SF Board of Supervisors want Mayor Breed to attend outdoor U.N. Plaza meeting to highlight opioid epidemic

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco's Board of Supervisors are planning on holding a portion of their next meeting outdoors, at nearby U.N. Plaza. The board is hoping to highlight the city's opioid crisis and grill the mayor about how she plans to address it.

Just a block and a half from San Francisco's City Hall it's easy to see how the opioid crisis is impacting the city. At times U.N. Plaza is teeming with illicit drug sales and use, and that is why the President of the Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, wants to meet with Mayor London Breed here, to ask hard questions about how the city will tackle the opioid epidemic.

"It is time for us to come together as the Board of Supervisors and hold the chief executive, the mayor, accountable," said Supervisor Peskin. "For us to ask the tough questions and to focus it right where it's happening."

The board president sent a letter to the mayor with the questions he plans to ask; including whether the mayor will stand up a sustained emergency operations center to coordinate efforts to address the drug crisis.

In January 2022, Mayor Breed launched the Tenderloin emergency initiative, to combat drug addiction and homelessness; complete with a facility located on U.N. Plaza. That center operated with mixed success for close to a year. 

"I would say that was something where a consistent plan was not followed through," said Supervisor Peskin. "The mayor declared a crisis, stood up a center, closed the center. The number of fentanyl deaths has increased since the center closed."

Supervisor Matt Dorsey frequently finds himself an ally of the mayor, but says the issue of opioid addiction is having a pronounced impact on his district. He says any way to highlight the issue and create dialog is welcome. "This is unusual, that the mayor and the Board of Supervisors will go out to a neighborhood to have a meeting, or at least start it and do Q&A," said Supervisor Dorsey. "But, we are in unprecedented times, and on no issue more than on drug overdoses and what's going on, on our streets."

Supervisor Dorsey says the drug crisis impacts the city on every level. "We have seen multiple businesses closes, citing the issues with public safety and almost all of that comes back to drug scenes and acting out," said Supervisor Dorsey.

Now, the big question is; will the mayor accept the invitation to speak with the board at U.N. Plaza at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Mayor's Office didn't have a prepared statement on tomorrow's meeting or the issues presented by the supervisors, but all are indications that she will in fact make the short walk from City Hall to U.N. Plaza.