A group of people stand and sit along the sidewalk in front of a yellow building, with parked cars and trees nearby.
6:23 p.m 6/08, west side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

In sharp contrast to Saturday’s success in keeping Mission Street clear for pedestrians, on Sunday, vendors and later drug users controlled Mission Street from 16th Street nearly to 14th Street.

At noon on Sunday, unpermitted vendors flooded the west side blocks of Mission Street. By 6 p.m., some of the vendors remained, but pipes and other drug paraphernalia were nearly as common as the toothpaste, electronics, and the shoes for sale. I counted 11 glass and other pipes from 16th to 15th streets, turned around and counted 16 on my way back to 16th Street.

There was a lot of misery on the street; few of the denizens looked like they were having much fun.

At noon, I knocked at the command center on the southwest 16th Street BART Plaza. Two officers opened the door. The officers who worked on Saturday with the Department of Public Works, they said, were “sent from downtown.” They did not know if the teams would return. Apparently, they did not.

However, neighbors wrote in that officers in a patrol car remained late enough on Saturday evening to drive down Julian and other side streets with a message to evacuate because of an “emergency evacuation,” urging residents to “follow evacuation instructions.”

SFPD has requested a case number to explain the announcement. We will add any response.

We do these daily posts because Mayor Daniel Lurie has made the 16th Street transit corridor a focus of his effort to keep San Francisco’s streets clean and safe. Unless we visit daily, we have no idea if that is happening. We are also taking deeper dives into different issues, like treatment and community organizations trying to help. You can see all of the posts here.

Southwest 16th Street BART Plaza and west side of Mission Street

  • People cross a patterned crosswalk at an urban intersection with cars, palm trees, and buildings under a cloudy sky.
    12:06 p.m 6/08, southwest plaza. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People stand and walk along a busy urban sidewalk lined with personal belongings, goods for sale, and shopping carts near parked cars and buildings.
    12:07 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A group of people stand and sit along a busy city sidewalk; tools are laid out on a blanket, and some people appear to be waiting or resting.
    12:07 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Two men stand on a littered sidewalk; one is working on a bicycle near bags and tools, while the other stands nearby in front of a storefront.
    12:07 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Vegetables, packaged foods, and other goods are displayed for sale on a city sidewalk as people walk and gather nearby.
    12:07 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Several tents and people gather on a city sidewalk beside parked cars and palm trees in front of a modern building.
    12:11 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People, including children with bicycles, gather on a city sidewalk with scattered belongings and some sitting near a building. The street and cars are visible in the background.
    6:17 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Several people are on a littered sidewalk near a building with a "YOU NEED ART" neon sign; one person is shirtless and sitting, another stands nearby, and two are by a wheelchair.
    6:20p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • People cross a city street with yellow striped crosswalks; others gather along the sidewalk in front of buildings on an overcast day.
    6:24 p.m.. 6/08, west side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A busy urban street corner with people standing and walking, bicycles, a “No Turns” sign, and traffic lights; buildings and cars are visible in the background.
    6:17 p.m. 6/08, west side of Mission Street north of 15th Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Northeast Plaza and east side of Mission Street

  • Street scene at an urban intersection with crosswalks, palm trees, people walking, street vendors, and graffiti-covered buildings under an overcast sky.
    12:06 a.m. 6/08, northeast plaza. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A city sidewalk with blue and red tile accents, graffiti on a metal gate, parked cars, and overcast sky. Trash is visible near the curb.
    12:12 p.m 6/08, east side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • Several people stand and walk along a city sidewalk near a bus stop; items are laid out on the ground, and buses are visible in the background.
    12:12 p.m 6/08, east side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A person stands beside a bicycle near a wall with colorful graffiti; a large white rug with a box on it is spread on the sidewalk.
    6:22 p.m 6/08, east side of Mission Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Caledonia Street

  • A narrow urban alley with graffiti-covered walls on the right, an apartment building on the left, and a metal fence running alongside the sidewalk.
    12:04 p.m. 6/08, Caledonia Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A narrow urban alley with graffiti-covered walls, scattered litter, and a few people walking in the distance.
    6:26 p.m. 6/08, Caledonia Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Julian Avenue

  • A man in a blue cap and mask sits on a ledge beside a wide sidewalk; cars are parked along the street with several people gathered in the distance.
    12:05 p.m. 6/08, Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • City sidewalk with utility covers in the pavement, parked cars on the left, and storefronts with windows on the right.
    12:05 p.m. 6/08, Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A city sidewalk with tire marks runs alongside parked cars and colorful buildings on an overcast day.
    6:13 p.m. 6/08, Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A city sidewalk lined with parked cars on one side and a building with large windows and yellow tiles on the other, with utility covers visible in the pavement.
    6:13 p.m. 6/08, Julian Avenue. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Wiese Steet

  • A narrow urban alleyway lined with metal barricades, graffiti-covered walls, and a person standing near a yellow building on the left.
    12:05 p.m. 6/08, Wiese Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A person walks down a graffiti-covered alley lined with metal barricades and scattered trash; several people sit by the walls in the background.
    6:14 p.m. 6/08, Wiese Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.

Capp Street

  • A city intersection with pedestrians crossing the street, cars stopped at a red light, and a security guard standing near a building with graffiti.
    12:14 p.m. 6/08, Capp Street. Photo by Lydia Chávez.
  • A person bends over near bags on a city sidewalk beside an orange building, with parked cars and street signs visible in the background.
    12:14 p.m. 6/08, Capp 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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4 Comments

  1. Thanks for reporting.

    Of course it returns .

    Until this city , it citizens and government get serious and stop the drug supply , the addicts will keep coming.

    Addicts are addicts .
    Dealers are killers .
    Both are engaged in illegal activity .

    Persons continue to ingest poison like rats .

    This game is getting old .

    It should be able to be controlled locally.
    The harm that continues is not a joke.

    Anyone who enables this harm is sick and cruel.

    If the city , nonprofits and citizens wanted this to stop then it should happen.

    Actions to date indicate those that can stop this dont want this solved .

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  2. Day 9000, 16th plaza looks the same as day one. Millions of $ have been spent. Results? nowhere to be found. But the city would not relinquish on their approach to fix the problem; the SF ostrich has her head in the sand to not see the predators and the issues. Everything is cool and normal.

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  3. I walk those streets daily for work and it’s so sad to see kids and seniors having to walk around people actively getting high and around all the dirty needles. They have this police RV sitting on 16th and Mission for no reason… it’s getting worst every day.

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  4. Daniel Lurie is finding out what every other career politician already knew. There is no such thing as “tough on crime” policies allowed in SF. Even if the Police arrest, DA’s won’t prosecute, and even if they did, judges won’t incarcerate. And every single drug addict and dealer knows this. Just ask them. They don’t fear any consequences because there is none. This is why they keep coming back. Over and over.

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