Youthful San Francisco hooligans don’t exactly have access to a field of snoozing cows. What CAN they tip? Smart cars. And on Monday, four were flipped over in San Francisco neighborhoods. Reports the Associated Press:
[Officer Gordon] Shyy said … police were looking for multiple suspects wearing black hooded sweatshirts who were in the area at the time of the destruction.
You rebellious teens with your hoodies and raging hormones and pent-up aggression! The prank seems merely silly on the surface, but it could actually point to underlying class-based tension in one of America’s most spendy cities.
Police said they didn’t know whether the attacks were a prank or another episode in escalating tensions among some residents who blame the tech industry for rising rents and cost of living.
As Shelley Gallivan, who inherited one of the Smart cars when her 70-year-old dad died, told the AP:
“I’m sure hoping it’s just a prank and not those who are trying to make a bigger statement in regards to the gentrification in the city.”
Transportation recently became a symbol segregating the haves from the have-nots in San Francisco. Google and Facebook employees are swiftly carried to work on private shuttles while non-techies wait at the same bus stops for more expensive public transit. This very inequality spurred protests earlier this year.
So we gotta ensure equal access to public transit … or point angsty teens toward a bunch of sleeping cows. One and the same, right?
