Neighbors Seek Response To Drug Dealing, Pit Bulls At Haight & Clayton

Neighbors Seek Response To Drug Dealing, Pit Bulls At Haight & ClaytonPhoto: Camden Avery/Hoodline
Camden Avery
Published on September 26, 2015

In a letter circulated to residents of an apartment building at the corner of Haight and Clayton this week, the building manager sought support from tenants and neighbors to ask the city for support in cleaning up the street outside.

The manager, who asked that her name and building's address remain anonymous, said in a phone conversation yesterday that she was working to address the uptick in drug dealing, untethered dogs and garbage dumping at all four corners of the intersection at Haight and Clayton, which she said has been on the rise of late.

So far, she said, the city has been receptive. She's contacted Vallie Brown from Supervisor London Breed's office, as well as Assistant District Attorney Marc Massarweh, to organize a community meeting with Park Station SFPD Capt. John Sanford and the District Attorney's office to discuss their options.

The building manager was careful to make the distinction between people who were "homeless," which she said she felt applied to people who were down on their luck or seeking a home, and the kind of ad hoc camps that have been set up on the corners of Clayton St. lately.

The latter group, she said, were characterized by pit bulls either off-leash or on unsecured leashes, drug dealing, and trash. Some tenants of her building routinely cross to the building away from the corner to avoid dogs and encampments of street denizens.

"I'm totally sympathetic to some of the homeless," she said, "but [these people] are standing there all day. They're so content to just hang out."

"They are absolutely, without a doubt, selling drugs. My own children were offered drugs, which of course made me even more angry. [The street kids] are getting leftovers from tourists ... and then they just discard it there. They can't even use the garbage can that's right there."

She also said that she spends each morning sweeping up garbage left from the night before, and that she's loath to ask the people to move away because then the building often gets graffitied, the removal of which the building owner is then financially liable for.

The date of the community meeting hasn't been set yet (October 14th has been proposed as an option), but the building manager said she's already gotten a great deal of support from both building tenants and neighbors on adjacent blocks. We'll keep you posted on the official date for the community meeting.

In the meantime, the ADA and Supervisor's office have both said that documenting complaints and calls to the police for drug dealing, off-leash dogs, and obstructed sidewalks would all be helpful in addressing the situation.