A police officer stands next to a person with hands behind their back near a fence covered with blankets and graffiti in an urban setting.
7:20 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez

You can see all the 16th Street posts here.

For the fourth weekend in a row, Mission Street and most of the nearby side streets remained fairly clear during the day.

Again, as happens nightly, once the San Francisco Police Department and Department of Public Works officers left, the east side of Mission Street near the Muni stop filled with vendors, drug users and others. 

When I returned on Sunday night, two BART officers sat inside a parked SUV on the northeast plaza. As they watched, a woman packed up the items she had spread out:  Bran flakes, cherry tomatoes, nonfat dry milk.

“She gets that food the same place we get it,” said Margaret, who lives nearby at the Mission Hotel and spends time on the plaza watching the scene.  Where? “The food banks.” 

The vendors and 100 or so people on the east side of Mission Street, where the BART officers have no authority, were unfazed by the presence of the SUV. 

The officers, still sitting inside it, blared through a horn: “Take your stuff off the plaza.” 

A young man selling a few electronic accessories on the plaza did not move. 

The BART officers got out of the car to talk with the vendor. Again, he resisted leaving. Finally, they cuffed the vendor and began processing him for arrest. Another BART police car arrived to help.

Where the 100 or so men and women who fill the east side of Mission Street after 4 p.m. go during the day remains somewhat of a mystery. 

A week ago, a group congregated on Julian Avenue near 14th Street. On Saturday, no one was there, so I walked along 14th Street and then Division Street to the Design District. That mile-long stretch had once been full of tents. On Saturday, there were none. 

A few men and women hung out on Sunday on 15th Street near Wiese Street.  I spoke with Destiny and Vanessa, who talked about “the shuffling of people,” and said they are trying to get into a shelter. In the meantime, said Vanessa, they “team up” to pay for a motel room. 

Are you being asked if you want shelter and services? 

“Yes,” said Destiny, who said she sees and talks to a lot more outreach workers.

A friend came by as we spoke and handed Destiny a pint of Ben & Jerry’s “Americone Dream,” a concoction of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered cone bits and caramel. 

“My favorite,” she said as she took off the top and began to eat it.  

Destiny repeated what Santiago Lerma, the Mission Street Team leader, had told me earlier this month: that between 10:30 and 11 a.m. every weekday, there is a scramble as the team tries to get people into the available shelter beds. By 11 a.m., everything is taken, he said. 

Destiny is waiting to get one of those rooms. In the meantime, she hangs out at the Gubbio Project on Julian Avenue and 15th Street to get coffee, services and some sleep.  

Destiny recounted the story of her friend Erin. A  police officer picked up Erin sometime in April or May for allegedly using drugs on the street. Destiny thought Erin was done for, because Erin, like many of them, she said, had an outstanding warrant for an earlier offense.

But when she later ran into Erin, she discovered that the officer had made a call on her friend’s behalf, and got her into 711 Post St, a single-room occupancy hotel that Destiny would like to end up in as well.

 “I feel like I’m getting close” to getting a room there, she said. I saw Destiny again later in the evening on the east side of Mission Street. I had just missed Erin, she said. 

Southwest Plaza and west side of Mission Street

  • A person wearing a mask pushes a blue cart across a patterned crosswalk at a busy urban intersection with vehicles, pedestrians, and buildings in the background.
    12:05 p.m. 7/27 southwest plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • People walk on a city sidewalk next to a street with a bus and parked cars; buildings, trees, and a metal fence line the left side.
    12:05 p.m 7/27, west side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A man rides an electric scooter on a city sidewalk lined with shops, parked cars, pedestrians, and trees.
    12:11 p.m. west Mission Street looking south from 15th Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A crosswalk with yellow stripes, traffic cones on the corner, and a "NO TURNS" sign. Several cars and buildings are visible in the background.
    12:11 p.m. west Mission Street looking north from 15th Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • People wait at a crosswalk with geometric painted patterns, next to a city street with cars, palm trees, and buildings under an overcast sky.
    7:46 p.m 7/27, west side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Northeast Plaza and east side of Mission Street

