San Francisco city workers tasked with enforcing the city’s street rules have received so many death threats, they’ve been given bulletproof vests.
Public Works inspectors, who check food carts and whether street vendors have the right permits, have been subjected to an increased number of threats and assaults, prompting security measures, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Public Works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon told the publication that her staff had been “pushed, bumped, [had] things thrown at them.
“Verbal attacks remain frequent,” Gordon said. He added that some inspectors were punched in the stomach and their lives were threatened.
The city has been cracking down on street vendors after barricades of stolen goods became more common in busy downtown areas including United Nations Plaza and the area around Mission and Market streets — also known as areas where drug deals take place.
An investigation is underway into a San Francisco Public Works inspector who was caught on video knocking over a hot dog street vendor’s cart earlier this month.ABC7
City officials are cracking down on street vending after Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced Tuesday a full ban will begin next month on Mission Street.
Meanwhile, sources told The Post that some street vendors and swordsmen are “thieves” who steal everything from medicine to toiletries, soaps and shampoos at stores like Walgreens and turn around to quickly sell them on Market Street and other areas where homelessness is rampant.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott acknowledged the city’s growing fences and permitting issues and attacks on inspectors.
“They have been subjected to assault, verbal and physical assault,” Scott told local ABC7 KGO. “So it really makes it difficult to do their job.”
Police Chief Bill Scott said illegal fencing is an issue in San Francisco and city workers are being threatened and need protective gear to do their jobs.AP
The San Francisco Police Department was awarded $15.3 million in state grants in September and pledged to conduct a series of “blitz” operations to curb retail theft, but black market fencing continues to be a problem.
However, some in the community also took issue with the city’s inspectors after an incident earlier this month when a Public Works worker was caught on video pushing a street vendor’s cart to the ground in the busy tourist area of Fisherman’s Wharf.
In the short video clip, an inspector wearing a bright yellow jacket chases hot dog vendor Juan Carlos Ramirez. The unidentified city worker grabbed Ramirez’s cart and pushed it to the ground, sending hot dogs, onions, bell peppers and buns flying all over the street.
A man selling hot dogs on the street claims he was embarrassed and lost money after a San Francisco Public Works worker chased him and pushed his cart.ABC7 An investigation is underway into a city worker who knocked over a hot dog cart.ABC7
“I feel ashamed,” Ramirez told local ABC7 KGO in Spanish. “It’s embarrassing.”
Some street vendors say if their carts are confiscated by Public Works inspectors for not having a permit, they will have to pay a $300 fine, which most of them can’t afford — raising questions about who they actually work for and who profits.
Meanwhile, Ronen and his staff say the ongoing threat to inspectors is “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“What we’ve seen over the last year and a half is that Mission Street is completely flooded with large-scale fence organizations,” Santiago Lerma, Ronen’s legislative assistant, told ABC7.
Santiago Lima, legislative aide to Supervisor Hillary Ronen, said Public Works inspectors also requested police protection because of the increased threat.ABC7
“Our Public Works inspectors now wear bulletproof vests when they walk the streets and they are escorted by the police.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
