Mission Mission

Our buddy Kati J. had a fun night:

I woke up to the sounds of a guy yelling / moaning, and after a brief scuffle, he started screaming for help.

I thought, Oh god someone’s getting killed outside my apt., but when I looked out the window some cops had detained the man. As he wiggled around he scraped his face and bled on the cement. Then he got hauled off in an ambulance. Not sure why he got arrested, there were two plain clothes cops, so maybe it was a drug bust?

When I woke up the blood and latex gloves were still on the ground..

This past weekend, we noticed that the police had setup a mobile command unit outside of Dolores Park.  Now it appears that the police are getting serious about people enjoying themselves in the park.  From Dolores Park View:

At 5 pm this evening I spotted two mountain bike patrol officers issuing citations for public drinking to two men sitting on the lawn just above Gay Beach off 20th street. These guys were neither obviously drunk, rowdy or committing any other nuisance.

The officers told me that Mission Station Chief, Steve Tacchini had issued new orders this morning ordering the drinking in Dolores Park to be brought under control. “Park neighbor had come to him complaining” the officer said.

Up till today, officers patrolling the park have told me they would not issue citations unless the offender was noticeably drunk, belligerent or violent. Public urination was another quick ticket to court. Captain Tacchini told a group of Mission Dolores Neighbors at a August 7 meeting in Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s office that I attended, that while violence would not be tolerated, citing people for drinking and smoking in Dolores was not a priority. Something must have happened in the two weeks to have changed his mind. (link)

Seriously?  The voice of one idiot is more important than the hundreds of people that enjoy this park everyday?

Waiting for a red light at the corner of 19th and South Van Ness last night around 10:00, a squad car got a call of a disturbance (presumably). Sirens blared and they gunned it through the intersection — but not before throwing most of a grande latte overboard.

Outraged bystanders after the jump:

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From 10-5, the police did not seem interested in doing anything more dramatic than giving homeless people a hard time, but I noticed the typical drug-bizarre was missing from Hipster Hill.  Did they ever come out and taze some bros?

Okay, what did I miss?

“16th street Bart station lock down. Trains not moving, police with rifles everywhere.” (link)

UPDATE: Eve over at the SF Appeal got the low-down.  Apparently there was an attempted assault “in the immediate area” but the suspect fled before the police showed up.

Normally I’d call SFPD and get their version, but it’s been a long day and I need to get to bed. Here’s Rhiannon‘s version:

So earlier this afternoon, I was driving west on 17th at from Folsom and I heard a crash, and by the time I got up to Shotwell, a blue car and a silver car were both nose on the curb next to the Gas Station on S. Van Ness, all spewin ‘steam and doors open and smashed bumpers and headlights. This isn’t the exciting part. What is that I nearly ran over this dude, wearing a domestic-abuser-tank-top and khakis, greasy, almost jeri-curl do flowing in the breeze, running to beat the band because THERE WAS A SFPD MOTORCYCLE COP PURSUING HIM. It was insane. There were cars behind me, and I was running late, so I couldn’t stick around and rubber-neck, but have you heard about this? Know what happened? I’m all a-twitter! (but wasn’t at the time, because I was piloting a moving automobile).

Does anyone else notice that there are a lot of cops around tonight?

Low-Prof Plainclothes stopping dealers; Blue-Suited Busters pulling over people who don’t have a license and barely seem able to drive (seen here); and Red Zone Rollers lurking in their cars, watching the 16th and Mission Thursday Slam Jam.

Bryan over at Streetsblog has the scoop. I’ve always been a little bit afraid of Santa Rosans.

This week’s I Heart Street Art is nothing compared to the first comment in its comment thread, from none other than Plug1:

next time im out wasted (which wont take long), im going to walk down Mission b/t 22nd and 18th and report each individual tag with an individual phone call.

why not set up 811 or something for those vile taggers, and leave 911 for the real crimes such as murder or doing blow while fucking your best friends wife and then running for Governor.

Snap! And I thought the Plugs and the Mayor were tight.

Okay, so what happens when somebody assaults the swing set leaving two chains dangling free? What happens when some shitty kid grabs one of the loose chains and whips it into some other kid’s eye? What happens when the dirtbike cop instead of dealing with this is perched high on the hill surveying Pabst consumption?

Totally non-creepy photo of a child at play in a playground by mattymatt.