrived, out of breath. He walked right past the gun and us. “See any drugs?” Nobody had seen any drugs. He walked up and down the sidewalk, looking in planter boxes and elsewhere. Another officer unballed a balled up pair of socks. No drugs anywhere.
He comes back to the gun, asks us if we saw the suspect drop it. We had not. So again we weren’t much help. I asked if he caught the suspect. “Yup,” he said, and smiled. He photographed the scene with a small point-and-shoot camera. The lead uniformed officer again looked at the gun: “I might have to get one of these for myself.”
[Additional photography by David Kelso]
SF Appeal reports:
A woman was stabbed and a man was shot in separate incidents that occurred within an hour and a block of each other in San Francisco’s Mission District early this morning, police said.
The stabbing was reported shortly after 1:05 a.m. near Mission and 16th streets, according to police.
The victim, a 27-year-old woman, got into a fight with a man who cut her on the leg with a machete and then fled, police said.
The other day I was in North beach at a fun bar known for its fancy cocktails. The place was pretty packed, so waits were pretty long. To express his frustration, this tool began reaching into the fruit bowl and pawing the fruit. He grabbed lemons and limes, sniffed them, felt them up, then passed them back to his friends so they could do the same.
The problem is, these are the fruits your twists and other garnishes come from. Some of these fruits were already partially zested or whatever, meaning the oils on this guy’s grubby fingers were freely intermingling with the oils in the orange rind adorning my whatever I had.
The bartenders were busy as hell, so they didn’t notice. I was mortified, but the guy was bigger than me and already all aggro, so I didn’t do anything about it. Just made sure to order something without fruit. And took a picture.
Anyway. Drinkers, beware. Bars, maybe keep the fruit behind the bar.
Allan Hough (7858)
Brittany Janis & Katie Cruz (104)
