In a “Full Measurement” report, host and investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson describes outdoor drug tolerance in a San Francisco neighborhood known as Tenderloin.first
Once known for its trendy restaurants and jazz clubs, the area has long had some “dice zones” but didn’t really start to go downhill until just before the COVID-19 pandemic. “By most accounts, it was during COVID and the shift in mayors that there was an explosion of drug trafficking that was acceptable to virtually any authority,” Attkisson said. .2
Today, Tenderloin resident Katherine Vaughn, who was once homeless, says things have gotten so bad she’s afraid to walk her bull in the neighborhood. “Garbage is constantly on the street, people are laying around the facade of the building, people are pouring into the street,” she said.3 Despite its reputation for drug traffickers and users, a police presence in the area is nonexistent.
City pays $60K per tent to support crime
The city of San Francisco operates six “safe sleep villages” where homeless people can sleep in tents, with three meals a day, provided with security and bathrooms. Although the program currently costs the city $60,000 per tent per year, and has about 260 tents in all, they are trying to modify the program to bring the cost down to $57,000.4
The New York Post reports that this is more than double the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment, and more than $1 billion is expected to be spent on the homeless in San Francisco over a two-year period. . The funding comes from Measure C, a 2018 business tax.5 San Francisco Mayor London Breed described it as a “historic investment” and said:6
“For those who exhibit harmful behavior, whether towards themselves or others, or who refuse to assist, we will use every tool we have to get them into treatment and services. service, to bring them into the house. We will not accept people who are only on the street, when we have a place for them to go. “
However, according to regional experts, the tents are mainly used for drug trafficking.
Tolerance for drug dealers who wreak havoc in the neighborhood
Randy Shaw is the head of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, an advocacy group for low-income housing. He believes that the “excessive focus” on homelessness is distracting from the real problem plaguing the region, the drug trade. It got so bad, he said, that a side economy has formed, referring to the billions of dollars spent on so-called “safe sleeping villages.”
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, aren’t those tents for the homeless?’ They’re selling drugs from the tent. Because you can trade drugs in the tent, the police can’t see you,” Shaw told Attkisson. He continued:7
“If you get rid of the drug dealers in Tenderloin, we’ll be fine. We won’t have to do anything else. That’s 90% of the problem. But people have a need for whatever reason to talk about homelessness, people with mental health issues. They are all over San Francisco. What differentiates it from Tenderloin is its tolerance to the large outdoor drug trade.
… It really started to change in 2019. And then it really got worse during the pandemic. People always say, ‘Well, Tenderloin has had a long history of duplication.’ Yes, it has. But the worst that happened in the 80s and 90s is nowhere near as bad as it was.”
The ex is hired to rotate around the neighborhood
San Francisco has also invested millions more in taxes on Urban Alchemy, a social enterprise that sends teams of former life sentences into the streets to reduce conflict.8
“Their workers, most of whom are disabled, line the streets of Tenderloin County, wearing uniforms marked with fluorescent yellow stripes. They have a mission to peacefully turn around tough neighborhoods by cleaning them up, chatting and providing support,” Attkisson reports.9
However, Urban Alchemy only operates between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Shaw said. “We need the police to come in other hours. And they were nowhere to be found. You are here right now – do you see any policemen? ” Attkisson said they spent hours in Tenderloin but did not see any uniformed policemen during that time, even along “the most notorious stretch of land.”
“We’ve seen people queuing up to take drugs in broad daylight and lots of drug dealers doing business without fear of being stopped,” she said.ten Meanwhile, Urban Alchemy estimates it has about 20 contracts with the state of California – hiring 1,500 former employees – to improve “rudimentary” neighborhoods. The contracts are worth $50 million and this number is expected to grow to $100 million in the coming years.11
State of emergency for 90 days declared
On December 17, 2021, Breed declared a state of emergency in Tenderloin, “allowing the City to waive several laws to rapidly address the area’s street drug overdose crisis. neighborhood as part of the Mayor’s Tenderloin Emergency Intervention Plan. “twelfth
A bulletin from the Mayor’s Office noted, “Similar to the City’s COVID-19 Emergency Declaration, this action will remove bureaucratic hurdles, allowing the City to quickly respond to relevant conditions. regarding the health and safety of the population in Tenderloin. “13
Part of the impetus for the emergency came from the Tenderloin Community Welfare District, which organized school pick-ups so they could safely return home from school. “One of the reasons we want the emergency is because we want the kids in the neighborhood to feel safe walking to school,” said Elise Gorberg, of the Tenderloin Community Welfare District.14
While the state of emergency has expired, the city declared it a success, with 345 people being placed in shelters and 154 being moved to permanent supportive housing.15 But according to Shaw, “The state of emergency is believed to be related to a police crackdown on drug dealers. That never happened. The bottom line is that San Francisco has always had the resources and personnel to stop the drug trade, except it allows it in Tenderloin. “16
Gorberg added, “I think there are definitely areas in the neighborhood where we’ve seen some improvement. But I think what we’re really interested in is seeing what happens after the three-month period that we’ve been through. “17
In addition, it is becoming increasingly common for governments to use emergency powers to divert resources to any particular cause – not always positive causes. In April 2022, President Biden extended the emergency law for the eighth time, and this time he didn’t even pretend it was related to a public health emergency.
He said it was due to instability in Iraq. By expanding his emergency powers, he could channel millions of dollars, without accountability, into the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Naomi Wolf, author of “The End of America,” published in 2007, and “The Bodies of Other: The New Authoritarians, COVID-19 and the War Against the Human,” released in late May 2022, for know, “He’s basically weaponizing HHS, everything that has to do with health boards, which has been weaponized during the pandemic.”18
Wolf, a former Clinton administration adviser, says there are 10 steps leaders who want to disrupt a democracy will always take. We are now at Step 10, part of which is the proposed World Health Organization Pandemic Treaty, which would give WHO the unbridled privilege to declare an emergency and then have discretion to determine the global response, even if it conflicts with the constitutional rights of a member state.
A management area
Why don’t the police gather in Tenderloin to shut down drug dealers? Shaw believes the city is sacrificing the area so it doesn’t spread – and contaminate the rest of the city. He told Attkisson:19
“I think in the end City Hall accepted Tenderloin as a no-go zone and felt like, ‘I’m really scared they’re going to go to a different neighborhood.’ But they don’t want to say it publicly because it doesn’t seem like they care about low-income families. But how do you explain it?
And here’s the initiator: we sent 40 to 80 officers to Union Square after Louis Vuitton handbags were stolen on a video. I mean, we’re basically protecting empty stores. It’s not even people or families. You know, nobody lives, it’s businesses.
So what does that tell you about the city’s real priorities? It’s sad because San Francisco calls itself a progressive city. It says, ‘We care about the people who work. We care about low income people. ‘
So, why do families and children have to go through drug dealers? … They accept it. They think, don’t touch it, because they might move to another area they definitely don’t want. I mean, it breaks my heart watching these. “
