Opinion | SF's troubled Tenderloin needs a new state of emergency

The Tenderloin has been run through the wringer these past few years, consistently maligned as a containment zone, an open-air drug market, even a lost cause—and we have experienced real collective hardship with loss of lives and businesses, each further straining the strands of this community’s delicate fabric. 

What we truly are is a densely packed neighborhood with more than 300 small businesses and 3,500 children, families, seniors and single-room occupancy residents, speaking 112 languages. We are a living, breathing dichotomy, too: In an instant, you might experience revelatory belonging or unspeakable brutality. Humanity’s bleakest and brightest is concentrated here.

As the stewards of this incredible neighborhood, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District is calling on San Francisco and the state of California to do more for our community and its stakeholders. The recent infusion of Tenderloin Community Action Plan resources is important, but it’s a Band-Aid. To provide immediate relief and strategic thinking for a sustainable Tenderloin, the city and state should jointly take three actions: