San Francisco mayor acts to clean up crime-infested area

SAN FRANCISCO • The mayor of San Francisco has made a sharp break with the liberal conventions that have guided her West Coast US city for decades, declaring a state of emergency in one of its most crime-infested neighbourhoods.

Mayor London Breed's announcement on Friday came just days after she emphasised the need for the police to clean up what she has described as "nasty streets".

At a news conference at City Hall, steps away from where drug dealers openly peddle fentanyl and methamphetamines, she said: "We are in a crisis, and we need to respond accordingly."

She added: "Too many people are dying in this city, too many people are sprawled on our streets."

The neighbourhood in question, the Tenderloin, has been ground zero for drug dealing, overdose deaths and homelessness for years. But Ms Breed said in an interview that she reached her "breaking point" in recent weeks after meeting families with children who live in the Tenderloin and said they felt constantly threatened.

Her actions and startlingly blunt language were a marked change in tone and policy in a city that has been polarised over homeless encampments and open-air drug use.

Elected as a liberal Democrat, Ms Breed spoke last week about "a reign of criminals", trash strewn across neighbourhoods full of "faeces and urine", and shoplifting at high-end stores that she called "mass looting events".

Mr Joe D'Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco tourism bureau, praised the mayor for addressing it.

"We are excited and enthusiastic to see some significant steps to make San Francisco a safer city," he said. "People are just fed up with some of the stuff they've seen and want to see some action."

The state of emergency specifically targets the drug overdose crisis: More than twice as many people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco last year as the number who died of the coronavirus.

But Friday's announcement is part of a broader push to crack down on drug dealing and improve conditions. In practical terms, Ms Breed said the city would no longer tolerate illicit drug users in the streets - giving them a choice between treatment and arrest.

Ms Breed also detailed a list of initiatives intended to disrupt street sales of stolen goods, expand police surveillance powers and pressure people who use drugs into treatment.

She said declaring a state of emergency will cut through red tape and increase funding to the police.

Some who work in the Tenderloin said they were heartened by Ms Breed's announcement.

A block away from a deserted playground, Ms Hanh Huynh, 33, said the Vietnamese grocery store where she works was frequently robbed, and that she had moved because she worried about raising her two-year-old in the area.

But not everyone welcomed the news from the mayor.

"It is absolutely clear to everyone who lives or works in the Tenderloin that we need to be doing more," said Ms Laura Thomas, director of Harm Reduction Policy for the San Francisco Aids Foundation, adding that increased criminalisation and coerced treatment do not work.

"We don't have enough services, we don't have enough housing, we don't have enough shelter beds."

Ms Thomas said the city authorities should put their energy into rolling out existing initiatives, such as one that would expand mental health care, and developing supervised injection sites, which reduce overdose deaths.

The mayor also promised to address quality-of-life issues by repairing broken streetlights and removing trash and human waste.

The Declaration of Emergency, which must be ratified by the city's Board of Supervisors within the next seven days, would remain in effect no longer than 90 days.

NYTIMES