I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.
As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.
As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.
More by Lydia Chávez
Keep voting for the Dems SF. Seriously, I mean why not? Giving sanctuary to illegal aliens, giving money to non-profits that “help” illegals and the illegals having tons of anchor babies…lovely. Only a strong Republican would help stave this off by cutting ALL non-profits and beefing up patrols. But no SF would rather live the way it does.
are these random assaults and robbery increasing or is it my imagination? What happened to police foot patrols? As a woman really tired of worrying about where I walk in the neighborhood I grew up in ( 24th and capp).
hard to know if the crime has increased or the reporting of those…
probably a little of both.
i don’t like suspecting everyone under 30 i see on the street of being a potential attacker, but that’s the neighborhood we live in apparently. i NEVER take my phone out in the neighborhood.
what really disturbs me is these incidents are occurring 24 hours a day now and are not limited to 1 am or 2 am in the morning like they seemed to be previously.
typo, probably should read 43 year old victim rather than suspect 🙂
I just got mugged yesterday at Market and Battery at 1:30pm in the afternoon. I am 6’4″ and in very good shape. I was using my new iphone 4, the black attacker was about 6’6″, 25 years old and wearing a dark sweatshirt with a hood. He walked past me and double backed and jumped me from behind. I held on the phone and ripped his hands away. I thought he would flee and when I turned around he sucker punched me. We wrestled to the ground. When he jumped on me his groined land on my knee, hehehe, he paused, grab the phone, try to kick me in the face. I grabbed his hood and clotheslined him when he tried to run. So when I stood up to finally face him like a man the coward ran away. If these crazy guys will pick on someone like me on Market st. at 1pm what does that say for the city? This guy was a great athelete. I guess the only recourse now is to carry a gun and start shooting them, because nothing else works. Oh and to top it off there was a female officer right across the street, but she said there was no way she would’ve been able to catch him so she hopped in her car and drove around the block. That’s great!!!
Keith: What a harrowing story – 1:30 p.m. and downtown. It sounds like no one tried to intervene. I’m so sorry for you. Best, lc
Matt: Yes you and another attentive reader have saved me. Thank you, Lydia