During a contentious month of budget hearings in which San Francisco city departments, nonprofits and supervisors scramble for funding, the Tenderloin is asking for its slice.
Neighborhood residents and community groups on Thursday asked city officials to spend $4 million over three years to improve the area’s housing, youth services, public spaces and small businesses, all while tackling persistent drug use.
The proposal does not name specific projects and would instead leave those decisions up to Tenderloin residents in what supporters call the largest “participatory budget” process in San Francisco.
The Tenderloin Community Action Plan has been active since 2022, when then-Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin and allocated $3.5 million to the neighborhood’s recovery.
That money went towards projects like the Golden Gate Greenway, a proposed public greenspace in the heart of the neighborhood, or the recent Eid festival and tree lightings in the neighborhood. The funds also helped start a center for Arab youth, finance the overdose prevention Night Navigators program and fund another 16 initiatives. Eleven of the first round of initiatives have been completed, and 10 are still in progress.
Supporters want the city to extend that plan for another three years.
The plan is a “first of its kind participatory budgeting process,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin. He sponsored a resolution endorsing the plan and asking the city to use it as a guide for developing future programs.
Supervisors Chyanne Chen and Danny Sauter, both on the Board of Supervisors Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, agreed to endorse the plan, passing the resolution. Mahmood said he would take it to ongoing budget meetings at the full board for consideration, though it is not binding, and only the mayor can allocate money.
San Francisco’s District 7 and District 10 already have community budgeting processes. In District 7, residents can vote directly on line-item spending.
But only the Tenderloin Community Action Plan covers a neighborhood, not an entire district (the Tenderloin is now in District 5). Supporters say the Tenderloin plan had more input from neighbors than other participatory budgets; about 30 groups and 1,200 residents were involved in its creation.
Its popularity was evident on Thursday. About 70 people filled the City Hall board chambers for the two-hour hearing. Most donned white and neon “TL FOR TCAP” stickers, using the acronym for the Tenderloin Community Action Plan.
Immigrants, recovering drug users, and young adults who grew up in the Tenderloin all said the plan had helped them in some form or another: Finding housing, overcoming addiction, or accessing youth services.
The Night Navigation Team, for instance, helps prevent fentanyl overdoses in the neighborhood after dark by providing immediate treatment. More than 1,000 people were treated by the program in its first six months of existence. It is now funded entirely through the city’s public health department.
Other speakers said the city has a history of temporary investment in Tenderloin projects that are unsustainable without long-term funding.
“It would be a real tragedy if we derailed the process at this point,” said Curtis Bradford, who works for the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.
“There’s a lot of big dreams in the [Tenderloin Community Action Plan] blueprint,” added Geoffrey McFarland, the senior community engagement manager at St. Anthony’s. “It represents people in the neighborhood who know what the neighborhood means, and it’s guided by an incredible team.”
It’s a fucking joke. It’s a joke. I don’t know how many years I lived in the area. No one has never tackled the issue drug sell!!!! they do it like it’s legal !! the police doesn’t do anything. The people that live in the tenderloin prison apartment!!!! I think it’s the biggest scam special with nonprofits the biggest scam. Of course they go to City Hall begging for money and don’t do nothing with it once they get the money I’m out of here. No profit is $1 billion business in the tenderloin!!!! all you gotta do is go to City Hall and say you you gonna do something and don’t do shit!!! people can’t even come out their damn house for some reason they do not want to touch the tenderloin as long as they continue to get money it’s the biggest scam. I’m out of here wasting my fucking time.!!!
Of the 21 I see maybe 5 that might make an actual difference with the rest being “celebratory” or “beautification” oriented. The Tenderloin is not a national forest or particularly green area nor will it ever be, not in a deficit year and not in a surplus year. It’s a rundown area of downtown with real problems. If 75% of the “solutions” to that situation are basically fluff with a niche impact at best, you aren’t going to be able to justify keeping that on while people languish in trash and drug filled streets and alleys. The PR push by Lurie to “sweep, speak and photograph” their way out of these legit crises plural is nothing more than that, and I have zero faith that unsupervised “non-profits” are in fact making things noticeably better. If something costs millions and has negligible results, ultimately you have to call it what it is or find forever-funding for that niche pet project. In the city with the most Billionaires, raising taxes on little folks and putting parking meters on every inch of our urban parks, etc, none of that is a solution or even a bandaid. It’s a damn joke.
Thanksfor reporting
I agree with Robert .
Why cannot the city get it together for the Tenderloin ?
It is maybe 1 mile by 1 mile and yet out of control for years
So tired of the drug crap going on
Lawlessness is lawlessness
The city should be able to get control of this selfish destructive behavior overnight
The enabling , wow is is me , babysitting is getting old
Arrest the dealers
The addicts run around like zombies.
Like rats running to posion.
After years of this , billions of taxpayer monies spent every year, countless nonprofits
I think many dont want to get this place cleaned up
They profit off off others miseries
Time to really get “ all hands on deck”.
Go block by block , everyday and clean this mess up
Druggies are not welcome here
Dealers need severe penalties .
Addicts need to be removed from
the streets , rounded up , placed in paddy wagons to transport to treatment centers away from the city , or to jail.
Game over
Compassion begins when persons take responsibility for their actions
The drug loitering is sickening,
Anyone who thinks these persons dont deserve immediate mandatory intervention and removal and allowa them to refuse help to hang out to get high and ruin everyones life and wellbeing in cruel.
Sf Wake Up
Why arent these people working?
Get a job
Call it what it is
Wasting away being fed illegal poison from a drug dealer is sick.
Start helping
These are adults .
Not babies