How are things going in San Francisco? So badly that now residents of a neighborhood beset by out-of-control crime are suing over the poor conditions in their neighborhood, demanding that the city government do its job and reign in the crime, particularly the open-air drug markets and rampant homelessness in the area.
The neighborhood in which the residents live is the Tenderloin district. Four residents of it filed suit alongside the Tenderloin Merchants and Property Owners Association. In the suit, the parties contend that the city’s lax enforcement of the law and other policies have allowed an open-air drug market to persist in the neighborhood. Further, they contend that city officials have tolerated open criminal activity in the area.
Particularly, the lawsuit, which contains a plethora of photographs of individuals engaged in what appear to be various illegal activities, contends that San Francisco allowed behavior that would be considered intolerable in other neighborhoods to occur in the Tenderloin. Such crimes include not just drug-related activities, but also violence, public defecation, and homeless street encampments.
An attorney for the varied plaintiffs, Matt Davis, argued that the city of San Francisco was attempting to use the neighborhood as a dumping ground and containment zone for various criminal behaviors. Doing so, Wallace said, “For years, the Tenderloin has been treated as The City’s de facto containment zone for dangerous, unsanitary, and illegal behavior.”
Davis alleged that the city treats the neighborhood differently from a crime-enforcement perspective than it treats other areas, saying, “The city blithely treats the Tenderloin as a place where this type of harmful activity can happen on the streets and sidewalks, and it’s inconceivable that they’d allow it in other neighborhoods.”
Additionally, Davis went on to argue that the businesses in and residents of the district find that state of things utterly intolerable. Making that point, Davis said, “The residents, families, and small businesses in this historically diverse neighborhood will no longer tolerate this discriminatory treatment.”
Davis further stated that the residents are demanding an end to the various unpleasant effects of the city’s policy toward the Tenderloin district. He said, “They demand an end to the rampant illegal street vending, and from the squalor and misery that exists throughout their neighborhood because The City has decided that people in the throes of addiction can live and die on the Tenderloin’s streets.”
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Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for San Francisco Attorney David Chiu, attempted to counter that in a statement, saying, “While we understand and share the frustration of Tenderloin businesses and residents, the City is making progress in reducing crime, disrupting open-air drug markets, and addressing homelessness, all while complying with the preliminary injunction issued in the Coalition on Homelessness case.”
Mayor London Breed, for her part, said, “We know it’s not enough, especially in the evening times, and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to work as aggressively as we can to focus our resources and attention on The Tenderloin.”
Watch ABC 7’s report on the matter here: