by Randy Shaw on March 13, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
A Small Segment of Stevenson Alley’s Drug Market
Board Must Increase Police Funding
On March 15, the Budget Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide whether to increase SFPD and DA funding by $27 million. Board passage of the supplemental is essential. The funds enable the SFPD to expand its Tenderloin “Disruption” strategy for closing open drug markets citywide (See “Will Supes Back $27 million SFPD/DA Supplemental?,” February 27).
San Franciscans want drug markets closed in all neighborhoods. And to stay closed both day and night, the latter of which remains a problem in parts of the Tenderloin despite the crackdown.
SOMA and Stevenson Alley
Last week I went to check out Stevenson Alley (in SOMA between Market and Mission). It was quite a scene. At Seventh and Stevenson, in the shadow of the George H.W. Bush Federal Building, there were between 50-100 dealers.
50-100? I know that sounds unlikely. I didn’t walk by dealers counting them. But from my vantage point on the east side of Seventh that was my best estimate. Given what I have heard about Stevenson dealers toward 8th Street, the number for the block may be even higher.
Last Friday recovery advocate Steve Adami posted a photo of dealers on a different stretch of Stevenson. The alley reminds me of the evening scene along the 300 block of Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin but this goes on in broad daylight.
Stevenson Alley also often has tents completely blocking sidewalks. This prevents trash pick ups for Market Street buildings.
Some blame the increased Stevenson drug scene on dealers forced out of the Tenderloin. But it’s far more likely that Stevenson’s drug market is a response to the police crackdown on nearby dealers on 8th between Market and Mission and Mission between 8th and 9th. The Seventh and Market drug market adjacent to the Good Hotel at 7th and Mission has also been a problem for years.
All of the drug markets in SOMA must be closed. These markets are damaging SOMA as well as prospects for a Mid-Market revival. The disruption strategy must ensure that dealers dispersed from SOMA not open new markets elsewhere.
Last week I did see positive improvement at UN Plaza. Two police and one park ranger combined to disperse over 25-50 dealers/illegal vendors in the space of ten minutes. The area was left better than I had seen it in some time. We’ll see if this progress lasts.
Dealers in the Mission
The media has finally discovered the Mission’s drug dealing crisis. Small business owners are incredibly frustrated. The armed robbery of a popular taco truck highlights how the neighborhood’s crisis goes well beyond the illegal vending and dealing at the 16th and 24th Street BART stations.
Friends and neighbors of Jose Coronado Playground at 21st and Shotwell are upset about a large encampment that leaves trash throughout the area. We saw in the Tenderloin that many use tents to conceal drug use and sales; it helps explain those who turn down offers of shelter despite the stormy weather.
For too long the Mission has been defined by the gentrification of Valencia Street. Walk down Mission between the two BART stations to get a different perspective.
Isn’t the Drug Crisis Longstanding?
Some claim that there’s nothing new about the current drug crisis. I don’t think most people agree.
Three years ago this week San Francisco’s future never looked brighter. The city’s economy was booming,. Plans had been approved for thousands of new offices in SOMA. Public safety was not a top political issue in the 2018 citywide or district supervisor races.
In my January 7, 2020 story I foresaw a positive transformation for both the Tenderloin and Mid-Market (See “A Tenderloin Breakthrough in 2020?”). While I criticized the city for allowing tents to block Tenderloin sidewalks (a pre-COVID problem soon solved by the UC Law SF lawsuit against San Francisco), I foresaw the opening of long-planned housing and restaurants in Mid-Market and the Tenderloin as revitalizing both areas.
COVID stopped this positive future. Little did I suspect that Mid-Market would lose its customer/tenant base and the city would allow drug cartels to take over multiple blocks in the Tenderloin.
Disruption Works
Closing the Tenderloin’s two big drug markets has not opened new markets nearby. It has increased dealing on the 700 block of Eddy, long a busy drug scene. It’s also likely shifted dealers to the evening hours, where they make bulk sales to those driving up.
The SFPD’s disruption strategy is working. It still needs expansion and improvement. But its given hope to many in the Tenderloin who had given up believing the drug markets would close.
The disruption strategy can close drug markets citywide. The political will is there– it’s up to the Board to approve the new funds and for the SFPD to then deliver.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s 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
