Wednesday Observations: Clicker Pickers; Overpass Politics, And The Candy Man

Skipping happily past commentary on the national political front in favor of our continued survival we have a few things of interest to address going on here in the 24/680.

As leafy Moraga learned June 30 there are highly mobile crews of garage door Clicker Pickers roaming local cities and towns looking for soft targets and taking full advantage of unlocked cars and garage doors.

Our hoodied visitors cruise around until they find a neighborhood boasting high-end cars parked out in the open and – obligingly – left unlocked and they descend like locusts on a wheat field, looking for anything they can grab but most particularly any garage door openers they can find. Armed with a clicker the crew gets access to the garage and – again, if interior doors are left unlocked – ultimately, the house.

That’s why we’re getting reports from frantic homeowners recounting how they looked up from whatever TV show they were watching to see complete strangers rummaging through their home like college kids on a beer-fueled scavenger hunt. The Clicker Pickers struck recently in Danville, pissi… angering… the neighbors and getting away with some goodies while their victims fumed and fussed.

Police have engaged the raiders in short pursuits but, so far, no one has been apprehended and police have been left to issue “Lock your stuff up” messages – which is true but doesn’t mollify those who have lost stuff.

Also highly visible and raising the blood pressure of affected neighbors is ongoing use of our local freeway overpasses as platforms for demonstrations, vigils and/or protests. The aim, of course, is for demonstrators to impart their respective message to motorists passing on the freeway below. But, as expected, the practice has become highly charged and in danger of boiling over as groups exchange insults and neighbors pen letters laced with threats of litigation to their local councils. First amendment issues have been cited so, stay tuned for further developments as various factions battle for control of the overpasses like Union troops for Burnside’s Bridge (Easter Egg dropped for history lovers. Google it, kids.).

Lastly, today, is perhaps a microcosmic look at a larger issue in the 24/680 and Bay Area as a whole, the lives of the mobile unhoused as they traverse our neighborhoods and urban centers. We’ve come to know more than a few of them as we document their movements and lives. Some are approachable, others are not – lost in their respective worlds.

Among them is a sojourner who has become known as The Candy Man, one of the unwashed known for his habit of leaving pieces of candy behind for strangers or those who have done him a good turn. It’s not known how he sources the treats – and some have viewed them with a wary eye – but it’s become part of the local lore and woven into the fabric of the low-key world only a few people ever see.