Dateline–The Mission, SF

Bizarre Auto Theft Crisis in trendy Mission Neighborhood

Paxton’s has everything a finicky gourmand could want in an upscale urban bistro: organic produce, a rotating roster of eight top-notch chefs, and a masterfully stocked wine cellar. But the restaurant, which opened less than a month ago, does not have valet parking at least, not officially.

Julie Knapp found out about Paxton’s “underground” parking service the hard way. Late for a dinner reservation she had made two weeks before, Knapp double-parked her 1999 Lexus LX470 in front of Paxton’s. A neatly dressed young man wearing a white jacket and polished shoes waited at the curb. She handed her keys over to the attendant and rushed inside to her table without a second thought.

While the restaurant’s impeccable service and creatively presented four-course dinner surpassed her expectations, Paxton’s “parking service” left much to be desired. When she exited the restaurant, the valet was nowhere in sight. After waiting five minutes Knapp returned to Paxton’s and asked the hostess to call the valet. Dumbfounded, the hostess responded, “But we don’t have valet parking.”

Knapp’s brand-new SUV had been stolen. But when she called the police to report the theft, they told her she could not report the missing vehicle as stolen. According to Police Sgt. Kevin Bacon (no relation to the actor), “Technically, it’s not theft if you freely hand over your keys when there’s no duress or deception involved.” In other words, Knapp had lent her Lexus to a stranger and there was little the police could do to retrieve it.

As odd as Knapp’s story may sound, it is not the first time such a mishap has occurred in San Francisco’s up-and-coming Mission District neighborhood. While there are no firm statistics, the city’s police department estimates that at least a half dozen vehicles have been lost under similar circumstances in 1999 alone. Even more surprising is the fact that all of the misplaced vehicles were eventually found, most only a few blocks away from where their owners unwittingly handed them over.

Sgt. Bacon points to the suddenness with which the Mission District has been transformed from a working-class Hispanic neighborhood to a fashionable bohemian hangout as the impetus for the bizarre string of “zero-interest car loans.” Suggests Sgt. Bacon, “A lot of people come into this neighborhood from other parts of the city and they’re just not aware enough of their surroundings.”

Yet according to Eric Stefani who temporarily lost his BMW Z-3, most visitors to the Mission District are very aware of the neighborhood’s high crime rate. “Cars get broken into in the Mission. It’s a known fact. That’s why I was looking for valet parking.” Stefani, enraged that police would do little more than look out for his missing convertible, is now considering filing a civil suit against the city. Asks an incredulous Stefani, “Why can’t the police bust people for impersonating valet parkers?”

In response to Stefani’s complaint, the District Attorney’s Office says that its hands are tied because most of the reported incidents have apparently involved “mistaken identity rather than fraudulent impersonation.” Assistant D.A. Allison Cheek warns against a climate in which police are encouraged to interrogate well-dressed young men under the suspicion that they are impersonating parking attendants.

“You can’t go after a young Latino wearing a dress blazer and nice shoes just because he happens to be standing near a pricey restaurant,” argues Cheek.

For now, restaurants are handling the crisis quietly on their own by hiring specially uniformed valet staff. Many are even alerting patrons who call to make reservations not to mistake neighborhood youth for restaurant employees. Paxton’s owner, Bill Paxton, believes that the measures will only be needed in the short-term.

“It was a tragic misunderstanding but the media has sort of blown it out of proportion,” asserts Paxton, “Things are a lot more integrated already and it’s highly unlikely this kind of thing will happen again.”