San Francisco Tenderloin Residents Concerned As Parts Of State Of Emergency Set To Expire
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – The State of Emergency declared in San Francisco's Tenderloin made national headlines. Now comes word that Mayor London Breed will allow parts of that emergency order to expire.
"If they're going to pull back on the emergency powers, I hope they're not planning on pulling back from the community," said District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district covers the Tenderloin. "What people in the neighborhood were concerned about is a lot of noise up front, a lot of big declarations and not a lot of follow through."
The sidewalk cleaning and street outreach continued in the Tenderloin on Tuesday, just as city supervisors awaited a briefing on the Tenderloin emergency order, and the portions of it that are about to expire.
Mayor London Breed's office said it no longer needs the parts that sped up the establishment of the linkage center and the hiring of its staff.
"I get that the mayor is saying she doesn't need emergency powers anymore, but we need emergency action, we need the emergency resources" Haney said.
News of the change has some neighbors worrying that the plan is winding down barely 90 days after it started.
"They're not really doing anything," said Lorraine, a Tenderloin resident. "This is just to push it up into another area. You know what I'm saying? This area is clean for now, but at certain times of the day, it's gonna be full the same thing that was here. You clean up the street, the people are still here."
The criticism is particularly sharp in regard to one aspect of the mayor's Tenderloin plan.
"It changes when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement," Breed said in December.
"Not one day was there police visibility," says Randy Shaw of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. "We are out here now. You don't see any police anywhere. I've had reporters out here, no one sees any police."
Many are still waiting for a crackdown on drug dealers. Arrest numbers have not increased and the mayor has said the problem is a lack of officers. Many are still waiting for more emergency action, not less.
"Well I'm very surprised," Shaw said. "From my experience with public officials, if you're gonna go way out in public and say something gonna happen, it typically happens. The fact that it never even began to happen, never even started, is shocking."
One part of the emergency order allowed the reposition of some city staff. Since that continues, the emergency technically does as well.
Breed was unavailable for comment Tuesday, as she is now in Europe, trying to boost tourism here in the city. The street cleaning efforts will continue, and the linkage center will stay open. The lease on the building runs through the end of June.