Atherton, California is the richest zipcode in the nation, so graffiti there gets the police involved:
On Feb. 16, vandals spray-painted the message “F… the 1%” on perimeter walls, fences, garage doors, a gate and a car on at least nine properties in the town’s Lindenwood neighborhood, according to Atherton police Lt. Joe Wade.
And on a street in front of one house was scrawled in black paint the words, “Kill People.”
As part of its investigation, the Atherton Police Department contacted other local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI, Wade said.
Bieber H Christ, I don’t like death threats of any kind, but do you think there’s any more rewarding publicity for what’s probably some neighborhood kids than the treatment this got in the media? And why weren’t the CIA and NSA called? Is President Obama dragging his feet by not immediately declaring Atherton a disaster area? Does FEMA stock the right kind of paint remover to help the victims?
BTW, Reader R sent a link to CNBC’s coverage [warning, obnoxious, loud auto-play video], and the related links are worth a chuckle:
Villago Delenda Est
Dogshit like Perkins are asking for it. Begging for it. Martyr me! Martyr all the parasites of the 1%!
No sympathy here. These guys had the chance and the means to mitigate all this and do the right thing. In their arrogance, vanity, and pride, they basically told everyone else to FOAD.
What goes around, comes around.
Villago Delenda Est
Interestingly enough, graffiti is a much better analogy to Kristallnact than what Perkins was bleating about. Although Kristallnacht was a semi-official event, not a bunch of kids scrawling on fences In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, Reinhard Heydrich ordered insurers not to pay claims for the damage. I doubt very much that anyone in our government, at any level, will take that approach.
Mandalay
I expect that the homes in the richest neighborhood in the nation ooze security cameras. I wonder if those “neighborhood kids” were smart enough to wear their Anonymous masks.
JPL
No wonder why they want their own state. According to trulia, 4 million doesn’t buy you a mansion.
It was a stupid prank and no one deserves death threats.
Origuy
The Atherton Police Blotter is amusing reading. Some excerpts. People call the cops for anything they find unusual.
Jim C
Since when did āFā¦ the 1%ā or āKill People.ā rise to the level of death threats?
Villago Delenda Est
Mistermix, your links are not actually links. Don’t know what the problem might be.
These guys are of course missing the point with “Don’t hate me because I’m rich”. You’re not hated because you’re rich. You’re hated because you are rich and acting like an asshole.
different-church-lady
So, vandalism is okay as long as the targets are rich and the message is right?
Or is your point that if cities can’t do anything about graffiti, then neither should the suburbs?
Perhaps you point is that the SJ Mercury shouldn’t do minor reports on minor things going on in their readers’ neighborhoods.
scav
@different-church-lady: The FBI might be a wee tad overkill and if the agents didn’t burst out laughing when contacted, they were too kind.
Fuzzy
Atherton is full of rich crybabies who think a fort should surround and protect them from real life. The super rich of Silicon Valley.
bemused
I’ve read comments in local papers from local lower middle class rightwingers dismissing letters or articles on our vast income disparity as “jealousy” of the successful wealthy and I just scratch my head. These same people then proceed to complain bitterly voluminously about people who are too “lazy” to work, getting food stamps, housing and the usual rightwing bs sounding almost envious themselves. Bizarre.
Villago Delenda Est
@different-church-lady:
I think the point is if you have a large bank account, the authorities take a much greater interest in your trouble calls.
different-church-lady
@scav: Yeah, it’s really sad this is going to lead to Glenn Greenwald being more afraid than ever to come pick up his Polk.
Mike in NC
Never heard of Atherton. Is it close enough to LaJolla for these schmucks to seek refuge in Mitt’s garage?
different-church-lady
@Villago Delenda Est: Might that have something to do with the authorities in Afflusiva being different than those in Impovereshia?
Howlin Wolfe
@different-church-lady: The point was that it was a big deal to the sheltered gated community, as if it were a bigger threat than a murder in a less privileged neighborhood. Cities do things about graffiti, it just isn’t big news. Rather mundane. Calling the FBI seems over the top.
catclub
@different-church-lady: If we are a nation of laws, then if you do some damage to a rich person’s property or the same damage to a poor person’s property, the punishment would be the same. But the fact that THIS particular graffiti gets a report in the newspaper, and followup by the police, show what the facts of the situation really are. Let me know when similar effort is made to track down graffiti on walls in poor neighborhoods – and news reports on it.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Graffiti in my Southern California town only makes the newspaper when they arrest someone for it. And that link is to our local paper — the coverage this graffiti got would be as though the story I linked to was in the Los Angeles Times.
So, yeah, a suburban graffiti story in a major regional newspaper is kinda overkill.
Mnemosyne
@Mike in NC:
Opposite direction — it’s up in Silicon Valley near-ish to Palo Alto.
Villago Delenda Est
@Howlin Wolfe:
I’m wondering why you’d call in the FBI on something that is purely local, unless the graffiti artists crossed state lines to do their thing.
