Mission Mission

A long time ago in this very land (sometime in 2003) I sat alone in my living room, looking out the window onto Guerrero Street and wondered how I could connect with the people of the neighborhood, hear their thoughts, start a dialogue, without having to actually leave my house and face people in real life. Yes, it sounds sad and lonely. Whatever. The point is, I didn’t know about hyperlocal blogs or anything, so I made do with what I had. Which, apparently, wasn’t much. I figured I’d have to do some fishing.

One morning I tied a piece of paper onto a length of fishing line, attached a pen at the end and lowered them both out the window. I left my house for the day and when I came home that night I reeled the paper in (pen gone).

Here’s what I got:

GOOD MORNING. (if evening, please reverse)

What were you just thinking about?

being @ the beach w/ my aunt

eating pastries

putting a battery in my garage door opener

taking this pen

Hope and nothing but

des paturages sublimes de betes vertigineuses

The other side after the jump (Hey! The other side is the original after the jump!)

(more…)

Cosmic Amanda, here.  First time poster, long time commenter. (insert rim shot)

I’ve been digging Mission Mission for a year or so now, despite having never lived or visited here. In fact, I hail from Haverhill, MA, a city with great potential but a bit of a self-esteem crisis. I recently started a blog about it, with the lofty dream helping people all over (and even in Haverhill itself) realize how cool we actually are.

So, what am I doing getting all up in your blog right now?

Sometimes it’s hard to see potential in something you’re immersed in. How can you know what you can do to make a difference without getting out there and exploring the possibilities? The Mission is one of the coolest neighborhoods around. And, since your neighborhood and mine share a lot of basic similarities,  it’s exactly what I’d love for my city to become. I’m here in town this week, stocking up on inspiration.

Encountering this street art was like looking into a plywood mirror and seeing my own soul reflected back

Here I am, shacked up in an apartment on 25th and Shotwell, stuffing my face with burritos and Mission Pie, photographing street art, and generally basking in the atmosphere of a neighborhood electric with creativity. Just like the lucky writers of this blog get to do all the time. So far some highlights have in included chatting with Toshio after his performance at Amnesia, walking home and finding a fresh stencil on the sidewalk, and sitting in the cool grass of Dolores Park.

I destroyed this burrito.

Some people think it’s kinda weird that I’d travel all the way across the country to experience first hand something I’ve only ever read about in some random dude’s blog. But, it’s already kinda weird that I’ve been experiencing all of this vicariously for so long, so why not go all in?

I think my friend Chris put it best when he asked “So, like, instead of sex tourism, are you doing blog tourism?”

Uh, yeah. Totally creepy to think of it that way, but I guess there’s something to it.

Anyway, I’ve been lingering in the background of a few posts this week. Now, I hope you’ll indulge me in a post or two here at Mission Mission. (And, if by chance you’re not quite feeling my flow, you can breathe easy knowing I’ll be on a plane and out of your hair in only a couple more days.)

So, hi there, Mission! Love what you’ve done with the place!

Mission Mission reader Scott B. writes in with a question for the community:

I saw a spot in front of the Baby Blue Rib restaurant on Mission, a young women was in the spot looking at her cell phone, she did not seem to notice me, so I lightly honked my horn. She looked up from her cellphone and said she was holding the spot and someone would be there soon. I pulled up next to her and told her people can’t hold spots, they are for cars. She repeated that she was holding it for someone who was coming soon.

I knew there were not many spots around, so I got annoyed and said “Whatever” and waved my hand dismissively frustration and then drove away. I don’t know what is more annoying, holding a spot or when the person standing in the spot tries to ignore cars like they don’t exist; WTF, like I am supposed to assume that someone standing in a spot means they are holding and I should just keep looking? As Yahoo Answers said, unless you have a license plate on your ass, move out of the spot.

I also read online about someone who got stabbed to death in San Francisco in front of a club, he was holding a spot, a fight broke out and he got stabbed after the fight.

I’m probably not the most sympathetic person to ask about this, as I’m fairly conditioned to respond with “FUCK CARS” to any question about automotive habitat or entitlement.  So, just for fun, and since I do notice this happening on Valencia all the time but realize that Yahoo Answers might not be the most trustworthy source of information, allow me to pose the question to you, faithful readers.  Have at it!

[Photo by p200eric]

(2009)
Once again the fine residents of Fair Oaks Street open up their garages and heap their valuables upon the sidewalks. It’s been going on for more than 20 years, but if you haven’t been yet all you need to know is that the whole street from 21st to 26th becomes a neighborhood flea market. You can find collectibles (old Army medals, old comic books), personal items (old yearbooks, old clothes), household stuff (old glassware, old kitchen appliances), and new stuff. Also! Cute little kids will probably be selling baked goods, families will probably be selling tamales and bros will probably be selling sausages.

It’s fun, grab a friend and check it out.

Mission Local and Uptown Almanac have covered the mural conversation happening at 24th and Capp. Here’s Justin Beck‘s interpretation:

Glad to have some context. I wondered what small person was supposed to be yelling that.

(file photo)
Last Friday the San Francisco Guardian Angels did their first night patrol in The Mission. It was led by the New Generation of angels, who are still in their teens. As their chapter leader says “their code names speak for themselves”:
1. Scorpion, 2nd In Command
2. Apache, Sergeant
3. NEMO, Corporal
4. Matador
5. Sonic
6. Puma
7. Robo Cop
8. Breaker
9. Maverick

Read the details of how the youth-led patrol went and check out the pictures on their blog.

Here’s the rather obscure Vertigo snippet that Roger Ebert alluded to yesterday. So there you have it, in 1958 the Mission was considered “Skid Row”. Either that, or Hitchcock was a total wuss. In any case, we’re renaming the blog to “Skid Row Skid Row”.

