Crime

Mission Police Station Creates Database of Recovered Stolen Bikes

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

When Mission Station isn't busy shipping resources downtown to harass the gentle and unemployed, they're doing real police work.  Like running a sting operation to catch bike thieves.

So what does that mean for you, thee of the liberated bicycle?  Well, you might actually be able to get your ride back, should your bike be listed on SFPD's new stolen bike site.  The database isn't exactly brimming with stolen bikes waiting to be reunited with their owners or anything like that, but it's a step in the right direction.

And in the event your bike is lifted in the future, Mission Station offers some precautionary tips for making sure you get your bike back quickly:

Mark your bicycle so that you can easily prove it's yours.  Some fire station or police departments sell bicycle licenses, which is one way to label your bicycle.  There are links to online registries.  You can also simply write your name on a piece of paper and slip it inside the handlebars.  Or write your name underneath your seat with an indelible marker.

Beware: Folsom Street Polling Place Not Where Advertised

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

If you live in the Inner Mission and are supposed to vote at Cesar Chavez Elementary at 22nd and Folsom, you're going to have to do a little hunting to find your polling place.  The Voter Information Pamphlet mailed out a few weeks back says voters in precinct 3907 are supposed to “enter off Folsom btw 22nd and 23rd sts,” the signage outside indicates the same thing, but the fences surrounding the school are all shut and padlocked.  As of half an hour ago, there was no signage or person posted up outside directing people where to go.  There were, however, a half dozen would-be voters looking very lost and confused—many of whom just turned around and left.

After a little searching, it turns out you are supposed to go vote on Shotwell between 22nd and 23rd (none of this information is posted anywhere and there is no official signage out front).  I told the people who handed me my ballot that this was a problem, and they seemed concerned, but a couple entered five minutes later complaining about the same thing.

Perhaps this explains why the electronic vote counter only registered 78 ballots (which is only 39 individual voters) being cast in the first 3+ hours of voting?

You've Had a Long Day, SF, Take Your Shoes Off, Load Up Your Weed Bong and Listen to the Police Dispatch

— By Jon Skulski |

The weight of your messanger bag is off your shoulder and the fog is settling in. Your day was as long as it could have possibly been. But that's all behind you now, it's time to relax. It's time to listen to smooth sounds of the SF police dispatch.

In an insane leap of the mind, Eric Eberhadt decided to combine ambient music with the police scanner and it all works out surprisingly well.

Motorist Shot or Stabbed on Folsom

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Details are kind of sketchy on this, but a reader forwards us along with this shot with a little reportage from 21st and Folsom:

Supposedly a driver of a car was shot or stabbed at 18th and Folsom. A few people who witnessed it said driver drove two blocks until he crashed. Then he got out of his car and started limping down the street on a broken leg until the cops got him.

The street's completely shut down now.

Mission Local Updates:

A man was shot in the stomach on Guerrero Street at around 7:30 p.m. on Monday after he confronted a group of people outside of Valencia Gardens and shot into the group, police said.

Someone in the group shot back, wounding the man in the stomach. His car was also hit, police said.

The injured man then fled in his car. UCSF officers noticed him speeding east on 17th Street and running a red light at Folsom Street.

Foodies: Mission Gang Violence is "Fun"

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Mission Local, fresh off their much-tweeted about cupcakes and gang violence map, has published a detailed story about the recent gang murders and their effect on foodie culture and restaurant staffers:

Less than a week after three fatal shootings occurred in a section of the Mission that has become one of the hottest restaurant districts in San Francisco, the sidewalks are full of eager patrons. Diners know about the shootings.

“It’s kind of scary, but kind of fun,” says Dana Humphrey, 28, as she sat eating at Graçias Madre, a vegan restaurant where the tacos aren’t cheap. Her friend Alexis Papeshi, 28, who lives in the Marina, agrees. “It has some cachet,” she says. ’Oh we are in the Mission, we are so cool.’”

[…]

“I’m not scared, I still feel safe,” says Manny Torres Gimenez, the owner and chef at Mr. Pollo, a small Peruvian restaurant that has acquired a cult following among foodies who come from all over the city for its tasting menu. “I’ve been walking the same streets every night for three years by myself and I’ve never seen anything happen.”

That said, he adds that the edginess of the neighborhood is attractive to many customers. “That is part of the experience, to be in that crazy dangerous neighborhood.”

Read on.

Cannonball "Bomb Scare" Shuts Down Valencia

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

The Chronicle has the skinny on today's bomb scare that shut down 26th and Valencia earlier:

The Salvation Army called police at 10:27 a.m. to report that someone had included what looked like a cannonball with items donated to its store at 1500 Valencia St., police Capt. John Loftus said.

Fearing the object could be explosive, police closed off 26th Street between Valencia and Guerrero streets while they removed the object to render it safe.

Read on.

[Photo by Colin Brumelle]

Apple Employee Donates iPhone 5 to the Internet While Casually Inebriating Himself in Mission District Shithole

— By Zach Perkins |

FACT: Apple employees can't hold their liquor… and an iPhone, at the same time.

Either that or I'm in a fucking time warp, because in a dumb-shit repeat of last year's iPhone 4 prototype incident, an Apple employee apparently lost his iPhone 5 at Cava 22 at Mission and 22nd back in July. CNET and Bernalwood are all over the story, since the phone was apparently back-traced to Bernal by the cyberpolice using the Find My iPhone app.  The SFPD searched the home where the device was tracked to, but found nothing. The resident of the home acknowledge being at Cava 22 the night the phone 'went missing' (ie: was set down and abandoned at the bar so Apple-bro could carry all 6 tequila shots back to his table) but claims not to have any knowledge of the missing iPhone. According to CNET, Apple and the SFPD believe the phone might have already been sold on Craigslist for $200; a significant drop from the $5000 Gizmodo paid for the iPhone 4 prototype. I blame the drop in value on Steve Jobs retirement, and the fact that no semi-legit source would go anywhere near a stolen Apple prototype after what happened to Gizmodo last year. 

Aren't these Apple people supposed to geniuses or something? Maybe they should have their potential field-testers fill out a questionarre before issuing them a prototype, with questions like “Do you like bars?” or “Are you under 35 and prone to binge drinking?” and “Do you check in to 4Square when you drink and then set your phone down on the table?” 

And seriously, $200??? That's a better deal than buying it retail. 

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