San Francisco supervisors to vote on mayor’s emergency order
San Francisco’s board of directors is considering an emergency ordinance to expedite the city’s ability to curb the high rate of overdose deaths in its troubled tenderloin neighborhood
December 23, 2021, 6:42 pm
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SAN FRANCISCO – Critics of the San Francisco Mayor’s crackdown on drugs press for a no when city leaders meet Thursday to approve an emergency ordinance that cuts red tape to better deal with overdose deaths in the troubled Tenderloin neighborhood to fight.
The Public Health Declaration of Emergency enables the Department of Emergency Management to forego licensing, zoning and contracting rules in order to be quicker to hire street cleaners and security services and to build a new temporary center for people to be treated and counseled, Mayor London said Breed.
The order has nothing to do with a police operation, but critics are calling on the board of directors to reject the statement amid Breed’s broader plan to flood the area with officials and jail drug users if they refuse to accept treatment.
“Threatening people to arrest doesn’t work to bring addicts into treatment,” said San Francisco supervisor Dean Preston, who wants the mayor to spend money on expanding mental health services, alternatives to the police and hotel rooms for the homeless.
“We can do this, but only if we learn from past mistakes instead of repeating them,” he said on social media.
The tenderloin includes museums, the main public library and government offices, including the town hall. But it is also teeming with people who are homeless or in marginal homes, with a high concentration of drug dealers and drug users.
Breed said last week it was time to “be less tolerant of all that bull – this has destroyed our city”.
“If someone openly uses drugs on the street, we give them the opportunity to take advantage of the services and treatments we offer. But if they refuse, we won’t allow them to continue consuming on the streets, ”she said on social media this week. “The families in the neighborhood deserve better.”
The number of overdose-related deaths in San Francisco has increased more than 200% since 2018, and over 700 people died from drug overdoses in the city last year, more than the number who died from COVID -19 died, according to the proclamation.
Nearly 600 people died of drug overdoses this year through November, with nearly half of the deaths occurring in the Tenderloin and neighboring South of Market District, the proclamation said. These areas make up 7% of the population of San Francisco.
Politically liberal cities in the US are grappling with crime following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, when their elected leaders pledged ways to reduce friction between police and vulnerable color communities, especially African-Americans like Floyd.
San Francisco Prosecutor Chesa Boudin joined the city’s public defender earlier this week in denouncing the mayor’s plan, saying that detaining people struggling with addiction, mental health problems and homelessness would not work .
They want her to use the money to build additional treatment beds, shelter, professional training, and other social services.
