Mission Mission

Mission Loc@l this week took a look at the unique culture that is the intersection of 16th and Mission and came up with an engaging feature that begins thusly:

At the intersection of 16th and Mission streets on a busy midday afternoon, three people shared a small bottle of clear liquor, draining every last drop. The trio decided against concealing their bottle in a brown paper bag, despite open-container laws.

Link.

Says Kevin Montgomery:

Drive by shooting in front of my house. 4 shots fired. I don’t think I see any bodies. You stay classy, Mission

Link.

Update: Jason Schlachet corroborates:

were those gunshots i heard with the loud car going down Capp st? not yet familiar with what a drive-by sounds like

Link.

Left four injured.

In an emailed subjected “This Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” reader Ts reports:

I got coffee at Dynamo Donuts this morning.  Someone stole their sign!  In its place was a note from the staff which reads the following:

Reader zinzin sent this in, saying, “first real article i’ve seen on something Campos is doing.” SFExaminer.com reports that one of the new Supervisor’s first acts in office has been to call for an official city investigation into complaints about traffic stops:

“My view is, with something like this, you want to be as transparent as possible,” [Campos] said. “You want to give the Police Department a chance to explain what they’re doing and give the public a chance to express their concerns.”

Link.

An anonymous SFist reader shares the story:

Walking last night around 10:30 near Capp & 22nd I saw some guys kicking the shit out some cars, breaking the side view mirrors off and denting them and basically just attacking them. I followed them from a safe distance while they continued down Capp past 23rd kicking the shit out of every car along the block, sometimes pausing to really lay into them. I was on the phone to 911 the whole time so the cops caught them. They came pretty fast.

Link.

Whilst shopping at my favorite little corner store at 16th and Mission, I saw out of the corner of my eye some people run by in the street. Then said people were suddenly awash in red and blue lights. And there was yelling on a bullhorn and big signs and more people. A protest against something or other had materialized in front of my eyes in a matter of seconds.

Strangely, the protesters converged on Wells Fargo holding a 5′x5′ sign that said, “No Police in Greece,” or something like that. I might have remembered more specifically what the sign said had any aspect of the protest- like, at all- made any sense.

After watching for a few minutes and listening to the guy with the bull horn yell (again, not exactly, but basically), “We’ll burn your face off,” I headed across the street to ask some questions. I started with a kid who was holding one side of the aforementioned giant sign.

Me: So what’s the deal?
Him: We’re protesting.
Me: Against what?
Him: Against a police state.
Me: glances around at the dozen or so police officers protecting the protesters and their right of free speech. Wow, it’s really nice of these police officers to protect you while you protest against them.
Him: blank stare.
Me: What’s this about Greece?
Him: It’s about the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos. He was killed by police in Greece.
Me: Why Wells Fargo?
Him: Huh?
Me: Why are you protesting in front of Wells Fargo?
Him: We don’t like banks.
Me: This bank, or just all banks?
Him: All banks. We’re going to be stopping at a few others.
Me: Ok, that’s cool. So who organized the protest?
Him: Nobody.

Feeling even more confused than when I started talking to this kid, I moved up the street a little and questioned a police officer who was waiting dutifully on his motorcycle.

Me: So what’s the deal?
Police Guy: I don’t know, they’re protesting all over the place. Their last stop was New College. You know the one on Valencia Street?
Me: Yeah. What are they protesting against?
Police Guy: They’re mad at us police. We wouldn’t let them occupy some building earlier.
Me: So why are they protesting outside Wells Fargo?
Police Guy: I don’t know. Earlier they took a vote and everyone voted to just go drink at a bar, but the guy with the megaphone over there, he vetoed that. So they’re here.

I walked away thinking how much I love this ridiculous city.

More:

They don’t fuck around in Athens on Unburying the Lead.

Laser war in Athens on Danger Room.

From Mirna at SFPD’s Mission Station:

Please Note:
On Thursday, December 18, 2008 testing of the gunshot recognition/locator system known as “Shotspotter” will take place in the Mission District.  It is anticipated to occur at approximately 9:00 PM and will be occurring at various locations.  The testing will occur in the areas of 18th  St & Mission, 22nd St. & Valencia, 23rd St and Folsom, and 18th St and Bryant.  Please do not hesitate to call 911 if you become aware of suspected gunshot sounds at any other time at those locations.

arlenarlenarlen says:

Bomb squad out front of Salvation Army Rehab on Valencia @ Chavez. Cops in full combat armor.

Link.

Update:

Brock: from ted weinstein, re mission bomb:

Title and text by zinzin:

copters all fucking morning, woke me up around 530. no idea what it was.

around 7, a couple cruisers were moving the slumbering bums out of Dolores Park. Fairly polite, surprisingly non confrontational. none of the bullhorn / night stick tactics you’d see in NY in the Giuliani era. One yoga / exercize person shouted at the cops to “leave em alone, they’re not doing anything”. then a dog walking person who was standing right there…but out of the field of vision of the exercize person, shouted at the exercize person, and quite loudly…basically saying “shut the fuck up, it’s idiots like you that make this neighborhood (and i quote) ‘into an asylum’…”. the exercize person jumped a mile and looked sheepish. the dog walking person went over and thanked the cops. actually shook their hand.

then around 8, about 6 emt vehicles and cop cars converged on 19th between mission & san carlos. north side of the street. i peered over to get a look, and everyone was crowded around a bum, who was…literally…mastubating. “furiously” is the word that came to mind. i’d say this makes that person more of the “afflicted” mentally ill type, than the “addicted” typical mission bum…but these are never mutually exclusive…and i’m certainly no expert.  anyways…i overheard one of the EMT women saying this is the 3rd time this weekend they’re picking up “this jerk off”. everyone had a nice holiday laugh over that one. poor sap, i was thinking. over 50 “advocacy” groups within 500 yards, and this guy is rubbing them out in the street – all weekend apparently, though i never saw him –  with no effective mental health services within, well, it may as well be 100 miles. here’s to progressive politics.

then i came home and had toast and watched pink panther cartoons with my kid. he loves the soundtrack.