Evicted from SF streets, unhoused people move to parks

Unhoused people in Jefferson Square Park

Trouble in Jefferson Park

As Christmas (Election Day) approaches, children (elected politicians running for re-election and new candidates) promise their parents (voters) that they will be good next year and show their achievements to them, hoping to get gifts (votes). on Christmas Day (Election Day).

Most San Francisco voters don’t want homeless encampments to become the city’s permanent landscape. All they want at Christmas (November 5th election day) are safe, clean and vibrant streets.

Faced with tight reelections this year and the sense from her opponents and voters that Mayor London Breed hasn’t done enough to address the homeless problem, she is increasing the number of citations and searches of unhoused people sleeping on city streets with the Supreme Court and Governor Gavin Newsom’s blessings.

“Miracle on Willow Street”

The city has played a role on Willow Street between Larkin Street and Van Ness Avenue for years. The tents, the drug addicts and dealers return shortly after the city clears the streets.

However, on a recent visit to Willow Street, I saw noticeable improvements in the condition of the street.

Willow Street, a month before Election Day on November 5

There wasn’t one tent and only a few drug addicts and dealers between the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) building and Van Ness Cafe & Gyros.

Two Urban Alchemy ambassadors at Willow and Polk Streets told me that they patrolled Willow Street from Larkin to Polk Streets and half of Willow Street from Polk Street to Van Ness Avenue every day for 5 weeks from 7:00 am to 3:30 am. p.m

They told me that after they leave Willow Street at 3:30 PM, the drug addicts and dealers return, but not as many as before. And they have to clean up their trash when they clock in at 7 a.m. This cycle continues daily.

I spoke with Murat Gul, the co-owner of Van Ness Cafe & Gyros on Van Ness Ave and Willow Street.

He said the section of Willow Street next to his cafe has been clean and bright every day between 7am and 3.30pm for three weeks. The drug addicts and dealers usually come back around 4pm, but not as many as before.

He said the SFPD drives the street regularly throughout the day.

Mayor London Breed even showed up in the Tenderloin on Friday, October 4, to paint graffiti, including Willow Street. And the neighbors told me they really appreciated her efforts and visit.

Ibrahim Shaikh, who lives a block away from Willow Street, said: “The problem is that graffiti stays on the buildings for weeks and months, so long. When the taggers and graffiti artists know that the graffiti will be removed within a day or a few days, they stop. Have you seen the CCSF building?

They’ve done a pretty good job cleaning up the alley (Willow Street) over the last few weeks. Now that the alley is clean and free of encampments, the community should organize a Willow Street Fair or a night market for a change that serves food and drinks instead of narcotics. They have to do something to get back at the drug cartels.”

Aaron Peskin (candidate for mayor) visited the CCSF building at 750 Eddy Street on May 16 and told the CCSF people to clean up the graffiti on their building, which they did, but the graffiti quickly returned.

Daniel Lurie (mayoral candidate) whose campaign office was also tagged tweeted (X): “Graffiti is a problem that affects the entire city.

Small businesses are tagged and then fined for not cleaning up quickly enough. We must hold vandals accountable, fully staff our graffiti response unit and not punish the victims.”

Where do the drug addicts and dealers from Willow Street go?

I asked a man without a home on Willow Street, next to the CCSF building, who was fixing drugs and about to let the good times roll where the drug addicts and dealers went. He said, “They’re in the park (Jefferson Square Park) right now, but they’ll come back here.”

Then I went to Jefferson Square Park to check it out, where I saw a Park Ranger, M. Alvarez, handling an abandoned dog tied to a tree.

An unhoused person left his dog in Jefferson Square Park

According to Alvarez, he was patrolling the park when he saw the dog barking and charging at pedestrians. He waited for an animal control officer to arrive and said with sadness in his voice, “It looks like an unhoused person abandoned her.”

He told me that since the city started pushing unhoused people off the streets in August, they’ve been moving into parks.

I spoke to several unhoused people in the park. They told me they recently moved to the park from Willow Street after being expelled from there.

I recognized several drug dealers in the park who usually hung out on Willow Street.

“A Nightmare on Eddy Street”

Neighbors on Eddy Street near Jefferson Square Park have noticed an increase in drug addicts, dealers and activity in the park.

They said that every night until the early morning, 25 to 50 drug addicts and dealers gather in the park and on the corner of Eddy and Gough Street, next to the bus stop.

“There are a lot of zombies there. The scene is like “Night of the Living Dead,” they said.

On September 17, there was a major drug bust near the park: “On September 17, 2024 at approximately 10:45 p.m., San Francisco Police found 31-year-old Dennison Aguilera-Moncada of Oakland on Golden Gate Avenue near Laguna and Gough. Streets and placed him under arrest. A search of Aguilera-Moncada’s person and vehicle turned up suspected narcotics and evidence related to narcotics trafficking.” – SFPD.

I also wrote about the homeless couple who vandalized the park and destroyed young trees on Eddy Street between Gough and Laguna Streets.

Then on the morning of September 18, a car was set on fire and burned on Eddy Street between Gough and Laguna Streets. A city employee who was in the park during the incident spoke to me on condition of anonymity.

According to them, there were so many unhoused people in the park and on Eddy Street that morning. And a man without a home set fire to the car on Eddy Street.

A burned out car and drug addicts using drugs next to a car on Eddy Street

A burned out car on Eddy Street between Gough and Laguna Streets

The car’s owner, Jon Diaz, who lives two blocks from the park, discovered it when he came home from work and walked his dog to Jefferson Square Park.

He parked his car at the park because parking costs $400 a month in his apartment building, he said.

Diaz said, “No one called me. I checked the car and then I saw what happened.”

Diaz called the Northern District Police Department to report the incident. He was told by an officer at the police station to file a police report and call his insurance company.

I emailed Northern District Police Chief Jason Sawyer about Diaz’s car.

Captain Sawyer responded, “I assume the owner of the vehicle has filed a report. Once completed, the report is sent to the arson unit for investigation.

I followed up with Diaz two weeks after his car incident.

Diaz said via text: “They (SFPD and SFFD} haven’t really provided anything useful. At this point I’m not waiting to hear from them because I don’t know how much attention they’re paying to this. I just want my insurance company to take the car pays and then moves on. It’s been a pretty exhausting experience.

The neighbors don’t want homeless encampments like the new landscape in the park

A homeless tent in Jefferson Square Park overlooking the department
from the emergency management headquarters

Jade Lim, who lives across the street from the park, sees many needles on the sidewalks around and in the park when she walks her dog. She worries that her dog will step on needles or accidentally swallow medication.

“It is mind-boggling that Governor Gavin Newsom is signing a law banning all plastic shopping bags in grocery stores but allowing the use of syringes on sidewalks and parks. Talking about environmental pollution!”