Mission Mission

If you ever needed a little proof that tact can go a long way, this is it.

(Thanks “Cranky Old Mission Guy”!  At 17th and Hoff)

Previously on Mission Mission:

• Bitch-Ass Taggers Respond
• Open Letter to Bitch-Ass Taggers

(thanks Matt!)

(photo by Tangobaby)

Happening RIGHT NOW in Dolores Park.

(Thanks Natalie!)

Previously on Mission Mission:

• Bad Graffiti

Remember that community meeting about Dolores Park last week?  Well, a good outcome of the meeting is that there is a solid group of volunteers forming with the specific goal of helping keep the park clean.  They’ll be meeting a number of times every month to help make the park beautiful.  Unfortunately they are not maintaining an email list, so who knows how their long-term organizing efforts will end up being, but you can show up tomorrow to get involved.

Our first meeting, a WORKING MEETING, will be this Sunday, Sept. 20 from 2-4 pm at the Liberty Bell at 19th and Dolores. If possible, wear green or white T-shirts to stand out, as we want people to notice what we’re up to, and to make a visible difference. We chose this time precisely because we want to be working in the park when there are a lot of people around. Bring gloves, litter grabbers, etc. if you have them, but we’ll have plenty of supplies provided by Rec&Park and Dolores Park Church, so don’t worry if you don’t have anything to bring. We’ll spread out and do litter pick up, graffiti abatement, raking around trash receptacles, and anything else that helps beautify the park. Before we go to work, we’ll briefly discuss the latest Rec&Park improvements in the park, set a date for our next meeting, and discuss where we go from here.

I have been seeing this unthreatening clan of French-fashion-loving vigilantes around Mission St. more and more lately.  Funny thing is, the infamous economic activity of the street has continued undeterred since “The Guardian Angels” decided to make the street their new home.

According to Don’t ask me, I just work here, a few members were camped out at the 24th street BART station yesterday while someone was shot and killed a few blocks away.  So, what are they really achieving?  Has anyone ever spotted these guys beating up a crack-dealer or do they just stand their with their arms crossed while glaring through their Oakley’s?

(link)

Shit!  This is like that Ice Cube song but the exact opposite:

One person was killed and another injured in a shooting Friday night in San Francisco’s Mission District, police said.

The shooting happened at about 7:10 p.m. in the area of 24th and Shotwell streets, according to police. A male victim was killed and a second victim was injured, police said.

Ack!  Be careful, everybody.  I mean it.

(From KTVU)

(via The Tens SF)

Jackson West over at the SF Appeal, who just moved to to the neighborhood and therefore isn’t qualified to have an opinion, gives his two cents about Dolores Park and the community meeting the other night:

…A few dozen others arrived, most from the blocks directly around the park but a few from further afield in the Mission and beyond. And everyone did admit there was a problem, at least with trash. Other problems cited included the bathrooms, hipsters, Mexicans, irrigation, wind, people who don’t own property next to the park, Critical Mass, politicians and, despite all these apparent defects, too many people.

And that, friends, is the essential irony. For a park that is “dying,” it is quite popular! Internationally so. Leaving the younger crowd counter-intuitively arguing to maintain the status quo, and even the older crowd admitting that it’s a better place than it was at some arbitrary point in the past when it was ruled by gangs and drug users, as opposed to now.

But there was a clear generation gap, with the introduction period amounting to one-upsmanship as to who lived closer and longer. The implication being that somehow factoring proximity and longevity mathematically lent one’s point of view more weight. Which it does not. Especially when it is matched with complaints about people and their sense of entitlement.

Read on…