On Friday, there was a lighter police presence, but city crews from the Department of Public Works and the Homeless Outreach Teams continued to maintain a visible presence.
A San Francisco Police Department SUV sat idling near the southwest plaza around 10:43 a.m., but no officer stood nearby. The mobile unit remained, but it was unclear if anyone was inside.
The lack of much engagement from police remains a mystery to residents. One wrote in “I even spoke to them at the mobile control center at the 16th BART station a couple of times to request them to walk the street, they just smiled at me,” he wrote, but “doing nothing!!!”
We are checking in to get a better understanding of the strategy.
By 11:17 a.m., a Department of Public Works crew pressure-washed Caledonia Street. A litter box filled with trash during the cleaning and remained full hours later, drawing attention from a few passersby who stepped around it.
On Julian Avenue at 1:02 p.m., seven people gathered on the west side, where most of the activity was concentrated. The east side, which crews have worked to clear in recent days, stayed mostly empty..
At 1:06 p.m., multiple pedestrians passed through Wiese Street making it one of the busier nearby streets. However, no one stayed for long, and the street returned to being mostly empty by the time outreach workers passed by after 1 p.m..
The Homeless Outreach Team’s vehicle pull over on Capp Street at 1:08 p.m. Two workers inside spoke to a man/woman standing by the passenger-side window. The encounter was brief, and the workers remained in the area for several minutes before moving on.
Later in the afternoon, around 2:29 p.m., a police officer walked through the southwest plaza. Across the street at 2:36 p.m., the northeast plaza remained empty of both police officers and patrol vehicles.
