Since the Big Heart Video Cafe closed last year, I get emails occasionally asking where someone can go for sustenance in the wee hours here in the neighborhood.
One place still open 24 hours a day is the Jack n’ the Box located at the corner of 11th and Geary. It’s a favorite stop for late night ramblers and patrons leaving the nearby bars at 2am. [A couple of commenters also pointed out that the Subway shop on Geary and 21st is also open 24 hours. – SB]
But it turns out that 24 hour service comes at a price. The September newsletter from Safety Awareness for Everyone (SAFE) reports that earlier this year, former Richmond District Police Captain Richard Correia “reported the high incidence of calls for service from The Jack in the Box.”
Correia turned to his volunteer advisory board of residents to tackle the issue, also known as the Richmond District Community Police Advisory Board. The Community Police Advisory Boards (CPAB) are groups of residents and business owners who are selected by each District Station Captain to assist in problem-solving around crime and safety issues.
According to the newsletter, CPAB members reached out directly to the manager of the fast food restaurant, Saeed Khan, to brainstorm solutions. Khan arranged for a free security assessment from SAFE’s business security specialist, Furlishous Wyatt (awesome name!).
While examining all aspects of the restaurant, including the lighting, entrances and exits, parking lot, cameras and landscaping, he made several recommendations to the owner. In addition Saeed grew very alarmed about the complaints and hired an unarmed security guard between the hours of 10 pm ā 4 am on weekend nights.
The changes made at Jack n’ the Box have helped. SAFE reports that “since the security guard was hired and the security assessment was performed the number of calls to the police from that location has been almost non-existent.”
Great news all around. And yes, I’d like some fries with that.
Special thanks to RichmondSFBlog reader David for sending this in.
Sarah B.
plus, 4 tacos for $3.23. can’t hardly beat it in the New Great Depression
That’s great, but as the Trulia crime map shows, the real problem is the KFC at 6th:
http://www.trulia.com/crime/#!san-francisco-ca/13/37.77245,-122.42529/San_Francisco,CA/
I think the Subway at 21st and Geary is also open 24 hours now.
You forgot to mention the Subway at Geary and 21st that’s open 24 hours.
Their eyes met under the 3am striplights… life stories exchanged over medium #10’s with extra cheese… seriously, if you two ever hook up, you *must* come back here and tell us about it. š
The guard at the 24hr Jack in the Box is unarmed. Big help!
Serving as a member of the Richmond Community Police Advisory Board CPAB) has taught me so much about the neighborhood I’ve lived in for more then 25 years and what it takes to provide police services to it.
It was then-Capt. Corriea (now Commander Corriea) who told us about the high number of calls that the police had been getting for some time from Jack-in-the-Box. (Presumably, he has the stats and knows where in the precinct his cars go on calls.)
Police calls are expensive — they use a lot of the money we as taxpayers spend on the SFPD. Everytime a police car has to respond to a call it means that car is unable to respond to other needs in the precinct — or being the “eyes and ears” that help prevent problems. This is especially critical now, when the resources and budget of the SFPD are stretched to the breaking point.
For a local business to be getting so many calls that it starts to look like our police offers are becoming their private security guards should be a cause of concern to everyone living in the area.
What happened with Jack-In-The-Box is a true win-win for everyone: the residents, the business and the SFPD.
But for me, the most valuable aspect of this experience with the franchisee for our local Jack-In-The-Box is the realization that WE, the residents of the Richmond district, have MUCH more power than we imagined to shape the quality of our neighborhood. If we don’t like things we see in our neighborhood, we shouldn’t just complain to each other and throw up our hands, and think “this was a nice neighborhood, and there it goes…”
We CAN require that businesses be “good neighbors.” If they’re not, we can talk with them and get them to clean up their act.
Strangely enough, it turns out that business owners would much rather sit down and talk with residents of the Richmond district and S.F. SAFE, etc. than be on the “hot spot” list of the SFPD and the neighborhood they’re doing business in.
Cmdr. Corriea deserves a lot of praise for being willing to openly share some of his nagging problems as a precinct captain with us — and asking us for ideas about what could be done,then sitting back and letting us come up with an idea. And we’re happy to now be working with Capt. Keith Sanford, (who grew up in the Presidio!)
Thanks guys – I gave Subway their 24 hour props in the post!