Mayor Breed has pretended that drug sales in San Fran were only in the Tenderloin district. She knew she was lying. Finding drugs to buy illegally on a San Fran Street is as easy as busy a hot dog from a vendor on a Manhattan street. Like the homeless, even the blind can find a drug dealer in San Fran. With Chesa Boudin as DA they are protected from punishment.
Why do politicians think we are stupid and do not know the truth?
“San Francisco’s Tenderloin can’t get a break. After Mayor Breed allowed drug dealers to overrun the neighborhood the mayor raised the community’s hopes by announcing a police crackdown. But it never happened. Now we have politicians and the media claiming that “street chaos” has expanded to other neighborhoods “as San Francisco focused much of its attention in recent months on drug sales and homelessness in the Tenderloin.”
That’s false. A nonexistent police crackdown did not displace Tenderloin dealers to other neighborhoods. The Tenderloin never got the increased police attention necessary to end open dealing in the neighborhood.”
This is what happens in a one Party city—it takes a far Leftists like Shaw to out the Mayor for her lies.
DRUG DEALERS MULTIPLY ACROSS SF: DON’T BLAME TENDERLOIN
by Randy Shaw, Beyond Chron, 4/4/22
Tenderloin dealers remain in neighborhood
SF’s Expanding “Street Chaos”
San Francisco’s Tenderloin can’t get a break. After Mayor Breed allowed drug dealers to overrun the neighborhood the mayor raised the community’s hopes by announcing a police crackdown. But it never happened. Now we have politicians and the media claiming that “street chaos” has expanded to other neighborhoods “as San Francisco focused much of its attention in recent months on drug sales and homelessness in the Tenderloin.”
That’s false. A nonexistent police crackdown did not displace Tenderloin dealers to other neighborhoods. The Tenderloin never got the increased police attention necessary to end open dealing in the neighborhood.
Here’s the truth: many areas of San Francisco are completely out of control. Check out Eighth Street between Market and Mission. Or the first two blocks of Sixth Street. Or the area on Seventh Street around the Good Hotel and the Federal Building.
And I am sure others can name more.
I’m hearing from people across the city, many from neighborhoods that never experienced such problems.
This “chaos” has not been displaced from the Tenderloin. It still has far more than their fair share of dealers. Many came from other neighborhoods that were allowed to displace their dealers to the Tenderloin. These dealers were then given free space to sell drugs in the Tenderloin containment zone.
A Complete Breakdown
I’ve been in San Francisco since 1979 and cannot recall such a complete breakdown in law enforcement. Mayor Breed has spoken powerfully and angrily but not matched her words with action. Our District Attorney told the Washington Post that Tenderloin families “were not bothered by drug dealers.” Police Chief Scott gets cranky when even asked about the SFPD’s allowing open drug dealing in family neighborhoods.
When David Anderson was U.S. Attorney the city had at least one top law enforcement person that used their full powers to challenge Tenderloin drug dealers. But he left over a year ago.
Supervisors Safai and Stefani have been particularly outspoken about the law enforcement breakdown. But individual supervisors have little to no power over the police or district attorney.
Many see recalling the District Attorney as essential for repairing the law enforcement breakdown. But do the people of San Francisco have to wait until the June recall election for the city to crackdown on open drug dealing?
A Progressive Failure?
Many social media posts blame “progressives” for San Francisco’s law enforcement breakdown. People point to harm reduction policies, criticism of the police, a “linkage” center that promotes drug use and the District Attorney’s identification as “progressive” as evidence.
But when did Mayor London Breed join the city’s progressive establishment?
It wasn’t a progressive supervisor who opened a Linkage Center for recreational drug use, it was Breed. It’s not a progressive supervisor who can replace the Police Chief for allowing open dealing, it’s the mayor.
The media promoted a narrative about “moderate” Breed backing police crackdowns over objections from the city’s left. But our moderate mayor never implemented the crackdown. Her inaction sent a message that the city was still open to drug dealers, which helps explain why they have spread to other neighborhoods.
I wish we could blame what’s happening in San Francisco on a specific political faction or agenda. But our “moderate” mayor is implementing the stereotypical “progressive” agenda toward drug users and dealers.
What Must Be Done
The San Francisco Chronicle asked last week “What Can S.F. Do to Stop the Chaos?” in the Tenderloin. The story contributed to the mayor’s perspective that the Tenderloin’s drug dealer problems are too intractable to be readily solved.
As I wrote on February 28, 2022 (“The Gaslighting of the Tenderloin“):
After more than two months of police inaction, City Hall is laying the groundwork for declaring that its Tenderloin police crackdown failed. Mayor Breed will claim she tried her best but the challenge proved too difficult. She and others will vow to never stop trying. The media will blame this failure on the Tenderloin’s “intractable” drug and crime problem…What does Mayor Breed and City Hall gain from this self-induced failure? The ability to continue using the Tenderloin as a drug dealer containment zone.
I urge readers to rise up and challenge City Hall’s strategy. Refuse to accept that the wealthy city of San Francisco is incapable of stopping open drug dealing in the working-class, multi-racial Tenderloin.
If drug dealers showed up tomorrow on Union Street, they wouldn’t last an hour. And if they returned later that day or the next day, they would be dispersed again. When vandals attacked a Louis Vuitton store in Union Square. City Hall spared no expense on a police presence ensuring such conduct would not be repeated.
Open drug dealing exploded in the Tenderloin during the pandemic because City Hall allowed it. And City Hall can stop this open dealing whenever it wants.
For those discouraged I say continue to speak out. Don’t give up. San Francisco’s law enforcement breakdown is not sustainable. At some point public pressure will force elected officials to act. And if they don’t act, expect San Francisco to change its political and law enforcement leadership.
