The southwest 16th Street BART Plaza was relatively quiet on Sunday afternoon, with just a few vendors on the northeast plaza. Most of the action was on the west side of Mission Street, from 15th to 16th streets, where vendors packed the block, selling household items like shampoo or a box of USB cords.
Sitting among them, several men smoked from glass bubble pipes and, a few steps beyond them, a woman sat on the corner, hunched over, screaming into her lap. Next to her, another group of women fiddled with tin foil and a lighter. One man sat on a blanket, holding up his swollen hand, which had an open wound. Blood ran down his arm.
Nearing 15th Street, the vendors dissipated. Despite the multiple officers standing at the southwest 16th Street Plaza just a block away (and the mobile command unit, along with two police cars), those who remained packed into the street, smoking from glass pipes and folding drugs into tin foil. The street was congested. Passers-by pushed against one another, stepping over tin foil scraps on the ground to get through.
In front of the S&M Liquor Market on the east side of Mission Street, an unhoused man named Winx stood in the doorway, surveying the vendors across the street. He said the mobile command unit, which has been stationed at the southwest plaza since March, has affected the neighborhood in “any way other than good.” It has, he said, just moved people across the street, without changing life for those who frequent the market. “They need housing,” he said, pointing across the street.
Inside the liquor store, however, Ruhaan, a new cashier who has only worked there for the past three weeks, said that when he was hired, he was warned against customers who would come into the store with a sharp object, and leave without paying. But Ruhaan says that since the command unit has been parked at the plaza, the store has not been robbed. As he talked, a long line formed, with shoppers buying alcohol, handing Ruhaan cash and holding packs of beer.
At the northeast plaza, a few vendors had all the attention of BART-goers to themselves. A man named Santiago offered a dollar for a baby’s jacket, and a woman sold melon from a stand.
“It’s easier here,” said Santiago. “Over there,” he said, pointing towards the street vendors packed into the west side of the street. “They have their own business.”
“ Sitting among them, several men smoked from glass bubble pipes, and a few steps beyond them, a woman sat in the corner, hunched over, screaming into her lap. Next to her, another group of women fiddled with tin foil and a lighter. One man sat on a blanket, holding up his swollen hand, which had an open wound. Blood ran down his arm”
Is the Jackie Fielder plan that HOT staffers should just keep asking these folks super duper nicely whether they will accept treatment and hope they don’t die in the meantime? And let them take over the public commons indefinitely while we wait? Because that doesn’t seem to be working particularly well for any of the parties involved.
Marina,
Great, now that the place is vacant let’s fill it with legal vendors and street artists.
I learned in a half century of teaching Behavior to delinquents that it’s easier to squeeze bad habits out of your life is to start creating and counting your new good habits (repeat something in the same way under same circumstances 14 times and the 15th time you’ll do the good thing w/out thinking … tie them together to create 3 positive Routines daily and you’ll be cured … lol) ,,,
Same here.
Pay some of the great acts who work Pier 39 and the Wharf to perform at set times weekly with a year’s contract.
Squeeze the bad actors out.
go Niners !!
h.