  • A person in colorful clothing sits on a bench in a mostly empty urban plaza with graffiti, a payphone, and several lamp posts visible.
    12:06 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A city street scene with several people standing and sitting near a building with colorful geometric windows and graffiti on its walls.
    12:06 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • People gather with belongings on a city sidewalk near a café, with parked cars and buildings lining the street on an overcast day.
    12:11 p.m. east Mission Street near 15th Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A variety of food items and drinks are laid out on the ground near a market cart, with people standing and walking in a busy urban plaza.
    7:12 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A police officer talks to a seated man with a guitar case on the ground; two other people sit nearby on a colorful fenced sidewalk in an urban area.
    7:17 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A person sitting on the pavement with belongings spread out, while another person in uniform stands nearby. An open suitcase and a backpack are on the ground.
    7:18 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A police officer stands next to a person with hands behind their back near a fence covered with blankets and graffiti in an urban setting.
    7:20 p.m. 7/27, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A long line of people stands on a city sidewalk in front of a building with colorful graffiti, while cars drive by on the street in the foreground.
    7:22p.m 7/27, east side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A large group of people gathers on a city sidewalk near a mural and a glass structure, with bicycles and belongings visible; a red car is in the foreground.
    7:23 p.m 7/27, east side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A group of people stand and sort through belongings on a city sidewalk near a wall with graffiti. Boxes, bags, and carts are visible on the ground.
    7:23 p.m 7/27, east side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Caledonia

  • A narrow urban alley with cracked pavement, a beige building on the left, and a graffiti-covered wall with a chain-link fence on the right.
    12:02 p.m. 7/27 Caledonia Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • An urban alleyway with graffiti-covered walls, a person with a cart in the distance, and trees lining the right side.
    7:09 p.m. 7/27 Caledonia Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Julian Avenue

  • Wide city sidewalk with temporary barricades on the left, parked cars on the right, and apartments lining the street in the background.
    12:02 p.m. 7/27 Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A group of people with belongings gather near the wall of a building labeled "Royan Hotel" on a city sidewalk lined with parked cars.
    12:03 p.m. 7/27 Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A city street scene with parked cars on both sides, a white industrial building with closed garage doors, and a cloudy sky overhead.
    12:32 p.m. Julian Avenue between 15th and 14th streets Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • Several parked cars line a quiet city street bordered by apartment buildings, with a hotel and crosswalk sign visible in the background.
    7:10 p.m. 7/27 Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • Two people walk with their arms around each other on a city sidewalk lined with parked cars, near a building with a sign that reads "HOTEL.
    7:10 p.m. 7/27 Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Wiese Street

  • A narrow city alley lined with metal barricades, graffiti on green and yellow building walls, and overhead utility wires visible.
    12:04 p.m. 7/27, Wiese Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A person leans over a shopping cart on a city sidewalk lined with trees and parked cars; several people are visible further down the street.
    12:12 p.m. 15th Street looking west from Mission Street toward Wiese Street Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • Empty urban alleyway with metal barricades on both sides, graffiti on green and yellow walls, and utility wires overhead.
    7:11 p.m. 7/27, Wiese Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A narrow urban alleyway with metal barricades, a person walking, a parked car, and buildings with graffiti and boarded-up storefronts.
    7:49 p.m. 7/27, Wiese Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

15th Street

  • A person leans over a shopping cart on a city sidewalk lined with trees and parked cars; several people are visible further down the street.
    12:12 p.m. 15th Street looking west from Mission Street Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A city sidewalk with trees, street art murals on building walls, parked cars, and a few people walking in the distance.
    12:10 p.m. 15th Street looking west, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Capp Street

  • A city sidewalk with parked cars, a decorative streetlamp, and people walking in the distance; trees and buildings line the street.
    12:08 p.m. 7/27,Capp Street looking north toward 15th Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A person crosses a city street at a crosswalk with a red traffic light and a "16th St" sign visible on a cloudy day.
    12:07 p.m. 7/27, Capp Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A person walks down a city sidewalk lined with parked cars and graffiti, while another person with bags stands further ahead. Trees and buildings are visible in the background.
    12:07 p.m. 7/27, Capp Street looking north from 16th Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A narrow city street with parked cars, trees on the left, an apartment building on the right, and two people standing near the intersection of Capp St and 18th St.
    12:07 p.m. 7/27, Adair off 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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5 Comments

  1. Great reporting.Here in Santa Fe.Thank you.Raised in the City.Mom from RoyNM She moved to S.F.in 1952.She worked For the Dean Whitter family.Went to NM Highlands in 1977.Just retired I might move back to the City.

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  3. Another day of Jackie Fielder doing absolutely nothing when 100 junkies take over the public commons in her neighborhood.

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    2. I wish Jackie would protect and prioritize the kids and seniors that live at 16 and mission. The madness is terrible for kids to see, experience.

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