4 posts tagged “crime”
The most recent newsletter from the Merchants of Upper Market & Castro (MUMC) business association discusses the increase in counterfeit bills being passed in the neighborhood. The Chronicle had an article about this a week or two ago, and I overheard two store clerks discussing this recently as well.
The MUMC newsletter says that the denominations being passed around range from $5 to $100, but the clerks said that they had been warned about fifties in particular. The newsletter includes hints on detecting fake bills, and I believe that an electronic version of the newsletter is available from the MUMC website.
With this as background, I recently withdrew $50 from my ATM, expecting a ten and two twenties. But much to my chagrin, out came a $50. I then went shopping at Cliff's and bought about $1.50 of screws and nails, and sure enough, I didn't have anything smaller than the $50. The clerk positively looked at me like the dumbest crook ever, and gave that bill such a working over that I hoped she bought it breakfast afterwards.
So, anyone who lives in SF has to get used to stepping carefully when out and about. Random trash, backed up sewers, homeless people -- you name it. And of course, dog poop.
San Francisco famously made the news a couple of years ago when our dog population surpassed our child population, so we are not unacquainted with the special hazard that is dog feces. But dog owners, especially in our fussy neck of the woods, tend to be very polite and pick up after their pooches.
However, it seems to me that over the last couple of weeks there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of dog crap on the Castro sidewalks. I sometimes think, maybe it's just me (um, meaning, "maybe I'm imagining it," not "maybe I'm the one crapping on the sidewalk") but every time I have that doubt, I'll come across yet another sidewalk tootsie roll. Usually you rarely see this in the business district because the stores and restaurants are required by the city to tend the sidewalk out front of their own business, but recently I see the dog loafs all over -- on Castro, on Market, on 18th, etc.
I find it hard to believe that the collective dog-owning community would suddenly drop their standards along with their turds, so my current theory is that this is the work of one or two dogs, maybe owned by a homeless person new to the neighborhood. (My borderline-socialist partner notes: "The homeless are always the first to be blamed." Well, sure, they're handy that way.)
Has anyone else noticed this? Any other theories on the cause?
Well, another Halloween down. They tried ignoring Halloween, and the crowds grew bigger and rowdier. They tried "cancelling" Halloween, and the crowds grew bigger and more out of control. And they've tried providing entertainment, and still the crowds grow big and wild.
In case you haven't heard the news, the night was relatively calm until about 10:40 when apparently two gangs traded gunfire, injuring 9. Here is the Chronicle coverage.
I wasn't there (residents tend to stay indoors on Halloween) so I can't report firsthand, but I'm quite curious how this will effect the coming supervisor election. Already Alix Rosenthal is capitalizing on this for her campaign. Stay tuned...
The former Browser's Nook continues to fill up with detritus treasures, but sadly last week someone smashed the glass pane next to its front door. At first I thought it was another Halloween decoration, and fortunately it didn't break all of the way through the window.
I don't know the cause of the window-smashing, but I refuse to believe it was a robbery attempt because, well, have you seen the piles of flotsam in that place? It could have been a homeless guy with a rock, but I prefer to think that my blog has whipped roving bands of Castro gays into a frenzy, driving them to random acts of editorializing on the state of what passes for an antique in this town.
