Muni Diaries

Blackberry Breaks

November 25, 2009 jeff Leave a comment

Photo by Flickr user rwkvisual

Editor’s Note: Rider Eric sent in this diary on the 6-Parnassus, where he couldn’t help but notice a heart wrenching exchange on the Blackberry phone next to him.

It’s 6:30pm and I’m getting on the 6 bus to go home. Usually, on my way to work, I catch the underground, but coming home, unless I’m getting produce at the market, I like to get door to fucking door.

I nab my favorite seat-towards the back on the right just behind the back doors. I forgo my iPod for a change, look in my bag for a magazine I know I don’t have, check my watch, and slide down into the glossy brown plastic seat.

I look out the window as we pass Powell. There’s the standard crowd with pocket cameras and fanny packs circling around a group of street performers corralling the tourists like a herd. I think back to these two boys I once saw dancing for money on the F train in Brooklyn. One was moving to the beat of the other’s hands. As we approached the stop at Smith and 9th, they came around with a hat and people pulled out change without even looking up from the newspaper. When the doors opened, they ran to the next car. I watched them through the connecting car windows as the train went underground, the other one now dancing. I look back at the performers at Powell and shrug off the thought that I live in a town that wants to be a city.

I haven’t noticed it until now, but the guy next to me is fiercely thumbing away on his Blackberry. He’s young, unshaved, in ruffled jeans. I never understand why anyone would want a Blackberry if they weren’t a business man. It’s sort of like a 16 year old choosing to drive a Ford Taurus.

Did I mention how big and bright the fucking screen is on a Blackberry? So I can’t help but look over at what he’s typing, it’s practically in my face—“You look at things all wrong…that’s not what I meant at all”. He fires it off, drops the phone between his legs and stares ahead, wistfully.

30 seconds later, a buzzing tone comes from his lap. I try to make out what the message says, but he’s cradling the phone towards the window—unaware of me, but still hiding it. He reads it, lets out a sigh: this isn’t good.
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Category: WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: 6-Parnassus

Recap of Monday’s Muni safety hearing

November 24, 2009 jeff One comment

Photo by Flickr user Steve Rhodes

Our first attempt at spreading a Twitter hashtag goes straight to the dustbin of history. Oh, well. We tried.

Lucky for us (and you), there are some amazing blogs and great newspeople out there attending these middle-of-the-day hearings so that you can ~~keep reading Muni Diaries and Perez~~ stay at work and wish you weren’t. Here are some tidbits from a few:

(Streetsblog SF) Police enforcement on Muni is getting a major overhaul after years of inconsistent officer deployment. Under a revised Memorandum of Understanding between the Police Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, officers will be required to ride lines that most frequently have problems with crime. Station captains will now regularly present Muni crime statistics for their districts at Comstat meetings, where they will be grilled on why crime has increased or decreased. …

At the beginning of the hearing, which was called by Supervisor Bevan Dufty, several Muni riders told stories of experiencing and witnessing violent attacks and robberies on the city’s transit system. One rider, Tim Bishop, said he was attacked in January on a T-Third line vehicle by youths who were shouting anti-gay epithets. When he confronted them, he was beaten unconscious and repeatedly kicked in the head.

(City Insider, an SFGate blog) Deputy Police Chief John Murphy, Muni’s new security boss, detailed plans to significantly improve Muni safety. He said that as opposed to officers randomly boarding buses, a new Memorandum of Understanding between the police department and Muni outlines that officers will be deployed according to the “zone strategy” now used for all crime in the city. Basically, that means tracking crime hot spots on Muni and deploying officers accordingly.

And an audio report of the hearing, from KCBS.

So there you have it. Now that you’ve been a good online citizen and read these reports, how do you feel about Monday’s hearing?

Category: diaries, News

Muni Cinepoem

November 23, 2009 eugenia 6 comments

LaDonna Witmer sent us this “cinepoem,” which she shot stealthily on the N-Judah. She is an Outer Sunset resident and says that the N was easily her first choice in picking a backdrop for her poem called “Homogenous.”

LaDonna is featured in today’s I Live Here: SF, photographed and curated by the wonderful Julie Michelle. Check it out!

Category: diaries, reflection Tags: N-Judah, video

iPhone thefts on Muni becoming way too common

November 23, 2009 jeff Leave a comment

Photo by Flickr user Jamison

Ed. note: This is seriously the umpteenth time I’ve heard what amounts to the same story: at least two thuggy teenagers coordinate holding the back door open while the other(s) prey upon the (usually female) victim, who is texting or using the web on her iPhone, in a seat or standing by the back door. As this storyteller/witness, Mari, says: Be vigilant, and report the crimes. Also, if you can, please attend Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s hearing at City Hall at 11 a.m. this morning. The a propos topic: Muni safety. (If anyone live-tweets or liveblogs the hearing, let us know. The Twitter hashtag is #municrimehearing.)

Friday night, November 20th, I was riding the 38 Geary outbound and at the Webster stop I suddenly heard a woman shout, “Hey! Hey!” A kid (teen) had grabbed her iPhone and jumped off the bus. The woman and other passengers jumped off bus, too and to chase the culprit. Because she had gotten off the bus and left the scene, our driver couldn’t call police.

As bus continued, I heard witnesses talking, and realized I had seen the teens (approximately 13 to 15 years old) on the bus (in fact they were the only individuals under twenty on the bus). One looked very agitated and I almost thought he was concerned about missing his stop—he kept looking for someone behind him on the crowded bus. When he got up I took his seat. Then the iPhone was stolen. Others on bus talked about how the kids had been watching the victim and using non-verbal communication, had coordinated the robbery.

Saturday night, November 21st, I was again riding the 38 Geary outbound, also around the same time of night (around 10pm) that I rode it the previous night. I saw 2 teens board the bus around Van Ness, and I thought I recognized them from the night before, but wasn’t absolutely positive as this night one wore a low baseball cap and the other wore a hoodie with the hood up around his face. I watched them sitting at the back of the bus. As we got to Laguna one of them stood near the door and I saw him nod. Then a third person, in his 20s (per the victim) grabbed a woman’s iPhone and ran off the bus.

The culprits jumped off the bus. This time the victim stayed on the bus. I went up to the bus driver to tell him of the robbery and that it had happened last night and that I believed the 2 teens from the previous night were involved.

In fact, here’s the M.O.: an accomplice waits by the exit door, keeps it open so that as everyone exits the bus the robber can wait until the exit is clear of people then snatch the phone and get away. Both nights they targeted women and both women were not on the phone talking, but rather texting or surfing the web—which makes it easier to take the phone away with force.

The driver called the police and the victim, her family, and I all gave a description of what happened and who we thought were involved.

Please spread the word.

iPhone users beware. Especially on 38 Geary bus.

If you have an iPhone, be sure to register it online so that Police can track it. You must already have it registered for them to be able to track it in a situation like this.

Check out this link to learn more about registering your iPhone: http://www.apple.com/webapps/utilities/freeitracklostandfoundregistry.html

Category: News