Another public safety town hall was held in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood Thursday. This comes a week after a deadly mass shooting happened in the area.
One person died and four others were injured during the incident.
Now, some of the area’s top leaders were in the neighborhood, facing questions from people who live and work there.
“We need to have more support at nighttime. This is a 24-hour job down here and so, it needs to be addressed as a 24-hour job,” said Miss Tina, who works in the Tenderloin.
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The St. Anthony Foundation hosted Thursday’s town hall and another one with the same panel about five months ago. The panel includes San Francisco police chief Bill Scott, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto.
“The journey to get here requires people to dodge feces, urine, needles and drug dealers constantly, including our employees,” said Bryan Young, Interim CEO of the St. Anthony Foundation.
The town hall also comes as the city of San Francisco recently announced that 2023 was the city’s deadliest year ever for drug overdoses, mostly due to fentanyl, a drug being pushed right in the Tenderloin.
At the last meeting, Jenkins pointed the finger at lenient judges. During Thursday’s meeting, it was no different.
“We need them to disrupt this market, disrupt this behavior by keeping these individuals in custody,” she said.
Jenkins said they have filed 411 motions to detain drug dealers while their cases are open, only about 40 have been granted.
“Until we resolve that at the courthouse and stop that revolving door, the police and I are going to continue to be hamsters on a wheel,” she said.
There was a will to clean up the city when world leaders were in town for APEC. Scott admitted that they “lost some ground in some areas.” But he added they had resources because of the magnitude of the gathering.
Right now, Scott said SFPD is shifting when they deploy as no arrests have been made in last week's mass shooting.
“The narcotics activity at night, we believed played a part in that and that’s where our focus is right now,” he said.
The officers continuing to work with multiple agencies, including federal prosecutors.
Miyamoto said it makes a difference as the jail population has increased by 30% over the last few months, and inmates are asking for help.
It’s hope for Miss Tina.
“I’m confident it could change but everybody needs to stick together, everybody needs to work together,” she said.
