Name: SF Mayor Breed’s texts with police chief rile some homelessness advocates
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SF Mayor Breed’s texts with police chief rile some homelessness advocates

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed has with barrages of calls and text messages while crisscrossing the city, ordering potholes filled, trash cans emptied or streets cleaned.But a small trove of text messages among Breed, Police Chief Bill Scott and other members of the city’s top brass show her repeatedly directing city officials to “clean up” tent encampments, something her critics have previously said is a callous way of handling of the city’s homelessness crisis.The texts, spanning several months, were revealed that was filed anonymously and .The exchanges, many of which have been partially redacted, cover a range of topics, with Scott updating Breed on major crimes and ongoing investigations.But on multiple occasions, Breed directs Scott and other city officials — whose names are redacted from the records — to address specific homelessness-related issues.Here's a bunch of texts SF Mayor sent to the chief of police personally telling him to conduct homeless sweeps to cater to businesses, and seemingly because she didn't want to see them while eating lunch? Full text dump here: — HDizz (@dizz_h)“Please come and get these people laying in the sidewalk on the 800 block of Market near Stockton,” Breed texted last August. “We have tons of people down here shopping and no officers, cleaning crew or anything in sight.”On another occasion, Breed texted, “I just drove north on Franklin and from McAllister to O’Farrell, I noticed at least 15 tents in (alleys) to the east near McAllister and west in the other alleys. Please deal with it. ... It’s been a growing problem for a while.”“Got it. On it,” Scott replied.The messages served as an ink blot test for many San Franciscans on Breed’s handling of the city’s enduring homelessness crisis: Where some see a mayor confronting a critical issue with the tools at her disposal, Breed’s critics see the messages as proof that the city’s response to homelessness is being led by law enforcement, not health and housing experts.“We have a complaint-driven system, and so much of it is focused on tents and visible homelessness,” said Kelley Cutler, an organizer with the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. “The issue is a lack of resources that’s forcing people to sleep on the street.“We have a housing and a health crisis, and yet we’re responding with law enforcement,” she said.Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the Tenderloin and South of Market districts, said what Breed was asking in the texts represented a superficial and ineffective approach to homelessness in San Francisco.“The rest of us live in a San Francisco where we have to live among the human misery every day. We expect our mayor to understand that and to have real, sustainable, thoughtful, collaborative solutions to those problems,” Haney said. “Those folks that she had ‘cleaned’ from 800 Market probably just got pushed to some other alley.”In an email, Scott maintained that the city’s approach remains “services-led ... which balances the health and safety of housed individuals as well as those unsheltered within the community. The objective of HSOC is to engage those unsheltered to connect them with available housing and supportive services,” referencing the city’s Health Streets Operations Center, a multi-departmental initiative intended to be San Francisco’s nerve center for non-emergency homelessness-related issues.Breed’s opponents in the past have accused her of tolerating “sweeps” of homeless encampments. “Stop the sweeps” has been a central rallying cry of homelessness advocates who insist the city routinely confiscates unhoused people’s belongings, which Breed and other city officials have repeatedly, publicly denied.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said Breed “requires her department heads to address the challenges of the city, and she holds them accountable to act on a daily basis. The residents elected her to demand action, not sit on her hands.”Cretan said attempts to paint the mayor as callously indifferent to homelessness are inconsistent with her track record so far.Breed has worked to open or renew multiple Navigation Centers, sometimes in the face of stiff community opposition. She’s also sought to vastly expand shelter beds and investments in behavioral health services.“I’ve been doing this work for 30 years now and I wouldn’t want to work for someone who didn’t share the ethic of compassion toward the most vulnerable among them,” said Jeff Kositsky, the former head of the city’s homelessness department who’s now leading the city’s Healthy Streets Operations Center. Kositsky said he was among the department heads Breed texted constantly about homelessness issues in response to accusations that the city’s response was led by law enforcement.“You can be frustrated by the conditions on the street and have compassion for people who are suffering at the same time,” he said. “In San Francisco, it seems like you have to pick a side. The mayor is clearly frustrated by the physical conditions on the street. But that doesn’t mean she’s not compassionate.”San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Megan Cassidy contributed to this report.Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has with barrages of calls and text messages while crisscrossing the city, ordering potholes filled, trash cans emptied or streets cleaned.But a small trove of text messages among Breed, Police Chief Bill Scott and other members of the city’s top brass show her repeatedly directing city officials to “clean up” tent encampments, something her critics have previously said is a callous way of handling of the city’s homelessness crisis.The texts, spanning several months, were revealed that was filed anonymously and .The exchanges, many of which have been...

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Dominic Fracassa

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SF Mayor Breed’s texts with police chief rile some homelessness advocates

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