1 week Ago By Xueer Lu
Help grow our newsroom , joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below. We have an ambitious goal for 2025: Double the total number of donors from last year to over 5,000! We are already 20 percent of the way there . Half a dozen workers at shops and restaurants near the intersection of 16th and Mission streets said they have started to see slight changes in the area, but mostly at the plazas.
Before the RV-sized SFPD unit arrived in March , the southwest plaza was always overcrowded with vendors selling stolen goods and sometimes shoplifters came into the Cricket store across from plaza to steal phones, said Cristy Garcia, who works six days a week at Cricket. Now, she added, it has “calmed down” a little. Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter below.
“Not that it’s 100 percent under control. It still gets crazy from time to time,” Garcia said. “Especially when it’s sunny and warmer, there’s more activity.
” Moe, who also works at a phone repair store across from the mobile unit, agreed. Moe said there used to be more people selling stolen cigarettes, alcohol, and cheap clothes. Every day he saw the same people around his shop, but now they are mostly gone, he said.
For Moe the mobile unit’s presence acts as a deterrent. “It might be just to make sure that they don’t sell nearby,” he said. Another employee who works six days a week at the tobacco shop Smoker Friendly next door to Cricket, added, “Not a lot of people are selling no more.
” However, the employee questioned whether there is “actual change.” The police presence, he said, is pushing the illegal vendors and drug activity to the alleyways nearby. “They are still around,” he said.
Girlie Pineda, who works Tuesday to Sunday at a variety store Dollar and Up next to Moe’s phone repair store, said the police presence has “helped a lot.” Pineda, who also lives on Julian Avenue, a block away from her shop, said recently she feels just a bit safer working and living in the area. “I hope it stays,” Pineda said, referring to the mobile unit.
“Especially at night when there is always drug dealing, stealing, and robbery.” We're a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom that works hard to bring you news you can't get elsewhere. In 2025, we have a lofty goal: 5,000 donors by the end of the year — more than double the number we had last year.
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