Saturday’s Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco will be the main attraction to the Lunar New Year celebration.
Community members and businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown are gearing up for another busy weekend. The one thing they don’t want to see happen is the type of destruction from two weeks ago when a Waymo driverless car was vandalized and set on fire.
The incident happened near the corner of “Red’s Place” on Jackson Street, the oldest bar in Chinatown.
Red’s is the place locals, visitors and tourists from around the world come to watch Lunar New Year festivities and fireworks.
Jerry Chan is the owner of Red’s Place.
“So, this is ground zero. It’s no hidden secret. It's always been a tradition going on for many, many years,” he said.
But Chan said that two weeks ago, the celebrations went beyond anything he’s seen before.
“Frankly, the incident that occurred two weeks ago should not have unfolded. That's not Chinatown,” he said.
This week, he and his team asked for volunteers to come out and help patrol the area. Chan said he will have about eight to ten people in the area, in hopes of keeping things safe for people who are there to enjoy the festivities.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“We don't want any outside hooligans to come in and act a fool in our community because that's not what we're about,” he said. “This is the time of the year where we in Chinatown, we come together and celebrate, and thousands and thousands of people come here just to want to witness our tradition, our way, our culture.”
The San Francisco Police Department said it hasn’t made any arrests yet but the investigation into the Waymo arson is ongoing.
Police added it will have more officers out during Saturday’s parade, both uniformed and in plain clothes.
