San Francisco city officials admit there is no quick fix to what has become an intractable problem of illegal drug use and street fencing at the Mission District’s BART plazas. But, they said this week, the city is doubling down on trying to uproot it.
Mayor Daniel Lurie in June announced a “90-day strategy” for the the 16th Street and 24th Street BART plazas, and a spokesperson for the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which is coordinating a multi-agency push on the plazas, confirmed on Thursday that the plan will continue indefinitely.
“While the early results of the 90-day strategy are promising, we know our work is far from finished,” read a statement from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “The City is continuing the coordinated work launched as part of the 90-day strategy, and there is no set end date for this next phase at this time.”
Coordinated city efforts to crack down on vending and drug use around 16th Street began in March last year with the arrival of a giant San Francisco Police Department “mobile command unit” parked on the BART plaza.
Since then, the city has deployed police raids, set up “family-friendly” pop-up markets, contracted with private firms to hire street workers to discourage loitering, promised to boost police presence, and held town halls with multiple city departments to address neighbors’ concerns. Mission Local covered the first 100 days of the 2025 crackdown on 16th Street, and continues to report on conditions around the plazas.
The latest strategy leans heavily on many of the same approaches that have been tried before, and city officials admit there’s no easy solution.
Santiago Lerma, who leads the Mission Street Team, says that the coalition of city agencies focused on the plazas should be more effective now that the departments “hyper-communicate” with one another. Rafa Moreno from the economic and workforce office agreed. “’It’s not as compartmentalized. It really is more coordinated. Everyone has each other’s telephone numbers now.”
In the biggest change from earlier efforts, a state bill approved in October, 2025 has given police officers the authority to enforce illegal vending; eight new police officers and a lieutenant have been assigned to the plazas. Police say that they have issued 534 notices of violations, 93 first time citations, 14 second time citations and three misdemeanors since the 90-day plan began on June 7.
The Office of Economic and Workforce Development is planning to spend $1 million this fall on “activations” like pop-up markets and “family-friendly” events on the 16th and 24th St. BART plazas, and the state has given the city $3 million to fund “public safety infrastructure” there. Some examples, the mayor’s office said, are improvements in lighting and funds for more activations.
But there doesn’t seem to be more money for other interventions. Currently, the Mission has 12 street ambassadors and two street workers from Ahsing Solutions who patrol the plazas from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to deter illegal vending and drug use.
Last month, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, noting that conditions were worse at night, asked the mayor’s office to assign street ambassadors to cover the plazas 24 hours a day. The mayor’s office denied the request on Aug. 18 — putting street ambassadors on around the clock, it said, would raise the cost from $2.2 million to nearly $8 million.
Fielder did not reply to a request for comment.
Is it working?
According to the mayor’s office, the first 80 days of the strategy’s implementation were marked by a 34 percent decrease in emergency calls about people who appeared homeless, and a 22 percent drop in calls about public drug use.
But the number of calls does not always reflect the concerns of those nearby. On a recent Thursday, in the streets around both plazas, the assessment of the strategy’s success was mixed.
Ernesto Cabello, owner of Ernesto’s hair salon near 16th and Mission, said he’s seen substantial improvement over the last three months. But, he added, stabbings still happen.
In January, three people were stabbed at 16th and Mission, just hours after Mayor Lurie visited one of the “activations” on the plaza. On July 14, two people were stabbed within a couple hours of each other, according to a spokesperson from the police department.
Awad Faddoul, owner of La Boheme’s 3318 24th St., at Osage Street, said that even though he can’t see the ins and outs at the plazas throughout the day, conditions around his business do look a little better.
“Overall it is a little better. I’ve seen less people in the alleyways thanks to the ambassadors,” said Faddoul, adding that there’s still room for improvement.
Brian Tublin, owner and co-founder of Kitava at 2011 Mission St., near 16th Street, said that he’s noticed more police and enforcement. That enforcement, however, doesn’t continue into nights and weekends.
“We honestly are not seeing enough progress. We’re not seeing enough of an effort, despite the fact that there’s been this 90-day push,” said Tublin. “We’ve had some of the worst days that we’ve seen in these last 30 to 60 days.”
Neighbors have been sounding the alarm for months. As recently as Aug. 28, in emails shared with Mission Local, residents shared pictures with Fielder’s office of both the plazas inundated with people allegedly fencing at different times of the day.
“The most dysfunctional people continue to gather in the area, creating dangers for themselves and others who live in the area and/or depend on public transportation,” read an email sent to Sasha Gaona, Fielder’s chief of staff.
A woman sitting on Mission Street near 16th Street, who asked to be identified by the initials A.R., said on a recent Thursday that she’s been coming here as a vendor for over 25 years. But in recent months, she said, she’s stopped selling things on the sidewalk because she fears city employees will confiscate them.
She is still selling, but keeps her bottles of shampoo in a duffel bag that she can carry away quickly.
She does notice fewer people in the area using drugs, she said. “Now, they hide instead of using in public.”
Later that day, as this reporter interviewed three people at the southwestern 16th and Mission BART plaza, a man a few feet away started to jerk back and forth, in what looked like a seizure.
“Wake the fuck up,” yelled a woman desperately, as foam poured out of the man’s mouth, and a worker with Ahsing Solutions administered first aid.
All three interviewees seemed unbothered by the scene.
“That’s just what you see here,” said one of the men.
