San Francisco officials are trying to lower crime in one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods by setting a curfew for businesses.
The city’s Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a pilot program that will shorten business hours in Tenderloin, known for its homelessness, drug use and violence.
Businesses that sell prepackaged food or tobacco will no longer be allowed to stay open from midnight to 5 a.m. during the two-year pilot. The new ordinance doesn’t apply to restaurants and bars.
The city said the move was motivated by the “high rate of drug-related crime in the Tenderloin,” according to Bay City News. The neighborhood is seen as the heart of San Francisco’s fentanyl crisis.
“Our challenges still occur at night,” the San Francisco Police Department’s assistant chief, David Lazar, told local Fox affiliate KTVU this spring. “Crowds of people who are there selling stolen property, selling narcotics. We have drug users all over. And the problem is that when you have businesses that are open, like liquor stores and smoke shops, it just attracts more people.”
Mayor London Breed proposed the business curfew in April in response to resident concerns about drug markets operating on local streets.
The curfew will be enforced by San Francisco’s Department of Public Health. Violators could be fined up to $1,000 if they stay open beyond the designated closing time.
