SFist: Last Night in the Lower Haight

Robert B. Livingston

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 08:13:46 -0800

To Mark. March 3, 2007 7:15 PM from the "Boom Car Guy": What century did you come from to be in favor of lynching and people killing each other to reduce crime? I think people such as you imagine yourselves to be like a fictional vigilante character played by Charles Bronson when you advocate taking law into your own violent hands. Instead you become a real-life thug that promotes hatred and makes society more dangerous.

Mark

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:15:39 -0800

I went to a meeting on 3.1.07 at the Jewish High School, 1325 Ellis, built like a fortress next to the housing projects. I was curious both to see this new school, a low-key place rarely in the news, and to hear the SFPD police explain how they are dealing with the Western Addition crime. Small attendance, mostly nonblacks, with a passive crowd, even bored, it seemed. Endless chat and interruptions about "doing more for youth" in the projects... and we are not talking about whipping their backsides and forcing them into workcamps, either - no, more sports, more everything, free from the taxpayers, while they continue to terrify the area, deal drugs, tag buildings with gang graffiti, break into cars, kill each other (well, that's okay, actually, cuts down on the sheer bulk of them...) Cops insisted that all their efforts are in vain, because the elected judges of SF City and County are too liberal to convict these criminals. They're released on parole, and if juveniles, then there's no penalty. They know full well that they can do what they please, with no consequences, whereas in other parts of the USA, or even California, they'd be in prison for years. They live on the federal dime in the housing projects, and they love every free minute of their time. They never fink on each other, so there's no witnesses to any crime. They claim "black pride" and want "reeespect." Yeah, right! Scum bums demand this from us!!!??? One day they'll all be lynched and shipped you-know-where when sheer outrage hits SF. A couple of these judges need to be mugged, raped and knifed in the housing projects, or better yet, be forced to live there as a condition of the job, the better to understand the consequences of their lax policies. Let them and their families suffer as we do.... That'll be the day.

ld

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:06:17 -0800

True, the big problems are on the 400 block, but the violence is spreading. There are lots of kids over near the dog park who run drugs and stick-up and rob neighbors. There needs to be a serious crackdown across the whole neighborhood, but starting with the 400 block and the mis-managed projects. I'm not fond of the projects on Hayes either. Someone from there totalled my parked car with a drunken hit'n run on Page street a few years back. Thankfully, no pedestrians were hurt. He left his brand-new smashed car in the middle of the street as evidence (along with empty beer cans). Witnesses say he was drunk. no conviction. How does someone in the projects have money to buy and smash up a new car? Dealers need to be evicted from public housing.

Maurice

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:02:29 -0800

I think Zach's comments are right on target. It is clear where the trouble spots are so why not have police patrol, on foot, the area?

Dan

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:40:12 -0800

Good comments, all (with the exception of the boom car guy). On the beat cop thing - there are now ten beat cops assigned to North Station. When I moved here three years ago, there were none. They cover Hayes Valley, Lower Haight, and the Divis corridor. They're good guys, and do the best job they can. But, they're strictly preventitive, and can't be everywhere at once. When the double murder went down two weeks ago, there were two cops on the corner of Haight and Steiner, two blocks away. By the time they got there, the perps were gone. The cops can't be everywhere at once, and saying that they can solve everything by hanging out on that corner is specious. If they're there all the time, something will go down on Buchanan and Page. That's the nature of the beast.

Robert B. Livingston

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:22:51 -0800

To Phil-- Those are good points, maybe I was off mark. I must admit that I do not fully understand who the SFLNC are, why they were formed, what they do, who funds them, or who they represent. I am not well informed here, but remain skeptical that the rosy picture they paint on their website tells the full story. I also do not understand why my neighborhood is becoming increasingly rowdy on weekend nights. I have noticed that most problems happen in the vicinity of clubs rather than from the clubs themselves. If the SFLNC has been instrumental into making clubs better neighbors then my hat's off to them. I completely agree with you that police should be walking beats for the sake of preventing trouble before it happens. Hopefully more people will one day realize that mitigating unmuffled motorcycles and boom cars in the city is just as logical. The noise is torture.

al

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:05:18 -0800

Jimmerson was a member of the Bayview district gang Big Block. He had been freed from custody the month before he died so he could testify against other members of the group in a federal gang case, under a sealed plea deal with the U.S. attorney in San Francisco. Although the deal was secret, it soon became known that Jimmerson had agreed to testify against the nearly two dozen indicted members of the gang. The Page Street gang was aligned with Big Block, authorities said.

al

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:59:37 -0800

OMFG!!!!! "...An alleged gang leader has been indicted in the 2002 slaying of a federal witness and two other San Francisco killings committed as part of a drug racketeering conspiracy, authorities said Thursday. Dennis Cyrus Jr., 20, and six other alleged members of the Western Addition-based Page Street Mob orchestrated a decadelong conspiracy to traffic crack cocaine, according to the indictment unsealed Thursday. ... ...Jimmerson was a member of the Bayview district gang Big Block. He had been freed from custody the month before he died so he could testify against other members of the group in a federal gang case, under a sealed plea deal with the U.S. attorney in San Francisco. Although the deal was secret, it soon became known that Jimmerson had agreed to testify against the nearly two dozen indicted members of the gang. The Page Street gang was aligned with Big Block, authorities said. ..." from sfgate (please hurry and fix the url bug thx)

