SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco was at its best for the recent Dreamforce Convention. The last three days have been all about safety and clean streets, two things we didn’t see much of near the Moscone Center in the South of Market neighborhood.
But what happens now that all the visitors are gone? What plans does the city have to further improve its image?
Marc Benioff and his mega-convention Dreamforce are estimated to have pumped $57 million into the San Francisco economy.
But not before admonishing the city for its best behavior, telling the Chronicle: “If this Dreamforce is affected by the current situation with homelessness and drug use, it could be the last Dreamforce in the city.”
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Mayor London Breed seemed to see through his bluff.
“They have had no problems hosting their conventions in the past and will not have any problems in the future,” Breed said.
Still, the mayor admitted they’ve “never had to work so hard to clean up the city.”
Police everywhere. Clean every block near Moscone with cleaners.
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This begs the question: Where are all the tents and unhoused people who normally settle near Moscone Center and its surroundings?
Streets that until recently were crammed with tents looked reasonably pristine.
Instead, we saw many of the homeless moving in the opposite direction of Dreamforce.
We asked two homeless men where they were going.
“It’s not a good feeling, it’s kind of like a different kind of segregation,” said Elvis Meeker.
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“They managed to keep most of the homeless in a few blocks like this part of SOMA and the Tenderloin,” Steven Bruder added.
Eventually we found the homeless camps three blocks from Dreamforce and some distance from visitors.
Leah Rubin runs Dacha Cafe and Bar on Mission Street.
“They generally just keep a lot of people out of that area who look homeless and so on and so forth,” Rubin explained. She also told us that she had never seen the area so clean.
Benioff echoed the same sentiment when he spoke with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday.
“It’s amazing how clean the streets are, it’s unbelievable,” Benioff said. “Because we get involved with you. We want to keep you here,” Newsom interrupted, earning much laughter.
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That may be true, but where does Benioff’s frustration come from?
Let’s go back to 2017, when the city reported about 6,858 homeless people living either on the streets or in shelters.
That same year, nonprofit Tipping Point pledged $100 million to help organizations that directly serve the homeless. The goal was to halve chronic homelessness over the next five years. But they never expected a global pandemic.
“What happened was people became homeless and when someone becomes homeless because they’re on the streets for a longer period of time, they become chronically homeless,” Sam Cobbs said
Then, in 2018, Benioff spent much of his own money to help pass Proposition C, which forces large corporations to raise millions of dollars each year for homeless services.
“There are concrete things we can do now to address this problem head-on, and that’s why we’re voting for Proposition C,” Benioff said in an exclusive interview with ABC7 News in 2018.
Nevertheless, a year later, in 2019, the number of homeless increased to about 8,035, and the latest figures for 2022, 7,754, show a slight improvement but still no better than in 2017.
Adding to the crisis is the rapid increase in use of the deadly fentanyl, which has left many trying to escape the streets incapacitated.
“I haven’t seen that not too many people have voluntarily come off fentanyl. It needs help,” said JJ Smith, a Tenderloin resident who had just returned from a service for a 23-year-old who died of a fentanyl overdose.
So far this year, from January to July, 473 people have died from accidental overdoses, 385 from fentanyl, and the city is on track to reach a record 800 or more deaths this year.
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But this week, some of those negative images of San Francisco were conveniently hidden.
“Why can’t San Francisco be like this every day?” Benioff asked. To which Governor Newsom responded: “Things have changed, you’ve seen it, you want accountability and everyone’s job is at stake, and that’s how it should be. You’re right to be upset about this and it’s time for cities to take action.” “What’s happening on the streets and sidewalks is no longer acceptable.”
We asked Tipping Point’s Sam Cobbs if there will finally be change in the city after the governor said he wants more accountability from every city official in San Francisco.
“I believe that change is finally coming to San Francisco. But we must also accept the responsibility of our politicians and elected officials. We cannot continue to make homelessness the number one political issue in our city. And that too.” “The politician is trying to solve the problem, while another politician who wants to take her place is actually trying to undercut her, because the worse it gets, the better her chances become, and that’s why we have to from “Be accountable to everyone,” Cobbs concluded.
In about two months, San Francisco will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which will be attended by leaders from different parts of the world, including President Biden. It’s a big business. The area around Moscone Center will be safe and clean, but participants in this summit will by no means be confined there and will travel outside of this zone. What they see will be written and discussed at home, for the benefit or detriment of this city.
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