by Sebastian on May 30, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
A Smashed window at Peet’s Coffee on Van Ness and Turk
The best part of waking up is coffee in your cup and the worst part is an alert on your cell phone from your alarm security company that your store has been breached.
The footage from the Peet’s Coffee surveillance camera on Van Ness and Turk revealed that around 3:30 a.m. on May 20, someone smashed a narrow window by their store entrance door.
A shattered narrow window in Peet’s Coffee on Van Ness and Turk
It also happened to Books Inc. next door. According to both employees of Peet’s Coffee and Books Inc. I spoke to, the vandalism happened on the same day.
A shattered window at Books Inc. on Van Ness and Turk
With a cup of coffee in my hand, I strolled north on Van Ness and saw the window of Hinata restaurant on Van Ness between Willow and Eddy has also been smashed. According to a Hinata’s employee, it happened in the morning of May 19, the day before the vandalism at Peet’s Coffee and Book Inc.
A shattered window at Hinata restaurant on Van Ness between Willow and Eddy
As I continued my stroll along Van Ness, I noticed that there was finally a sign of life in the former location of Sprint store on Van Ness and Olive which has been empty for years.
The upcoming cannabis dispensary, Outer Haze, Van Ness and Olive
A new cannabis dispensary called Outer Haze is scheduled to open at that location at the end of May according to a man who was working inside the store and the owner of Van Ness Market next door.
Outer Haze is owned by Chris Callaway who is closing his other store, High Road Bike Co. in Hayes Valley and having a “Everything Must Go” sale.
In his bike store website, he wrote in part, “After repeated break-in attempts over the last year, and more broken windows we can count, we recently made the tough decision to close down the High Road Bike shop…”
A sale sign on High Road Bike Co’s window in Hayes Valley
Like rubbing salt into the wound, his store got burglarized again shortly after he opened up with KPIX about his store closure:
San Francisco Hayes Valley bike shop to close after storms, crime
High Road Bike Co. in Hayes Valley got burglarized again while having a closing sale
Nonetheless, the grass is not greener on the other side of Hayes Valley. Van Ness is also a mess.
The city has been struggling to shutdown the illegal open-air drug dispensaries on Olive, Willow, and Eddy between Van Ness and Polk, the area where Outer Haze is moving into.
While many small and big stores, which operated with the city’s business licenses and paid taxes, have shutdown their operations due to whatever reasons they said or believed, the illegal open-air drug stores in the area is thriving. It’s so thriving that the drug operators in that area have just opened a new branch, west of Van Ness, in front of the former location of the MINI Cooper dealership on Van Ness and Eddy.
Residents and businesses at the corner of Van Ness and Eddy tell me that they often see 20-30 drug sommeliers there.
They block the sidewalk while serving their patrons and still obediently wear a mask; even though, the Covid-19 Emergency Declaration has been suspended by federal, state and city governments and masks are no longer mandated in open-air places.
I e-mailed Kate Sofis, the director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Mayor’s office on June 4,2021 to ask about her plans to revitalize Van Ness as businesses along Van Ness struggle to survive. I have never received a response from her.
As Van Ness is getting messier after the completion of the Van Ness Improvement Project and businesses continue to struggle, I plan to send her another e-mail to ask about her plans to revitalize Van Ness. However, she is departing her post soon per Mission Local.
SF head of workforce development to depart
The out of control break-ins have been very devastating for business owners in the city.
Of course, we can ignorantly say “that’s what insurances are for.” But, the reality is if they repeatedly file claims for break-ins, their insurance companies will eventually drop them like with the High Road Bike Co.’s case.
The employee of Peet’s Coffee on Van Ness and Turk also mentioned to me that Peet’s Coffee might just replaced their smashed narrow window out of their own pocket as they were worried about getting dropped by their insurance company. Plus, their insurance deductible might be greater than the cost of replacing it on their own.
And, filing for the city’s Storefront Vandalism Relief Grand program is not exactly “a walk in park” either.
Get a grant for vandalism-related costs for your small business storefront. | San Francisco
Patrick Ascaso, the owner of Le Marais Bakery still hasn’t replaced his smashed glass door at his Sanchez street location from a burglary in December 2022. He expresses his frustration with the city by posting this note on his bakery window:
Back on Van Ness, I saw a muralist finishing up murals on the walls of 24 Hour Fitness which has been constantly graffitied. The graffities keep coming back shortly after they clean them up. Reaching a breaking point, the property owners decided to hire a muralist hoping to stop the ongoing vandalism.
Graffities on the walls of 24 Hour Fitness on Van Ness and Post
Brand new murals on the walls of 24 Hour Fitness on Van Ness and Post
The muralist told me that he has been very busy painting murals, just like glass stores replacing shattered glass of businesses around the city.
He says that having murals on your property is not a guarantee that your property won’t get graffitied again. Once your property has been targeted by taggers, graffities will keep coming back right after you clean them up. “It’s just like weeds,” he says.
As a gardening enthusiast, I know that stopping weeds from growing back is not as easy and fun as dancing with “Mary Jane.” You need to get to the roots of weeds.
