A public safety meeting in San Francisco brought out hundreds of Tenderloin residents, many demanding a crackdown on drug dealing and homelessness outside their homes and businesses.
People at the safety meeting all agreed on a need for change in the drug-infested streets of the Tenderloin and city representatives agreed.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he’ll propose a charter amendment Tuesday that would bring the San Francisco Police Department from his current level of 1,475 officers up to full staffing over five years.
“And then by year five we’ll have a fully staffed police department of 2,182 officers,” said Dorsey.
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District Attorney Brooke Jenkins provided a civics lesson on how to change or repeal Prop 47, which increased the dollar value that can be stolen before that theft becomes a felony.
“We as a Voters approved Prop 47 ourselves and the only way to repeal any portion of it is to get it back on the ballot and as a state, we vote to change it,” said
Others are irate about the filth on their streets, and its impact on their children
“When I walk my child to school she says, ‘There’s too much poop. I don’t like it!’ And that’s a quote,” said Yan Peng.
This meeting came on the very same day the city’s chief medical examiner announced 84 people died from fentanyl overdose in August, tying it with January for the most fentanyl deaths ever in one month.
Some people pointed out that Supervisor Dorsey’s police hiring plan, and any repeal of Prop 47 are months or even years away. One man said, he’s hearing rumblings that if something doesn’t happen soon, people will take matters into their own hands.
“I’m seeing it in my neighborhood. I am two blocks from here and I’m worried about vigilantism, and we walk a very dangerous line when we get to that,” said a resident.
