San Francisco air air pollution tremendous for anybody who lights a hearth of their residence or open air

• San Francisco Bay Area residents were banned from using wood fires
• The mandate began on December 22nd and will last until Christmas Day
• First time offenders will be fined $100, repeat offenders up to $500
• The city’s priorities have been called into question as rampant drug use continues

For San Francisco Bay Area residents hoping to stay warm and cozy in front of their fireplaces this cold, rainy Christmas, authorities have reminded them that burning wood is prohibited.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a spare-the-air alert from Dec. 22 through Christmas Day, banning the burning of wood, processed logs, or other solid fuels in both indoor and outdoor locations.

The mandate, which stipulates that those who break the rule be fined $100 and those who commit repeated violations up to $500, hopes it reduces the risk of respiratory illnesses linked to cancers Substances reduced by fine dust pollution from wood smoke.

But questions remain as to why authorities have turned their attention to the festive fun while rampant drug use continues to plague the streets and thousands roam the city openly smoking crack and meth.

San Francisco Bay Area residents have been banned from using wood fires — the city’s priorities have been called into question as drug use continues Air District interim executive officer Sharon Landers said the mandate is for the health of the city’s residents

“Unfortunately, the weather conditions are causing significant smoke buildup across the region, which is expected to result in unhealthy air quality during the Christmas holiday,” said Sharon Landers, the Air District’s interim executive officer.

“It’s important that we stop burning wood to reduce air pollution so all Bay Area residents can enjoy a healthier and happier holiday weekend.”

These conditions are not new, earlier this week an ugly brownish haze blanketed the Bay Area creating “nasty looking” conditions, SFGATE reported.

On December 22, air pollution was moderate in San Francisco, but reached unhealthy levels in Oakland.

Air District spokeswoman Tina Landis said fireplaces and wood stoves in residential homes were the primary culprit.

“In the winter, wood burning is actually the number one source of pollution, which is kind of shocking, but there are 1.7 million fireplaces in the Bay Area,” she told the outlet.

Cold evening temperatures combined with everyone being home for the holidays means more people are gathering around the fire.

“People tend to burn more,” she said, adding that low, light winds and the pollution blowing from the Central Valley also contribute to the problem.

Landis said the air pollution was so bad it blocked her view of San Francisco’s Mission District. “I can hardly see downtown. It’s so blurry,’ she said.

But while the city has banned the use of log fires at Christmas, authorities seem to have hinted at a tougher crackdown on drug use.

One ex-addict said that “overt drug use has been normalized” in San Francisco. The city planned to build 12 new drug consumption sites, or “wellness centers” — but those plans were stalled due to legal and logistical problems. Drug consumption sites remain illegal under federal law, and the Department of Health and Human Services said the Justice Department “has yet to formulate a way forward.” .

San Francisco is run by a leadership enthused by its progressive, humanitarian ethos that the idea of ​​enforcing laws, even those that save lives, like controlling the sale and use of drugs, is seen as reactionary and lackluster.

“Overt drug use has normalized to the point where there are blocks where the entire sidewalk is filled with people passing out or getting high,” said Kevin Lee, a San Francisco resident who is himself in recovery. the New York Post in October.

“There is not enough emphasis on providing access to treatment.”

The city planned to create 12 new drug consumption sites, or “wellness centers,” where people can use drugs under the supervision of trained staff.

Plans to open those centers by June next year have stalled due to legal and logistical issues, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Department of Health said in a statement earlier this month that opening 12 hubs is no longer accurate and the timing and certainty of opening a site are unclear.

“The city has no plans to open 12 new drug consumption facilities,” the statement said.

“Proposals are developed and revised based on a number of factors, including legal obstacles at the state and national levels.”

The ministry’s overdose prevention plan released in September said the city would build at least two wellness centers in one to two years and more within three to four years.

The health department previously said some hubs would likely allow drug use and offer overdose prevention services, and does not dispute that this is still the expectation.

However, the department cited “multiple legal roadblocks at the local, state and national levels” and did not commit to a timeline for opening a hub in its statement.

Air District spokeswoman Tina Landis said that residential fireplaces and wood-burning stoves are the primary contributors to the city’s air pollution since they are established

Regulated drug consumption sites remain illegal under federal law, and the Department of Health and Human Services said the Justice Department “has yet to formulate a way forward” on how they will treat regulated consumption sites.

Its botched predecessor, intended to put addicts in touch with rehab facilities but revealed by DailyMail.com as a secret illegal drug use website, has since been shut down.

The Tenderloin Center was opened by San Francisco Mayor London Breed earlier this year to help deal with the city’s ongoing drug crisis, and it cost about $22 million to operate.

The site has often been called a “safe place” for addicts to “get high without getting robbed,” according to a person who used the center.

In the first four months of the center’s opening, only 18 of the more than 23,000 people it welcomed on the site are said to be referred.

Overall, less than one percent of visits ended with a “completed connection” to behavioral health programs.

City leaders, including Breed, now say the site was a “temporary solution” offered to avoid the more than 640 overdose deaths San Francisco experienced in 2021.

Despite their best efforts, 2022 has been almost as deadly as more than 500 people have died from drug overdoses in the California city. In 2021 there were 641.

Officials had also hoped the site would provide a place to deal with the homeless crisis the city has faced in recent months and years.

By some estimates, hundreds of people visited the Tenderloin Center while it was open, and more than 350 drug overdoses were reversed on the spot.

Mayor Breed originally committed just $10 million to the project, but it quickly rose to more than double that estimate.

In total, about 400 people were being assisted daily, according to the San Francisco Department of Health.

However, a large proportion of those who used the site used it specifically for shelter or food.

Earlier this year, Gina McDonald of Mothers Against Drug Deaths (MADD) wrote an op-ed for DailyMail.com, describing the site as “dystopian”.

“The Linkage Center was never intended to be a place where people could do drugs, but that’s exactly what happened,” said the mother, whose own daughter once became a heroin addict.

In October, Breed signaled a reversal in her approach to the city’s rampant drug use by retracing some of her “soft” ways.

Launched by the mayor and city officials, the website was designed to provide addicts with a place where they could safely take drugs without fear of death.

However, some have said it has quickly become places where people can take drugs “without anyone going to jail”.