A woman with a cart full of bags stands near a trash can, while several people talk and walk nearby on a city street.
5:17 p.m. 8/1, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez


You can see all the 16th Street posts here.

Rose, 27, from Sacramento, stood Friday at 5 p.m. on the edge of the northeast plaza. The women who sell food, most likely from a food pantry, were nearby. North of the Muni stop, the nightly crowd of drug users, vendors and others had already gathered.

“I got stuck out here,” Rose said, referring to San Francisco. But it hasn’t been all bad. There are, she said, “A lot of resources… you just got to try and you are stupid not to grab them.”

She comes to 16th and Mission streets nearly every night. “It’s a place where we can come and hang out,…it’s easy to make a few dollars here.”

About four months ago, she said, she was ready to try Suboxone, which is used to get off opioids. Care teams were out helping people get prescriptions. She got signed up, she said, and went to pick it up. “And then my backpack got stolen.”

She hasn’t tried again yet, but she plans to.

On Friday, the west side of Mission Street and most of the side streets were clear. Caledonia Street had a group of people near 15th Street. Capp Street had a fair number of people in the morning and the evening. The east side of Mission Street was clear during the day, but by 5 p.m., it was again filled with unpermitted vendors and open-air drug use.

Southwest Plaza and west side of Mission Street

  • A police car with flashing lights, a mobile command vehicle, and a fire truck are parked in a city square, with people walking nearby and buildings in the background.
    10:20 a.m. south west 16th Street Plaza. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez
  • Sidewalk with a blue and red border, bike rack, tree, and metal gate on the right; street with a bus and buildings in the background—a fire hydrant stands nearby for added safety.
    10:19 a.m. 8/1, west side Mission Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A colorful mural featuring flowers, a butterfly, and fiery accents covers the wall next to a gated entryway with a metal fence and a glass door on a city sidewalk.
    10:19 a.m. 8/1, west side Mission Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A city street intersection with palm trees, utility wires, parked vehicles, and people at a bus stop; buildings and cloudy sky in the background.
    5:01 p.m. 8/1 southwest plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • City sidewalk with metal barricades on the left, a utility box in the foreground, and people walking in the distance on an overcast day. Cars are parked and driving on the street.
    5:16 p.m. 8/1, west side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Northeast Plaza and east side of Mission Street

  • Two people in yellow safety vests stand talking in an urban plaza; pedestrians and a person using a wheelchair are also visible in the background, suggesting coordinated fire safety efforts.
    10:17 a.m. 8/1, north east 16th Street Plaza. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • Two electric scooters are parked in an urban area with graffiti-covered walls, palm trees, and a gated entrance in the background, adding a touch of fire to the city’s vibrant street scene.
    10:16 a.m. 8/1, north east 16th Street Plaza. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A person walks past colorful murals on an urban wall, featuring Indigenous themes of fire and messages, with a blue recycling bin in the foreground.
    10:17 a.m. 8/1, east side MIssion Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez
  • Several people with carts and bags gather on a city sidewalk near a street corner; one woman stands in the foreground, while others stand by an umbrella and bus stop.
    5:04 p.m. 8/1, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A long line of people waits outside a building with colorful murals on its walls, near a busy street with cars and a bus stop in the foreground.
    5:17 p.m. 8/1 east side of Mission Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A woman with a cart full of bags stands near a trash can, while several people talk and walk nearby on a city street.
    5:17 p.m. 8/1, northeast plaza, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Caledonia Street

  • A narrow urban alleyway lined with a peach-colored building on the left and a graffiti-covered wall with a chain-link fence on the right, under a partly cloudy sky, hints of fire-orange paint flaring up amidst the street art.
    10:22 a.m. 8/1, Caledonia Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A narrow urban alley with cracked pavement, a graffiti-covered wall on the right, and buildings on the left under a cloudy sky.
    5:19 p.m. 8/1, Caledonia Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Wiese Street

  • A narrow urban alley lined with metal barricades, yellow and green building walls, and "No Parking" signs, with a fire hydrant on the corner and a partly cloudy sky above.
    10:21 a.m. 8/1, Weise Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A narrow alley with yellow and green painted buildings, metal barricades, pigeons on the ground, and a "No Parking" sign on the right side.
    5:18 p.m. 8/1, Wiese Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Julian Avenue

  • A person rides an electric scooter on a wide urban sidewalk beside a row of parked cars and multi-story buildings, while fire engine lights flash in the distance on a cloudy day.
    10:22 a.m. 8/1, Julian Avenue east side. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A mostly empty city sidewalk with parked cars on the right, a person walking away in the distance, and buildings lining both sides of the street.
    5:19 p.m. 8/1, Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A city sidewalk lined with parked cars on one side and lively storefronts on the other, under a partly cloudy sky, catches the warm glow of fire-like sunset hues.
    10:22 a.m. 8/1, Julian Avenue west side. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez.
  • A city sidewalk with people walking, cars parked on the street, and buildings including a hotel on the right side.
    5:19 p.m. 8/1, Julian Avenue, Photo by Lydia Chávez

Capp Street

  • City sidewalk with parked cars on the left, a building with colorful fire-themed graffiti on the right, and a few people gathered in the distance under an overcast sky.
    10:14 a.m. 8/1, Capp Street. Photo by Jose A. Velazquez
  • A man sweeps a gray city sidewalk next to a large mural, parked cars, and a traffic signal; buildings line the street under a partly cloudy sky.
    5:02 p.m. 8/1, Capp Street, Photo by Lydia Chávez
  • A city sidewalk with graffiti on the left wall, a large white appliance blocking part of the path, and buildings in the background.
    5:03 p.m. 8/1, 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.

Reporting from Bayview-Hunters Point. I grew up on 24th and York Street and attended Buena Vista Elementary. As a teenager, I moved to Hunters Point and went to school in Potrero Hill. I'm currently a student at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. I've developed a toxic relationship with golf.

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3 Comments

  1. So to summarize: Not from San Francisco, takes advantage of San Francisco taxpayer funded “a lot of resources”, hangs out taking drugs at 16th and Mission every night, refuses to stop taking drugs despite given ample opportunities because her backpack got stolen(????), “makes a few dollars here” presumably selling drugs or stolen goods.

    Only in San Francisco is this acceptable. And even in San Francisco it is only acceptable in a couple of unlucky containment zone neighborhoods.

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  2. “Rose, 27, from Sacramento…got stuck here…” – yes, exactly. People who were not from San Francisco came here, for the “resources… you just got to try and you are stupid not to grab them.” In her own words, ““It’s a place where we can come and hang out,…it’s easy to make a few dollars here.” Jennifer Friedenbach lied to everyone, saying that all of these folks were from here – obviously, this is not true and I’ve been saying it for decades. Why did our politicians believe this lie? San Francisco does not owe the entire state and the entire country a place for their addicts and criminals to have a free ride. Sorry.

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  3. After 6pm at the dead end alley Caledonia between 14th and 15th. More than a dozen people drugged up or shooting up steps away from a Native American addiction treatment center. We need to expand the area of enforcement.

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