SF residents concerned city's plan to address sex work will just migrate issue

In San Francisco’s Mission District on Capp Street, sex work was such a problem that traffic barriers were installed to break up the flow of drivers in the area looking to pay for sex. Now, it’s become a problem Juan Gallardo is dealing with because the sex work has moved right outside his restaurant on Shotwell and 18th Streets.

“A lot of mess here in my parklet,” he said. “

This week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency voted to treat Shotwell St. similarly to that done at Capp.

The SFMTA said new temporary midblock barriers will be placed for 18 months between 19th and 21st streets.

However, residents aren’t convinced the dividers will fix the problem.

“I would assume it’s just moving people around. It’s not changing any enforcement, making it more inconvenient in certain places,” said Garrett Kiel, who lives in the Mission.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen expressed similar concerns. Though, Ronen pushed for the Capp St. bollards.

“It was out of control, and we had to intervene immediately,” she said in a late August news release with the Mayor’s Office.

Ronen said the aged-old issue in the Mission is far more complicated and deserves more nuanced solutions like finding safe alternative work for women or decriminalized sex work.

“None of these are quick fixes, which is I know what the neighbors want, and I understand that,” Ronen said. “I do not think the solution is to barricade off every street in the Mission.”

Many residents, who did not wish to be identified, agreed with Ronan.

Earlier this year, a group of residents and business owners filed a lawsuit against the city for allegedly allowing prostitution, public intoxication, and other ills to run rampant in their neighborhood.

The suit, filed in August, describes unrelenting public and private nuisances along Shotwell Street between 19th and 21st.

For Gallardo, it’s about the safety of his family.

“I have my wife, and I have my daughter, and I’m not comfortable with that,” he said.