A 15-year resident of the 16th and Mission streets area was walking down 17th and Valencia streets, enjoying a matcha in the Mission. He wanted to be identified as J.M. and says he believes Mayor Daniel Lurie is doing his best to fix the area.
“There needs to be more policing and cleaning, so people can walk freely,” he said.
J.M. said he’s seen the improvements in the area; the San Francisco Police mobile command unit, which has been stationed at the southwest plaza for 97 days, provides comfort. J.M. doesn’t frequent the 16th and Mission area at night.
At the northeast plaza, the presence of an officer inside of his vehicle and two Department of Works employees failed to deter vending and open-air drug use along both sides of the sidewalk between 16th and 15th streets.
Men and women attempted to sell poultry, movies and home goods while small groups of people smoked substances from aluminum foil. As families made their way in and out of their apartment building at 1950 Mission St., white smoke rose from those smoking.
Weise Street had around seven people standing in the middle of the street, with one person completely unconscious on the sidewalk. Both Caledonia and Capp streets were clean.
J.M. obviously does not live at 1950 Mission nor do they walk down Mission between 15th & 16th. A few blocks are marginally cleared but only because people moved around a corner or two, the blight is just as bad as it ever was if you only open your eyes and look around. It actually makes me feel a bit ill knowing that all we’ve really seemed to accomplish is pushing the problem over a block or two.