EVERYONE HAS A MISSION STATEMENT

The mission District is being squeezed, and squeezed hard. Families are
being crushed between low-lifes and those who live the high life.

This most vital of working class neighborhoods, the heart of San Francisco's
Latino culture, is being overrun with prostitution and drugs, bringing with
them crime and degradation of all descriptions.

At the same time, the Mission is being gentrified by hipsters and
programmers, bringing with them coffeehouses, trendy restaurants and
sky-high rents.

If you want to hear complaints and cries for help, all you have to do is go
to one of the monthly community meetings at the Mission Police Station.

The meeting Tuesday night started with Gina Lynn Luna, one of the regular
cast of characters, having to yell, "Quiet!"

The first thing on the agenda was discussion of a proposed ordinance to
seize the cars of those who solicit drugs or hookers.

Immediately, there was an uproar about possible abuse of police power.

SFPD Capt. Greg Suhr, who leads these meetings, used his considerable powers
of personality and humor to keep the debate on track. He knew everyone, even
the anti-cop dissidents, and called them by their first names.

Only in San Francisco could you have a ruckus on a first-name basis.

One fellow said he works with prostitutes and he was afraid he would have
his car seized. He complained that someone he knew had his computer seized
by police and it was never returned.

Suhr waved a copy of an anonymous broadsheet headed "Mission Yuppie
Eradication Project" at the man. The flier targeted a half-dozen upscale
bars and coffeehouses as "Soon to be picturesque rubble."

Apparently the guy who had his computer seized had something to do with the
broadsheet.

"My people know who you are," Suhr said. "This isn't right. This is dangerous."

That was just for openers.

Later Suhr was asked what this Yuppie Eradication Project is. He said its
alleged leader had claimed it was a group of "about three, which leads me to
believe it's a group of three."

Let it be said, though, that it's hardly the biggest threat facing the
Mission. Just for starters, consider the recent invasion of hookers from the
East Bay.

According to Suhr, the prostitutes and their pimps and johns have swamped
Capp and Shotwell streets because of vehicle-seizure laws on the other side
of the bridge. Suhr said he'd just like to "level the playing field."

Over the last week, the cops have arrested dozens of hookers and johns (and
one pimp), but it doesn't stop the flood of prostitution. "It's like
throwing a deck chair off the Titanic," said Suhr.

At these community meetings, which take place at most of the district
stations, various officials speak on various topics and residents grill them
- - more thoroughly than a team of investigative reporters.

Bevan Dufty of the Mayor's Office of Community Services, brought the
residents a high-powered lineup of officials to rake over the coals.

Greg Grove, local head of state parole, and Armando Cervantes, head of
county probation, were asked if they were dumping clients in the Mission.
They said a quarter of their clients end up there, but mainly because there
are many residential hotels.

It didn't make anybody feel better.

Mary Gallagher, director of planning, talked about new limitations on the
Mission's upscale-loft infestation. Someone asked how long the limitations
will last. She said they'd be reviewed in 18 months. It's good to know.

Sgt. Dave Faingold talked about his new assignment trying to control crime
in the shooting gallery of the 16th Street corridor. He said he was shocked
at the amount of heroin use by all types of people - and he came from the
narcotics division.

No residents put him on the griddle. He was new at an important job. He also
was very big.

John Kennedy of the city attorney's office outlined the proposed
vehicle-seizure ordinance. He said The City would use civil proceedings to
take cars from those accused of soliciting drugs or prostitutes - even if
they're acquitted in criminal court.

One woman said, "The fact that I can be acquitted in court, and you still
have access to my property, that sends a very frightening message."

Suhr assured her that seizures would be done with discretion. She said that
was putting a lot of trust in the police, and in a Latino neighborhood that
hasn't always trusted the authorities.

Then a grandmother who lives on Capp Street started talking about her loss
of liberty.

"Why do they have to come here from the East Bay to my neighborhood?" she
said of the prostitutes, pimps and johns.

"I have to hear these conversations outside my window at four in the
morning, and not one word of them would be allowed to be spoken in my
house," she said. "I have a young grandson, and you wouldn't believe the
anatomy he has seen in car windows in front of the house."

I understood why people would support vehicle seizure, even if I didn't like
it. Their neighborhood had been seized.

As I left the meeting, an attractive woman with a lot of makeup in an old
Camaro asked how to get back to Oakland. I told her there were a bunch of
people inside who would tell her where to go.