Plaza regulars today spotted a new portable BART police observation post at 24th Street station. A spokesperson for BART Police confirmed the approximately 20-foot-tall structure went up this morning.
The BART Police Department said the tower is one of two sometimes deployed by the transit agency, which “provide a highly visible deterrent against crime.” They couldn’t say when the tower would be taken down.
Plaza regulars are split on the new collapsible panopticon, which most viewed as a gesture of greater — or at least more visible — police presence in the plaza.
Xavier Hill and his mother, Danielle Robinson, are street vendors who come to the plaza most days to sell items. They’re put off by the tower, which they think is an attempt to prevent people like them from selling stuff on the street.
“They’re trying to stop my way of living,” Hill said. “I’m not trying to hurt nobody; I’m just trying to make my way like anyone else.”
“It’s a scare tactic,” Robinson said. She’s concerned about the cameras on the outside of the tower, but is convinced there’s no officer inside.
The observation tower’s tinted windows prevent someone at ground level from seeing inside. BART police have not responded as to whether an officer was actually present in the tower this afternoon. Other vendors, especially more established operators who sell their wares from tables, are more welcoming of the tower and its potential for a greater police presence in the plaza.
“Maybe it’s better for everybody working,” Marisol Bellagas said. She runs a coffee table on the southeast plaza Monday through Friday. She thinks that working folks like her will appreciate protection from the police. “There’s crazy people,” she said.
She said that the tower was there when she arrived this morning at 7 a.m.
The commerce at the plaza runs the gamut from city-permitted to black-market. In the past few years, it’s been the setting for multiple violent crimes, including a non-fatal stabbing earlier this month and a fatal stabbing in July, which was the third killing at the intersection of 24th and Mission streets this year.
This summer, the Department of Public Works has attempted to contain the plaza with temporary fences that push activity to the sidewalk. Teams of yellow-vested Public Works employees can be spotted at the plaza daily.
Passersby had mixed reactions to the new tower. “It don’t bother me,” said Edward Silas, who lives by Civic Center but takes the bus here often. “If you ain’t doing nothing wrong, you got nothing to worry about.” He also doesn’t think anybody’s really in there watching. “It’s a decoy,” he said.
But most everyone who spoke to Mission Local today shared one thought:
If there really is anyone in there … how’re they supposed to get down?
Update: As of 6:30 p.m. on Monday, the watchtower was gone from the plaza.
“They’re trying to stop my way of living,” Hill said. “I’m not trying to hurt nobody, I’m just trying to make my way like anyone else.”
does your way of living involve selling stolen property? lol then good
if your way of living does not involve selling stolen property and you have, like other legitimate businesses, clear documentation of who supplies your products, what are you so worried about?
Anonymous, do you feel just as strongly about stolen goods being sold on digital platforms like FB marketplace, Amazon, nextdoor, etc? Or is your anger reserved for mission street vendors only? My entire uhual was stolen over night from a gated hotel when I lived here, I guarantee you my stolen stuff didn’t end up on the sidewalks in the mission. marketplace, you are welcome.
my point is that it’s bad enough to make a living as a professional fence, but it takes an *extra special* and uniquely Bay Area kind of chutzpah to believe that you are so entitled to make a living as a criminal dealer in stolen goods that you’d whine to a reporter about how unfaaaaair it is when you get put out of business instead of, oh i dunno, finding a different line of work, or at least meekly accepting that maybe you’ll need to endure lower profits in another location for awhile
Two months ago our unit being renovated was broken into. The contractor and his associates had all their tools stolen. We made a police report. I suggested the guys take a walk to both 16th street Bart and 24th Bart stations as well as the streets nearby.
Guess what? On several occasions their tools were found both at 16th street and on 24th streets. Police were called on one occasion and buying it back after proving ownership worked. For many thieves selling online is not an option. Quick, fast money and anonymity render quicker results.
i have no idea what your point is with this whataboutism, but lmao yes, online fencing operations should also be shut down even if they don’t inconvenience me on the sidewalk
I think that’s a horrible huge problem and it’s the reason I don’t use sites like eBay or thredup or FB marketplace.
*moved here.
According to SFGate, the tower is already gone. Apparently it is a “roving tower” they use system-wide. It looks ridiculous.
This thing looks really top-heavy. It will be pushed over and hurt someone.
Had to take it down. The (phantom) cop inside had one too many coffee and donut “breaks” and realized … oh, shit … no toilet.
So symbolic that this ominous, intimidating structure towers over the people the police are supposed to serve. A few regular beat cops would be far more respectful and effective.
It looks like a primitive version of an AT-ST. You wouldn’t even need Ewoks to take it out, just a traffic cone.
Dang talk about police state. Hopefully it was a prank.
Cue the theme from “Hogan’s Heroes.”
You need a more updated reference for this diverse crowd buddy. Just saying
Hows about “All Along The Watchtower”?
OK.
BART Police … need SFPD there and clean M. St.
Let’s get back to basics and common sense. “Street vendors” must have street vendor permits, and verifiable proof that the goods being sold were not stolen.
Educate yourself on slave patrol laws… Street vendor permits are directly linked. Take a look… It’s in a book…
Why do police think it’s acceptable for them to hide and spy on people? If they want to be effective, they should be in plain sight. Maybe even talk to people. Maybe on foot? Sitting up in a watchtower hiding behind darkened glass is downright fascist.
what we need are new recruits from the I.R.A. to clean up the mission. Bring them here on confidential visas and turn them loose. They kept up the neighborhood in Derry when there was poor local law enforcement. If enough criminals were knee-capped, things might go back to respectable living. Down with community policing and feel good overtime pay practices.
Good grief the police are so stupid. How exactly is this tower supposed to deter crime? Is there someone in there calling down to arrest people breaking the law? I doubt it.
Just enforce the permit laws that everyone bragged about earlier this year. This stuff is not that difficult.
New York Times Square has those, too. Kudos for putting effort into making the streets safe!
This is not New York, it’s San Francisco. Our neighborhood is over policed and under resourced.
Under resourced? Our youth seem to have a fairly easy time sourcing spray cans and dirt bikes.
There has been a concealed observation window for police at SF’s Castro Station forever. It’s on 17th St. in a brick-facade building with gargoyles – look up and you’ll see a big silver window. It’s for use by police and DHS and has a secret passage to the station underneath.
On good authoritative info: Bevan Dufty will be manning the control tower.
Where does the guy inside go pee ?
I commute through that plaza to my corporate job, I’m not a prisoner. Whoever decided this was a good idea needs to be voted out. I said what I said. I will not stand to be treated like a prisoner in my own neighborhood, not with all the taxes I pay. This is truly upsetting and traumatic.
Traumatic? How did this cause you trauma? I suggest you revisit the definition of trauma. Throwing it around like this over something you find concerning, upsetting, etc., is not the same and it does a disservice to those who have experienced actual trauma.
“Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.”
https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma#:~:text=Trauma%20is%20an%20emotional%20response,symptoms%20like%20headaches%20or%20nausea.
April Fools!?
Weird joke?
Or the fact that we’ve had reiterated time and time again that BART is the most ridiculous, wasteful, ineffective, and inefficient public transit agency in the country?
Which one is it?
Bad joke …