That’d be the ‘loin . . . .

Today’s Chronicle features the tale of a tiny Tenderloin street that petitioned city government and won the ability to construct a security fence - at a cost of over $12k to themselves - to keep out the drug dealers, hookers, and generally family-unfriendlies that populated the homeowners’ doorways and stoops.

It’s hard to argue that it hasn’t improved the quality of life on Meacham Place. Some urban planning types look on the move - an increasingly popular one - with wary eyes - and rightly so. It’s not exactly encouraging urban renewal so much as walling off the worse bits. There were many times I wanted to create a dedicated walkway between my “civic-center-adjacent” digs and school, so I’d probably want a gate too.

What got me, however, was this graf:

The catch is the gate cannot be locked; city policy cites fire safety and public access issues. Although its two sidewalk entries require a key for admittance, the vehicle entry can be opened by sliding the bolt.

Um, thanks Chronicle. Not that anyone couldn’t have figured out it was unlocked if they tried it, and I’m sure that most people wouldn’t try to open it anyway - the impression of a gate alone is worth at least half a lock - but still . . . . Sheesh.

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4. Gone to the Dogs
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