by Sebastian on October 23, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
The Encampments On Van Ness And Golden Gate Were Cleared Out On Oct.4
On October 4 morning, as the good people of San Francisco waited in line on Van Ness to pay their respects to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein at city hall, the City was busy clearing out the 2 large encampments a few blocks away on Van Ness between Eddy and Golden Gate, San Francisco’s Skid Row:
The Encampment On Van Ness And Eddy Street Was Cleared Out On Oct.4
A group of Van Ness residents, who were walking towards city hall carrying flowers, saw the HSOC team clearing out the encampments along Van Ness.
They cheered, “Thanks, Dianne for cleaning up your hometown!”
Mayor London Breed tweeted/X on October 14 about the 2 encampment operations on Van Ness :
“…HSOC conducted 2 operations on Van Ness, engaging with 17 individuals. All were offered shelter, but only 2 accepted.”
Neighbors on Van Ness and Eddy were fed up with the out-of-control open-air drug market in front of 799 Van Ness.
The 311 complaints about that encampment tell “Horror In Cathedral Hill.”
As tensions boil as hot as the Indian summer in the City, both unhoused and housed neighbors told CBS and
SF Standard their side of the story.
A senior citizen who lives on Van Ness and Eddy shared with me the letter she sent to San Francisco city officials regarding the encampment where masked drug salesmen often told her to walk faster and taunted her whenever she walked through the blocked sidewalk.
This was what she wrote to them:
San Francisco Homeless, Landlords, and Residents Involved in a Civil War?
Definition of a Civil War:
A war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country.
Why are we, the residents, the ones who have to DEFEND our rights to want to live in a safe neighborhood?
Why do landlords have to DEFEND their properties like a military base with security cameras, security guards, double locks, and the need to call 911 continuously? Today landlords cannot keep their properties desirable to new renters unless they spend thousands of dollars on all the lockdown measures listed above. But how do you explain to prospective renters all the barricades & tent encampments surrounding the buildings? Not an attractive listing.
Why do the homeless have more rights than residents who pay rent for their homes/apartments? The homeless can just put their tent 5 feet from your front door if they feel like it. All anyone can do is call 311 and the city crew is allowed to clean the area around the tent but not touch their “belongings” or request them to move. One tent comes & pretty soon there are 5, or 6 tents surrounding your building.
So we have to experience a sense of fear every time we leave the building when we see a homeless encampment. Do not go out at night.
No, I am not exaggerating. Times have changed in 2023. The environment began to change with the three years of the pandemic. The homeless became more arrogant, more aggressive, more drug-induced, more violent, more dangerous, and more intent on damaging property & buildings and they kept multiplying.
I have lived in the same one-bedroom apartment for 30 years. In that time I have seen our beautiful neighborhood turn from a great place to live to a shell of empty buildings along Van Ness. Most of our local restaurants have closed. We lost a 35-year-old local drugstore because of vandalism, copy stores, sandwich shops, a cooking school, and on & on. The remaining buildings in the neighborhood have all had to invest in expensive iron gates to protect their properties like a fortress. We have lost a sense of well-being. Our owners warn us to not let strangers follow us into our building. Not to use our intercom to buzz unknown people in. Even with these notices packages are still stolen regularly because the homeless get in eventually.
There have been violent altercations on the streets, car break-ins, music blasting at all hours of the day and night, major damage to our building and garages, damage to our green plantings & trees, constant damage to our street lights, graffiti, burning up the ivy growing on our buildings, close to cars in our parking garages, EMT’s working on overdoses out my window. See zombie dope heads laying all over the sidewalks just to get to the mailbox in the Tenderloin.
The family-owned buildings I live in have done their best to secure their property and protect the residents. But I see the “Civil War” they are fighting every day. The City’s homeless lawsuit has confounded property owners on what they are legally allowed to do. San Francisco Homeless Advocates are powerful and have made the homeless cause their business. Are they helping the homeless who want shelter or making the long-term, hard-core homeless stronger and more demanding? The City and local charities have spent millions of dollars supplying the homeless with health care, food, medical assistance, drug rehab, and shelter and it is never enough.
This is our life now. I still love San Francisco. I love my apartment. But life outside is not acceptable for a senior citizen. I have written letters to Mayor Breed in the past asking for her help but I see that her hands are tied by this lawsuit also. We cannot give up and let them win. We want OUR rights back.
Another resident, who was concerned about the decayed state of Van Ness and the upcoming APEC conference, wrote an email to the district supervisor, Supervisor Catherine Stefani, and shared the email response from her office with me:
As soon as the City cleared out the encampment in front of 799 Van Ness and Eddy on October 4, the new owners of 725 Van Ness who purchased the building on September 25 for $4.6 million, 23% less than the listed price of $6 million, immediately went to Home Depot to buy Behlen Country metal garden planters and installed them in front of 799 Van Ness themselves to join the San Francisco’s Urban Garden District.
They also have hired a private security guard to watch over the Van Ness Avenue and the Larch Street sides of their building.
Metal Garden Planters filled with concrete in front of 725 and 799 Van Ness
Nonetheless, the encampment and the open-air drug market in front of 799 Van Ness have relocated across the street as of October 6.
The “Painted Ladies” On Van Ness And Eddy. Oct.20.
At approximately, 6:45 p.m. on October 16, the FBI made arrests at that encampment.
However, masked drug salesmen are back now at the same location selling “poisonous candies.”
The Open-Air Drug Market On Van Ness And Eddy Is Still Thriving Even After The Oct.16 FBI Raid
It’s business as usual again on Van Ness and Eddy: scary masked drug salesmen, deadly “candies,” zombies, drug overdoses, and spooked law-abiding taxpayers.
Every day is Halloween!
