Mareling Balladares has been a program assistant at Mission Hiring Hall, just next to Caledonia Street, for about a year. Living in SoMa, a short ride on the No. 14 bus, she often chooses to take Uber or Lyft home after work because she is scared of walking along 16th Street to the bus stop on the plaza.
“A guy tried to follow me through there,” she recalled.
The conditions on 16th Street have never been good since Balladares started: Unhoused individuals come into the office and sit around, to the point that the staff have to lock the door. The trash bins at the office have been stolen at least five times. She was once touched by someone on the chest when working at the front desk.
When Mayor Daniel Lurie started “the pilot program” a few months ago, parking the SFPD mobile command unit on the plaza with increased police presence, “We were excited, but not too excited,” she said. “We didn’t know how it’s gonna work out.”
But she has seen some changes, she said: Less trash, fewer people defecating outside, and no one has stolen the trash bins again. Balladares also notices the ebb and flow of gatherings throughout the day: In the morning, around 7 or 8 a.m., that’s when the streets are being cleaned. At around 4 p.m., people start to fill up the alleys again, and so does trash.
She’s not sure if she feels ready to take the bus again. “But I definitely feel more comfortable walking on the street now,” she said.
day 4322 ..the aliens just landed in SF on their first visit to earth…after checking 16th st plaza, the aliens decide it is not a hospitable planet and decide to keep searching for a more suitable environment in the galaxy.
It’s the drugs.
If you don’t arrest/deport the dealers —
and lockup/rehab the users, it’ll never end.
A State-led, Federally-supported system of detox/rehabilitation/work/job-training camps in the Central Valley ought to do the trick.
The main overall theme I get from these daily plaza updates is that folks who actually use and work in the plaza regularly feel a lot safer since the mobile unit arrived. That may be the MOST important thing government can do is help people feel safe where they live/work. When you feel safe, you live a better life. Perception is reality….
Indeed. The naysayers who seemed to like the old status quo complain that we haven’t solved drug addiction and homelessness in 79 days, but at least the normal people using the plaza seem to be appreciating the results.
Same shit, different day.
DO NOT PRINT You should have gone to Capp street at 16th next to the Victoria theater. It was RIFE today – the sidewalk was blocked by all of the activity. It is like that most days. I took a photo, how do I send it to you?