Here’s your Afternoon Report
Recently, a reader sent a message to our anonymous tip line explaining how last Sunday around 10:40 p.m. “a man on a blue road bike with white tape on his drop bars took a screwdriver from his backpack and shattered the rear window of a sedan parked on the corner of Bryant and 22nd.”.
I decided to go out to this block and investigate. I rang every door on Bryant, between 22nd and 21st to see how often this happened on this specific block. There are, of course, other places in the neighborhood where windows tend to get smashed.
Our anonymous tipster also stated that over the last two years, they have seen someone use screwdrivers to break tail lights of dozens of cars at a time; keyed and shatter windows to steal things.
Here are the results of this afternoon’s investigation: of the roughly two dozen doors I knocked on, only 17 answered their door.
Two people said they’ve seen the windows of other cars smashed on different locations in the Mission; one has occasionally seen shattered glass on the ground on Bryant and 21st and assumed it was from a car window; two have had their car broken into but on Harrison and 22nd; and one neighbor said they had their visitor’s cars scratched or keyed.
Most people on the block with a car have a driveway or garage, which helps safeguard their car.
Samantha García, who has lived on the block for the past three years, and whose boyfriend had his car scratched about six weeks ago thinks that this act is intended to annoy car owners. “People in the neighborhood that are just mad,” she said referring to the tensions related to gentrification.
García added that she has seen the scratching done to mostly ‘nice cars’. Her boyfriend and a friend both had their cars keyed –one owns a Porsche, the other an Audi.
Byron Garcia (no relation to Samantha) who was born and raised in the Mission and works as a security guard in downtown, said that he and his mom had their car windows broken about a year ago. Garcia got the stereo stolen from his Infinity and his mother got a few CD’s and change stolen from her car. Their cars, however, were parked on 22nd and Harrison, two blocks away.
Nick, who did not want to give his last name because he doesn’t live in the block but was dog sitting, mentioned that about a week or so he saw windows had been shattered about a block down from them. “This neighborhood feels safer, but you wonder how,” he said.
My investigation brought no leads on any window-smashing culprit, just this advice from anyone who’s ever had their windows smashed: if you’ve got to park on the street, don’t leave any valuables visible.
This has been your Afternoon Report—a series in which we offer a quickie post-meridian rundown of some minor developments in the always-happening streets of the Mission District. Got ideas or suggestions? Let us know what you think by sending an email to info@missionlocal.com.