The 5-Fulton bus came to a gradual halt near Civic Center during the early evening rush hour, and the driver announced, "Well, it looks like we're not going anywhere. There's supposedly a bomb threat."
His tone of voice gave the indication that he believed in the threat about as much as he believed in Santa Claus, and he wasn't alone in that feeling as pedestrians clambered up McAllister Street underneath yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape.
Every time somebody mistakenly leaves a gym bag around City Hall, the law enforcement troops tend to get hysterical and jump into martial law action.
The fact that I can't remember a bomb ever going off in San Francisco in the 35 years I've lived here doesn't seem to count for anything. You never know what them terrorists are up to, never mind that local law enforcement can't even seem to catch a garden-variety murderer unless somebody turns them in.
In the fuzzy background above, you can see a mechanical robot lifting up what looks like a plastic bag on the Polk Street stairs of City Hall.
This happens at least once a year around the neighborhood and it really has become absurd.
My high school had a rash of bomb threats one year, it seemed like every week we had to all file out on the lawn because of some suspicious activity. It's definitely not the good sort of absurd.
ReplyDeletethe national leadership of my union was stupid enough to sign on to the "If you see something, say something" program. There was a flurry of enthusiasm from management that ended QUICKLY when one of our local officers decided to test the program by calling in a forgotten briefcase. One lane of the freeway and the Alexander Ave. exit to Sausalito were closed for over an hour at rush hour. The brief case was, of course, a forgotten brief case. "If you see something, say something" has been forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI remember the wave of bombing in Paris when I was a teenager. The theater ? Bombed. The mall my grandmother used to go? Bombed . Our Metro station? Bombed. Twice.
ReplyDeleteOne one the reasons I picked SF as a place to live was that to my point of view it's such an uninteresting place to bomb for both political and religious reasons. I love it!
Actually, there was small bomb in the front entrance of the Womens Building sometime in the 80s. I know, because for months after, some of us volunteered to sit "security" there in the evenings. Useless of course, but at least it wasn't cops. Then again, if we'd needed cops, would we have gotten them?
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. I'm afraid I know too many people who live in places where bomb attacks are a reality (Spain) to want them to stop taking this seriously.
ReplyDeleteDear momo: But we're not in Spain which is sort of my point. If you really wanted to plant a bomb somewhere in San Francisco, you wouldn't be leaving it in a gym bag on the front stairs of City Hall. You'd think it would be slightly more surreptitious.
ReplyDeleteI was in City Hall when this happened. Apparently they stopped letting the normal Public enter but allowed vendors to continue to come and go. (Money Talks?) We had to stop the meeting because the Public was not allowed in the building. It paused things for about 45 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI was out there having a smoke when about 3 deputies was poking around in the bag and then all of a sudden jump back and told people to clear the area.
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