Despite increased police enforcement nearby at the 16th Street BART Plaza, parents say little to nothing has changed outside a Head Start preschool and daycare that has become an epicenter of public drug use.
In the six weeks since Mission Local reported on conditions around the school at 1954 Mission St., parents continue to feel unsafe walking their children into the building, and worry about their well-being even once they are inside.
“I feel hopeless that I can’t do anything. Everything continues to be the same,” said Gabriela Giron, the mother of a 4-year-old who has attended the school for the last two years. “I fear that something may happen to the children.”
Giron is one of 11 parents who said that nothing had been done to secure the building after they spoke out publicly about the lack of safety and the need for more security guards or safer entrances to the building. The school is a tenant of the 1950 Mission St. housing complex “La Fenix,” a 157-unit affordable housing project.
Sam Moss, the executive director of Mission Housing, said that adding more security is up to Bridge Housing, which manages the building. For his part, Moss said he is working with another nonprofit to offer children a safe passage program similar to those offered by some nonprofits in the Tenderloin. He expects it could be funded by the end of the third quarter, which would be in September.
Bridge Housing declined to comment.
Since Mission Local’s April 30 article on the safety issues at the school, the principal and staff have been prohibited from talking to the press. But parents entering the school speak openly about their fears and what they often encounter when dropping off or picking up their children.
Men and women still block the school’s door while smoking drugs, they said. The front door closes slowly, so that it is still possible for strangers to enter the building by sneaking in behind parents. Strangers also walk through an emergency exit and into the housing complex, where only a low gate separates the back of the complex from the school’s playground.
“To be honest, the conditions on this block are really ugly. One can’t even walk without seeing someone consuming drugs,” said Emily Martinez, whose 4-year-old attends the school. “I worry about the kids.”
The stress of traveling to and from the preschool goes beyond explaining what the preschoolers are seeing outside of the school door.
The school, which also serves as a daycare, has a population of 42 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. It is owned by Mission Neighborhood Centers’ Head Start and is part of the organization’s early education program.
Richard Ybarra, Mission Neighborhood Centers’ chief executive officer, said that the nonprofit has filed complaints with the owners of La Fenix (local nonprofit Mission Housing) and its building manager (local nonprofit Bridge Housing) on a weekly basis. Most recently, Ybarra added, he shared a low-cost security idea that he saw in action on a recent trip to San Diego.
On that trip, Ybarra visited a 7-Eleven in a part of San Diego that is often characterized by littering and loitering. The store, however, looked different: Clean, with no loitering in sight.
“I noticed they had installed bright lights and they were playing opera outside,” said Ybarra. Management confirmed that the music and lighting were put in place to persuade people to move away from the business.
“I shared the idea, but they never got back to me,” Ybarra added. “Our intent is always the safety and health of our children and family.”
Kelly Perez, the mother of a 4-year-old, said the street conditions sometimes make her wish she didn’t have to bring her child to school.
“Homelessness and drug use is everywhere here. This is hard for the kids to see,” said Perez, adding she has seen people defecating and urinating on her way to school with her child. “The smell is so bad. Even after the wash, the smell lingers.”
Angel Godinez, the father of a 3-year-old, said the trash, drug use and loitering on the block became just too much for his family. A father of three, Godinez is a former resident of 1950 Mission St. who decided to move to the Inner Richmond last year to leave behind conditions he described as “appalling.”
“I worry about my children’s safety. I also bring my two daughters with me when I drop him off, and they see everything I see,” said Godinez. “People doing drugs and going to the bathroom in front of us.”
District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder said she has advocated for $2 million to preserve and expand security along the Mission Street corridor between 16th and 24th streets. Law enforcement operations on Caledonia and Wiese streets, as well as Julian Avenue, seem to have pushed more drug use onto Mission Street, but residents say it has long been a problem. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s current proposed budget has only allocated half of Fielder’s proposed $2 million.
“Our office is clear that no child or family should have to walk through people using hard drugs on their way home or to school on a daily basis,” said Fielder. “We are frustrated with this, and continue to raise concerns about displacement and safety with the various departments involved in street conditions.”
Liza Johansen, the captain of Mission Police Station, said on June 5 that the conditions on the block had worsened as other areas saw improvement, but others say the vending and drug use on Mission Street has gone on for more than a year.
Johansen said the police department and the Mission Street Team are in communication to come up with a new plan for the area.
Meanwhile, parents continue to worry as they drop their children at school every morning.
“Everything looks the same,” said Aracely Hernandez, the mother of a 3-year-old. “I worry, because there’s no security. Our children see drug use, and no one seems to care.”
This is the rare truly zero-sum political decision. Who will Lurie and Fielder prioritize, kids or drug tourists? So far, they seem to be prioritizing the needs of the junkies.
This really isn’t that complicated. Arrest them and prosecute them for breaking the law. This is what would happen in pretty much any other municipality but for some reason our political leaders cater to drug users instead of kids trying to go to school.
What would happen in Zurich if illegal drug users set up shop outside of a school day after day?
I was on Mission Street yesterday and it’s the worst I’ve seen it in a long time.
Especially around that location. Maybe the street trash has been pushed there?
How Shameful is it that Jackie Fielder grandstands as some kind of ICE freedom fighter but does little or nothing when it comes to this part of the Mission. How is the “supportive housing” building going up at 1979 Mission going to be managed when they can’t even manage whats there now. SIN VERGUENZA!
We had a crew out there to do laser cleaning on the sidewalk. Problem is during the heatwave the ammonia smell from urine stings your eyes and you get short of breath. We decided to give everybody our powered Hepa filters used in construction.
Opera music and bright lights — worth a try and not expensive.
Why are we having to wait for funding for educational facilities for youth to be safe to access?
The City needs to make sure that SFPD and the CCHO nonprofits defend Marshall Elementary and this Head Start school at 1950 Mission from their policies of containing fentanyl use and poverty services in our neighborhoods.
And the buck needs to stop with Sam YIMBY Moss at MHDC, owner of the building, who’s operations contractors have not been performing. Moss needs to personally station himself at the entrance to Head Start to ensure safety for youth.
Perhaps Moss can dispatch his YIMBY public person spouse into the personal bubbles of addicts to cause them to flee? She got into my space inappropriately once with me at an Ethics Commission meeting, and it was totally creepy.
Between slating permanent supportive housing adjacent to Marshall and pawning off responsibility for Head Start onto Bridge Housing, this CCHO YIMBY who lives in low density, low rise housing in Upper Market is a hazard to our North Mission community.
Where is the accountability to the community for these nonprofit caciques who have free reign over the neighborhood and who conjure up endless excuses instead of making with the solutions?
Sam Moss took home $275,000 in cash compensation in 2023 according to Mission Housing’s Form 990 on file with Guidestar.
Median income for Census Tract 201.02 is $108,095, less than half of the guy paid to run the housing nonprofit that’s telling us that we’re going to get PSF next to the elementary school.