SAN FRANCISCO — A sidewalk memorial honoring a shooting victim in San Francisco's Mission District can stay for now, after a miscommunication at City Hall resulted in orders to have the memorial removed.
The tribute near 22nd Street includes candles, beer bottlesn and a cross on the sidewalk.
A short prayer service was held Thursday morning at the sidewalk memorial on Bartlett Street, the site where 28-year old Jonathan Bello was shot and killed last week.
"Spiritually, this is a sacred moment and place where somebody has been killed and life has been taken away," said Julio Escobar who's with the archdiocese of San Francisco.
Earlier this week a notice was posted on a building near the memorial ordering its removal, but Rachel Gordon with the Department of Public Works said the order was the result of some miscommunication within the department.
"We want to be really mindful and respectful if somebody dies, whether it's by hit by a car or somebody's killed," said Gordon said. "Whatever it might be, that this is a way for the public to grieve."
The order has been rescinded and that the city allows memorials such as this to stay for a couple of weeks, said Gordon.