Oh, I think I know! It’s terrorism! Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Culture of Truth
What federal laws were broken here?
Origuy
@Mike in NC: Nowhere near La Jolla. Between San Francisco and San Jose. Lots of Old Money. It has a Caltrain station that is used primarily by the servants of the residents (who wouldn’t be caught dead on public transportation.)
Edited to correct tense. The station is still in use.
Jim C
@Mike in NC: It’s about 473 miles away.
So … not really.
Mnemosyne
@Culture of Truth:
They threatened rich people. What, that’s not a federal crime?
different-church-lady
@catclub:
I’d say my ire would be better spent on the systemic issues that lead to that condition, rather than a bunch of rich ninnies overreaction.
Culture of Truth
@Mnemosyne: They threatened rich people. What, thatās not a federal crime?
If it were, most rich people would be in jail. The federal code specifically states it must be ‘poor people’ threatening the rich people.
Jamey
How many steps separate Krylon from Zyklon-B?
Bighorn Ordovician Dolomite
Mistermix–I’m pretty sure you overlooked Benghazi.
evolved beyond the fist mistermix
@different-church-lady:
I’m still waiting for CNBC to cover the graffiti over at the school, and for the FBI’s report.
evolved beyond the fist mistermix
@Villago Delenda Est:
I just took screenshots of the links to spare you the pain of going to CNBC, but if you want to see them, go to the CNBC story and the links are there.
Cassidy
@different-church-lady: I’m gonna go with what feels god and say I’m cool up to heads on pikes.
Cassidy
@Cassidy: feels good
boatboy_srq
@Mike in NC: No, but it’s close enough to Sausalito and Tiburon for those volk to run and hide in the redwoods.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Federal judge strikes down Texas gay marriage ban.
Villago Delenda Est
@evolved beyond the fist mistermix:
Ah, OK, ty! They showed up as blue (a link) on my browser, so it’s confoozling. But you’ve got an overall link to send us to neverland.
Jeffro
OMG, they called the FBI inā¦holy cow…
different-church-lady
@Cassidy: Sure, but whose?
Herbal Infusion Bagger
..and there’s also Woodside, for the VCs who can’t stand the urban grit of Atherton.
Cassidy
@different-church-lady: Eh, start with the bankers and Galtian jerb creators. If we don’t run out of steam by then, I’m sure we can think of something.
billgerat
I wish I lived in a neighborhood where the worst thing I had to worry about was a banana, chocolate and whipping cream being found on a vehicle.
Trollhattan
They probably used a paint color that violated the CC&Rs, making the crime far moar worser.
Atherton’s s nice little enclave, to be sure. A buddy turned down the city manager job, which would have been fun–like watching the rich reside in a big Skinner box. He relished the notion of living near Willie Mays, but decided he couldn’t endure the politics over the long haul. Given his temperment, the right choice.
Chris
@Villago Delenda Est:
This.
The prospect of a French Revolution like outcome in this country remains vanishingly small, but the rich are doing everything in their power to make that the only possible outcome. It’s really not that hard to keep the Little People well-off enough to make sure they don’t get violent – Bismark figured that out ages ago. But American elites have such a lunatic entitlement mentality that even minimal gestures towards their lessers are abhorrent to them. They just can’t do it – it’s a matter of principle. It’s not enough to be the richest and most influential people in society; everyone else has to be reduced to utter serfdom, too. And it’s not enough for everyone else to be reduced to utter serfdom; they have to like it, and say so loud and proud and often. And if rich people saying things like Romney’s 47% comment, Ron Paul’s “people without health insurance should die” or Herman Cain’s “blame yourselves” get even one single line of criticism against it, that’s an affront against their natural rights.
feebog
@Chris:
I guess what chaps my hide is that so many of these assholes are simply silver spooners. The Koch Brothers, the Waltons, Donald Trump, all inherited vast amounts of wealth, and really never had to work for any of it. They have simply turned huge fortunes into larger fortunes. So they donate a few million here or there and pretend to be philanthropic, and expect to be admired and fawned over. Sorry, they are pampered, out of touch whiners who would not know an honest days work if it kicked them in the ass.
Chris
@feebog:
That’s one thing, and the other one I keep coming back to is how many of them have all that money but don’t produce anything. At least robber barons in the nineteenth century had companies that produced things – railroads, coal, oil, cars – that were of use to the public. What did Bain Capital ever produce? Or any of the rest of these people who either run casinos with other people’s money or intentionally target companies to profit from their destruction?
Nutella
@Origuy:
Two from the Atherton police blotter:
“A pedestrian was reported after midnight wearing black pants and a white dress shirt.”
“A person seen walking at midday for two days in a row was contacted and determined to be using lunch breaks to get some exercise.”
