What's completely out of control? @mayoredlee pic.twitter.com/HN4SrG0F2R
— Deli Board (@deliboard) October 2, 2016
Deli Board owner Adam Mesnick, who last year gave an interview to C.W. Nevius on the topic of how much worse the immediate SoMa vicinity of his sandwich shop has gotten in terms of open-air drug use, homeless encampments, and general depravity, is speaking out again. This year he's created a neighborhood group and a hashtag, #BetterSoMa, which will actually be meeting alongside Western SoMa Voice this evening at 7 p.m. at Deli Board (1058 Folsom) to discuss the neighborhood's troubles and what to do about it.
As the Chronicle notices, Mesnick is also now using the deli's Twitter account to document what he sees right around The Deli Board every day, including homeless people camped along Russ Street, and on Sunday, one man helping another man shoot up, in broad daylight, as seen above.
Ahhhh. The highest of holidays. @mayoredlee pic.twitter.com/2aKNTM1dre
— Deli Board (@deliboard) October 3, 2016
Russ street pic.twitter.com/Ok7GLeTXPW
— Deli Board (@deliboard) October 1, 2016
Box city 7th street pic.twitter.com/49iFhcHWUA
— Deli Board (@deliboard) September 9, 2016
In one image from two weeks go, he noted this intoxicated seeming individual with a baseball bat.
What's dangerous? @mayoredlee pic.twitter.com/3tZaupxizb
— Deli Board (@deliboard) September 14, 2016
Many will argue, as they did in response to the Nevius piece last year, that this part of SoMa, in the vicinity of Sixth Street and down to Folsom, has been pretty terrible, drug-ridden, and replete with sketchiness of all kinds for many years, and Mesnick is simply a more recent business owner to move in and discover it.
Gentrification has certainly come slowly to this part of SoMa, and with all the SRO's not going anywhere on Sixth Street, the presence of poor people, some of whom are substance addicted or mentally ill, is likely to remain.
But Mesnick insists things have only gotten worse since he moved to the 'hood seven years ago and opened his businesses there he also now has Rye Project at 180 Seventh Street. "It's hard to thrive and cook and do something that you're completely passionate about and love, when you're sort of watching a little bit of an urban decay," he tells the Chronicle. Also, he claims that the reactions of his customers has changed with the environment around them. "The tone has changed. The tone is not empathetic, nor sympathetic, from my customers. The tone is simply, 'Are you kidding me?' It's not normal, it's really not normal."
Mesnick seems to want to blame Mayor Ed Lee a lot for what's been allowed to happen in his part of SoMa, but every mayor for the last 30 years has been blamed for a problem that extends way beyond San Francisco even though in certain parts of the city bad behavior, and sometimes criminal behavior, run more rampant, and that remains a major point of frustration for residents in the Mission, Castro, and SoMa.
But just be warned, if you follow @deliboard, you're bound to get a little heroin mixed in with your corn beef porn.
Previously: Drug Use, General Mayhem Getting Worse In Mid-SoMa According To Deli Board Owner