Once again, the City of San Francisco is testing the tolerance of its Haight Ashbury residents by mandating another massive service site at 730 Stanyan.  Without any public hearing, and with barely any notice, a second large-scale service center is proposed for this site. Called a “Drop-In Center,” it will be yet another program to reside in the Haight, a community that is already saturated with programs for drug addiction, homelessness, mental health, street kids (TAY) and other services.

We, the signatories of this petition, will no longer accept any services forced upon the Haight Ashbury neighborhood without the proper notification and vetting by its residents and business owners.

Only one year ago the Safe Sleeping Site was set up at 730 Stanyan, also with no public hearing and little notification. And although the site itself was not a major issue, it did create the following horrific conditions in the surrounding Haight community.

• Dozens of tents were erected on our public sidewalks without adequate sanitation or necessities, sheltering maskless individuals during the height of the COVID epidemic.
• Drug dealing was rampant. Drug dealers often used sidewalk tents to hide their operation.
• Acts of violence were commonplace. Residents often witnessed sidewalk brawls.
• Neighboring buildings were directly impacted by rodent infestations from the site

City leaders have shown their inadequacy to provide safety and basic order for the Haight community. Here are a few examples:

• A recent murder occurred on Haight and Shrader.
• A woman (known as Lisa) has been living on Haight Street in deplorable conditions for many months, hoarding so much garbage it often makes the sidewalk impassable.
• Drug dealing on the corner of Haight and Ashbury often occurs without police intervention. Drug sales have escalated to Fentanyl.
• Merchants forced to deal with increased criminal activities on a daily basis

Merchants, a very vital part of our community, are trying hard to bounce back from last year, which was devastated by COVID. Again, they must endure continuing hardships because city leaders no longer consider their needs. Programs to help Haight merchants are always of lower priority than services for troubled Haight visitors.

The residents and merchants of the Haight have had enough. We feel we deserve a vibrant community with clean, safe streets. We, therefore, demand the following actions take place to ensure that our basic concerns are immediately addressed:

• Resume enforcement of the “Sit and Lie” law
• Prohibit tents on our public sidewalks
• Resume and increase police foot patrols on Haight and adjoining streets
• Provide immediate response by city officials, to residents and merchants experiencing neighborhood issues.
• Frequent SF Health Department inspections
• Ensure clean sidewalks by daily pressure washing

It is time for the City of San Francisco to show the residents of the Haight Ashbury community that they, too, matter.  We have the same basic desires of all San Francisco communities. We demand our streets be clean and safe. We demand the Haight Ashbury community be, once again, a proud, historic, vibrant community.