Over the past few years, San Francisco has made real progress reducing encampments and open-air drug activity in parts of the city, including Downtown, the Tenderloin, and SOMA. However, that progress has not been felt evenly and those neighborhoods are still struggling. Residents and merchants in the Mission, Castro, Dolores Heights, Duboce Triangle, and Noe Valley have reported that conditions have worsened, specifically in terms of public drug use, dealing, and encampments. These conditions have created a general sense of unsafety among residents in and around parks, open spaces, schools, transit, residential areas, and commercial areas, and they make it harder for small businesses to thrive in our neighborhoods.
This hearing will include many questions, but here are a few to help you get a sense:
– What does success look like citywide for addressing drug conditions, and how is various City departments measuring it?
– Do staffing and resources across SFPD, DPH, and OEWD match the scale of the challenge?
– Why are people not getting into treatment, and what is and isn’t working?
– How are City departments and BART coordinating to keep activity from simply shifting between neighborhoods and plazas?
We have requested presentations from the Mayor’s Office, SFPD, the Department of Public Health, and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
Public comment is open to everyone, and brief, personal accounts are the most powerful. Please come tell the Board what you are seeing on your block, what it has meant for your business or family, and what you want the City to do about it.
– City Hall, Room 250: You will have 2 minutes after the department presentations conclude to share your experience
*Unfortunately, there is no remote public comment option for this hearing*
I understand this meeting is in the middle of the workday, so if you can’t attend, please forward this email to a neighbor, merchant group, or neighborhood association who might want to weigh in.
I appreciate your engagement on this topic, and please let me know if you have any questions!
Best,
Sophie Marie
Chief of Staff, Supervisor Mandelman