Reality is setting in for San Francisco residents who’d hoped the clean and safe streets they enjoyed during the APEC summit last week would still be there now that the high-profile gathering is over.
But in some parts of town it’s like the summit never happened, the drug dealers and buyers are back, as are the unhoused. Not a lot of people are surprised, but some are angry.
“The conference left and we’re trying to get back to where we were at,” said Buttons. She’s an unhoused person who says is a victim of the pre-APEC cleanup.
“Kind of just pushed us out and told us we were pretty much SOL and find a place other than here,” she Buttons.
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She certainly wasn’t alone. The state and city combined to make the city look its best for the thousands of visitors and the eyes of the world during APEC. But now that all that is gone, so is that shine and some say so is that safety.
“What they did is basically moved, or pushed, all the homeless back up into the tenderloin, or deeper into SoMa, or up to the Van Ness corridor,” said Tom Wolf.
Once unhoused and addicted himself, Wolf is a Recovery Advocate. He posted an example of the cleanup at Jones and McAlister during the summit -- barricades galore. NBC Bay Area went back Monday night and found 15 or 20 people milling about that very intersection.
Wolf says the cleanup shows what can happen when there’s strong political will and resources, but to keep it going would take a sustained commitment to law enforcement and drug rehab.
“Unless you’re going to pay unlimited overtime all the time for everyone, or hire 700 more police officers, we aren't going to be able to achieve the type of scene we got to witness last week because of APEC,” he said.
“Do you know how many officers are on duty in SoMa right now? Tonight? Maybe three. And that’s from the police department,” said Mark Sackett of The BoX SF.
He owns a letter press, retail store and event space business on Howard Street near the Moscone Convention center where the U.S. commerce secretary hosted an event last week. But he says a quarter million dollars-worth of events has slipped away because come to his area of town and doesn't think it’s safe.
“They cleared what needed to be cleared and they cleared what was going to be seen. They didn’t clear it out here – we still had all the issues. It’s like kicking an ant hill – they just crawled down here,” said Sackett.
Experts say in addition to millions of dollars in law enforcement, the city would also have to pay for thousands of recovery beds for the fentanyl addicted If it wants to permanently bring back that shine we saw last week.
