One month into the 90-day vending ban on Mission Street, the 16th and 24th Street BART plazas remain clear of vendors, and the nearby businesses and commuters who use the plazas say they are pleasantly surprised by the results.
The plazas are cleaner, and folks feel safer walking through them, according to interviews with pedestrians and businesses.
“I’m surprised that it’s clear now,” said Maria Alba, 95, as she waited at 24th and Mission streets for the Sunset-bound 48-Quintara bus. She usually takes the bus to visit her husband with dementia, who stays in a care facility in the Mission. Before the ban, she said she was scared to wait at the bus stop.
“It’s much better,” said Marta Mejia, after descending a bus and passing through the 24th Street BART Plaza on a recent Thursday with her 9-year-old daughter, who was holding a teddy bear. They walk through the busy intersection almost every day after school.
Mejia looked relieved as she scanned the empty plaza. She said she never bought from the vendors, but walked past them quickly, fearing that she would get a ticket if she purchased anything from them.
Some pedestrians still have doubts, however; they’re worried about its effect on the livelihood of vendors, especially during the holiday season. As the city’s designated indoor market, El Tiangue at 2137 Mission St., and another at Capp and 24th streets began to show signs of life, sales are still far from robust, vendors said.
The city has stepped in to give participating vendors a $1,000 grant. While it helps, it is not enough to make up for the loss in sales, some vendors said.
Markita, waiting for a bus heading to Potrero Hill, said she noticed the vendors are gone, and “it’s not really good.” She sees it as taking the income away from the most vulnerable communities.
“I ask myself, when I have no other way to make money, can I do hair? Can I sell the chicken wings that I made? Put your heart where other people are. We need to look past being selfish,” she said, noting that prohibiting vendors poses an equity issue.
Jesse Carr, a wheelchair user, said the ban is “horrible,” even though it might make it easier for him to access the plazas.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get around, but I can deal with that,” Carr said. “They also closed down at the wrong time. People gotta make a living; they need to make a dollar or two.”
At the 16th Street Plaza, mostly immigrant men sat around the perimeter of the BART entrance. Fernando said he lives in a one-room near 7th and Mission streets, and he takes the bus to 16th Street to be around people.
“I would go crazy being in the house,” he said. “Here, I can talk to people.”
He understands that the vendors need to make money, and he sympathizes, but said there were a lot of problems with the crowded plaza.
With the vendors gone, the plaza has returned to its previous use, a sort of living-room space for the many residents who live in the nearby Single Room Occupancy hotels.
Some nearby businesses are also happy to see the change, noting the cleanliness and security at the plazas, and hope to see the effect last long-term. They haven’t, however, noticed that the vending ban has meant an uptick in foot traffic or sales.
“We can walk free. There’s more security,” said Monica Valencia, who works at Floreria La Poblanita, just 300 feet south of the 24th Street plaza. “It’s beautiful, it’s better, more clean.”
Valencia believes that the street vendors “shouldn’t be obstructing public roads; that’s why they should have their own places,” she said in Spanish.
“We hope it’s for a long time,” added Angel Billatoro, who also works at Floreria La Poblanita and takes BART to work. When hearing that the ban is 90 days, Billatoro seemed disappointed, “it’s so little time.”
Customers at Access Beauty Salon, next to the florist, told hairstylist Norma that they like how the plaza looks now, Norma said. The customers, mostly women, used to be reluctant to come to the area. “After 6 p.m., they don’t want to come,” Norma said. “But they like it better now.”
Gabby Hernandez, an employee at the Silver Stone Coffee, adjacent to the 24th Street BART plaza, echoed that safety has improved since the ban. “No more people yelling. No more problem fighting,” she said.
I agree with Paulie.
ML could and should do an in-depth report on why our streets are so eternally trashed. I rarely see DBI picking up trash and when they do they only do the 24th street corridor, which has a remarkable lack of trash cans – which are often overflowing. DBI never attends to the blocks attaching 24th, which suffer from high pedestrian traffic and subsequent litter.
Tree wells are treated by people like trash cans, it’s bizarre. We have to clean our tree wells daily, which get quickly filled with empty booze containers of all ilks, food containers, discarded clothing and all sorts of other bizarre stuff. NEVER does the city come clean them up.
