By day, the corner of 23rd and Treat St is the very picture of San Francisco: a multicultural neighborhood with a park on one corner, a yoga studio on another, and a Victorian on the third. At night, however, residents lock themselves inside while gun shots can be heard ringing throughout the streets. School Board President and candidate for District 9 Supervisor Mark Sanchez thinks he has the answer. “When there’s a crime, whether it’s murder or otherwise, it should be noted by police that the lights are out." And indeed, broken streetlights dimmed the corner of 23rd and Treat until recently. But while brighter streets might make some people feel safer, one neighborhood resident has his doubts, saying "streetlights are kind of the last thing on our minds." You know, what with the murder and all. It's classic Broken Windows Theory, but will it help reduce violence in the Mission? Will a literally cleaner nabe result in a figuratively cleaner one? As they finish a campaign to asses and remedy broken lights, overgrowth, dumping grounds, and public drinking, it looks like Mission Police are willing to find out. It worked in Manhattan, so why not the Mission, right? Right?!?
· Light at end of Mission violence? [SF Examiner]
Filed under: