September 16, 2006
North Beach is Italian For Even Less Fun
After cracking down on the North Beach Street Festival and the Jazz Fest, it looks like the Powers that Be are all set to crack down on North Beach itself. At issue is the Broadway section where complaints have been made about all sorts of drunken behavior. Stuff like fights and public drunkenness and underage drinking and rowdy behavior and even the occasional non-monkey knife fight. So on Thursday, the city announced a crack down on the Broadway section of North Beach. Said Aaron Peskin in describing the weekend scene, it's a "virtual war zone" by which he means it's like a war zone except without the bombs, bullets, death, mayhem and anything that would make it anything like a war.
As a result, there will be kind of an inter-city tag-team approach to dealing with it. Cops will arrest anyone caught drinking in the street and will check out those party buses to make sure nobody is drunk (good luck with that). They will also have drunken driving checkpoints and will set up a special Straight to Jail van for people who are arrested. The Fire Department will make sure the clubs and bars aren't too over-crowded and the Building Department will make sure all of those clubs and bars are up to snuff code-wise. And the Department of Parking and Traffic will tow illegally parked cars. Says Gavin: "We've said enough is enough" and then threatened to resign if he wasn't able to solve public drunkenness in North Beach.
Apparently the area gets in about 7,000 on Friday and Saturday nights, which is a lot of people, and how does one determine that anyways? Why are there so many people there and why are there so many problems there lately? Terrance Alan, a nightclub owner and the chairman of the San Francisco Late Night Coalition, says it's because of crackdowns on nightclubs in Oakland, San Jose, and Alameda. So let's have another crackdown.
We suppose we should make a snarky comment here about how a few drunk people get out of hand in a fairly rich neighborhood and you have cops galore whereas people are dying almost every night in a not so rich neighborhood and nothing seems to be getting done, but y'all probably got there within the first sentence or two.
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Although I agree about the misallocation of resources, I routinely drive down Broadway at 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. on a Friday or Saturday night, and that street is a mess. Huge teeming crowds of drunks line the strip from Columbus to Kearny. You don't need the mayor involved, but modest, pragmatic crowd control is an appropriate response to keep order and prevent nasty things from happening. That strip may be chintzy and ugly, but it is also a source of tourist dollars for the city, and it makes sense to spend a moderate amount of money to keep it safe.
I find it hilarious that the City keeps moaning about how there's never enough money for all the social programs guys like Aaron "NIMBY" Peskin wants to pay for, but at the same time just can't stand the fact that there are successful businesses drawing in people from all over to spend their money here.
Then again, when everyone is paying a fortune for their Tiny TIC's, I guess everyone's entitled to bitch and moan and wonder why it is there is noise in a City, and why it can't be quiet like the midwest suburb they came from.
And of course, it's much better to have the cops out in force in North Beach,where Aaron lives instead of in HP, where no one but poor folks shooting each other live. Chalk one up for limousine liberalism.
I live in this neighborhood, I'm hardly "rich" and this drunken bullshit is getting out of control. Drunks scream through intersections, nearly mowing down people, a group of young homeless are suddenly here shitting all over the sidewalks, windows get broken, party busses stopping in the middle of intersections to allow the drunks to jump off and run screaming through the streets, etc., etc.,etc.
One of these days you guys are going to get over your hipster attitudes and realize that even if you don't own your building, it sucks to see yuppie bridge and tunnel drunks pissing on it and tagging your front door with spray paint.
If these "businesses" are bringing in the assholes pulling this kind of crap, they can shut down for all I care.
And before anyone tells me to go back to the suburbs, I don't mind noise. I don't even mind drunks out having a good time, that's why I moved to this neighborhood. what's been going on here lately has gone way WAAAAY beyond that, and if any of you lived here, you'd know that.
Okay, I agree that noise is a serious issue--you work hard and deserve to get some sleep. Drunken frat boys are annoying, but we've got freaking epidemic of violent crime in the southeast part of the city. Have the powers that be become numb to this problem, or are they simply playing up to wealthier constituents?
This thread shows you can't please everyone. There has been serious crime on Broadway, alot of it committed by those from neighborhoods that you say need attention. If the police were to put an army in other neighborhoods, you'd hear the screams about undue scrutiny against poor non-white people. To hipster doofusses who have the answer: Let's hear it.
I don't think they're numb to the problem. They're just focusing on problems that can actually be fixed.
What's it going to take to fix the drug/violent crimes going on in the southeast part of the city? An entire re-working of our system: better education; bringing manufacturing jobs back so people have a way to make money other than selling crack, etc. This is far beyond the scope of the supervisors' power, since our federal government deems it more important to spend our tax dollars on bombing Iraq.
At any rate, if my dog cuts his foot on one more pile of broken glass over here, I may go postal. I don't mind the noise, but when you're breaking glass everywhere, it's go time on your drunken ass.
North Beach is a piece of crap, and it's only logical to clean up this and those moronic Harleys, but I've never seen any special allocations for my neighborhood or BVHP.
