[lang_en]By ANGELA KILDUFF
At Tuesday’s sparsely attended community meeting, a longtime Mission resident suggested posting flyers about upcoming meetings to notify the public. [/lang_en]
[lang_en]Capt. Stephen Tacchini told her, “We can’t put them up on poles. That’s illegal.”
In a neighborhood where stencils, stickers, tags and flyers know no bounds, several people in attendance—including Tacchini—chuckled at the irony.
Tacchini was optimistic about 2009, despite an 8.5 percent increase in overall crime in 2008. Since December, he said, “Our efforts are paying off.”
Jan. 1 marked the beginning of a major multidepartmental initiative to clean up 16th Street between Valencia and Capp streets, said Tacchini. The collaborative effort with the Department of Public Works and others aims to address quality of life issues, including curbing “unacceptable acts by inebriates.”
Community members raised concerns about graffiti, blight, drug dealing and public intoxication throughout the Mission, not just those few blocks. For many, these problems were on their doorsteps.
Tacchini said he was aware of many of those trouble spots already, but he urged community members to report crimes, since “little problems become big problems.”
A woman in attendance wanted to know why Alfredo Pedroza, liaison to the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services for District 9, wasn’t at the meeting. Another attendee replied, “He’s on Facebook.” [/lang_en]