Mayor Daniel Lurie has made the 16th Street BART Plaza one of his targets to show how the city can make a difference. For years, the plaza has been a place of violence, drug use and mayhem. Recently, unpermitted vending has made it more chaotic. On quieter days, and during earlier crackdowns, it is also a place where local residents who live in the city’s SROs can hang out and get some fresh air.

Lurie’s efforts have raised the question: Is this serious or just a temporary game of Whac-A-Mole that will move the problem to another part of the city?

To answer that question, we will be photographing the BART plaza, Wiese Street and other nearby streets daily. If you would like to participate in holding the city accountable, send us photos with the date to info@missionlocal.com and a subject line reading “16th Street.” We will try to use as many as possible. If you do not want your byline on the photo, let us know.

In our dispatches, we’re counting the days since the San Francisco Police Department deployed an RV-sized “command center” and parked it on the plaza.



Related coverage: STreet Vending


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