Our friend, the "Church Lady", who actually listens to Christian music, got a ticket for an open container in Japantown a while ago. Her offense? Opening a can of beer in a Karaoke room. I was completely dumbfounded. It's not that I mind if she got a ticket, since it's a slap on the wrist, but we've tried for years to get the same cops to do even that for the occupiers in our doorways.
I've actually stood by and listened to cops "busting" drinking-in-public perps on my block. It goes something like this:
Cop: Hey, (guy who has been hanging out here for 30 years), you can't drink here.
Guy: Oh, sorry! I'll put it away (puts can on sidewalk).
Cop: OK. (drives off).
Guy picks up beer/liquor and resumes drinking/urinating.
This is in Northern District, the same as J-town. We are constantly cleaning up broken glass, ripped out trees, liquor bottles, and what-not, but I only recall one drinking-in-public bust in six years.
We never get drunken driving checkpoints or any kind of sweeps. I watched a cop let off a DUI the other night, "as long as she took a cab home".
I'm no fan of drunken jerks, believe me. I have plenty of them on the N Judah late at night and I certainly wouldn't wish to have them in my doorway!
That said, there has been a concerted effort for a number of years in SF to really clamp down on all nightlife, using the egregious excesses of some to really wipe out all things that make a city a city and not Millbrae.
Plus, there are a limited number of cops, putting a ton on drunks in North Beach and on N Judah bashing duty, vs. say, stopping criminals, well that's where I start to wonder. And it's not my "hipster" attitude saying that thank you very much!
I should mention that this was around 9-10 am, so nightlife wouldn't be affected.
Till this city straightens up we need cops everywhere and the city needs to find/reallocate money and stop making excuses for unacceptable behavior!
How dare this city let people disrespect any of our streets/neighborhoods by shitting, pissing, yelling, etc.
I am embarrassed to say this but it doesn’t look like we San Franciscans are showing much pride for our city since we have been allowing this to occur for YEARS.
.. our city is not a public trash can nor a public toilet.
Like Gavin said, "Enough is enough"…took the words right out of my mouth.
Don't blame the homeless or drunken frat boys for the way that area is - blame history. Since the inception of this city, that area (formally known as the Barbary Coast) has been a magnet for violence, crime, and debauchery.
This "crackdown" will (maybe) mellow out the situation for a time, but eventually it will return in full force.
That's the pattern that has been repeated since the days of the Sydney Ducks and the Hippodrome.
North Beach, and Broadway in particular, is known the world over as a place for everyone to come and get stupid drunk and see some bad (and I mean awful) strip shows. Trying to stop them is like trying to stop Halloween in the Castro.
And of course, what is there to gain (other than just another boring, quite neighborhood or some ghastly Disneyfied Times Square) if those things were disappear?
I know it's cliche (and you may think unfair) for me to tell you to move away if you just can't deal with it, but sometimes the best solution is the path of least resistance.
Apathy and the almighty dollar have caused NB to get to where it is today. City Commissions like the "Entertainment Commission" with it's rubberstamp and anything goes attitude exacerbates the problem.
The "path of least resistance"? Let the place go to seed? Good idea. Maybe a controlled burn after that.
There are actually people who live here. Next time you're urinating on a door or guzzling on a corner take a look up and look at the apartments above the street level. People live there. People with kids even. Some wise guy hipster will say "move if you don't like it". Take a look at some of these apartments, most are not high rent. A lot don't have the option to move. Some people who live here don't have sales or software jobs. They wait tables, sell produce, wash dishes, sweep floors. They should get a nights sleep and not worry about getting robbed too.
Mr. KEVIN,
I was born and raised in this town! SO YOU MOVE THE HELL OUT! I HAVE A GREAT IDEA...CREATE A TOWN WHERE PEOPLE PISS AND THROW UP ON THE STREET, DRUNK MEN DISRESPECT WOMEN, PICK FIGHTS and PEOPLE GET SHOT. Lets see how far you'll get.
And you are saying we should be ok was this because thats how it always was?! ... wow, so maybe then women should give up their right to vote and we should re-implement social segragation?!
Kevin for mayor...listen to this smart ass!
By the way...no suggested closing down stip clubs so relax...your personal entertainment and the preservation of NB history will still be there for you to enjoy.
Remember, play nice, everyone... here's a question I have for the people who live in N.B: has it gotten worse there over the year or so? That section was always a bit on the mayhem side but it sounds like maybe it's gotten a little crazier lately. Context is everything.
There's an irony to all of this too-- people in N.B. wanted more bars and clubs on Broadway to make it come off as less sleazy and more upscale. It's sounding like they got what they wanted, only too much so.
Jon, love..
N.B. just needs to be polished up no matter what the circumstances (increase/decrease of inappropriate yearly change).
My god...I remember growing up my mother wouldn't even let us spit on the street.
It's very simple... Maybe the issue is that San Francisco needs to determine what is considered appropriate and inappropriate public behavior.
Ed note: This comment has been deleted, due to violation of our comment policy
Voew,
Nobody is perfect, but you are close to a perfect idiot.