BAY AREA, CA — Vespucci, a longtime Italian restaurant in San Mateo, will close permanently at the end of the year after 11 years in business, its owners announced this week.

Dec. 31 will be the restaurant’s final day of service, according to a message shared by owners Manuela Fumasi and Francesco Zaccaro, who reflected on more than a decade of serving the local community.

“From the moment we opened our doors, this community welcomed us with a warmth and kindness we will never forget,” the owners wrote. “As Italian immigrants, far from our first home, you made San Mateo feel like our home.”

The couple described the restaurant’s run as a “beautiful adventure,” acknowledging that it was often challenging but filled with meaningful connections, friendships and lasting memories. They thanked customers for celebrating milestones with them and for supporting the business over the years.

“This decision hasn’t been easy, but we know it is the right one for us at this time,” they said.

Vespucci has been a fixture in San Mateo’s dining scene since opening in 2015, offering Italian cuisine and serving as a neighborhood gathering spot for residents and regulars alike.

Inside, all of the artworks displayed were created by Maestro Vittorio Fumasi, with several pieces having been exhibited in major art shows in Italy and internationally. While some works predate the restaurant, others — including the low-relief piece “Italy” and the high-relief portraits of Vespucci — were commissioned specifically for the space.

Fumasi has also adorned Vespucci’s dining tables with her own artwork, and said some of those pieces will be offered for sale after the restaurant closes, allowing longtime customers to take home “a piece of Vespucci,” she told the San Mateo Daily Journal.

“We are going to miss you all,” the owners wrote. “With all our affection.”

The restaurant is located in downtown San Mateo at 147 E 3rd Ave. The menu can be found here.

It’s been nearly 300 days since Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a plan to clean up the 16th Street BART Plaza.

To mark the occasion, Mission Local is adding a new tool for tracking his promises: A dashboard, updated daily, that notes the arrests and citations issued by San Francisco police officers in a 300-meter radius around 16th and Mission streets.

Our dashboard uses daily incident reports filed by officers to track the enforcement of common violations, including drug-related offenses or disorderly conduct. 

The San Francisco Police Department releases incident reports with a 24-hour lag. Our dashboard updates daily at noon to include the most current data: Arrests and citations issued the day before. 

While the number of incident reports may form the basis of official crime statistics, it would be wrong to think of them as the “official” count, according to the SFPD. There are groups doing outreach work in the plazas, like Ahsing Solutions, that do not regularly release public data quantifying their activities, for example. 

What this police data does show, over time, is where the police department is focusing resources and attention.

For example, reports show that in March 2025, after Lurie stated his intention to crack down around 16th and Mission streets, there was a massive spike in arrests and citations. This does not necessarily mean drug-related crimes increased in the vicinity, but simply that, spurred by the mayor’s statement, police officers began enforcing more proactively.

Use our interactive graphics to explore the number and reasons for arrests and citations issued, and keep tabs on trends in SFPD’s enforcement around the 16th Street BART plaza.

You can read our ongoing coverage of the crackdown on 16th Street plaza here.

Arrests and citations issued in last 6 months around 16th and Mission

You can access our archive, with arrests and citations data from 2018, here.

The calendar below shows a snapshot of the arrests and citations issued around a 300-meter radius of the 16th Street BART Plaza for the last six months. 

The darker the date, the more arrests and citations took place that day. 

The department continuously updates the status of incident reports as they are investigated, and it is possible that the official statistics reported by SFPD to the California Department of Justice may differ from our numbers. 

The data below should be considered the most accurate moment-in-time representation of arrests and citations on the day they were filed. Hover over each date to see the reasons for each arrest or citation. 

Drug incidents around 16th and Mission

Arrests and citations issued for drug-related offenses skyrocketed earlier this year, after Mayor Lurie made the plaza one of his targets to show how the city can make a difference. 

Explore the number of drug-related arrests and citations issued by SFPD around 16th and Mission each month since 2018. 

Data for the most recent month will always be incomplete (and consequently lower) because it includes only arrests and citations through yesterday, while previous months reflect full monthly totals.

Drug incidents at 16th and Mission vs. citywide  

In most years, the area around 16th and Mission accounts for a majority of the Mission’s drug-related police enforcement. 

In the spring of 2025, this area, which accounts for a mere 0.2 percent of the city’s geographical landmass, was responsible for nearly 27 percent of San Francisco’s drug incident reports that resulted in an arrest or citation.

During the pandemic, drug-related arrests and citations dropped to an all-time-low around 16th and Mission but it has recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

Most common incidents around 16th and Mission

The table below shows the top 15 offense categories at 16th and Mission, ranked by total number of arrests and citations, over the past 12 months. The sparkline — the small line chart — shows how each category has changed month to month, and the percentage compares the current year to the year before.

We use a rolling 12-month window (365 days from yesterday’s date), rather than a calendar year, so the data stays current. Because the dashboard updates daily, the most recent month will always be incomplete, but using a full year of data minimizes the impact of any one partial month on the overall totals. 

More than a dozen people were injured when a cable car in San Francisco came to a screeching halt on Monday afternoon, rattling passengers inside, according to authorities.

A total of 15 people suffered minor to moderate injuries after the cable car abruptly stopped without warning and tossed around those onboard, the San Francisco Fire Department said on social media.

Two people were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, 11 others were hospitalized with “minor aches and pains,” and two people refused assistance at the scene, authorities said.

Fire officials told ABC7 that an object might have been thrown at the cable car, causing the abrupt stop. Authorities have not officially released information on what led up to the incident.

Some of the cable car’s windows were completely shattered, according to photos of the aftermath. Video posted by fire officials also captured several ambulances crowded around the stopped cable car.

“Safety for our passengers on all Muni vehicles continues to be our top priority. We’ll be conducting a full review of incident details to ensure continued safety on the cable cars,” SFMTA said in a statement.

Cable cars first began running in San Francisco in the 1870s, and became designated as a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s.

Passengers on the famed tourist attractions do not wear seat belts and often hang off the cars, which are partially open-air.

The SFFD and the SFMTA will investigate the incident.

With Post wires