S.F. picks up the pieces after raucous Giants revelry
By Hamed Aleaziz and Henry K. Lee
Updated 10:50 am, Thursday, October 30, 2014
A man throws an effigy of a Royals player into the air near the intersection of 19th and Mission Street after the Giants win the World Series on Wednesday, October 29, 2014.
Business owners were picking up the pieces early Thursday and assessing the damage that spread when pockets of inebriated fans ecstatic over the Giants winning the World Series let loose with lawlessness.
Glee over the Giants’ Game 7 victory over Kansas City on Wednesday night was tempered with frustration that, once again, some people resorted to a brand of revelry that caused damage and a response by San Francisco police offciers clad in riot helmets.
Amid a tableaux of shattered glass, graffiti and trashed streets in the Mission District, merchants, city workers and residents were trying to make sense of it.
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“There’s no way to stop it,” said Alex Delgado, 25, as he surveyed six damaged windows at a mixed-use condominium complex near 22nd and Mission streets. “If they win next year, it’ll happen next year.”
Kim Jung, 57, said he was upset that graffiti had been scrawled outside his diner near 20th and Mission. “I’m lucky there wasn’t any broken windows,” he said.
Jung said he was “happy” that the Giants won, but wondered aloud about why fans would veer into vandalism: “Why is it like that?”
Jamie Morganstern, 28, who lives on Valencia Street, said he found the damage disturbing but added, “I don’t know how you can prevent people from acting out.”
Zack Smith, 32, the co-owner of Southpaw BBQ and Southern Cooking at 18th and Mission, was also cleaning up graffiti. “It’s 7 a.m.,” he said. “I’d rather be at home, but life happens. It’s all good. I’m glad the Giants won.”
Smith said he had been at the bar until 1:30 a.m. to make sure everything was OK. He went home, went to sleep and came back to find the eatery damaged.
San Francisco Public Works employees were in the Mission Thursday morning assessing the destruction, taking pictures of buildings that had been hit with graffiti.
Officers and firefighters kept busy late into the night responding to bonfires, fistfights and vandalism throughout the Mission District, the South of Market area and near AT&T Park. They also investigated two shootings and a stabbing, none of which were fatal.
Police made several arrests. Some officers hit by tossed bottles and fireworks suffered minor injuries, and one was hurt badly enough to be taken to the hospital, said Officer Gordon Shyy, a department spokesman. At least one police car was vandalized.
Shyy said a complete accounting of the number of arrests and details on incidents wouldn’t be available until later Thursday.
Hamed Aleaziz and Henry K. Lee are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com andhlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz @henryklee
