by Sebastian on February 21, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
Dealers Replacing Skaters at Civic Center Rink
(Editors Note: This story was submitted as a creative and informative response to our Feb 13 lead story, Can the Tenderloin Crackdown Be Sustained? )
In the Feb.13th, 2023 BeyondChron, Randy Shaw wrote:
“Where Did the Dealers Go?”
I get this question a lot. Here’s an easy response: maybe they returned to where they were before these drug markets opened. That people can’t find the dealers is telling. It rebuts the common belief that closing drug markets simply pushes the problem only blocks away. Is the Tenderloin dealer free? No. Are there more dealers on the 700 block of Eddy than before the crackdown? Possibly. Are dealers still openly doing business at night? Yes, the crackdown has yet to change this.”
I know that the area between between the Asian Art Museum and the Fulton Plaza roller skating rink, San FranDisco, has been a drug den before the roller skating rink was there. But, I haven’t seen it this bad.
I have walked pass through it during the day and at night. At night, it’s much scarier there.
I strolled there on my way to Whole Foods on Market and 8th street in a recent evening.
Donna Summer’s song, “Hot Stuff” was blaring from the San FranDisco rink. Drugs sommeliers were “Working Hard For The Money” serving their patrons.
The drug den was hopping but the roller skating rink was dead:
So, I asked the roller skating rink’s security guards what times and days of the week the rink gets rolling.
They told me that it never gets busy there. It picks up a little bit on Friday nights.
They said to me that the drug activities there may scare people away. “People don’t want to bring their kids here and see that (pointing at the drug den in between the Asian Art Museum and the roller skating rink). It’s crazy,” one of the security guards told me.
I wonder if the open air drugs market there also negatively affects the Asian Art Museum. Do they also lose their patrons of the arts?
As I was browsing through the drugs bazaar, a drug sommelier approached and offered me “Hot Stuff”. ” Wanna grab something before you skate and let the good times roll?” he asked with a wink.
I politely declined and told him that I was rushing to get to Whole Foods before they closed at 7:00 p.m. When I got to Whole Foods, I was sad to see the scene on the sidewalk on 8th and Market (across the street from Whole Foods) next to the former location of Chase Bank:
That sidewalk had been clear of drugs sommeliers and patrons since Chase closed. Now, it’s bustling again.
As the San Francisco’s dream of owning a public municipal bank is closer to reality, I think that former location of Chase on Market and 8th will be the perfect location for the city’s first municipal public bank.
