Law School Sues San Francisco for Street Feces, Drug Dealing

San Francisco is being sued for its failure to clear the streets in the Tenderloin district of the feces and pervasive drug dealing and overall "deplorable" conditions, according to a new lawsuit.

Businesses and residents in the district, along with the UC Hastings Law School have filed the suit saying the city uses the community as a "containment zone" to cordon off illegal activity committed by drug dealers and people defecating on the streets.

"The deplorable conditions tolerated by the City in the Tenderloin are not permitted in other neighborhoods in San Francisco," the lawsuit reads. "This is a matter of fundamental fairness."

"What is a city-wide problem should not be allowed to weigh disproportionately on a low-income working class neighborhood," the lawsuit reads. "San Francisco should be prohibited from abandoning a single neighborhood, in an apparent effort to spare other neighborhoods the burdens that confront the city at-large."

To address the problem, San Francisco Mayor London Breed last week rolled out the "Tenderloin Neighborhood Safety Assessment and Plan for COVID-19," claiming the virus has led to a "reduction in quality of life and safety" for "unhoused" people and residents in the area.

The plan will initially improve conditions in a 13-block radius within Tenderloin, then will expand to 36 blocks of Tenderloin not named in the plan.

"We are committed to ensuring our most vulnerable neighbors are safe and have access to the resources they need to stay healthy during this public health crisis," Breed said. "This plan was informed by an on-the-ground assessment of the current challenges in the Tenderloin and with input from the community, and our City employees and nonprofit partners who are out there every day interacting with and serving the people who are experiencing homelessness.

To fix the problem, Breed plan has planned to:

• Address encampments by offering safe sleeping alternatives to unsheltered individuals.
• Facilitate social distancing compliance by closing streets and parking.
• Ensure housed residents in the Tenderloin have safe passage and access to their homes and businesses.
• Improve access to hygiene station, restrooms and garbage disposal for unhoused individuals.
• Address food and water insecurity for housed and unhoused residents alike.
• Increase police presence in the neighborhood to focus on public safety concerns.
• Increase health services in the neighborhood.
• Increased education and outreach to residents and businesses through a "care ambassador" program.

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