The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an emergency order Friday to tackle the opioid epidemic in the city's crime-ridden Te...
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an emergency order Friday to tackle the opioid epidemic in the city's crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood, despite multiple woke city leaders attacking the crackdown because it would flood the area with cops.
Mayor London Breed's order was passed by a vote held shortly after midnight Friday, with eight voting in favor of the plan and two voting against it, following a marathon 10 hours of debate and public comment.
The public health emergency declaration also authorizes the Department of Emergency Management to set up a new temporary center where people can access expanded drug treatment and counseling. Anyone caught abusing drugs who refuses help faces being arrested and locked up, sparking howls of protest from some of the violent city's progressive leaders.
Several supervisors raised objections, although only Board President Shamann Walton and Dean Preston voted no. They decried the lack of details and dearth of available treatment beds, and said that over-policing would victimize African Americans and the homeless.
'I know that this is an incredibly painful, traumatic and emotional conversation,' said Matt Haney, the supervisor who represents the neighborhood, before the vote. He said he hopes the city will bring all of its 'innovation, unyielding compassion and relentless determination' to confront the crisis.
San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen and the city's infamous woke DA Chesa Boudin were among those moaning about Breed's new plan before it was passed.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved Mayor London Breed's, pictured, emergency order Friday to tackle the opioid epidemic in the city's crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood
Pictured: the city's notoriously crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood, which will now see an influx of law enforcement after the Board of Supervisors voted in favor of the measure Friday
The Tenderloin District has been hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic, with hypodermic needles and open-drug use running rampant in the neighborhood
'I believe that we should all be marshaling every resource we have in this city to address that crisis,' said Supervisor Hillary Ronen.
'But because of the way that this has been described in the media, I don't have faith that we're talking about the same thing.'
Meanwhile, Boudin - facing a recall over an embarrassing spike in crimes in the city blamed on his soft-touch on crime - has also condemned Breed's plan.
He said: 'We can't arrest and prosecute our way out of problems that are afflicting the Tenderloin,' Boudin said during a press conference on Monday.
'Arresting people who are addicted to drugs, jailing people who have mental health struggles, putting folks who are vending hot dogs or other food on the streets in cages will not solve these problems, and they are certainly not the only tools available.'
Breed's public health emergency declaration allows the Department of Emergency Management to re-allocate city staff and bypass contracting and permitting regulations to set up a new temporary center where people can access expanded drug treatment and counseling.
But advocates for the homeless and substance users are urging a no vote because Mayor London Breed has also pledged to flood the district with police officers to halt crime.
Public health officials encourage treatment for drug addicts, not punishment, but Breed has said that people consuming drugs in public may wind up in jail unless they accept services. Many locals have said that while they are sympathetic to the plight of addicts, many of whom are also homeless, they're fed up with the crime associated with the drug problem, as well as the filth and needles that now litter the famously-liberal city's streets.
The city's DA Chesa Boudin, left, has been accused of being too soft on crime, while City Supervisor Hillary Ronenm right, said 'I believe that we should all be marshaling every resource we have in this city to address that crisis'
Pictured: hypodermic needles scattered around San Francisco's Tenderloin District
Homelessness and open drug use has been an ongoing issue in the city's Tenderloin District
Pictured: people sleep near discarded clothing and used needles on a street in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, pictured, talks during a briefing outside City Hall in San Francisco on December 1
The Tenderloin includes museums, the main public library and government offices, including City Hall.
But it's also teeming with people who are homeless or marginally housed, a high concentration of drug dealers and people consuming drugs in broad view.
Breed said last week that it was time to be 'less tolerant of all the bull***t that has destroyed our city.' She said it's not fair that residents can't use their parks or leave home.
Pictured: the Tenderloin District in San Francisco, which has been recently plagued by homelessness, crime and drug use
'When someone is openly using drugs on the street, we're going to give them the option of going to the services and treatment we're providing.'
'But if they refuse, we're not going to allow them to continue using on the street,' she said on social media this week.
'The families in the neighborhood deserve better.'
Breed has committed to opening a supervised drug consumption site as well as a drug sobering center, and said the Department of Emergency Management will lead the response much like it coordinated efforts to address the pandemic.
The department will, in part, streamline emergency medical calls, disrupt drug dealing and use, and make sure streets stay clean.
Deaths attributable to overdoses have increased more than 200 percent in San Francisco since 2018, and last year, more than 700 people died from drug overdoses in the city, more than the number who died from COVID-19, according to the proclamation.
Nearly 600 people have died of a drug overdose this year, through November, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in the Tenderloin and in the neighboring South of Market district, says the proclamation. These areas make up 7 percent of San Francisco's population.
Politically liberal cities across the US are grappling with crime in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, when their elected leaders pledged ways to reduce friction between police and vulnerable communities of color, particularly African Americans such as Floyd.
San Francisco and the Bay Area in particular has been hit hard by a spate of what officials are calling organized smash-and-grab burglaries and car break-ins. Between May 2020 and May 2021, there was a 753 percent increase in the car break-ins in the city's Central District, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Two unidentified individuals wearing hooded jackets were caught on amateur video during a brazen ‘smash-and-grab’ spree in the San Francisco Bay Area
Video posted to social media on Wednesday shows the two thieves driving along streets in residential areas of San Francisco and Oakland
Walgreens closed a location at 790 Van Ness Avenue in October 2020 after losing up to $1,000 in stolen merchandise numerous days in a row, according to the San Francisco Chronicle
Shoplifting incidents occurred at irregular levels across the five locations that are closing, according to data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle and obtained from the San Francisco Police Department
Officers have already made a string of arrests in relation to the late-November attacks, which police previously posited were related.
Three arrests have been made in connection with the coordinated attack on a Nordstrom Inc. store in the wealthy Bay Area suburb of Walnut Creek, California, on November 20.
An estimated 90 people overran the posh boutique and made off with more than $100,000 of merchandise before escaping in 25 separate cars that had their license plates removed or covered, prosecutors said.
The city's reputation has taken a hit amid embarrassing videos of shoplifting mobs targeting drug stores and high-end department stores, including Neiman Marcus. Earlier this week, Walgreens announced it was closing five of its stores in the city because of rampant shoplifting.
The city's woke DA Chesa Boudin has been accused of being too soft on crime, and faces a recall effort from locals who say say the ultra-rich area has become too dangerous to live in.
'The criminals are committing these acts in broad daylight in this city,' Breed told KGO-TV of the smash and grab Audi gang back in October.
They want her to use the money on adding more treatment beds, shelters, job training and other social services.
'What we currently see in the Tenderloin didn't happen overnight and stems from years of massive disinvestment and displacement,' said Jeannette Zanipatin, California director at the Drug Policy Alliance.
If approved, the emergency order would last 90 days unless Breed seeks renewal.
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