A blue utility cart holds cans of Spam, a jar of Folgers coffee, a bottle of olive oil, alcohol bottles, a thermos, and bags, with a person seated behind it.
3:40 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

I wanted to go out to the 16th and Mission streets area later in the afternoon today so I could get a sense of when, or if, the west side of Mission Street transitioned from a sidewalk vending market to mayhem.

I also wanted to check myself. Had I really seen every fourth or fifth person with drug paraphernalia late Saturday, or was I just flummoxed by the amount of drug use I had seen?

I arrived around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, and the west side of Mission Street was booming: Still a lot of vending, but a fair amount of drug paraphernalia in open display. This time, I counted: Eight pipes out, three pieces of foil in use, one young man bent over smoking.

It wasn’t a great scene for the children who live in La Fenix to witness, but to be fair, the vendors immediately in front of the building only seemed to be vending items like used clothing, eggs and street food.

At one point, a police SUV pulled up on the west side near 16th Street. There had been a small incident and three officers interviewed one man. The mere presence of the police SUV prompted some vendors and those standing nearby to move further north. 

Sam, who I met earlier, was selling mid-block. His wares included a loofah, some random shoes and one package of Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn. “I gotta eat,” he said, and offered a short version — a woman, a death and drugs —  of how he went from being a general contractor to selling random items on the street. 

We surveyed the trash left behind by those who had just vacated spots south of him. “There’s not a garbage can,” he said in defense of his fellow vendors. And there isn’t. 

Downtown, which is largely abandoned, features large and secure trash cans. Maybe a few could be spared for Mission Street. 

The southwest 16th Street Plaza gleamed, and a few men and women relaxed on the steps around the entrance to BART.   

A preacher planted himself on the northeast plaza.  He got a crowd. But no one from the nook near the former Walgreens, or lined up against its Mission Street wall, paid any attention to him. 

The west side of Mission Street and the southwest plaza

  • A group of people stand and sit along a city sidewalk with bags, carts, and litter scattered on the ground. Urban buildings and parked cars are visible in the background.
    3:38 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People gather on a city sidewalk with scattered belongings, near a building and palm tree, while others walk by; urban street scene with graffiti and litter.
    3:38 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People stand and walk on a city sidewalk lined with parked cars and palm trees; a cart with bags is on the right side of the image.
    3:38 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Several plastic bags filled with assorted groceries, including bottles, boxes, and packaged foods, are laid out on a sidewalk next to a wall and a stack of cardboard.
    3:40 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A blue utility cart holds cans of Spam, a jar of Folgers coffee, a bottle of olive oil, alcohol bottles, a thermos, and bags, with a person seated behind it.
    3:40 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People stand and sit along a city sidewalk beside a building; a street vendor operates under an umbrella, and some individuals appear to be experiencing homelessness.
    3:40 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A person organizes belongings next to an open car, with various shoes, tools, and personal items arranged on the ground beside a sidewalk.
    3:44 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A group of people stand and sit along a graffiti-covered wall on a city sidewalk, with various belongings and tents. A car is parked on the street in front.
    3:45 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A police SUV is parked on a city street in front of a row of buildings on a sunny day.
    3:47 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People gather on a city sidewalk with some sitting on the ground and others standing near a table under a red canopy selling food. Cars are parked along the street.
    3:48 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People gather on a city sidewalk among scattered belongings and bags, with parked cars and buildings in the background.
    3:48 p.m. 6/01, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A mobile command truck is parked near an obelisk in a city plaza with people walking and sitting around on a cloudy day.
    4:02 p.m 6./01, southwest 16th Street BART Plaza. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

East side of Mission Street and northeast plaza

  • A priest speaks at an outdoor altar with religious icons, while people gather and two individuals converse in the foreground.
    3:50 p.m. 6/01, northeast 16th Street BART Plaza. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Several people are sitting and standing in an urban outdoor area with scattered belongings, graffiti-covered walls, and visible litter on the ground.
    3:50 p.m. 6/01, northeast 16th Street BART Plaza. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Three people sit on the sidewalk near a colorful graffiti wall, surrounded by bags and cans, as a person on a bike passes by.
    3:46 p.m. 6/01, east side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Caledonia Street

A narrow urban alleyway with graffiti-covered walls, a crosswalk in the foreground, and apartment buildings lining one side under a partly cloudy sky.
3:35 p.m. 6/01, Caledonia Street has a 24-hour security guard. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Julian Avenue

Two men stand on a wide city sidewalk next to a row of parked cars, with colorful buildings lining the street under a partly cloudy sky.
3:35 p.m. 6/01, west side of Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
A city sidewalk with parked cars along the street, a person walking, and a sign for Kailash Hotel on a beige brick building.
3:35 p.m. 6/01, east side of Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Wiese Street

Several people clean a graffiti-covered alleyway behind metal barricades on an overcast day.
3:36 p.m. 6/01, Wiese Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

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Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

At ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.

