San Francisco mayor declares state of emergency in response to drug overdose deaths

San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Friday declared a state of emergency in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, an area that sits near City Hall and that officials have long said is rampant with drugs and crime in response to overdose deaths.

The policy came days after Breed promised an aggressive crackdown on crime in the city in which she specifically cited the Tenderloin as an area plagued by open-air drug dealing, crime and unsanitary conditions on the streets.

“There is clearly in the Tenderloin community, with the conditions of not just the people in the streets, but the people living there and the people suffering that we are in a crisis and we need to respond accordingly,” she said at a news conference Friday. “Too many people are dying in this city, too many people are sprawled all over our streets.”

The declaration would expedite emergency programs by waving zoning and planning codes – in effect cutting through red tape – in an effort to open sites “where people with substance use issues can receive behavioral health services and get off the street,” a city news release said. – READ MORE