Mareling Balladares has been a program assistant at Mission Hiring Hall, just next to Caledonia Street, for about a year. Living in SoMa, a short ride on the No. 14 bus, she often chooses to take Uber or Lyft home after work because she is scared of walking along 16th Street to the bus stop on the plaza.
“A guy tried to follow me through there,” she recalled.
The conditions on 16th Street have never been good since Balladares started: Unhoused individuals come into the office and sit around, to the point that the staff have to lock the door. The trash bins at the office have been stolen at least five times. She was once touched by someone on the chest when working at the front desk…