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12 Comments

  1. I don’t understand why, with the increased police presence, there is still so much blatant drug use on the streets. I’m not saying the cops need to arrest all of these people, but I dunno, maybe take away the pipes, grind found narcotics into the concrete, etc., make it less appealing to be doing this type of behavior right out in the open? This situation is still just out of control and disheartening.

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    1. Do you really want to live in a world where the police can just take your stuff away from you with no due process? I don’t.

      If you can afford to live in a nicer neighborhood I’d look into it. I hear Noe Valley is really nice.

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      1. What a ridiculous comment, on so many levels. You don’t have a right to possess illegal narcotics so there’s no due process issue if a cop takes it away from you, for starters. I’m sure most users would prefer that as opposed to being arrested.
        And not everyone can just up and move to Noe Valley, or anywhere else for that matter, on a whim. Kudos to you if you have that luxury.

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  3. “Maybe a few”. Feeling cute today? Go check out the mess on the weekends, it’s dumpsters worth of trash left behind. The blogoshphere would be in screaming outrage if this happened (again) at Dolores Park or Marina Green.

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  4. Have the various community outreach nonprofits we give grants to managed to connect with Sam and let him know there are other ways to earn a living and put food on the table than stealing? In fact, we hand out a lot of free food. Or is it drugs that Sam is “eating”?

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  5. That is quite a variety in that cart photo! Wonder if he will ID. I am reading this series and using bart from the 16th station. The fentanyl fold and pee soaked entrance is a lot cleaner and feels safer to be there alone. It’s hard to see real progress about the ongoing vender problems and whack a mole nature of it. Is mission local having conversations with the buyers of these products? I am kind of interested in those answers and what they tell us about the why here. With drugs we talk about demand and the vending we talk about supply. Are folks just addicted to the deal. Can they be persuaded to feel differently in the long run about buying stolen goods? I am just looking for more education here. I am not asking you guys to solve it.

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  6. Listen I live downtown and please tell me where these beautiful trash cans are because I can’t find any of them it was the one-sided politics that let San Francisco become the nastiness that it is And again it’s one-sided politics that are claiming to have the ability to clean up San Francisco and make it a decent place again I doubt that

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  7. I’ve been following your reporting on Mission for a couple of weeks now. I arrived in SanFrancisco, today Monday the 2nd. I got off Bart at 16th St at around 6 pm and walked on the east side of Mission towards 15th St. There were a few people hanging out compared to how it was during my last visit couple years ago. I ended it up walking behind a homeless guy who suddenly stopped after seeing 2 guys who were standing on the sidewalk and was handed down a little bag by one of them, a black tall guy, so drug dealing is still happening.

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  8. that screaming ‘preacher’ and the crowd around them didn’t stop the hooded dope dealer facing the street.

    an asshole #22 muni driver stopped way back from mission street and would not open the door for me while stopped at the light. apparently they chose to ignore the preacher’s words.

    as i begrudgingly walked 16th street, i saw some fruit at the market with a good price. however, when i went to purchase, i was over-charged (again). when i protested, a flurry of spanish conversation between the 2 clerks didn’t resolve the problem. a gentlemen before also purchased the same item (and was likely overcharged).

    all i can say is when i deal with street vendors selling fruit or vegetables, i do not have arguments over price like i do with many of these small mission grocery stores.

    why the fuck should i put up with these mission businesses that cheat me?

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  9. Campers,

    Anyone know if there are still Poetry jams Thursdays at10pm ?

    I used to go all the time with a hacker buddy and they rocked.

    Music too and we formed a big circle on the SW Plaza and I’d leave around Midnight and it was always still going.

    It would be so cool to have a small stage next to the Police Koban.

    Perhaps we could vote in a Police Chief who guaranteed it in their Platform ?

    go Niners !!

    h.

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