San Francisco supervisors wanted a straight answer on Thursday: are Mayor Daniel Lurie's crackdowns on open-air drug markets actually working, or just shifting the problem from one block to the next? They didn't get one, partly because nobody from the mayor's office came.
Board President Rafael Mandelman called the hearing at the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee and asked for a mayoral staffer to attend. None did. "This is not exactly the meeting I was hoping for," Mandelman said, according to Mission Local. Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission, also criticized the absence.
Police: it's whack-a-mole
SFPD Deputy Chief Scott Biggs told supervisors that enforcement in the Tenderloin and South of Market displaces dealers and users into other areas, including the Mission. "We're not as fast as the activity shifting into other areas," he said. He added that dealing has moved toward nighttime, when staffing is thinnest, and that officers are now focusing on crowds that gather between midnight and 5 a.m.
Staffing came up again and again. Supervisor Matt Dorsey said the department is still roughly 720 officers short, about a third of the force. Supervisors described mixed results: Bilal Mahmood said some Tenderloin blocks are "night and day" better while others, including lower Nob Hill, are worse, and Mandelman said parts of the Castro have badly deteriorated.
Treatment numbers
Public Health Director Daniel Tsai said entries into treatment have risen about 30% over three years. The RESET Center on Sixth Street, where police can bring people arrested for public intoxication instead of jail, has been tied to about 2,300 arrests in its six months, but supervisors questioned its strict entry rules and Dorsey said it needs about four times its current capacity.
The most pointed testimony came from Marshall Elementary students in the Mission, who described cleaning drug paraphernalia off their schoolyard and being scared on the walk to school.
What's next
The hearing ended without metrics that satisfied supervisors. Mandelman, who leaves the board in December, asked to continue the item to the full board and said he hopes for a city response before then.