Mock Duck posted a higher quality .mov of it in the original thread.

Previously:

Ebert Thinks the Mission is SF’s ‘Skid Row’

Today’s weather report courtesy of Jeremy Brooks

So GTFOutside today if you have a chance!  Hopefully we won’t have any of that schizophrenic Wednesday weather that featured tropical rain showers while the SUN WAS STILL SHINING.  WTF was up with that?

Well!  We finally get to hear from the embattled tenant herself in well-written paragraphs instead of highly entertaining orange signs.  I’ve cobbled together her comments (which were cleverly disseminated throughout various posts) to try to help tell her side of the story.  Please welcome Nancy Scott to the debate:

I am the crazy tenant (15 years)who writes the signs. I feel people who make fun of desperate people are not very nice. The landlord that wrote about me is not the landlord at all but the T.I.C. owner upstairs. He is a real estate investor and only bought the upstairs to evict me. When their false eviction didn’t get me to move then they ellised the building.

However, their abuse didn’t stop. Today, I was granted a temporary restraining order (I have filed several). I also have a harrassment case pending in small claims court. I have over 25 recorded police calls in 8 months. I have used H.A.P.  E.D.C. and am in touch with the tenants union. Thanks for the sincere support and suggestions.

I am an elderly disabled single mom who is a good tenant and have lived in my home for 15 years. I am not in the least touchy or moody although I  probably have plenty of reason to be both. I was a volunteer tutor in public schools (elementary and middle school)for 12 years. I’m one of the origional members of The Bryant Street Neighborhood Alliance and take care of the flowers in front of my house and my neighbors houses. Anyone who knows me since I moved here can attest to this. My teenage son built the borders around the flowers and I am also a board member of a non-profit that helps families of parolees.

I am also severly disabled with brittle bone disease. The owner of the building is an heir and greedy. I only ask to stay in my home for 3 years until my son gets out of high school. The owner (heir) didn’t agree and became very abusive a year before the people upstairs bought the T.I.C. He removed (lead) paint with no containment and it was left in my yard for 2 weeks until I called a building inspector. That’s just the beginning……

He’s not the landlord but the tic owner upstairs who bought Dec. 08. I have lived here 15 years as my real landlord put it at our rent board hearing “She’s a good tenant who always pays her rent on time.” They are just being mean and wouldn’t come to any agreements at community boards which I initiated. I am a protected tenant, if they can’t evict me the Ellis Act is the only way.

Most people like you do take the money and run, which encourages more property owners to use such tactics and harrass and abuse people {renters)to force them to move. This was not a business decision but a moral one where peoples abhorrant behavior will not be compromised for money. I plan on exposing these people in court for what they are and making sure they don’t continue their abusive behavior for profit. Next time, it could be your blind neighbor or elderly grandmother, They too, will just leave! So much for tenants rights….Sometimes, they just don’t exist.

Also, I have received plenty of compensation in other ways. I will not be leaving with no money. Thanks for your concern but when people don’t follow rules, they pay big time!

So, I still am not quite sure what to think, although the situation sounds a lot more complicated than we all initially anticipated.  Anyone got any ideas?

[Photo by Brian H]

Previously:

“Vocal” Neighbors Getting Ellis Acted

The Landlord’s Side of the Story

Keep BMW Out of the Mission

no, these are not song titles from the new Guided By Voices album

Remember those wacky signs a tenant taped onto her windows alleging all sorts of abuse by her landlords?  Well, the landlord found out about the chatter and decided to offer his version of the situation:

Dear Friends – I was completely unaware of the existence of this blog. Just today someone told me about it, so with a great interest I read your entries. So… my wife and I are co-owners with another person of this building and, yes, we are invoking Ellis Act,  but only out of  sheer desperation – for the past a year-and-half we have lived through hell.

The woman who rents the downstairs unit (from our co-owner) and entertains the neighborhood with her prolific signage is an extremely aggressive and displays all the symptoms of delusional paranoia. Almost every morning we wake up to her banging on the walls (4-5 am), heavy stomping on the floors, yelling to us from the backyard, playing  blaringly loud music, etc. We find our front door handle smeared with honey, grease or peanut butter on a daily basis, not to mention the human feces on our door step. She makes false accusations that we destroy her plants, read her mail, throw stones at her cat and plenty of other mischief.

Despite the fact that we put lots of money and effort into creating a beautiful backyard, we  have stopped  even going outside into our backyard as she verbally assaults us, we can’t have any social life at our home  and we are subject to abusive accusations thrown at us when we take out trash, or simply leave home (she yells at us from her window). She fabricated a story of us being “professional evictors” who just want to get her out, so we can convert to condos. Her actions became so unbearable that back in December we moved from own place and rented a place for two months, just so we could get some rest from that daily abuse.

Ellis Act was the last resort. When we concluded that we can’t live under the same roof with this psychotic individual, we offered her a substantial amount of money, free rent for half a year and the house to herself (we would’ve stayed away until she moved). She turned that offer down. Ellis Act took off 10-15% off the value of the property right off the bat. We’ll never be able to convert to condominiums, but this is the worthy price for having a home where we don’t feel threatened all the time.

So, as you see a new crop of signs and accusations popping up in her window (almost daily occurrence) just think about what you might not see – a daily ordeal of people who live in the same house.

Wow, she sounds like the tenant from hell!  Now I kind of feel bad for the property owner.  Maybe this is the reason why those rental applications have gotten so tome-like and tedious to fill out, and why many landlords now routinely employ background checks along with credit reports and references. 

Soooo, anybody else got any terrible neighbor stories?

[Photo by Brian H]

Previously:

“Vocal” Neighbors Getting Ellis Acted

Keep BMW Out of the Mission

Mission Resident Shits on Her Own Apartment Building (NSFW)