Cleaning up Sixth Street
By: John Upton
September 2, 2009
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Street cleaning: The Redevelopment Agency says the prevalence of homeless people on Sixth Street has made it difficult to attract businesses to the district. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner)
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SAN FRANCISCO — People who spend their days loitering in the Sixth Street corridor could soon be shooed elsewhere.
Two full-time officials will begin patrolling the street and its alleys this month. They will have two-way radios to report crimes, provide advice and clear paths for pedestrians, under a program adopted by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.
Since 2005, when the agency assumed responsibility for economic development in a 70-acre area roughly bounded by Mission, Seventh, Harrison and Fifth streets, it has wooed businesses into formerly vacant storefronts.
“However, the continued prevalence of homeless individuals and drugs on Sixth Street has hindered further improvement,” Project Manager Mike Grisso wrote in a memo to agency commissioners.
The area contains many single-residency hotels, but few public open spaces.
Based on the memo and public testimony, commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $150,000 to employ two full-time guides to patrol the corridor for a year. The contract could be expanded and extended in the future.
The guides will serve as the “eyes and ears” of the Police Department and report crimes and other problems to a dispatcher employed by MJM Management Group, which secured a no-bid contract to run the program, according to Grisso. The company runs similar programs in the mid-Market Street and Yerba Buena Gardens areas.
People interviewed Tuesday said they were not bothered by folks lingering on neighborhood streets.
“They’re generally respectful,” said Max Koch, who works at a printing shop.
But business owners told commissioners that panhandling, public drinking, drug use and other antisocial behavior keeps prospective customers away.
Optometrist Jack Sinow said some of his customers refuse to visit his practice since he relocated to Sixth Street in 2007.
“The social life of these people is on the street, not in their residences, restaurants or in places of entertainment,” Sinow told
commissioners.
Dariush Kayhan, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s director of homeless policy, said he welcomed the program and The City will train the guides to refer residents to social services.
“Multiple engagements increase the success of bringing even service-resistant people inside and getting them to accept services,” Kayhan said.
But the program has its critics.
Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach said such programs are often designed to “remove the presence of poor people,” regardless of whether they are homeless.
Supervisor Chris Daly, whose district includes Sixth Street, didn’t attend the hearing or send a representative, but said he’s skeptical of the program.
jupton@sfexaminer.com