Add to this a monopoly collection agency (Recology) which does a lazy trash pick up, leaving empty cans all over the sidewalks, often leaving cans far away from their resident’s buildings, tipped over sideways, etc. No competition equals no accounting for.
I used BART to return home around 9:30p on Saturday….the plaza was literally full of garbage, a few men were sleeping on the plaza cement, and a group also of men were screaming and fighting by the elevator. I’m gladsome find it a little better during the day, but it’s still got problems later on apparently……
Yes the flea market activity tends to return late at night after the police leave the plaza.
This wasn’t a flea market, though maybe there’s some after hours. It was deserted except for a few homeless people and that group arguing. And trash
Area definitely needs 24 hr attention. Laws shouldn’t just be enforced during daylight.
Hopefully tree can hit a steady state where licensed vendors can come back and not shoved in some uninspiring tent. There are plenty of empty store fronts in the Mission. Shouldn’t be difficult for the city to set up a proper vendor market.
It’s definitely an improvement, but it needs a trash sweep up several times a day. Why do people litter so much?
Paulie,
Once 16th and Mission and 24th and Mission are vacant and spotless ?
Allessandro’s Tourism Department can take pictures.
“Come to San Francisco and see our authentic empty Mission business district corners.”
If we’re supposed to be in an economy where service jobs that pay up to $20/hr are begging for employees and nobody’s supposed to be checking one’s legal right to work, then what’s stopping the vendors from working straight jobs for the retailers that they’d otherwise be undercutting by vending?
Marcos,
Sure, and when they run out of bread they can just eat cake.
Right, suggesting vendors potentially work service sector jobs in a tight labor market is the same thing as royalty ignoring the plight of the hungry.
This article it seems is mostly about the 24th St Station Plazas, but the pictures are all from 16th Street.
I used to regularly take Muni to 16th and Mission to shop at the Fabric store at 17th. It used to be almost impossible to step off the bus onto the sidewalk because it was blanketed with sidewalk vendors selling shampoo, razors, cereal boxes and liquid soap, even contractors’ drills, saws and other tools. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to 16th & Mission last week and today. The sidewalks were clear enough to walk on and I felt safer. The sidewalk sales should be banned permanently.
As a devout pedestrian and transit user (and longtime Mission resident!) – I was absolutely thrilled to see the disappearance of the Thieves Markets around the BART Stations. Prior to the ban, I was unable to walk to the BART Station without walking in the middle of the street, risking my life, as the sidewalks were completely impassable due to drug dealers and criminals fencing obviously stolen goods. I agree with the commenters who point out that decently-paying service industry jobs, such as my own, are going begging – so there is no need for illegal vending by anyone. Legal vendors should be permitted and only allowed to operate in safely designated areas. No one should be allow to block sidewalks selling drugs and stolen goods – ever. The ban should be extended permanently, as the vending problem has definitely contributed to the (hopefully only temporary) demise of my wonderful neighborhood. Viva la Misión!
Are we all too polite to talk about how the “vendors” are overwhelmingly selling stolen goods?
That seems like an important part of the story that is completely left out of this article. I really don’t see how we could be having a reasonable argument about whether or not they should be allowed to come back once we’re honest with each other about this not-so-small detail.
Fellow readers,
Am I the only one who thinks they threw out the baby with the bathwater ?
And, sadly, Mission Local is backing them with some alarming Yellow Journalism.
“9 year old girl with a teddy bear”
“95 year old commuter … afraid to visit her ‘demented’ husband”
Tugging at the heartstrings much when facts fail ?
What facts ?
How about your picture of an empty plaza that you’ve described as having returned to a “community living room”.
All that’s missing is the Community.
Where are your interviews with the benched permit vendors sitting around their Christmas Trees with their starving dogs watching the fireplace decorated with empty stockings looking at the cold fireplace below the Chimney waiting for Santa Claus who never comes ?
I do ‘Yellow’ too.
Who edited this ?
Are we to get more pablum and less substance ?
Frankly I miss the preachers w/out collars and the musicians w/out permits.
Y’all struggled for months to raise $150,000.
That’s about what your new Corporate ad person will cost you.
And, every dollar from a corporation comes with strings.
Did y’all vote to go corporate ?
Multiply this kind of content times ten.
Great ‘investigative reporting’.
Sad in the cheap seats.
I’m no expert here, but I did notice ML raised nearly 10% that of the Guardian. Not too shabby.