Published since 2005. San Francisco is a city that belongs to the people of the world. Hence this blog has a global focus. The name "Sam Spade's San Francisco" refers to an exciting era in the City's history, the time of Dashiell Hammett's fictional gumshoe and San Francisco character, Sam Spade. My name is Tom Dunn and I edit the blog. I'm not as exciting as Sam Spade, but I am definitely a San Francisco character.Contact or on Twitter -- Search blog below.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Hunters Point: Murder, Mayhem & Death Await You!
San Francisco's 97th murder took place yesterday in the City's Crime Central, the Hunters Point - Bayview District. A 24-year old black man was found sprawled on a street with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to SF General where he was later pronounced dead. For Hunters Point, home to one of the City's most notorious public housing projects and home to some of the City's bloodiest and most deadly gangs, the murders are "business as usual".
In the photo: SFPD with a corpse from a San Francisco shooting
Hunters Point- Bayview is not the only neighborhood in San Francisco to see gun violence. It also happens all too frequently in the Western Addition neighborhood, which, like Hunters Point - Bayview, is predominantly black.
Recently Lennar Corp. announced plans to move forward with a large market-rate home development at Hunters Point.Lennar will begin work on 82-units next Spring. Eventually Lennar hopes to build 1,600 homes at Hunter's Point. The folks at Lennar either need to rack-up a major loss for tax purposes or they are absolutely insane to build homes in an area that is roughly as safe as living in downtown Baghdad.
Whoever in the world will be naive and dense enough to actually buy one of the Lennar homes at Hunters Point is a point of speculation to many. Lennar is going to have to find deaf, dumb and blind buyers who have no way of knowing what's really going on at Hunters Point. Either that or Lennar is going to have to give the damn homes away.
One thing is for sure: no sensible San Franciscan would seriously consider buying a home and moving out to the Hunters Point - Bayview district with crime stats like we see coming in on a daily basis. Lennar and the people who are trying to promote Hunters Point and the Bayview will not like hearing that - but - it is true and home buyers are entitled to the truth - without corporate spin jobs to bend and twist the truth.
Black communities in San Francisco (as well as in Oakland and Richmond) suffer the highest losses when it comes to gang wars, shootings, assaults and drug-related crimes. They also suffer the lowest incomes, poorest jobs and bleakest futures. It is a problem for which we are all responsible, regardless of where in the City we live.
It is our responsibility to help the families and law-abiding people who live in the Hunters Point - Bayview. Unfortunately for some of those families it means we're going to have to send some of their sons off to prison, but in the long run, by so doing, we can improve the community for everyone.
A massive expansion of the existing City College of San Francisco campus in the Bayview would be a tremendous help to providing job training and career programs to Hunters Point - Bayview residents. Providing financial assistance and other forms of help to churches would also be an extremely beneficial move. The most important core community in Hunters Point - Bayview are the church people.
However, murders are not exclusive to Hunters Point - Bayview and the Western Addition. This past Saturday two Latino immigrants were shot dead near 18th and Van Ness in the Mission District.
The last time the city had more than 97 homicides in one year was in 1995. That year San Francisco reported 104 killings.
Other Hunters Point - Bayview stories from the archives:
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