{"id":32304,"date":"2024-03-13T12:36:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T19:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32304"},"modified":"2024-03-13T12:36:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T19:36:44","slug":"while-city-still-fiddles-little-saigon-still-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/while-city-still-fiddles-little-saigon-still-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"WHILE CITY STILL FIDDLES, LITTLE SAIGON STILL FALLS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0March 11, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tents, open drug use in Little Saigon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abandoning Little Saigon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week the Tenderloin\u2019s Little Saigon neighborhood was filled with tents, drug dealers and drug users. City Hall appears intent on keeping it this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are we allowing the city\u2019s tribute to the Southeast Asian refugees who revitalized the Tenderloin go down the drain? Why are small businesses in and near Little Saigon not getting the city help other neighborhoods are getting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many are looking for answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My story last November on San Francisco\u2019s failure to protect Little Saigon (See \u201cWhile City Fiddles, Little Saigon Falls<\/a>\u201d) got a great response. Many asked why instead of revitalizing the area City Hall was making public safety worse by funding a homeless shelter at the formerly tourist COVA Hotel. This  fills the area with dealers and users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January we learned that a DPH-funded program was opening a homeless drop-in center in the heart of Little Saigon at the former site of Turtle Tower (See \u201cLittle Saigon Fights to Survive<\/a>,\u201d January 16, 2024). Mayor Breed quickly stepped in to put the plan on hold. It remains subject to the nonprofit securing a conditional use permit for the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse Than Before<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Saigon (Larkin to O\u2019Farrell)  looks like a neighborhood the city has abandoned. Tents and drug users dominate sidewalks not just outside the city-funded COVA Hotel but on every block of the east side of Larkin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where are the police? I virtually never see a police officer in Little Saigon. Why would they be? Chief Scott refuses to provide beat cops in the area or in any other residential part of the Tenderloin. Supervisor Safai sponsored a law to require beat officers in neighborhoods but like a lot of city laws it is not applied in the Tenderloin neighborhood (Tenderloin Station beat cops patrol Market Street and no street north of Golden Gate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chief has officers walking beats in Union Square\u2014which sure hasn\u2019t stopped Macy\u2019s planned closure or the departure of other businesses in the area. Tenderloin small businesses have begged the Chief for beat cops but he refuses to provide them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week\u2019s debate over whether San Francisco is still \u201cprogressive\u201d should instead have asked whether denying beat cops to the city\u2019s largest low-income and working-class neighborhood is \u201cprogressive.\u201d I think we can agree it is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The west side of Larkin had no tents or drug users\u2014but it also had only a handful of people because most of the retail is closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just outside Little Saigon on the 800 block of Larkin a new art gallery is opening next to the soon to open site for the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot play. The area leading to those venues is a park that has monitors. Across the street, however, is a sidewalk packed with drug users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality Check<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing Little Saigon to go from a thriving restaurant district to a drug containment zone is a tragedy for San Francisco. I previously suggested that empty storefronts could be helped by the city\u2019s vacant to vibrant<\/a> program. Representatives of that program have convinced me that it doesn\u2019t fit Little Saigon for many reasons\u2014a major one being that nobody will open a business regardless of economic incentives if they can\u2019t be sure tents and drug activities won\u2019t kill their operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four tourist hotels within a block of Little Saigon. All get customers saying they love the hotel but don\u2019t feel safe in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Will Little Saigon remain a Southeast Asian dining hub? Or will City Hall use the area\u2019s problems to justify converting the entire street to a homeless and mental health drop-in center?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect we will find out soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0March 11, 2024 (BeyondChron.org) Tents, open drug use in Little Saigon Abandoning Little Saigon Last week the Tenderloin\u2019s Little Saigon neighborhood was filled with tents, drug dealers and drug users. City Hall appears intent on keeping it this way. Why are we allowing the city\u2019s tribute to the Southeast… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32304"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32305,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32304\/revisions\/32305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}