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seanmcdirmid

Is SF really that bad for cars being set on fire via random celebrations/riots? Paris’s suburbs I get, but SF?

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Here you go.

2014: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Here-we-go-again-Gian...

2012: https://www.nydailynews.com/2012/10/29/san-francisco-giants-...

2010: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/sports/world-series-damage-r...

As for doing so on Chinese New Year? I honestly think this Waymo got stuck in the crowd at the wrong place at the wrong time. Waymo has a good track record and still does in my books, but this car shouldn’t have been near Chinatown on Chinese New Year. It’s just stupid that it was, and unfortunate for the car. Those streets really are narrow and yeah, it gets crowded, so I’m inclined to think this was more a crime of opportunity. A mob gathered, some of them drunk and/or edgy, one thing led to another, etc.

Also it’s possible I overplayed how much of this was an SF phenomenon. It’s the City I know best but I found reports of other sports fans doing the same across America and Canada when I was Googling those links for you.

> Also it’s possible I overplayed how much of this was an SF phenomenon.

Yep. This is a phenomenon everywhere. I don't have hard data to support this, but I'm under the impression that soccer fans in Europe are even crazier.

Ya, or hockey fans in Canada after they lose an important game. But Paris is special, since this generally happens every summer and May Day from kids just being angry.

Unheard of in Asia, however a skyscraper was accidentally burned out on the last day of CNY in 2009.

Yes. From just the past month: https://sfstandard.com/2024/01/02/4-cars-set-on-fire-in-san-...

Usually it’s limited to sports championships and other special events though.

I can't tell you how many smashed cars I've seen with rolled down windows and notes begging people not to trash them and that there are no valuables inside.

That’s different: it’s just drug addicts looking for drug money and the citizens being too nice to get their police to crack down on that. But lighting a car on fire for anger and kicks is something else.

I'm not sure if "nice" is a logical word to use in this context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

Be assured it isn't "just" drug addicts but increasingly profit minded criminals and misguided teenagers, 'etc. They smash the windows anyhow and occasionally set things on fire for kicks.

And there are more and more organized and semi-organized groups.

I can see some kids getting in on the action, but unhoused neighbor bashing in a car window in plain view is common where I’m at (Seattle). The only time I’ve seen it done otherwise was with Kia Boyz in a Fred myer parking lot, but I think they were just doing random things without much real thought (let’s steal some cars, and then go use them to try to snatch purses and bash windows at a busy Fred Myer on a Sunday afternoon).

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