First Steps Toward a New Tenderloin
On May 8, hundreds of Tenderloin residents marched through the streets with slogans like “Stop the Violence” and “Community Not Containment”—the latter a reference to the San Francisco Police Department’s method of containing crime to designated blocks. Of course, in the neighborhood, those designated areas are the first few blocks of Turk Street, Jones Street, and Golden Gate, with three homicides, two rapes, and 237 aggravated assaults in the last 90-day period. After a slew of recent killings, a coalition of groups that includes the Safety Network, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, the North of Market Community Benefit District, the Chinatown Community Development Center, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center, and residents, decided that it needed to engage in a symbolic act against the violence and crime that overwhelmingly plagues the Tenderloin. With no set platform, but a desire to make the neighborhood a safer place for children, for seniors, for people with disabilities, for all residents, they marched to City Hall, where they joined the Budget for Families Coalition. On the way, they stopped to commemorate the victims of violence, including a 16-year-old, who was shot at Golden Gate and Hyde Street.
The day began at 201 Turk Street, where many families and tenants jammed into the community room for a press conference in front of a row of news cameras. To kick it off, Cesar Garcia, a Latino immigrant, La Voz Latina member, and Tenderloin resident for over 11 years spoke: “The Tenderloin has become a paradiradicome a paradivesties. We’re demanding a secure neighborhood. We cannot allow our children to live in this sort of environment.” One mother commented that her son had recently been attacked and the police have yet to call her back on this issue. Many speakers shared personal experiences of violence, but it was Reverend Norman Fong who moved the crowd ending with his commandment, “I really do think change is possible here. We can make a difference.” The crowd of people gathered inside shouted in ase to do all sorts of travesties. We’re demanding a secure neighborhood. We cannot allow our children to live in this sort of environment.” One mother commented that her son had recently been attacked and the police have yet to call her back on this issue. Many speakers shared personal experiences of violence, but it was Reverend Norman Fong, who moved the crowd ending with his commandment, “I really do think change is possible here. We can make a difference.” The crowd of people gathered inside shouted in agreement.
It was no mistake that the march met up with the Budget for Families Coalition, which was asking for close to $20 million in supplemental funds that would go to youth, families, people with disabilities, and seniors, especially in the arena of violence prevention. Many in the march believed that more funding for programs for youth and for t
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