STOP Driving...No, Seriously, Stop

I've previously discussed the preponderance of "STOP driving" signs in South Berkeley. Well, now it appears someone is taking the message a step further.

More than 50 cars had their tires slashed last night in the neighborhood, stranding dozens of drivers this morning.

From the Berkeleyside blog:

“This is the biggest tire slashing incident any of us can remember,” said Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Sgt Mary Kusmiss, who added that even 25-year police veterans had never seen anything like it.

No one's sure of the motive yet. It seems hard to imagine that our friendly neighborhood stop-sign defacers would escalate to hard-core vandalism.

Our street wasn't struck by the attack, and fortunately, I don't rely on a car to get to work. But some Berkeleyside commenters cited the scraggly weeds in this picture as a sign the whole neighborhood is suffering from neglect.

Photo courtesy of Tracey Taylor/Berkeleyside.

My God, I shudder to think what they would say about my parkway strip.

(To see my full gallery of stop signs, click here.)