San Francisco: From Doom Loop to Boom Loop

In the first of a multipart series, the Discovery Institute and Frontlines take a seven-minute dive into the chaos into which the once-great city of San Francisco has fallen — and the efforts now underway to turn it back around. How did it become a bastion of lawlessness, drug addiction, and homelessness — where human excrement is often found on the streets? How did policies aimed at treating the symptoms instead of the root causes of homelessness backfire so pitifully? Who is running the city now?

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

00:00:00:07 – 00:00:05:21
We lost our way.

00:00:05:23 – 00:00:10:19
Parts of San Francisco have been described as being stuck in a perpetual doom loop.

00:00:10:23 – 00:00:13:18
I stepped on poop on the way to work at 530 in the morning.

00:00:13:18 – 00:00:21:13
A never ending pattern of crime, chaos and death. But some of the most problematic neighborhoods in the city.

00:00:21:15 – 00:00:25:01
Hey, sir. Is tenderloin looking better? Oh, yeah. It is.

00:00:25:06 – 00:00:29:00
Could be getting ready to break out of this vicious cycle.

00:00:29:01 – 00:00:33:07
I am filled, filled with hope for San Francisco’s future.

00:00:33:07 – 00:00:35:07
That’s because new mayor Daniel Lurie.

00:00:35:08 – 00:00:36:12
Good to see you. Everything look good? Under control?

00:00:36:16 – 00:00:43:15
Is on a mission to reclaim what was once a thriving downtown core and restore law and order on the streets.

00:00:43:16 – 00:00:47:00
If you are selling drugs in this city, we’re coming after you.

00:00:47:00 – 00:00:58:13
In this multi-part series with Front Lines, Turning Point USA and Discovery Institute Center on Wealth and Poverty. We’re spotlighting the early stages of what could be San Francisco’s comeback story.

00:00:58:14 – 00:01:02:03
I think there’s a renewed sense of hope and optimism here.

00:01:02:04 – 00:01:02:23
Have a good night.

00:01:03:00 – 00:01:09:15
Lurie invited us along as he personally checked in on business owners, letting them know he’s walking with them every step of the way.

00:01:09:17 – 00:01:11:12
Goodman the Queen has not been.

00:01:11:16 – 00:01:20:20
The mayor’s focus on public safety is already being amplified in some of the most notorious hotspots.

00:01:20:22 – 00:01:29:15
Like the Tenderloin and South of Market. Cops are clearing out drug dens in the black market of stolen goods, with a strong police presence more visible than ever.

00:01:29:17 – 00:01:31:03
It’s the story.

00:01:31:05 – 00:01:33:16
You just ask J.J. Smith.

00:01:33:21 – 00:01:35:22
And he has implemented some good stuff.

00:01:36:01 – 00:01:49:01
A citizen journalist and social media influencer who lives in the area. He’s been holding public officials accountable. What’s up with this, bro? This brought to bed tweet by documenting the urban decay and human suffering for years.

00:01:49:02 – 00:01:51:09
You think from over here they sell all the stolen vehicles.

00:01:51:10 – 00:02:06:22
Smith recently opened up the small cafe in the tenderloin as a sign of confidence in Lauries turnaround story. But the situation is far from perfect. Mayor Lurie helping clean up the streets is looking better.

00:02:06:22 – 00:02:08:11
It’s too early to comment.

00:02:08:12 – 00:02:11:18
Honduran drug dealers still operate in the sanctuary city.

00:02:11:19 – 00:02:13:10
I’m serious. Don’t settle down over a year.

00:02:13:11 – 00:02:18:19
Staying a few steps ahead of Ice agents who are desperately trying to capture them right.

00:02:18:21 – 00:02:33:13
Hey. All right, all right, now, those darn those who just came up to me and said, hey, buddy, you need them? Yeah, that’s the handle right there. They just after me drunk. Yeah, like they’re killing.

00:02:33:13 – 00:02:34:21
Kids out here and they don’t care.

00:02:35:00 – 00:02:38:18
And when the sun sets, the streets still look like a horror show.

00:02:38:18 – 00:02:42:15
They suffer from the drug addiction. And now the Mission district looks like hell.

00:02:42:16 – 00:02:48:06
The new mayor is inheriting what Tom Wolfe calls the epicenter of drug tourism on the West Coast.

00:02:48:07 – 00:02:50:04
If I hadn’t been locked up, I’d be dead right now.

00:02:50:04 – 00:02:55:07
Wolfe is a recovering addict himself and has lived experience has the mayor’s attention.

00:02:55:09 – 00:03:01:11
That means more drug treatment. That means treatment on demand. The narrative about drugs and homelessness has completely changed.

00:03:01:11 – 00:03:11:00
He says homelessness on the streets is primarily being fueled by the fentanyl crisis, mental illness and failed public policies to address it. So you have a place to stay?

00:03:11:05 – 00:03:11:14
I do.

00:03:11:17 – 00:03:14:06
Why do you come out here then?

00:03:14:08 – 00:03:19:19
Because a lot of my friends are over here. There’s a subset of people on the street that are going to have to be forced into drug treatment. That’s part of the deal.

00:03:19:20 – 00:03:33:08
That’s why Lowry just signed a new directive called Breaking the Cycle that will focus more resources and funding on drug treatment and recovery. But in order to chart a new path forward, Lowry is still trying to clean up the mess from prior administration.

