Crime is so bad near S.F. Federal building employees are told to work from home

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advised hundreds of employees in San Francisco to work remotely for the foreseeable future due to public safety concerns outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on Seventh Street.

The imposing, 18-story tower on the corner of Seventh and Mission streets houses various federal agencies, including HHS, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the office of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The area is also home to one of the city’s most brazen open-air drug markets, where dozens of dealers and users congregate on a daily basis.

SNIP

The building has long been a locus of some of the city’s most intractable problems.

Dozens of dealers routinely plant themselves on, next to or across the street from the property, operating in shifts as users smoke, snort or shoot up their recent purchases. The property’s concrete benches are an especially popular site for users to get high, socialize or pass out.

Link (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/drugs-crime-nancy-pelosi-federal-building-18292237.php

Highlights from the link:

• HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration Cheryl R. Campbell issued the stay-home recommendation in an Aug. 4 memo

• Apparently, the GSA has recently implemented a number of new security measures to address safety concerns. This includes:

-- pulling Federal Protective Service personnel from other nearby properties;

-- a pending vote on funds for an additional “roving” guard dedicated to the property;

-- creating a “BART Buddies” program of on-call escorts

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Wow