When tourists’ cars are broken into and their belongings stolen, everyone says the same thing: “You’ll never see that stuff again.”

Actually that’s not true. Someone is seeing it.

His name is Walter Dawydiak, and he runs a high-end automobile dealership on Pine Street between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street. He also, as a favor to a developer, helps manage a large abandoned building across the street.

Because it’s abandoned, it’s a mess. Squatters get into the building on an almost daily basis, even though Dawydiak has hired a security firm and has welded some of the doors shut. There are hypodermic needles on the floor and graffiti on the drywall.

There is also stolen property. Piles of the spoils of raids. On Monday, we saw kids’ books and sweatshirts that had been pulled from suitcases. The thieves just throw them on the floor — who cares?

Someone does, of course. They are the folks who came back to their car after a visit to Fisherman’s Wharf and found their windows shattered and belongings gone.

Dawydiak says the thieves using the building as a clearinghouse don’t even have to leave the block.

“There are probably one, two break-ins a night right here,” he said Monday. “I walk up here in the morning and just count the glass. And if you go to the alley behind the building, it’s even worse.”

As we know, Mayor Ed Lee is concerned about getting homeless people off the street. They reflect poorly on the city. But what if some of the Super Bowl high rollers get their suitcases swiped? How do you think that will affect the city’s image?

Dawydiak isn’t concerned about image. He’s a lifelong San Franciscan who has watched these small-time punks for years. He even chased one a week ago, but when the guy turned down an alley Dawydiak stopped, concerned that he might be getting into a dangerous situation.

Dawydiak knows what thieves do after they make a score.

“When they break into a car,” Dawdiak said, “they duck into someplace to share the booty.”

One such place is the abandoned building across the street from his dealership. Two years ago, Dawydiak said, the place was “broom clean.” Now it looks like the set from a “Mad Max” movie.

Dawydiak says the guys in his dealership cleared everyone out two weeks ago, but they are clearly back. Mattresses are spread out, half-full bottles of soda next to them.

And everywhere are the remnants of what people — San Franciscans, visitors from elsewhere in the Bay Area and tourists — carry around in their cars.

It’s one thing to complain that there are too many car burglaries. It’s another to see dozens of suitcases, backpacks and destroyed electronics tossed on the floor. On Monday, there was a tennis racket, a kid’s electric guitar, cell phone sleeves, an empty guitar case and dozens and dozens of the kind of Tom Clancy novels people take on vacation.

There was a French-English dictionary, no doubt for a European tourist who thought his biggest problem in San Francisco would be speaking the language. There was a physics textbook, headphones and several boxes of crayons.

Back to Gallery Where stolen stuff goes: S.F. thieves sift loot in empty... 2 1 of 2 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 2 of 2 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle



Oh, and in the one of the backpacks there was a pillowcase with a large rock in it, presumably for smashing car windows.

“This not about the building,” Dawydiak said. “It’s about the disruption to people’s lives.”

Just as infuriating as these low-level heists is the seeming inability of San Francisco police to stop them.

Capt. Greg McEachern of the Northern police station says his officers have a difficult time pinning the crime on anyone in particular.

“We’ve had that location on our radar a long time,” he said. “And whenever there are burglaries or auto break-ins, that’s one of the first places we go.”

However, linking stolen items to the squatters is harder. “It is difficult to determine who owns what,” McEachern said.

He says the best solution would be for the owner of the building to find a way to secure the entrances. Unfortunately, he says, police haven’t been able to contact the owner.

Meanwhile, Dawydiak has had it. He’s furious with the city, with its permissive attitude toward criminals and the changes in San Francisco.

The funny thing is, he’s not the typical angry, put-’em-all-in-jail kind of guy. In fact, when there was construction under way on his building a couple of years ago, Dawydiak walked across the street and asked the squatters if anyone wanted a job.

A few guys took him up on it, and two of them turned out to be such good workers that Dawydiak set them up with job training. Today one is a welder, working in Texas. The other is making a living as a plumber.

It is such a classic tale of the city. So many people are ready to do so much good. But they get dragged down by destructive, remorseless street behavior. We are overdue for a win for the good guys.

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius