Mission Mission

(still from "Fire in the street spreads to parked cars.")

Sunday night around midnight someone lit the northside gutter between Mission and San Carlos streets on fire. At least two cars parked along the block were caught in the blaze. A third car pulled out from behind them before the fire spread, as seen here.

I came along after the flames had been put out and the two cars were pretty much melted into the sidewalk on their right sides. Since my camera’s in the shop I had no proof until Void (winner of our science themed music video contest) sent us this video by “northofsouthofmarket“.

The owners of the car in front, a middle aged male and female couple talking to each other in Spanish, stood and stared at the melted mess. I asked them what had happened and the man told me that “somebody with nothing better to do came here and lit a fire.”

Is this the work of the “carsonist” we’ve heard so much about? Or just some wanna be burner who missed the last bus to the playa? Either way, not cool, bro.

Ian H. shot us an email about this development: High Bridge Arms hopes to re-open by the end of the year making the Mission the home to the only gun store in SF.

While the authors of all those glowing Yelp reviews and consumers of “Law Enforcement Supplies” are totally stoked, the locals aren’t so crazy about the idea.

The Northwest Bernal Alliance kicked off this email campaign:

Friends and Neighbors,

Once before we asked that you write letters to SFPD Permit Office telling them to deny High Bridge Arms (3185 Mission Street) a permit to sell guns in our neighborhood. That hearing has been continued 5 times and is now due to be heard SEPTEMBER 8TH.

It’s become more urgent now.

There have been several robberies at gunpoint right in our neighborhood and one recent hold up with a gun,  at the Cancun restaurant right next to the High Bridge Arms Gun Store.

We’ve been successful in causing delays in the permit process by forcing the owner to comply with the SF Planning Code but the hearing is slated for Sept 8th and we believe unless there is a great outcry from the neighborhood, the permit will be granted and once again we’ll be home to the ONLY GUN STORE IN ALL OF SAN FRANCISCO.

No matter how you feel about guns, I think you’d agree that they should not be anywhere near our homes and/or schools.
PLEASE WE URGE YOU-  take the time to send an email to the SFPD Permit Office and let them know how you feel.
And if you can call the Sergeant directly   415.553.9550

Attached is a sample letter – re-arrange it – add to it – write your own - but please send it before Sept 7 to:
ATT: Permit Code/Enforcement Sergeant Coggan<William.Coggan@sfgov.org>
CC —Ingleside’s Permit/Code Enforcement Officer <William.M.McCarthy@sfgov.org>
CC—-Ingleside’s Captain Cassanego<Louis.Cassanego@sfgov.org>
CC—-us so we know it was sent – northwestbernal <northwestbernal@aol.com>;

The hearing takes place 9/8 at 1pm at the SFPD Permit Station on 850 Bryant. More over at Curbed SF.

The current theory held by residents of the building that burned this Saturday is that the blaze was started by by a recently-evicted tenant. The disgruntled tenant allegedly set a mattress on fire and left the gas stove on as an act of revenge. SF Appeal has more on this development.

I have a couple of friends who lived in the building who lost a great deal of their belongings. It’s not the fire that causes all the damage. Water from the sprinklers does a lot of harm, too. I hope for their sake they find this (alleged) asshole.

As you may have heard, there was also an unrelated shooting involving three victims on the corner of 17th and Mission later that evening. Not a good night for that block.

[Photo by Army of Robots]

Previously:

Fire on 16th and Caledonia

Well, this is a real downer.  Last night a cyclist was struck by a Mercedes at Turk and Masonic and died from injuries at the scene.  The driver fled but was later caught and arrested.

BIKE NOPA has all the details.

Please be careful out there, folks.

[Photo by darren_mirfield]

Whoops.

This is news to me, but MUNI buses are equipped with front-facing cameras that have been used to spot parking violations since 2008. Due to a software glitch involving daylight savings time, the city issued 4 months of bad parking tickets. Either that, or MUNI buses are equipped with hidden flux capacitors.

ABC has the scoop:

Through a California Public Records Act request, the I-Team has confirmed the cameras on 17 buses failed to switch over to Daylight Saving Time in March, and that technicians didn’t catch the problem until the end of June.  The time was off by one hour, so the city issued 510 bad tickets during those months.

So if you’ve been ticketed recently, you might be entitled to a refund. Check the full list of affected tickets or give the SFMTA a call on your cell phone, which contains a clock that is far more advanced than that of a MUNI bus.

[via Dan Noyes at abc7news.com]

Yo dawg, I heard you like less stabbing and lunch money stealing in your BART station so we took a 2.1 million dollar grant and removed those planter boxes.

SF Appeal reports:

On Thursday, the transit company is scheduled to accept a $2.1 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as reported by the Ex. This money will go toward making the Mission district station cleaner and, they say, more secure for those that use it.

Get the full scoop at SF Appeal.

Excuse me, miss. I love your coat. Where did you steal it from?

[via Sex Pigeon]

Dude, someone with a set of wrenches could take off those wheels in 45 seconds flat. I would have run that cable lock through the casters at the very least.

[via reader Clem]

This guy has the right idea, though.

[via Ohio to SF]

Previously:

Cart Security

Safety Sign Security

This is awful. A man was beaten, robbed, and stabbed last night in Dolores Park by a group of teens, according to SF Appeal:

Police responded at around 1:30 a.m. to an area of the park around 19th and Church streets and found that the victim had been beaten, robbed and stabbed multiple times in the torso, officer Samson Chan said.

Three arrests have been made. Be careful out there, folks.

[via SF Appeal]

Official Mission Mission KKKatie trial correspondent Aaron Sunshine attended the trial of possibly crazy, probably racist KKKatie Dunbar today and brings us the following news:

ok went to the trial today and she appeared towards the end of the docket. nothing really happened- she showed up, looking tired with a weird smile on her face, and the lawyers talked for a second before deciding to do some sort of continuance (I think?) that delayed the trial date until October 1st. So as far as I understand, she will be in jail for a while longer.

Previously:

KKKatie Upppdate