San Francisco is not the only Bay Area city struggling with blight and open air drug use.
Residents in downtown San Jose report increasingly seeing the same problems and some have started recording the issues in hopes of raising attention to the troubles.
"It's terrible. It's absolutely horrible," said Tom Nixon with the Paseo Villas Homeowners Association.
Nixon is referring to open drug use neighbors report happening during the day and night outside a 7-Eleven store near the San Jose State University campus and a block from City Hall. Cell phone video also captures it all.
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Neighbors said they are at a loss and are not sure what to do about the problem. Many also are concerned the open drug use will impact their property value.
"It's terrible what's it done to our values, you know?" Nixon said, who is also a realtor in addition to serving on the homeowners association for the Paseo Villas luxury condos. "We want to do an open house on a Sunday afternoon and you have 10 people camped out in front. People are going to walk by that and say, 'no, I don't want to look at that. That's terrible. Why would I want to live in that situation?'"
Neighbors also said they feel like downtown San Jose is turning into San Francisco.
A clerk at 7-Eleven said he is tired of fighting with people who hang out in his store and outside of it.
Police said they patrol the area often on foot and in cruisers.
"I think they should be worried. I think the primary issue at hand isn't necessarily resources," San Jose police Officer Steve Aponte said. "It's much bigger than that."
Police said it is a constant challenge and mental health plays a big role.
In the last month, police said they have received nine calls for service in the area neighbors are raising concerns about.
Minutes after NBC Bay Area called police to ask for comment on the neighborhood complaints, officers arrived on scene and arrested a man for an outstanding warrant.
Police said the city cannot arrest its way out of this issue, and when they do respond for calls in the area any alleged perpetrator is often gone.
"We are the face of the justice system," Aponte said. "Beyond that, there's incarceration, rehabilitation, there's the courts system."
Nixon, however, said officers sometimes just move the culprits down the street and is frustrated when they come right back days or even hours later.
"You have a bunch of homeless people living out front partying, doing drugs, urinating, defecating," Nixon said.
