Roughly 50 attendees — residents and politicos alike — gathered Thursday afternoon at the corner of 16th Street and Julian Avenue to protest ongoing drug use and dealing outside their homes. They’re fed up with drug users and dealers nearby, they said, despite a constant police presence at the plaza since mid-March.
“We’ve got kids on this block. You come home from school and people are passed out on our porch,” said Andrew Wickens, a father of two who has lived on Julian for five years. “We’re tired of sweeping up needles and skin and fentanyl smoke just to get our kids inside.”
Residents like Estefania Najera Jimenez, who works at Wickens’ hat shop, described being verbally harassed while trying to enter their homes. “They know who we are now — what our cars look like, who our kids are — just because we’re speaking out,” she said. “We don’t feel safe anymore.”
The protest reflects mounting tensions following recent crackdowns at the 16th Street BART Plaza, where San Francisco police have increased enforcement since March. While some say the effort has temporarily cleared those transit corridors, many allege the problem has simply been displaced into surrounding residential streets like Julian…