San Francisco Mayor London Breed warned Monday she may have to shut down the city’s parks if she continues to see people ignoring social distancing guidelines put in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Breed expressed her frustrations after seeing people over the weekend socializing in groups at local parks and beaches. She said she may have no choice but to close all city parks if the behavior continues.
“It’s really the last thing that I want to do,” she said. “I want to plead to the people of our city to comply with the order. The folks who are out on the streets having drinking parties, the folks who are out on the streets socializing and coming together and not taking this social distancing requirement seriously, you are putting lives at stake, you are putting public health in jeopardy.”
Meanwhile, city supervisors are moving ahead with a plan to rent out the city’s vacant hotel rooms and fill them with thousands of homeless individuals who are living in packed shelters or on the streets.
“Shelters right now are places where unfortunately are very dangerous in terms of the way that the virus could spread,” Supervisor Matt Haney said.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen said hotels have offered up 8,500 rooms. The homeless as well as first responders who have either tested positive or were exposed and need a place to quarantine away from family would fill the rooms.
“Hours matter here,” Supervisor Dean Preston said. “We cannot talk about this for the next week or two.”
Despite having 8,500 hotel rooms available, city supervisors said they will need more.
Ronen said she believes Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency order gives the city the right to force hotels to hand over the keys to empty rooms, but she hopes it doesn’t come to that.
