By Karen Breslau | Bloomberg
The University of California Law School in San Francisco asked a federal judge to order its home city to do more to end illegal drug use and reduce tent encampments around its downtown campus in the Tenderloin district.
The university first sued San Francisco in 2020 and reached a settlement requiring the city to address squalid conditions and illegal activity around its campus. The school now says the city isn’t fulfilling its promises.
“The city has known that drug dealers brazenly sell narcotics on the streets and sidewalks in the Tenderloin,” the university said in a court filing Thursday. “Similarly, for years the city has allowed individuals to openly buy and use narcotics in the Tenderloin, and to remain, under the obvious influence of drugs, on the sidewalks and public spaces of the neighborhood.”
The rekindled court fight comes as Mayor London Breed has promoted the opening of university satellite campuses as a way to repurpose empty downtown office buildings and retail areas experiencing record vacancy rates.
Her office said San Francisco has had a 37% reduction in tents citywide in the last six months and that in 2023, the police department doubled the number of arrests for drug dealing in the Tenderloin.
“Mayor Breed has pushed aggressive actions to address encampments and increase drug enforcement in the Tenderloin, and she will continue to do so,” her spokesperson said in a statement. “We have made improvements in the neighborhood, but the mayor understands the frustrations of residents and businesses in the Tenderloin and will continue her efforts to make the neighborhood safer and cleaner.”
The city was hit Thursday with a separate lawsuit by local residents and businesses over conditions in the Tenderloin.
“Unfortunately, despite promises of progress and reform, the conditions in our neighborhood, particularly with open air drug markets and tent encampments, persist. What happens daily in the Tenderloin wouldn’t be tolerated in any other neighborhood in San Francisco,” David Faigman, UC Law SF chancellor and dean, said in a statement.
The city said it would review the latest filings and respond in court and that it was complying with previous judicial orders.
“While we understand and share the frustration of Tenderloin businesses and residents, the city is making progress in reducing crime, disrupting open-air drug markets and addressing homelessness,” said Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for City Attorney David Chiu.
The university’s case is College of the Law, San Francisco v. City and County of San Francisco, 20-cv-03033, US District Court, Northern District of California.
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