00:03:33:11 – 00:03:37:16
What we call a ten year plan to end chronic homeless in San Francisco.

00:03:37:16 – 00:03:47:00
Then he has to assess what’s working and what’s not. Two public policies that are now being heavily scrutinized by his administration. Housing first and harm reduction.

00:03:47:00 – 00:03:49:20
It really in Gender’s dependency.

00:03:50:01 – 00:04:01:08
Housing first is a federally funded program that was supposed to end unsheltered homelessness in America by building out apartments for everyone living on the streets. No strings attached.

00:04:01:09 – 00:04:10:12
Meaning you cannot require sobriety. You cannot require employment training. You cannot require engagement in any addiction services.

00:04:10:13 – 00:04:15:01
But after more than a decade and billions spent in taxpayer dollars, and.

00:04:15:01 – 00:04:21:03
Yet since 2011, homelessness has increased 15% in L.A., 24% in San Francisco.

00:04:21:03 – 00:04:25:02
Homelessness, especially on the West Coast, is at an all time high.

00:04:25:06 – 00:04:28:20
Well, we might be on the verge of major changes in San Francisco.

00:04:28:21 – 00:04:48:08
Then there’s fentanyl, a game changer that’s made matters worse on the streets. Even with the harm reduction approach, where state funded nonprofits give away meth pipes and needles to prevent the spread of disease, at least two people die of drug overdoses in San Francisco each day, which has led to thousands of deaths just in the past few years.

00:04:48:08 – 00:04:52:12
Everyone’s smoking fentanyl. They’re using the supplies they were just given.

00:04:52:14 – 00:04:52:22
Yeah.

00:04:53:01 – 00:05:06:07
When our team was on the ground in the mission district, workers with the San Francisco Aids Foundation never offered addicts treatment options. Did they say, hey, you want to get off fentanyl here? Here’s a place you can go to get off fentanyl. Do they tell you where to go?

00:05:06:09 – 00:05:06:15
No.

00:05:06:15 – 00:05:19:12
They didn’t. Instead, they handed out supplies like candy on an assembly line. Wait, they didn’t offer you any treatment or detox? Even drug users like Mike say this is enabling his problem. What the hell do they give you?

00:05:19:14 – 00:05:28:07
Real low for the crack pipe. Oh. Bubble. What do you need all this foil for? I guess for smoking that they didn’t know.

00:05:28:07 – 00:05:32:00
Is there any safe way to smoke, Freddy? Like it’s.

00:05:32:00 – 00:05:36:05
Very. There’s nothing safe about it. Oh, dandy.

00:05:36:07 – 00:05:41:12
The other thing that bothers me about, I think, leaning in so much where we’re harm reduction becomes the end. All be.

00:05:41:12 – 00:05:44:20
All. Supervisor Matt Dorsey is also a recovering addict.

00:05:44:21 – 00:05:49:22
Nothing we’re doing to tolerate or enable public drug use in our city is helping anybody.

00:05:50:02 – 00:05:52:07
And one of Mayor Lori strongest allies.

00:05:52:09 – 00:05:54:05
Just finished a walk through the neighborhood.

00:05:54:06 – 00:05:57:04
Dorsey says even his more progressive colleagues.

00:05:57:09 – 00:06:01:15
We can never again get into a situation like this where we’ve just lost control.

00:06:01:16 – 00:06:04:21
Are starting to realize there needs to be a course correction.

00:06:04:21 – 00:06:07:12
I think ultimately it’s going to get more people in recovery and.

00:06:07:12 – 00:06:08:01
We’ll save a lot.

00:06:08:01 – 00:06:10:05
Of lives effectively kicking her when she’s down.

00:06:10:06 – 00:06:16:17
But with real change comes pushback from the people with a different vision for the most vulnerable in San Francisco.

00:06:16:18 – 00:06:24:01
We have housing first for a small portion of the population, so we can’t say something has failed that we actually haven’t tried.

00:06:24:04 – 00:06:36:05
Jennifer Freedom Bach is the executive director at the Coalition on Homelessness, a far left activist group that insists homelessness is caused by capitalism, systemic racism and a lack of affordable housing.

00:06:36:06 – 00:06:38:18
You don’t have as much of a need for police, right?

00:06:38:18 – 00:06:46:02
The nonprofit has also sued the city over encampment sweeps. And Freedom Park is already critical of the mayor’s new policies.

00:06:46:05 – 00:06:53:13
We have a lot of hope that Larry, you’ll move in the direction of actual solutions, rather than tried and failed policies like the war on drugs.

00:06:53:14 – 00:06:56:23
But there’s no choice to stay on the streets any longer. We need people in treatment.

00:06:57:00 – 00:07:01:07
Lurie says the city’s culture of enablement and inhumane conditions.

00:07:01:08 – 00:07:03:21
What we are going to do is we’re going to be relentless.

00:07:03:21 – 00:07:08:23
Will transition into one of accountability, recovery and true compassion.

00:07:09:04 – 00:07:12:16
I’m prioritizing San Francisco and San Francisco residents.

00:07:12:16 – 00:07:16:23
Hoping to rewrite the narrative from doom loop to boogaloo.

00:07:17:02 – 00:07:22:23
And what I say to people is be patient. Don’t be too patient. But it’s going to take us some time to overcome the challenges.