SF WELCOMES CHIEF GASCON

... with this amusing sfgate story about officials trying to shut down a so-called strip club in the City's adult entertainment district.

"Heaven," is only one of many such establishments in San Francisco, but

Unlike the other clubs on Columbus and Broadway, Heaven Mini Theatre refuses to pay off the police," attorney Gregory Walston wrote. "As a result, the police's planning enforcement officers began issuing citations against Heaven Mini Theatre. ... It is also well known that the other clubs pay off the police and other city officials, most notably the DéjÀ Vu clubs, who in turn allow the clubs to operate.

My dad (third generation) used to tell visitors that San Francisco is an "open city."

I figured he meant that vice was tolerated, as in any major seaport.

A family friend, who was SF's first female public defender, used to say that SF vice wasn't run by organized crime, as in other cities, but rather directly by the Police Department.

[Detail from sfweekly photo.]

I guess that "traditionally" crime families would buy police departments and use them to enforce local hegemony for their particular family.

As an "open city" the police department IS  the dominant crime family. All vice-operators are free to do business as long as they make the proper pay offs.

I guess this eliminates a layer of suction.

Ruth used to say that SFPD had an airport detail that would pick up mobsters as they arrived in SF and transport them to the Chief, who would explain the "open city" concept.

Years ago I spent a week in Philadelphia (first prize) and read a major public corruption expose every morning in the local press.  One I best remember was about mobsters ripping off the school lunch program.

And I thought, Damn!

When I returned to SF, I asked a knowledgeable observer why we have so few corruption exposes in San Francisco's local press.

Is it because San Francisco is a "clean" town? Or because the corruption is so pervasive no one dare (or need) mention it?

Anyway, big welcome to our new police chief. Good luck.

Curiosity about "encounter studio" regulations can be satisfied here: Article 15.4.  Highlight from the "definitions" section:

(j) Specified Anatomical Areas. (1) Less than completely and opaquely covered: (a) human genitals, pubic hair, buttock, natal cleft, perineum, anal region, and (b) female breast at or below the areola thereof; and (2) Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.

I wonder if that url is blocked by nanny software.

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