Safety

We're always on the lookout for ways to protect the garden. It's unfenced, so anyone can walk in at any time of the day or night, and sometimes people steal plants, break things, leave trash, pull off the freeway for a quick pee or just sit around drinking and being obnoxious. Before we had a garden there we had a guy living in the bushes for over 4 months, and while the love and attention showered on the spot has greatly improved things, we still get the occasional problem.

With input from our lovely neighbors we've decided to make a sign (see a mock-up, above) to put in the garden. The purpose of this sign is twofold. First, it tells people we have noticed and don't appreciate their nasty habits.

The second and main point of the sign is directed at the law-abiding among us: it asks you, the neighbor, to please call SF Police non-emergency if you see crime happening in the garden and report it. That number is (415) 553-0123 - put it in your phone right now.

Since Jim began organizing neighborhood watch meetings on our block, we have come to learn that our local police are great guys who are very responsive to crime in our area: they will send extra patrols around right quick if they get a tip off that people are being annoying on our block. They WANT to know, they WISH you'd call and they CAN do something about it! Our main guy there is Sergeant Troy Dangerfield - I mean come on, he's practically got a comic book superhero cop name. Don't you want to call him up? ;)

Now, if you aren't sure whether to call, but just have an icky feeling about someone in the garden, call anyway! Yes, that's what the police said. Call anyway. Listen to your gut.

And if you see violent crime happening - a fight, attack, mugging etc, well I don't need to tell you the number for that - 911.

Thanks everyone for doing your part to make the block safer.