Phil Gochenour

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:25:10 -0800

"Would the Late Night Coalition and political contributions from clubs be a factor? Some keen journalists need to investigate." Wow, that's so far off the mark I don't know where to begin. The SFLNC and local clubs have *nothing* to do with glass-rattling kickers in cars, or the lack of enforcement for whatever it is that they might be doing that is considered uncivil. Unfortunately, SF has no law I know of that regulates noise in this matter, but I *do* know that they have some very strict regulations when it comes to noise coming from clubs. Kinda funny, don't you think, if the SFLNC and clubs would be paying off cops to look the other way when it comes to noisy vehicles, only to have clubs and bars getting shut down for the same reason? What could their motivation possibly be for that? My boyfriend is a DJ who plays regularly at Underground SF, across the street from where the shootings took place. What would help with a lot of the stuff going on there would simply be some beat cops walking the street. The only problem I've seen is at Haight an Webster - lock down that corner and you'd solve a lot of these problems.

Robert B. Livingston

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:30:53 -0800

Cameras do not hear-- and neither do patrol cars with their windows rolled up. One of the chief lessons of The Tipping Point was the necessity to go after small infractions to prevent larger crimes. Cops and politicians should do something positive by finding a way to limit vehicles (boom cars and unmuffled motorcycles) that "tag" neighborhoods with their nauseous sound. My observations are that they are hands-off as targets of enforcement. Why is this? Would the Late Night Coalition and political contributions from clubs be a factor? Some keen journalists need to investigate. New technologies have made noise more powerful and painful-- and certainly make driving more dangerous. The main message these drivers send is "I can hurt you-- and you can do nothing about it!" (A message celebrated by advertisers who wish to translate it as "if I can buy it I can have it!") Cops need to be on the beat-- but they also need to have the tools to enforce quality of life crimes. They need to know by the law what is judicious and what is the difference between harmless and harmful.

KWillets

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:38:38 -0800

Do a web search for "Page Street Mob" and you'll find out.

al

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:12:59 -0800

OOooohhhh...... Gosh whatever happened to Page St. Mob??

al

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:07:45 -0800

OOHhhhhh..... Gosh what happened to Page St. Mob??

KWillets

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:51:09 -0800

al, that was the Death Valley Posse. They often feud with the gang on Fulton one block away. Whenever they feel that the other gang is attacking them or trying to intimidate them, the older members show up on the corner as a form of deterrence.

MattyMatt

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:41:16 -0800

This is where SFist's gossip section was on Bevan's kid: http://www.sfist.com/archives/2006/04/07/bevan_duftys_babymaking.php http://www.sfist.com/archives/2006/10/11/make_sure_you_love_the_way_pete_wants_you_to_love.php

Zach

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:38:58 -0800

As a relatively recent transplant to the Lower Haight, and SF in general, I have to say that law enforcement here is, in all honesty, fucking pathetic. The problems in the lower haight are quite solvable. The problem revolves around a few blocks, literally. How about some actual law enforcement? That'll be a start.

al

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:20:43 -0800

The comment in your story, that there is a jurisdiction issue between sf police and the feds, makes perfect sense to me now. I have often wondered about the housing projects a few blocks down from me and now something is a little clearer. I have a great ‘projects’ story that happened a few years back that I’d like to share publicly now. I had a job downtown that I’d bike to everyday going down Fulton and then at night, after dark, back up Hayes St. When I first started it seemed relatively safe even though I biked through a scary, scary housing project. But there were not a lot of people around and the few who hung out at the corner store seemed ‘normal enough’. Then one day a group of kids began to walk around in a very aggressive way, looking the neighborhood kids in the eye, looking armed and dangerous, kind of looking like members of a high school football team that had gone really, really bad. They seemed to now own the corner in a creepy, low-key way. Then a few nights later ANOTHER group of kids showed up, and they were staring down the other group of baddies across the street. They were almost lined up football style, again almost like rival football teams that carried guns. Amidst all this were a car or two of scary looking observers, who I noticed were of latino origin, and who were being obviously noticeable because they smoked cigarettes and held their entire hands out the windows of their cars. They had a very ‘godfather’ air about them, but it could have been my overactive imagination. All this time I’m wondering, “Where are the cops. Something is about to seriously go down on this street corner.” I guess I thought that this was just police no-mans land, that the gangsters had somehow either taken over city hall or community groups had driven the cops out in the usual politically correct manner. I guess I thought that the cop hating residents deserved whatever they were going to get. Perhaps in hindsight a racist attitude? Then something really creepy happened. Grown men, not kids, began to show up. They seemed to be uniformed in black leather jackets, and I realize now while writing that this is very reminiscent of the Panthers, but I don’t think these men were in anyway politically active in that way. They began walking around a lot, almost patrolling, as though the grown men of the neighborhood had formed up into an organized gang, or neighborhood watch of some kind. It was as though there were no cops, ‘justus’, and grown men had formed up in an almost desperate attempt to protect their neighborhood from an actual criminal invasion. After that I just looked for a new way home from work. I don’t know what happened next except within about a week there was at least one shooting there, and a little later I think I saw a street lamp memorial to a child which may have been completely unrelated. Anyway, from what I'm reading now, I think I know which side won.

KWillets

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:11:34 -0800

Our 17-month-old had the right idea when she crapped her diaper at the beginning of the speeches.

Hank Essay

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:52:50 -0800

Bevan Dufty is moving? Um, didn't he just win election to represent Noe Valley and the Mission? Would have been good info to have before voting, no? -