Mission Mission

Lindsey knows:

Last night I asked a couple people who they were voting for mayor.

[...]

But more importantly, Omer told me:

“I’m voting for MYSELF. Now go the hell home.”

Of course. Me too. Read on.

In an effort to help out the city of San Francisco as well as all of us Muni riders, one Mission resident and his crack team of programmers took to the internet and did in one weekend what city officials said would take 5 years to complete. SFGate has the details:

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has every intention of spending a few years and untold dollars creating its own, more robust version of the tool. But the team hacked together the basic parameters of the SMART Muni app in a 48-hour stretch in late July, fueled by pizza and beer.

Read on.

Previously:

• Pink-clad superhero team unsticks a stuck Muni bus
• Man vs. 14 Mission vs. being punched in the face
• Flight to San Diego faster than Muni ride from Lower Haight to Downtown

Where do you stand in the raging indie/Indian turf wars? (Oh, you hadn’t heard about that?)

Y’know, now that nobody reads newspapers anymore. Check it:

No Hope has the video from whence this still came right here. It’s a good watch.

Reader J9 sends us this:

These weird developer people came by my apartment today telling me that were going to build a bunch of gross loft condos down the street from my apartment at 15th street and S. van ness.

Take a look here:http://www.1501-15thstreet.com/

These condos don’t even look inhabitable- the buildings look like weird Darth Vader office buildings.

In case you’re a part of the Rebel Alliance, there’s a meeting tonight where you can discuss your concerns with the lack of neo-Victorian detailing in these chic living obelisks. Maybe you can glance at the plans and locate an unshielded thermal exhaust port:

Come to the 1501 15th Street Neighborhood Meeting on Wednesday, July 6th, 2011. The meeting will be held in Annunciation Cathedral at 245 Valencia Street @ 14th Street.

The Empire appears to be trying to evade dissent by not posting an actual start time, but rest assured, we have a contacted them and will update with the relevant info when we get it.

Update: Meeting starts at 6pm

Katie over at Refinery 29 says a “source close to the project” revealed that the bike polo courts (AKA “tennis courts”) might be removed as part of the Dolores Park renovation. And just what do they propose to put in its place? A dog park, where your respective pit bulls and yorkshire terriers can frolic and socialize in perfect harmony.

Not sure of the validity of the claim, but true to San Francisco form, there is already a petition about it, so go sign that if you hate dogs and love bike polo (or tennis).

In other news, Mission Mission is now considering starting a petition to install outdoor ping pong tables in the “fruit shelf” area of the park. Stay tuned.

[via Refinery 29]

If you’re one of the cool kids who DVR’s Jeopardy, you may have noticed the category “Streets of San Francisco” on Saturday’s episode. If you’re not one of the cool kids, you missed out on watching the Mission get a shout out not once, but twice. Remember, you must answer in the form of a question:

And for $2000, Alex:

Sure, I can jump on this bandwagon.

So, you think this whole anti-gentrification thing is unique to the Mission? Think again. It’s happening in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, as you can see in this found racist rant accusing a loosely-defined group of people of being racist.

i don’t know, man astutely points out:

Pilsen is named for the Czech town of Plzen — Pilsner, a delicious type of lager beer is, too — because it was populated mainly by Czech immigrants in the early part of last century. As Czechs made a better life for themselves and probably moved out of the city to the suburbs, Chicago’s growing Latino population moved in.

What we have here is a chicken-or-the-egg problem. Who’s the most entitled to live anywhere? Amoebas floating in primordial soup, I reckon.

Anyway, I’m glad Asian hipsters are off the hook (not that I am one).

[chicagoist via beerandrap]

[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.