I HAIGHT the rain, and I HAIGHT Comcast.

Photo Courtesy of: carynorsworthy.com

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The Internet was disconnected at my house. Scary sentence to read, I know. The stupid Comcast guy, let’s call him Idiot Bob, “accidentally” cut the “wrong internet wire.” This truly couldn’t have happened on a worse day. Not only did I have multiple online reading assignments due the next day, but I was also expecting e-mails from sources for my CRIME story, and a Comcast technician wasn’t going to be able to come to my house to reconnect the wires for two and a half days. Awesome.
What I thought was a disaster actually turned out to be a great experience for me.
I try my best to do as much research as possible out on “the field” instead of digging for clues on the Internet (any journalist would agree that the couch potato technique doesn’t provide nearly as many interesting experiences). Despite the heavy rain, I braved the 40-minute bus ride into the Haight district to search for sources for my CRIME story, which is about the recent ban on the opening of any more head shops in Haight for the next three years.
To my surprise, there were just as many people walking around in the pouring rain as I have usually seen on a nice clear day.
I guess the rain brought me some good luck, because most of the merchants I spoke with were more than happy to talk to me, one of them being Jim Siegel who has owned a smoke shop called Euphoria Distractions since 1976. After speaking with him for a bit, I soon learned that he was the merchant that went to District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and asked for the ban to be introduced. I then learned that because of so many head shops already on Haight Street, Siegel’s business at Distractions has hit a low, and he will be going out of business within the next eight months. Ouch.
I learned of some of the shops that Siegel felt were unnecessary on the street, and also spoke to the owners of those shops as well, who, funny enough, also felt there were more smoke shops on the street than need be.
Conflicting ideas that are in agreement at the same time….interesting.
Either way, I finally got the Internet back up, and it was nice to be able to check my e-mails, so I could read ones from potential sources saying that they didn’t want to speak with me on the matter. Double awesome.