These remind me of the case from 10 or so years ago in Los Angeles. (Sorry, can’t find a link.) A guy in LA liked to go for long walks after dark. He was a respectable middle-class businessman who just liked walking. Police pulled him in many, many times for walking. After a while they knew who he was and that he wasn’t doing anything except walking but they continued to haul him down to the police station for it. He sued to establish his right to be a pedestrian and LA fought it all the way up to the Supreme Court which ruled in the pedestrian’s favor.
(You’ll can probably guess what race the respectable middle-class businessman belonged to.)
America, where you know you’re free!
Tone in DC
Very loudly and very often. Years ago I worked for a large government contractor, in DC’s number one money maker, litigation. The brass told the staff on more than a few occasions how lucky we all were (overqualified and all) to have a job.
Looking back on that, I’m kind of glad they finally laid us off. Some of us hadn’t had a raise in four or five years, and morale was below the floorboards by the time we cleaned out our desks.
Emily
@Origuy: My husband’s grandfather was a station attendant for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In ~1942, he and his wife (a.k.a. Grammy) bought a brand new house in Atherton so he could walk to work (either at the Atherton station or some other, nearby station). My husband’s aunt, now 90 years old, lives in the house still. I’m pretty sure that even a frugal couple could not buy a house in Atherton with a similar job today.
negative 1
@Chris: The point of protesting was that there were 10,000 angry people outside of your house. They didn’t need to burn it down to prove that they were going to. The implicit threat is forgotten, so the reason that the 1% who own this country listen to the rest of us is… oh yeah, they don’t. Maybe the next protest should remind everyone.
FWIW I/my job has received more than one directed death threat. Not ‘kill people’ but ‘I’m going to kill you’. The local cops barely responded. The FBI wasn’t involved.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
“‘Cause I’m a sick of your complainin’
About how many bills
And I’m sick of all your bitchin’
Bout your poodles and your pills
And I just can’t see no humour
About your way of life
And I think I can do more for you
With this here fork and knife”…
Mike G
@Trollhattan:
Formula 1 racing has been called a “kindergarten for millionaires” for the whining antics of its pampered drivers, but I think being city manager for Atherton would be even more so.
Talentless Hack
Romanes eunt domus.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tone in DC:
I’m sure the brass didn’t suffer from a dearth of raises. Nope, not likely.
Tokyokie
@Nutella: I think you’re thinking of Kolender v. Lawson, in which the Supreme Court found that police demanding identification from otherwise law-abiding citizens was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Edward Lawson was from San Diego, not Los Angeles, and he liked to walk, like miles every day, and when a black guy in dreadlocks was seen strolling through the tony neighborhoods, residents freaked out and called the cops.
thalarctos (not the other one)
@Mike G: Formula 1 racing may well be “kindergarten for millionaires”, but being mayor of Atherton does not carry any substantial risk of sudden, violent death.
Anna in PDX
@Jim C: Yeah, “Kill people” is pretty vague for a threat. I would call it more of a suggestion.
opiejeanne
@Nutella: Aw, hell, Ray Bradbury talked about being stopped by a cop for walking, and wrote a short story called The Pedestrian. This was 1951. I remember him telling this story at my HS in the late 60s.
From Wikipedia: In an interview, Bradbury revealed that the inspiration for the story came when he was walking down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles with a friend. On their walk, a police cruiser pulled up and asked what they were doing. Bradbury answered, “Well, we’re putting one foot in front of the other.” The policemen didn’t appreciate Ray’s joke and became suspicious of Bradbury and his friend for walking in an area where there were no pedestrians. After some arguing the policeman told them to go home and to not walk any more. Bradbury said, “Yes, sir, I’ll never walk again.” Using this experience as inspiration he went home and wrote “The Pedestrian”. Bradbury also said in this interview that “The Pedestrian” is simply the beginning of Fahrenheit 451.
Cervantes
@Origuy:
There’s no old money in California.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Uh-huh. Don’t know much about California, do you?
BruceFromOhio
Of course not. I know some extremely nice people that I like very much, and they just happen to be wealthy! And good for them.
If I hate you, it’s because you’re an asshole. Bank accounts don’t figure into that simple calculus.
@Tokyokie:
As designed. Such dependable models!
Goblue72
@Mike in NC: Atherton is where the wealthiest elite of Silicon Valley live – venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, tech executives and the like. Lots of mansions. The median income is over $250,000. Median home price over $2 million. It is the second wealthiest zip code in the U.S.
Goblue72
@Cervantes: George Hearst’s offspring say hello.
Goblue72
@Villago Delenda Est: agreed. I’m an advocate for burning their houses down and sending them to forced labor camps. Vandalism should be the least of their worries.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne:
1888?
Maybe you don’t know much about old!
mai naem
I laughed at this story. Sorry, I don’t give a sheet about rich people who are perfectly capable of getting and can easily afford security set ups to keep them safe. It’s the least that they should have to do.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
I guess you need to define your terms. What is the latest possible date for “old money” to begin to satisfy your definition?
Cervantes
@Goblue72:
Parvenus!
Mere arrivistes!