The planned sold-out “doom loop” tour of drug-infested San Francisco was cancelled, and community leaders attempted to hold a “positive walk” instead, only to continue to ride alongside stoned addicts and homeless encampments.
Tourists and curious locals had shelled out $30 each on Eventbrite for a weekend tour that promised an up-close-and-personal experience of San Francisco, “the paragon of urban decay,” with tours of its “open-air drug markets and Vacant spaces for offices and shops.
But the tour guide, listed only as “SF Anonymous Insider,” did not show up for Saturday’s event, claiming he was afraid to go on it because of all the controversy surrounding it.
“Unfortunately, the significant media interest means it is not possible to preserve my anonymity while posting the tour time and meeting location,” he wrote in a message to clients, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Community activist Del Seymour and others from the nonprofit Code Tenderloin, who had gathered at the tour’s designated starting point to protest the event, then led about 70 people on an “anti-doom loop tour.” nearly 2 miles through areas like City Hall. , Union Square, Mid-Market and Tenderloin District.
One of their stops, the Civic Center district, was eerily empty, except for drug addicts half bent over after taking a drag on fentanyl and other drugs.
As the tour group passed shuttered stores, such as the Whole Foods grocery store on Market Street, drug deals were taking place in broad daylight.
A homeless man yelled at some of the group as they passed through the campsites.
Del Seymour, nicknamed the mayor of the Tenderloin district, speaks to participants of the Celebrate Tenderloin tour outside San Francisco City Hall on Saturday.David G. McIntyre
As Seymour led the group to Glide Memorial Church and a nightclub called Power Exchange in the Tenderloin neighborhood, participants passed rows of tents, many with homeless addicts passed out inside.
In the corners, men exchanged crumpled money for balls of tinfoil.
Some were openly smoking fentanyl and other drugs as the tour group passed them.
The stench of urine mixed with human and animal feces was sometimes overpowering as Seymour briskly ushered the group around the notorious corner of Hyde and Turk streets, where drug deals thrive, especially “once the sun goes down,” he said. a local to The Post.
Participants in the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour cruise through the heart of the Tenderloin District at Turk and Hyde streets in San Francisco on Saturday. David G. McIntyre
Some of the homeless men and women lying on the street corners looked confused as the tour group passed them.
Serena, a member of the group who had snacks and water in her bag, stopped to give some homeless men and women some food.
The woman, who had passed out on the floor, was so drugged that she couldn’t even raise her head to say thank you.
Another man took a deep breath through a pipe and blew smoke into the air.
A homeless man washes his feet on the sidewalk as Celebrate Tenderloin tour participants walk through the Tenderloin District.David G. McIntyre
She grabbed one of the sandwiches Serena offered her.
“It’s hard because housing here has become a crisis,” Serena told the Post. “It feels like the City isn’t listening to the community and this is the downfall of broken systems that we’re seeing.”
During the two-hour tour, Seymour discussed various programs available in the Tenderloin, including low-income subsidized housing where families pay just $400 for a three-bedroom apartment that would normally rent for between $5,000 and $8,000 a month.
Seymour also pointed to the various services available to the homeless in the area, including free meals and lodging, but also told The Post that part of the fight involves getting those who need help to recognize that they need it.
A homeless encampment on the street as Celebrate Tenderloin Tour participants walk the area.David G. McIntyre
“If I’m homeless and mentally challenged, you can’t just hang out for 30 seconds and then walk away after I say no,” he said. “You have to sit with me and talk to me in a gentlemanly way. It may take an hour, it may take two, but you have to give me that time and build that trust with me so that we can come to some kind of compromise.”
As for the doom loop tour, the activist said: “I fell out of my chair laughing at how mean people in San Francisco are to even suggest something like this.
“This is not healthy or helpful at all for our people,” he stated. “We don’t want to live in the situation we live in. We want to do something about it, but you can’t do anything when people hit you.”
Dany Vallerand said she initially wanted to take the advertised “doom loop” because she normally wasn’t comfortable traversing the area alone.
Participants and organizers sing outside San Francisco City Hall ahead of the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour.David G. McIntyre
“I thought it would be very interesting and hoped the money would go to a good cause, like some charity,” he told The Post. “I was hoping to explore the Tenderloin in a way that I wouldn’t normally feel comfortable doing alone and with other people with a different point of view.”
Vallerand said that while she was “absolutely happy” to take the anti-doom loop tour, she noted that San Francisco’s economic hub has hit many residents like her, as iconic businesses have left the area and property values have soared. gone down.
Vallerand said he recently sold his condo for $150,000 below asking price.
“It’s very difficult for this to happen here,” he said.
Participants on the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour pass the now-closed Whole Foods Market in the Mid-Market Street area.David G. McIntyre
More than 20 companies, including Nordstrom, Whole Foods and Old Navy, have left the area since January 2022.
While locals like Vallerand decided to go on the opposition tour, others who signed up for the original version of the “doom loop” were disappointed that they didn’t get what they paid for and left.
But Serena said she decided to go on the “positive” tour because she was offended by the initial Eventbrite listing.
“They wanted to show the doom of the Tenderloin, and it seemed pretty screwed up to me,” said Serena, who did not want to give her last name. “I can’t believe he’s exhausted.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn