Since Capp Street’s closure to through traffic in February, residents have celebrated success in deterring sex workers and cruising clients from flocking there. But nearby neighbors say the same problems have instead moved to their doorsteps.
Residents of Shotwell Street say they have seen traffic and heightened tensions on their blocks as the sex work has moved there; they are concerned those tensions could escalate.
“When the barriers went up … all the prostitution moved to Shotwell,” said Joyce, a Shotwell Street resident who lives near 20th. She now regularly hears shouting or arguments late at night. “You’re just playing Whac-A-Mole.”
Though most residents, like Joyce, don’t seem to have an issue with sex work itself, they have safety concerns with its concentration in their residential neighborhood.
And while Shotwell Street has historically seen sex-work activity in addition to Capp Street, residents say the street closure on Capp caused an influx of sex workers to their blocks after a pandemic-induced lull.
Clients cruising in their cars have followed the displaced sex workers, residents say. Joyce said her car has been scraped several times by vehicles squeezing down the narrow street.
David Hall, the owner of Shotwell’s Saloon at 20th and Shotwell, said his parklet has been hit twice in the past month by suspected clients driving in the middle of the night.
Hall called the situation an “absolute shitshow,” and accused the city of “passing the buck” on controlling it.
“I’ve had my life threatened a multitude of times,” Hall said, adding that, so far, nothing has happened to him. But when he attempts to call the police and provide descriptions of the people outside his bar, he said he has faced threats to shoot him or burn down his building.
Another Shotwell resident who wanted to remain anonymous called it a “night and day” difference before and after the barriers were installed two blocks away on Capp. Now, he said, there are regularly at least three or four women at the intersection where he lives at 21st Street, and his teenage son has been propositioned while walking home. The influx has resulted in near-constant traffic — cars stop in, or speed through, intersections, and run lights. Loud or aggressive interactions between sex workers or pimps are common, the resident said.
“For a Slow Street, they drive awfully fast,” he said, referring to Shotwell’s status as a Slow Street. “It has been an issue, but it has never been so flagrant and rampant [as] since they closed Capp Street.”
On Monday night at around 11:30 p.m., multiple sex workers were on different street corners, from 20th near Capp Street down to Shotwell Street, where three sex workers stood on different corners across from Shotwell’s Bar.
Much like residents’ accounts, a mini traffic jam ensued as women walked into the street, and cars stopped to interact with them. One impatient driver sped through a row of Slow Street plastic posts.
Despite claims it is cracking down on johns in the area, the police department has presented very few sex-work-related cases to the District Attorney’s Office. The office reported three johns were cited in March, six in April, and two in October — most on Capp Street.
Shari Singh, who runs Ed & Danny’s convenience store at South Van Ness Avenue and 21st street, said that he has lost customers over the influx of sex work in the area. Most weekend nights, two to three sex workers stand at each of the intersections of South Van Ness Avenue with 20th and 21st streets.
“It’s affecting us financially, because some good customers stopped coming on our side to shop in our store,” Singh said. “They just try to avoid that area.”
Singh said people have sex in their cars, and multiple residents reported finding condoms near their homes.
When Singh asked for support at a recent Mission police station community meeting, Mission Captain Thomas Harvey said he was aware of the displacement caused by Capp Street closures and had received complaints from residents of nearby streets.
“If anything crosses into the criminal realm, you’ve got to call the police,” Harvey said at the time. “Know that with staffing, we might not show up that instantaneously, but you kind of have to keep chipping away at it.”
Despite a concerted effort to crack down on clients seeking sex workers on Capp Street, residents have not noticed the same level of enforcement on neighboring streets.
“When we complained, they stationed a police car there for a few nights,” Joyce said. Instead, she said, sex work could be sanctioned and moved to a non-residential neighborhood.
“The number of sex workers and johns on the street has been greatly reduced,” said Santiago Lerma, an aide to District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s office. “This time last year, Capp Street had hundreds of johns and sex workers on the street every night, and [now] there are far, far fewer.”
Lerma said Ronen’s office is working with the police department to ensure that enforcement continues on streets where sex workers have moved.
When police do pass through at times to urge sex workers or johns to move along, however, their presence poses additional issues for other residents.
Lamont Bransford-Young, another Shotwell Street resident, said that he is afraid of being perceived as soliciting a sex worker when he drives in circles looking for parking near his home late at night.
“When I see police, I go opposite,” Bransford-Young said. “The last thing I want, as a Black, gay, 60-year-old man in this city, is to be pulled over by police at 1 in the morning — because that means death for me, or my face down on the ground.”
Why not make Shotwell a real slow street instead of an advisory one, and put the same barricades as on Capp on Shotwell?
Yes, let’s barricade all of the streets in a 10 block radius and then watch as they all set up on the 11th street over from there
Yep, you’re getting the idea, corral them into the non-residential commercial zones on the East Mission.
Because then they move on to the next street, and so on, and all you accomplish is that driving through the neighborhood becomes a nightmare for everybody. That’s exactly what everybody knew would happen when constructing the barricades on Capp. The only way to make everybody in the neighborhood happy is if there’s a dedicated zone away from residential neighborhoods where prostitution is legal or at least tolerated.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the city said: “No. No, you cannot run prostitution rings in a residential neighborhood.” The city is incapable of saying no lest we piss off the offenders. Instead, it constructs another barricade, “slows” another street, sends in DPW to enforce the law, or just does absolutely nothing at all.
I have lived in the Mission on and off all my life, family home. I have also lived in many other neighbourhoods throughout the city and while there may be pockets there as well It always seems to come back to the mission. Closing Capp street, how ugly and messy it looks but it’s curtailed the problem for now. The minute they closed Capp and the police presence was seen on Shotwell St. the big question on our minds were, “when the police leave, and they will,” what becomes of Shotwell St.? Yeah, here we go again. Again with the energy that circulates with the blatant display of attitudes and flesh in order to stop the Johns. It’s a tragic circus. These guys often get a good buzz to get their nerve up to solicit sex workers. Often this is accompanied by the boom boom of the music at all hours of the night.The erratic driving, speeding, stopping, and racing around the block to catch up with their intended target. Most annoying ,the loud conversations and fighting , total disregard for other people who live and work in our street. Condoms in our driveways and empty beer cans, bottles are the least of our worries. My big question is what was the plan after they closed Capp? None it seems at this point. Shotwell street is a beloved street by most who walk and live here. A safe destination, supposedly, with its slow status, some people really put their lives on the line walking in the middle of the street, Noe Valley we ain’t. With all that said, we really have a sense of community, family we don’t want our street to be dammed up like Capp St. Yes, let’s create an area for this need. In the meantime we need action now! I personally know of neighbours who have been aggressively engaged and in a couple cases attacked by the sex workers and the John! What will it take to get this issue resolved once and for all, some one getting killed?
Let them have the Valencia bike lane.
I’m not sure if people really want police enforcement. Those arrested or cited for traffic infractions will be disproportionately BIPOC, leading to concerns of racist policing. By ending with a non-sequitur quote from Mr. Bransford-Young, the writer seems to suggest that any police involvement would endanger residents of Shotwell Street, rather than improve their quality of life.
that ain’t a non-sequitur quote. that’s a quote from a SF resident who lives on Capp st that is the topic of the article. please improve your reading comprehension. thanks.
The only ‘non-sequitur’ here is the one you’ve drawn up, which cites bogus & disproportionate ‘BIPOC’ policing. Why don’t you cite some real statistics of who was charged in the past, instead of spouting the same old ‘progressive’ nonsense excuse to not prosecute.
Let’s not let this behavior continue just because it would be ‘unfair’ to the criminal. Criminal behavior requires enforcement, whatever the race.
Perhaps BIPOC people commit this type of crime in higher numbers? Have you thought of that?
Have you personally observed what the race is of any of these people ? Perhaps you should go there at night and do a survey.
Please, please, please turn 13th street into a designated street prostitution zone. That would be so much better than what’s there now.
Well, thirteenth would be an easy on and off…..to the freeway, I mean.
Rainbow Grocery?? that’s there now…
Eleni,
I think we should make the same kind of bold move we made with Gay Marriage.
We broke State and National Law because it was the right thing to do.
I believe that San Francisco should lead the nation again by Permitting and Licensing Sex Workers and brick and mortar.
Compete with Vegas by doing a couple of casinos in those vacant skyscrapers and leading the charge for an Indian Casino Comples on Treasure Island which is the last serious piece of ‘Unceded Native Land’ we can give back and should.
The only solution is regularize and legalize in some designated areas like amserdam bangkok and nevada.
The closure of Capp Street seemed like a victory against sex work, but neighbors on Shotwell Street now face the consequences, with the issue shifting to their doorsteps. The challenge highlights the need for comprehensive solutions rather than just displacing problems. It’s disheartening to see residents playing “Whac-A-Mole” with societal challenges, especially regarding escorts.
Let’s move them indoors like the stolen goods vendors. Maybe give them $1000 to make them feel appreciated.
If you read closely, it kinda sounds like the problem isn’t so much sex work as it is cars.
I lived on 21st and shotwell in a family inherited building from my grandma. I moved out to a much better part of the city.
If I had my way I would have the morality police from Tehran come to San Francisco on a tourist visa. To them, part of the san francisco experience would be to clean up the mission even if it meant kneecapping the prostitutes and their pimps.
I’m so glad I moved to Colombia.
I don’t understand why the police are devoting resources to prostitution — a victimless crime — while doing little to nothing about retail theft, which is driving businesses out of the city.
Well, that is not true though, they lied about that to us, but they had to tell their shareholders the truth, shoplifting is not the reason stores like Walgreens closed.