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Jul 13, 2023

S.F. couple says catalytic converter theft pushed them over the edge

Alison Gerken (left) and her wife, Amanda, pose on Rhode Island Street in San

Alison Gerken (left) and her wife, Amanda, pose on Rhode Island Street in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. It was here, near her residence, that Gerken had her catalytic converter stolen, preventing her from moving her car and resulting in hundreds of dollars in tickets.

I’ve heard the refrain a lot lately: I love San Francisco, but it doesn't seem to love me back.

That's the sentiment of Alison Gerken and her wife, Amanda Arguile, who rejoiced when they got jobs in the veterinary field, bringing them back to San Francisco from Florida and its miserable anti-LGBTQ politics last fall after a three-year break. They missed the freedom, the weather, the beauty, the quirky small businesses and the easy road trips to the redwoods, Napa, Tahoe and Yosemite. They missed their home.

Then reality struck in the form of a swiped catalytic converter, a theft that ended up revealing a surprising amount about their new, old city. The saga that followed the crime reminded them of what's not working in San Francisco — and convinced them to leave for good.

The story began Nov. 7, a month after Gerken, a veterinarian with the San Francisco SPCA, finally paid off her gray 2013 Toyota Prius, celebrating with champagne. But the fizzy feelings evaporated that morning when she went to move the car, parked on Rhode Island and 22nd Streets near her Potrero Hill home, for street cleaning.

She noticed a piece of metal with wires coming out of it on the ground next to her car and when she turned on the vehicle, she said, "it sounded like a jet engine."

Turns out thieves had swiped her catalytic converter, causing other damage in the process. It's an increasingly common crime in San Francisco and around the country. Hybrid cars like Toyota Priuses are disproportionately targeted because catalytic converters on those vehicles have a higher quantity of precious metals and fetch more money on the black market.

She was reluctant to drive the car on the neighborhood's steep hills and ran inside to call the police non-emergency number to report the theft and file a police report online. By the time she got back to her car, it had a street sweeping ticket — one she felt sure would be dismissed if she explained what happened. It wasn't.

She provided the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency with the police report number, but didn't receive the actual police report until 11 days later. That's apparently where she went wrong, SFMTA spokespeople told me. She needed to provide the actual police report, not just the number, though she said no official ever told her that.

"If evidence is what the city needs to help us out in this situation, then they should have sent an officer to verify that my catalytic converter was stolen," Gerken said, noting she heard nothing from police after filing her report.

Officer Robert Rueca, a police spokesperson, said all catalytic converter thefts are investigated.

"It is an open investigation," he told me of Gerken's case. "We are unable to provide further details at this time."

Gerken had the right to further contest the parking ticket at a hearing, but figured the outcome wouldn't change and her time was more valuable than the $87 fine. So she paid it.

Meanwhile, she learned from the local Toyota dealership that, because so many Prius owners were seeking catalytic converter replacements, the waiting list was months long. I called San Francisco Toyota on Tuesday morning to ask how long it would take to get a catalytic converter for a 2013 Prius, and the parts department worker who answered the phone let out a long whistle. "Five or six months," he said.

Gerken added her name to the waiting list in November and never heard anything back. She tried finding catalytic converters for sale on-line, but couldn't find any local mechanics who would install second-hand parts.

Politicians are trying to address the rise in catalytic converter thefts. Gov. Gavin Newsom last fall signed legislation making it illegal to buy catalytic converters from anyone other than licensed car dismantlers or dealers. That seems like a good idea, but it also meant Gerken had no choice but to wait on the long Toyota list.

Mechanics did tell her it was safe to move her car so she tried moving it weekly for street cleaning, though the engine got louder and louder and she had almost no power to maneuver the hills.

She hated moving the car, and her wife, Arguile, often did it for her.

"It sounded like I was driving in NASCAR," Arguile said with a laugh. "I’d have the gas pedal all the way down and be going four miles an hour."

It finally died altogether parked on a steep hill perpendicular to the curb.

Gerken said she tried calling numerous people in the SFMTA, asking what to do, and they told her to pay for a garage in which to store the car until the replacement came in. She looked around for an affordable garage, but found none. Garages for rent in Potrero Hill were going for several hundred dollars a month, and she couldn't afford that on top of the $3,900 rent she and her wife are already paying for their small two-bedroom apartment.

She realized she had to get the car out of San Francisco while she waited for a new converter, and her in-laws in Nevada offered to store it for her. But finding a truck that would tow the Prius to Nevada for a reasonable price proved impossible. Besides, she figured, she could wait all that time, pay for a new catalytic converter and other repairs, drive it back to San Francisco and then have the converter swiped again.

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Finally, she gave up. A few weeks ago, she had Cash for Cars haul it away in exchange for $2,400, far less than its value before the theft.

Stephen Chun, a spokesperson for the SFMTA, said, the agency has "empathy for the hardships Ms. Gerken has experienced. This is an unfortunate situation, and we understand the frustration associated with the theft of catalytic converters in San Francisco."

"Inoperable vehicles, however, cannot be stored long-term on city streets, and owners should seek out off-street storage," he continued.

That makes sense, of course, and streets need to be cleared for cleaning. But it runs into the harsh reality of actually paying for pricey garage parking. Like with so many issues in San Francisco, there are no good answers.

Gerken received six parking tickets and has paid four of them so far. She said she’ll take the others to hearings. Chun said that if Gerken provides the SFMTA with the police report, rather than just the number, "We would be happy to continue looking into this." Gerken has the report and said she’ll provide it to the SFMTA.

Gerken used to love California, having moved from her native Maryland to attend vet school at UC Davis and then getting an internship in San Francisco. She met her wife, a vet tech, through work, and they married in 2019 at City Hall.

They relocated to Florida for Gerken's three-year residency program and reveled in being able to buy a $242,000 house near the beach. But they didn't love the bland strip malls, the humidity, the politics or that they couldn't be honest about their same-sex marriage at work, constantly referring to each other as "my spouse" and never switching to she/her pronouns.

"We couldn't wait to leave Florida," Gerken said. "But coming back, it was this abrupt holy s—. This is bad. We kind of forgot what it was like."

San Francisco is just as expensive as ever, they said, but the streets are far less lively. Some of their favorite small businesses have closed and are boarded up with plywood. More of their middle-income friends have been priced out, and they have co-workers commuting from as far as Santa Rosa and Oakley.

The streets seem dirtier, they said, and open-air drug dealing seems more prevalent with cops just passing by. They see bodies sprawled on the street and wonder if they should stop to make sure the person is OK. Usually, Gerken said, she keeps walking, but feels awful about it.

"I feel badly for the people and then I feel rage toward the city. Like how is this possible?" she explained. "Then I feel badly for feeling rage. Here I am making it about myself and my tax money going to what, I don't know. Then I feel selfish. Then I feel guilty. It's a whole spectrum of emotions. Every day."

Nowhere is perfect, of course, but the couple sees that homeownership won't happen here. Raising children or retiring seems out of financial reach too. And so the catalytic converter theft, while a frustrating blip in the big picture, crystallized a sad fact: They can't make their once head-over-heels relationship with San Francisco work anymore.

They talked the other night about where they’ll go next. Sacramento, maybe. Or Tacoma, Washington. This time, their departure will be for good.

Reach Heather Knight: [email protected]; Twitter: @hknightsf