Mission Mission

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?

PBR Cycling Cap: you can be trendy for only $12.08 at Box Dog Bikes.

I wish I could be at 3 places at once:

Friday:

Don’t forget about free Four Barrel.

Saturday:

SF Street Food Festival

11am – 7pm at Folsom and 25th.  Legal food and illegal food all in one place. (link)

SF Zine Fest

As previously mentioned, this isn’t happening in the Mission, but I don’t care.

11am – 6pm Saturday and Sunday at the SF County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park.  Rumor has it that the awesome people* from Fuck Yeah YouTube Comments will be there (*full disclosure: I am one of the many awesome people from FYYTC). (link)

School Lunch Sound Off!

Noon – 2pm at a.Muse Gallery.  Talk about the future of the school lunch program.  Stations for kids to plant seeds and shit.  Plus free food (we hear that the amazing Manu from SF Vegan Tamales is helping cater), drinks, prizes and stuff.  A real community builder! (Link)

SF Zine Fest Benefit Show + Afterparty

9 pm onwards – Amnesia
853 Valencia St between 19th and 20th
$7 donation – Proceeds benefit SFZF!

FEATURING:
Jeepster (Sacramento)
Fleshtone (Portland)
Hyperpotamus (Tokyo/Madrid)
Toby Dick
and an animation screening by Wu of Ghost Family (link)

Sunday:

Rock Make Street Festival

11am – 7pm at Treat and 17th.  12 Bay Area bands performing on two stages with over 50 local artists and craftspeople showing their wares in between. (link)

SF Food Wars Mac N’ Cheese Battle

1pm – 4pm at Stable Cafe.  Let’s be honest here, if you didn’t already get a ticket, you’re probably not going to this. (link)

Battle of the Empanadas

2pm – 6pm at 2958 24th st.  Yes, we already posted about this, but it’s two of the best empanadas in the Mission in one place. (link)

We ran into SF Appeal film critic Alex “Barky” Barkett the other night at Bender’s, and he seemed like he was having a pleasant enough evening, but it turns out he was having a pretty shitty evening. Lucky for us, he’s spun it into gold — in the form of the best weekend entertainment roundup ever written.

Hang in there, Barky.

Artist Rio Yanez just finished a new mural outside Galeria de la Raza. It’s called Ghetto Frida’s Mission Memories and look, it looks great on video.

(link)

Previously (and be sure to peruse the comments sections for further remembrances of some of the things Frida remembers):

Mission Flashback 1975

Mission Flashback 1989

I hope to watch more people get decked like the guy at 2:40.

Also, see how many “whoas” from the sidelines you can count.

(YouTube – Thanks freakbeatfuzz!)

The East Bay Express recently published an exposé on the local vegan raw food chain, Café Gratitude.  Allegedly, the restaurant forces employees to adopt their spiritual views and illegally pay for “life-changing” seminars, tracks employee’s spiritual progress and/or resistance to indoctrination, and fires staff who do not follow the Cafe’s spiritual path:

Yet it’s the philosophy, not the food, that appears to drive the company. Managers and the owners often describe Café Gratitude as “a school of transformation disguised as a cafe.” The [founders] created a board game for self-reflection, called “Abounding River,” and the cafe is meant to be a place for people to play the game. Managers lead daily “clearings,” during which employees answer a series of questions before “re-creating” each other in a process aimed at freeing the workers to be present and alive in the moment for the job. Hugging among staff is frequent.

…

After being promoted, [Ash Ritter, former manager] says her first manager’s meeting involved managers sharing their experiences at [Landmark Forum (classes for crazy people)]— often emotionally explaining the ways in which it changed their lives. “It was the theme,” she said. “‘Landmark saved my life.’”

According to Ritter, the leaders of the meeting then asked every manager to enroll ten people to come to an introduction to Landmark. They didn’t say it was a required part of the job, but Ritter felt pressured to attend because they asked all managers to e-mail the district manager every time they spoke to an employee who had not attended Landmark about giving it a try. She said they encouraged managers to keep track of the people they talked to, even if they declined the invitation. (Full article text)

What happens to Café Gratitude from here?  Will it become another empty storefront because people are rational and will not support a brain-washing cult?  Or will Café Gratitude become the next FIJI Water: in spite of all its abuses, it’s still trendy to eat grass on a cracker?

(link)

Romenesko, everyone’s favorite media nerd blog, today points us to a tale of woe. Local hero Phil Bronstein was apparently this close to convincing Hunter to cover the O.J. trial. But, alas, it was not to be.

Saturday August 29th: Skateboards, Chili, and people hating hipster girlfolk.  Oh yes.

It is a skateboard bowl contest and chili cook-off at potrero del sol park.  25th and potrero.

skateboard and chili registration opens at 9 am.  skate contest starts at noon.  chili judges start tasting chili at 2pm.  finals of the skate contest at 330pm and awards at 430 pm.

Be there, be there, be there.

Thanks Antonius!