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
Are you suggesting to leave it out there leaning against a tree or other area of the sidewalk? If so, you are inviting someone to take it and use it as a temporary home. Is that your intention? I’m asking because I have worked with homeless for 20+ years and have mixed feelings about leaving things easily made into a new encampment. I guess my experience tells me the best way to help people is to get them inside, not help them build a new encampment. I realize your photo includes a very small sign that says “Recology” on it. But that sign, if your intention is to have Recology pick it up, is about as effective as it would be for me or you were we homeless and saw a nice clean mattress just waiting for us to use.
People in the Mission find stuff to build camps no matter what you do. At least this way we know it will be picked up.
Yes! Thank you. To seal the deal, taking a picture and submitting it via the 311 app will also alert them to come pick it up.