Date:         Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:30:18 -0700
Reply-To:     Daniel Schmitz <djs@gene.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Daniel Schmitz <djs@gene.com>
Organization: Genentech, Inc.
Subject:      Re: urban camping in sf
Comments: To: BenTbtstr8@aol.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I agree with Ben. You simply can't leave anything of value in your vehicle in
plain sight, and using your curtains is probably asking for trouble. The previous
owner of my townhouse had a friend's car broken into while it was parked in his
driveway...because the friend left a laptop computer on the seat of his car
overnight. Not too smart...

And I have my own anecdotal experience to learn from:

My '82 Adventurewagen was broken into several years ago when it was parked in
another part of San Francisco (near the Castro), and unfortunately, my mountain
bike and some CDs were stolen. I was just visiting a friend for dinner, and my
van was sacked and pillaged. So now I make it a point to not leave anything
valuable or visible in my Westfalia, and my CD player is the detachable face
variety.

I have not had, nor heard of, any incidents in my development of townhouses since
I've been there, almost a year now. But you have to be proactive about it. It
also help to have a vehicle that is of limited interest to potential thieves.

Dan

Benjamin Tan wrote:

> The best hiding place for thieves (at least in San Francisco) seems to be
> behind curtains and sunshades/screens.
>
> I have tinted windows in my VW Fox Wagon and had a (foil-type) sunshade. It
> was the perfect place for the thieves to go through my belongings without
> being seen. This happened while I was in a house in St. Francis Woods (which
> is a very expensive part of San Francisco) for a mere 35 minutes. Mind you,
> this was on Junipero Serra which has 200,000 vehicles passing daily. These
> guys must have been pros though. They got in and took all the valuables
> including my in-dash stereo without damaging anything else. They even locked
> up after themselves.
>
> Oh yeah, they took all my CD's except my business partner's copy of Madonna's
> rendition of Evita which they stomped & crushed on the floor. Was that a
> message?
>
> Called the cops. SFPD's response, "Sir, we get 80 of these calls per shift.
> There are three shifts. Would you just please call your insurance company?
> Here's your police report number..." Cute, eh?
>
> Ben
> San Francisco