Mission Buzz is a regular update on changes, tidbits and other news from the Missionโs commercial corridors. Got news? Send to tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
In a letter sent to Mayor Daniel Lurie last week, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder requested 24/7 coverage from Ahsing Solutions community ambassadors in the areas surrounding 16th and 24th streets.
As of now, ambassadors work from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The July 27 letter was sent to the mayorโs office, but it also included chief of public safety Steven Betz; chief of infrastructure, climate and mobility Alicia John-Baptiste; and chief of health and human services Kunal Modi as recipients.
The request came following a community town hall on July 23 in which residents made it clear to city officials that, despite a nearly a year-and-a-half project at 16th and Mission, both plazas remain problematic.
โPlease let me know if this is possible or not, as this was a major request of constituents and I’d like to be able to get back to them with some good news on this topic,โ wrote Fielder.
Following the implementation of a 90-day strategy at the plazas in early June that focuses on enforcement, Fielder also requested data on 311 requests and completions from the Department of Public Works; connections to treatment and housing from the Department of Public Health and MUNI ridership from the Municipal Transportation Agency.
When asked about its response, a spokesperson from the mayorโs office said that if they received a letter, they would respond to the supervisor directly.
Fielderโs office did not respond to a request for comment.
District 1 Supervisor and House of Representative candidate Connie Chan announced that her campaign headquarters will be in the heart of the Mission District at 3043 24th St., near Treat Avenue, formerly home to Jenny Lemons.
Chan will celebrate the opening with a lunch on Saturday Aug. 8, at 1 p.m.
Canvassing and a lit drop will commence after lunch.
A spokesperson for Chan’s campaign said they chose the Mission District because of its central location, and because the neighborhood has a long and proud history of activism.
“The Mission has been on the front lines of the affordability crisis, with working families facing rising costs and displacement,” read the statement.
“We wanted to be rooted in a community experiencing those challenges firsthand while celebrating one of the most diverse, vibrant, and resilient neighborhoods in San Francisco.”
A new bar is coming to 2199 Mission St., at 18th Street.
El Baluarte de Oro takes over the space previously held by Murales, which later became Chac Mool sports bar. The storefront has been empty for about five to six months.
El Baluarte de Oro will open its doors on Thursday, Aug. 6. The business will serve beer, wine from all over Latin America, and low-alcohol margaritas.
It will also serve appetizers, ceviche and fish quesadillas.
โI wanna invite everyone to come have a good time,โ said co-owner Daniel Becerrin. โMy fish quesadillas will truly be Mexico City style.โ
Just a few blocks south, a co-working art space, Society of Thumbs, opened its doors in mid-July at 1398 Valencia St., at 25th Street.
The arts and crafts space is run as a membership model that ranges from $99 to $275. Non-members can also use the space on an hourly basis.
Members can use the tools, books and all equipment in the art studio, which include everything from a vintage type writer to paper, paint, clay, brushes, art pencils of multiple colors and materials for screen printing.
Owner Jane Ha said visitors can come create and get a break from screens.
It will be open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Workshops will take place evenings and weekends.
San Francisco based coffee roasters Linea Caffe announced it will open a location at 3690 18th St. near Dolores Street, right next to Bi-Rite ice cream shop.
Linea is a coffee roasting company that also has two coffee shops in the city, one at 3417 18th St., at San Carlos Street, which opened in 2013, and one another at 1125 Mariposa St., near Mississippi Street, which opened in 2019.
The New York Times‘ Wirecutter selected Linea as one of its favorite coffee subscriptions in 2025.
A large sign across the windows of Japanese furniture and tea shop Tokyo Futon and Tea at 924 Valencia St., near 21st Street, reads โStore Closing. Everything Must Go.โ
An employee inside the store said she still didnโt know when the store was going to close.
It is a deja-vu situation, in 2020, a similar sign hung across the store, reading “everything must go.โ
The San Francisco Standard reported that after eight months, Chicken Fried Palace at 2240 Mission St., near 19th Street, closed in mid July.
The restaurant was the latest venture by Michelin-Starred chef Seth Stowaway (Osito). The closure, Stowaway said, came after experiencing a health scare, having to attend to some family responsibilities back in Texas and to having slow business.
Fried Chicken Palace’s closure also comes just over a month after the restaurant received $100,000 in funds from the city’s Storefront Opportunity Grant.
Jackie is finally listening to constituents? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE crack down on all the illegal activities and be serious about giving actual residents back some quality of life. We donโt care about a public bank we care about not having criminals outside our doors.
Thank you for saying this. Let’s hope she continues to actually address our concerns rather than go off on the tangents that she finds most interesting.
Community Ambassadors in the year 2026? How many more band aids does Jackie have left in her box? Please suggest real solutions.
When Mission Cabins went in, the operator, Five Keys, did ambassador like security around the facility. Residents had text and voice contact for the supervisor who would dispatch ambassadors to get the fentanyl tourists to move along.
Ahsing is tightly geofenced. They will move fentanyl tourists along, and ignore them once they move into the adjacent blocks, problem “solved.”
What we need is for ambassadors to have the latitude to operate district wide, on call from residents to move along fentanyl tourists. The hope is that if the tourists are hasseled enough, that remaining in our neighborhood to do fentanyl will be come undesirable.
If that does not work, then the City is investigating stay away orders for public fentanyl use. In that case, it might be useful for ambassadors to collect identity information to feed into the stay away order process.
After Five Keys ceased providing security once Mission Cabins closed, non-emergency calls for fentayl tourists on our block increased by five fold.
We need for the Mayor and Supervisor to learn from previous experience and modify the expanded ambassador program to be districtwide and available on call.
“Community ambassadors”? Seriously? What are they going to do?
We need more cops.
What impact do those “ambassadors” have 11:30-8:00? As far as I can tell: none.
I wish everyone good health but maybe now I wonโt have to read about Seth stowaway every two weeks for years on end.
Hello ! Can you hear me ?!?
The problem is idiotic deployment of these security forces !!!
All they do is stand around talking to each other.
Or, they walk around talking to each other.
What they need is the old Feinstein model of a permanent 24/7/365 Koban or ‘Cop Box’ or whatever you want to call it with 3 cops or cadets or deputies or BART security rotating the assignment with one of them physically standing there alone in the thing talking to people who walk up and ask them things while the other two take single officer Foot Patrol beats of a couple of blocks each.
Along the perimeters of the Plazas the supervisor needs to advocate for bringing back the licensed vendors who were there for all of the 45 years I’ve been here until the previous supervisor banned them.
The licensed vendors provided heavy unofficial security by working with their families and friends and long time customers who are there when they are working at their assigned spots.
For god’s sake just draw some lines on the ground and put numbers on them and if you build it they will come.
The idea of sweeping the plazas clean of everything that was legal there commercial wise is one of the root causes for the third world situation we have there.
The solution is not adding more security to stand around and talk to each other but to bring back the legal sales and how about a stage and music to serenade workers headed to and coming home from work ?
The situation has been in the toilet there since Mayor Breed listened to Supervisor Ronen and took away legal vendors.
“Hello, can you hear me ?
Is there anybody in there ?
Just knock if you can hear me.
Is there anybody home ?”
Niners gonna miss Piersall unless McCafferey breaks some more records.
h.
Yet you keep voting for the likes of Ronan, Fielder and Chan
Unlike previous ambassador programs, Ahsing aka the “white vests” have made a real difference. Hope this goes through (it won’t), and it can only be a start.