At 16th and Valencia streets, Tito, a San Francisco resident, was heading toward Panchitas Pupuseria #2 at 3091 16th St. for breakfast this morning.
“I honestly feel like the Tenderloin is more safe,” he said, about the 16th and Mission area. He’s seen the improvements all over downtown San Francisco, and believes the issues which once plagued those areas have migrated to 16th and Mission.
“It’s gotten a bit better, I guess, but it just depends on what hour of the day you’re here,” said Tito, echoing what many residents said during this week. Tito said the mobile command unit and police presence is shifting people around the neighborhood, but he doesn’t believe it’s a permanent solution.
“Sometimes, you have to force people to get help,” Tito said about possible solutions to the open drug use in the area. Tito believes the culture of San Francisco encourages people to use drugs in the open and attracts people to come to San Francisco to use drugs.
Although not a complete fan of Mayor Daniel Lurie, “He’s not the most liberal person,” said Tito. He admires that the mayor is publicly addressing concerns. “I like that the mayor is in the communities, just showing up. I appreciate that,” he said.
The northeast 16th Street BART plaza seemed completely empty at 8:48 a.m. The glass of the Muni stop had been smashed. As the 49-Van Ness bus passed, its tires crunched as they drove over glass on the pavement. To the right side of the bus stop a large group of people gathered outside the former dollar store to socialize.
In the corner of the BART plaza, two officers were seen laughing and socializing. A man with no shirt, draped with a stained white sheet, was a couple of feet from them. In the background, a city worker with a water hose sprayed the steep steps heading down to the BART station.
The southwest BART Plaza was a bit more active. People steadily came up from the BART station and headed in all directions on Mission Street. A female food vendor had two tables set up this morning with a couple of people standing around behind the Muni stop. Behind the mobile command unit, people waited in a single file line to enter Wells Fargo bank.
Thanks for reporting .
Not sure if the person quoted has been to Lower Polk which is on the edge of the Tenderloin.
For him and others , Cedar at Polk , Geary at Polk, Mrytle at Polk, Alice B Toklas Place at Polk , Ellis at Polk and Larkin at Geary and Larkin at Myrtle all are longstanding drug dens .
That small area has been out of control everyday for seven years .
Tragic to see 20 to 40 addicts on Myrtle everytime you go there .
Actually it makes the area you are reporting on look like a paradise .
Lawlessless in full effect .
And a Mayor whose efforts all start by reducing the visibility of the issue, for PR.
And a DA who doesn’t actually care about the law or what is true, only PR.
And a Police Commission 100% hand-picked to be good little soldiers for PR.
And a few Billionaires who pretend “benevolently” to bestow a private solution, for PR.
You would think a decade of PR in a blue dress giving photo-ops and failing to fix the problem might be something of a prelude to our current condition, but that requires a memory that spans a length of time greater than 2 PR cycles – which we all know is impossible, right? Enjoy your cycle, can’t wait for the next one.
This is simply moving people around in the neighborhood. I saw a tent at 18th and Lexington for the first time recently, and there have been multiple new to the area homeless people who appear unmediated and unwell. I feel less safe than I have in 30 years.
Mayor Lurie is proving to be all photo-op and no action. He has not cleaned anything up. All he has done is move the problem from one neighborhood to another.
As long as the Mission district has prostitution and nobody’s stopping it you’re going to have drugs and games and more people these people are not from San Francisco they come here to commit crimes we have to stop that
The ground clearly need some pressure wash to remove the stain.
The pictures do not back up the story.
I walk through the 16th St. Plaza every day including its adjacent alleys carrying lots of cash abd I always feel relatively safe.
What time 😜