MESSAGE FROM CATHERINE
Dear John,
The Tenderloin is in crisis. In 2018,
there were 259 documented overdose deaths in San Francisco. In 2020,
that number nearly tripled to 717 deaths. We’ve already observed at
least 592 overdose deaths this year.
Last year, we allocated over $1
billion to address homelessness, and over $25 million to address
mental health crises and drug overdoses. We continuously expanded
social services and shelter, and yet the problem continues to get
worse.
These numbers should appall us all.
They are stark indicators that something is deeply flawed in how we
are currently addressing the overdose crisis.
Earlier this year, 400 Tenderloin
residents and families came to City Hall to beg the City to intervene
and stop the violence they experience on a daily basis.
What does it say about our city that
we find it acceptable for children to walk over dead bodies and be
assaulted day after day while they are on their way to school or to
work? What is it going to take for us to say enough is
enough?
I know there are those who will
disagree with me but, the disease of addiction is not a license to use
on the streets until you kill yourself or seriously harm someone
else.
That is why I voted
yes to declare a State of Emergency in the Tenderloin for the
ongoing drug overdose death crisis.
This declaration would give the Mayor
90 days to:
- Allow the City to expeditiously
leverage existing resources to best address the crisis in the
Tenderloin and SOMA,
- Quickly create centers where those
suffering from addiction can receive mental health and other human
services,
- Disrupt the illegal open air drug
market, and
- Expedite cleaning and infrastructure
requests.
The choice before us was whether or
not we want to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis before us and
provide the resources necessary to address it.
The situation in the Tenderloin is
untenable and it deserves the same urgent and sustained emergency
response we gave to the COVID-19 pandemic. For too long, residents of
this area and throughout the City have begged for change. I hear you,
and with full confidence in our Department of Emergency Management, I
look forward to addressing the emergency in the Tenderloin head
on.
- Supervisor Catherine
Stefani
Office of Supervisor Catherine
Stefani
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 260,
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 554-7752 Fax:
(415) 554-7843
|