Posted by kanan krishnan, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 2:43 pm

good job, mvpd. mountain view is a safe town because of the hard work of the police. the residents should help mountain view by not sheltering criminals bothe undocumented and documented amongst us. the food vendors in street corners are a nuisance to the public. their food may be contaminated and the crown around them unnecessarity blocks cars from making turns to their complexes and houses. i wish the police would crack down on these people. i am aware that they are trying to make a living.life is hard especially in this economy. but it is their duty to obey city's rules if they want to make a living here.

Posted by Bernie Brightman, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 3:44 pm

You like using that phrase "these people" huh?

Posted by Jenny, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 4:12 pm

I have a bone to pick with those vendors too. Do you think they all have a license to sell whatever it is they are selling? I need a job and would like to start selling some home baked goods from a cart, do you think the Police would look the other way if I started walking around selling my goods? How about a hot dog cart, do you think I could bypass getting a license just like they do?

Posted by B-ri, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 4:27 pm

Oh, who cares if he uses the phrase "these people" ????

I'm sure the man is referring to "those people" who are selling food on the sidewalks. Rules are rules, please don't turn this into a racial/socioeconomic thing.

...maybe I'll just open a food stand on Castro Street.

Posted by Jenny, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 5:51 pm

B-ri-

Unlike "those people" we have to play by the rules. How long do you think anyone NOT selling pork rinds would last selling food on carts? We'd get busted in no time. But just once I'd like to give it a try and then ask the police why they would bust me but not Jose? Why is it that there are two sets of rules? Is it because they are poor and have to make a living somehow? Well I'm poor and have to make a living as well.

Even if I got all the right permits, Mountain View probably wouldn't allow me to set up a cart, otherwise, why wouldn't we see more of them in busy downtown? There's one cart at the train station and that's about it.

Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 11:47 pm

I was there the night the police made the arrest by The Office across the street from Lucky's on El Camino near 85. There were 11 police cars in the parking lot, all with their lights on. It looked like Christmas -- very pretty in a surreal sense. I am glad they got a chance to Taser the guy before taking him in. At least he will know he is unwelcome in the area when they release him next year.

Posted by Another Dad, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 4:26 pm

Odd how the discussion immediately got derailed by the hot button: "sheltering criminals ... undocumented and documented". I regret my remark the other day (on an unrelated story, to my knowledge) about my distrusting the ice cream at the park... Only "USA" might possibly have reason to even guess at the ethnicity of the perps in this case.

Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Wow, I understand why people throw the race card when they have no real argument, but throwing it when race is not even mentioned? Dude, stop the hate.

When it comes to criminals, yes, I am a little dour, especially when it comes to guys with two counts of armed robberies. My bad.

But, since I am out on limb, let me take a shot at it -- these guys will be sentenced to 10 years which will get reduced to seven years for "good behavior" then further reduced to four years to ease over crowding with the third and forth year on a work-release program putting them back on the street within two years.