After beating, a plea for help in the Mission
As a resident and business owner on 24th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, Connie Rivera has tolerated a lot over the past two decades — increasing rents, decreasing customers during the pandemic. But last month she said she reached her breaking point after seeing a child assaulted outside her store.
“There’s a lot of violence happening right now,” said Rivera, 50, adding that she has to remind her children to be vigilant while walking in the Mission, and to scream for help if they ever are assaulted. “It’s scary.”
Rivera was among dozens of community members and business owners who gathered Wednesday near 16th and Mission streets to call attention to what they described as the neighborhood’s deteriorating street conditions, including violent assaults, visible drug use, flourishing drug markets, illegal vending, the growing unhoused population and lack of resources for homeless individuals.
Some business owners said they’ve had trouble hiring workers because many people don’t feel safe in the area.
Community leaders also accused city officials of ignoring the Mission and its residents’ concerns, instead directing resources to neighborhoods that typically attract tourists and wealthier residents, such as Union Square. Some said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, whose district includes the Mission, was not doing enough to help the neighborhood.
“The people of the Mission need help,” said Dauwila Harrison of the nonprofit Friendship House Association of American Indians, standing in front of people holding a sign that read “Unity.”
Wednesday’s rally comes at a time in which the Mission District is facing a number of interrelated issues that have worsened over the past two years, according to residents and city officials. They include concerns over sex work on neighborhood streets, the growing unhoused population, illegal vending, visible drug use, street fires, deteriorating street conditions and violent assaults.
Plans to transform a parking lot at 1979 Mission St. into a tiny village of 70 cabins for homeless people were delayed due to neighborhood opposition and concerns over costs, according to Ronen. The city temporarily closed off the 24th and Mission BART Station plaza last year and is now requiring vendors to have a permit in an effort to deter illegal street vending that officials and some residents said was making the plaza dangerous. On Capp Street, city officials installed barriers in an attempt to prevent alleged sex trafficking. And pedestrians fear they’ll be the next victim of an unprovoked assault or traffic fatality.
Among the recent victims of violence in the Mission is Yolanda Melara, a 78-year-old woman. On the morning of Feb. 10, Melara was walking to her job from the BART station at 16th and Mission streets when a man robbed her and pushed her to the ground, according to Melara and police. She suffered major injuries. A suspect, 47-year-old Steven Briar, was arrested the same day and is facing a slew of charges, including battery with serious injuries, elder abuse and resisting arrest, said police spokesperson Niccole Pacchetti.
“I still don’t feel safe because I’m still processing what happened to me,” Melara said Wednesday at the rally.
Ronen has said many of these issues intensified after City Hall added more resources and police officers to the Tenderloin and Union Square to address similar concerns.
Santiago Lerma, a legislative aide in Ronen’s office, attended the rally to listen to the community’s concerns. He said the criticism was fair and that Ronen’s office was working to add more police officers to busy corridors and coordinating with other city departments to keep streets clean.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” Lerma said. “We just need to continue to fight for more.”
But many residents are fed up and tired of the red tape they have to go through to get help from the city, they said.
“All we’ve been asking for is for the city, the leaders, to do their jobs,” said Ana Valle, owner of Abanico Coffee Roasters on Mission Street.