The Facts

It's getting a little bit better around the Mission BART plazas, according to the official numbers. Mayor Lurie’s "90-day cleanup" resulted in "534 notices of violations, 93 first-time citations, 14 second-time citations and three misdemeanors" according to Mission Local and it will now continue indefinitely.

Police assigned to the effort made 481 arrests and citations around 16th Street in 90 days, about half for drug violations.

The Context

Supervisor Jackie Fielder previously requested 24/7 ambassadors, but the administration rejected the expansion over a quadrupling of costs.

Police are able to crack down on the sale of stolen goods due to a 2025 state law authored by Senator Scott Wiener. SF now requires permits for selling merchandise commonly targeted by retail theft and can escalate repeat violations from warnings to citations and misdemeanors.

The GrowSF Take

We're thankful for some progress, but it isn't really noticeable to people walking through the plaza. Right now the plazas act as a "Schelling point," meaning sellers and buyers know they can go to these BART plazas to buy and sell stolen goods and drugs. The only way that can change is through consistent enforcement so the plazas stop being the known places to break the law.