Pedestrians walk to the edge of the sidewalk to avoid stepping on people in tents and sleeping bags in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco on April 13.
Photo: Ben Margot/Associated PressSan Francisco was the first U.S. city to lock down and strictly enforce its shelter-in-place order—at least against law-abiding citizens. Meanwhile, public officials and police let hundreds of the homeless crowd streets and use drugs in the downtown Tenderloin district, according to two new lawsuits against the city.
San Francisco’s homeless population increased by 20% between 2015 and 2019 but has surged since the city locked down in March. “The number of tents and makeshift shelters on Tenderloin sidewalks grew from 158 on March 3, 2020, to 391 on May 1, 2020,” one lawsuit notes. “However, the San Francisco Police Department has been directed not to remove or disturb those tents” even though “they block the sidewalks and shield criminals.”
The lawsuit includes pictures of people camping out and crowding sidewalks this spring. One worker deemed essential by the city claims she had to walk in street traffic because sidewalks were strewn with tents, human feces and trash. Businesses in the neighborhood say they have been vandalized.
According to the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, “students who decline offers of admission to Hastings often cite the neighborhood as a significant factor in their decisions.” One applicant wrote: “My family was harassed and approached by a drug dealer when walking around the campus. I could not imagine attending school in a place where this is a daily occurrence.”
Meanwhile, as a recent article in City Journal notes, San Francisco is “surreptitiously placing homeless people in luxury hotels by designating them as emergency front-line workers” and has spent $3,795.98 to buy guests alcohol, ostensibly to encourage them to shelter in place. The city has also provided complementary cigarettes and marijuana.
Crime and drug use have increased around the hotels. Perhaps these entrepreneurs have discovered they can make a handsome profit reselling taxpayer-funded goods. Meantime, San Francisco police have cited ordinary citizens for violating the shelter-in-place order, including an 86-year-old protesting outside a Planned Parenthood clinic. George Floyd protesters have been exempt from enforcement.
So far 50 people in San Francisco have died of Covid-19. During the first six months of last year, 182 people died of drug overdoses. The lawsuits claim that San Francisco has created a public nuisance, taken private property without just compensation, and violated the equal protection of the law owed to businesses. They are asking for a court injunction to force the city to clean up the streets.
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