Advocates, SF supervisors push back on Tenderloin safe injection site closure
SAN FRANCISCO – A week after San Francisco's only safe injection site was shut down, city leaders and community activists called out Mayor London Breed and the Department of Health for not offering any alternatives, at a time when hundreds of drug-addicted people are dying.
Del Seymour is called the "Mayor of the Tenderloin" because of how involved he is in his community. As he looked at the plywood being installed around the now-closed Tenderloin Center, he said it was not originally intended to be a place where drugs were used.
"The idea was not supposed to be a safe consumption site," Seymour told KPIX 5. "And, just overnight, it turned into one."
He said the plan was for the Tenderloin Center to be a resource center while the Department of Public Health created a number of so-called "wellness hubs" around the city where addicts could consume their drugs, while being monitored to prevent overdoses.
In its eleven months of operation as a consumption site, the Tenderloin Center reportedly prevented more than 300 deaths. But now that the facility has closed, Seymour—and a lot of other people—feel betrayed.
"City of San Francisco...you lied to us! You outright lied to us! You said you would support this effort!" said Seymour at a news conference and protest on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday.
A group of angry supervisors and community activists, who had been quietly working to create the wellness hubs, said they were abruptly told that the plan had been cancelled.
"Since that time, the mayor closed the Tenderloin Center with no replacement," said Supervisor Dean Preston. "And now, we know, thanks to people speaking out, that at least two sites the mayor has blocked from opening."
"There's not an alternative plan to this plan!" said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. "The reason we've all been silent up to this point is because we've been told, behind closed doors, the plan is wellness centers. So, we're like, 'Ok, we're good...we're down with that, let's do that.' So, what has changed? What has changed?"
Both Mayor Breed's and the City Attorney's offices issued statements saying the barrier is a legal one. They said they are waiting for the Justice Department to develop rules for cities to lawfully create safe consumption sites.
Protestors pointed out that the Department of Public Health knew all along that it was illegal when they set up the Tenderloin Center as a place for drug consumption to prevent deaths.
"The Biden Administration has not engaged in prosecuting anyone," said Ronen. "I think when life and death are at stake, I think we have to take risks sometimes. Now is the time to take that risk."
The City Attorney said a safe-consumption program being tested in New York may be more legally defensible because it is privately operated and supported and doesn't involve any government participation.
As for Seymour? He said he will continue to help however he can--but the feeling has changed.
"It's a lack of trust now. I just can't understand how they roll," he told KPIX 5. "I thought I understood the City, but I found out I don't. And I'm disappointed. No other city would do this."