{"id":27840,"date":"2023-08-09T13:01:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T20:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27840"},"modified":"2023-08-09T13:01:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T20:01:49","slug":"can-san-francisco-reclaim-its-sidewalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/09\/can-san-francisco-reclaim-its-sidewalks\/","title":{"rendered":"CAN SAN FRANCISCO RECLAIM ITS SIDEWALKS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0August 7, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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

A tent caught on fire on Larch Alley in May, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DPW, DPH and Fire Dept Must Do More<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow come the city has the power to fine businesses for not power washing chewing gum off the sidewalks in front of their business and allow tents and public deification on the same sidewalks?<\/em>\u201d Tweet from @TotalRecallSF in response to CBS news story<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s sidewalks are a mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far too many are filled with trash, open air drug markets, and\/or tents blocking passage. Last week\u2019s Hayes Valley fire (cause still unknown) highlighted how encampments ignite fires across the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No city seeking to attract international tourists has unhealthy sidewalks like San Francisco. What should the city do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a challenging problem. One made worse by the legally dubious<\/a> federal injunction temporarily enshrining a right to camp in San Francisco.  Mayor Breed issued multiple tweets<\/a> last Wednesday highlighting the obstacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But city agencies should still be doing a lot more. Here are some specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enforcing ADA Violations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s power to clear tents is limited until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal vacates the order allowing public camping. The appeal will be heard this month. I cannot imagine the order being upheld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the injunction does not stop the city from preventing tents from blocking wheelchair access on sidewalks. This is constantly happening, as photos on social media regularly show.  The magistrate\u2019s injunction does not override federal civil rights law. The city must stop allowing tents to violate the ADA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City officials may feel that policing tent placements is not the best use of their time. But enforcement  removes oversized tents that force pedestrians to walk in the street. These tents are commonly used for drug activities. They also generate sidewalk trash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing these tents under the guise of federal law should be a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washing Down Sidewalks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may not want to hear this but San Francisco sidewalks have become less clean since Mohammed Nuru left DPW in a corruption scandal. Nuru was known as \u201cMr. Clean\u201d for good reason. He kept sidewalks cleaner than any DPW leader in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Nuru\u2019s departure DPW has been adrift. It\u2019s Acting Director doesn\u2019t want the permanent job. Last I heard it had 100 vacant positions. I\u2019m told of bad morale among upper management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DPW has allowed sidewalk trash to grow at unprecedented levels. I rarely see DPW cleaning Tenderloin sidewalks while under Nuru that was visible daily. Open food, needles and human waste are the norm. It\u2019s a public health hazard. Not a good look for San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why aren\u2019t DPW and DPH working together to aggressively clear this sidewalk public health hazard? A lot of people would like to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire Protection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have followed encampments causing fires since a fire on the 400 block of Leavenworth completely burned out a commercial space. Fortunately, the fire did not displace tenants living above at 601 O\u2019Farrell. What troubled me was that the city\u2019s failure to permanently remove the encampment that started the fire.  I was there last Thursday. It was filled with trash, tents and people openly using drugs.  A future fire at the site will not be a surprise. Let\u2019s hope it doesn\u2019t displace the rent-controlled tenants living above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SF Fire Department is empowered to remove fire hazards. Why does it not use its powers to proactively protect residents and businesses from encampment fires?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SFFD may see encampments as a police and social services issue. But its mindset must change. Encampments have become the main source of San Francisco fires. Campers need to keep warm on cold city nights and many cook in their tents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time for the SFFD to refocus its priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do Tents Inevitably Return?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming the federal injunction is dissolved, does the city have the resources to permanently remove encampments?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many areas the city has forced tents to relocate time and again. The city spends a lot of time clearing tents only for campers to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is drug tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug tourism creates an ongoing customer base for open air drug markets. Many come to San Francisco for its cheap and easy access to drugs. They refuse shelter because drugs are prohibited there. Tents facilitate using and selling drugs outside the eyes of law enforcement. It\u2019s no mystery why campers  keep coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city can\u2019t reduce camping and permanently restore safety to its sidewalks without eliminating the reason many campers come to San Francisco. And that reason is easy access to drug dealers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco must close its open air drug markets. The city won\u2019t reclaim its sidewalks until then.<\/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\u00a0August 7, 2023 (BeyondChron.org) A tent caught on fire on Larch Alley in May, 2023 DPW, DPH and Fire Dept Must Do More \u201cHow come the city has the power to fine businesses for not power washing chewing gum off the sidewalks in front of their business and allow… 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":[926],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27841,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27840\/revisions\/27841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}