Mayor Mark Farrell has put some money into the effort to clean up San Francisco’s streets, especially its downtown areas. Media coverage of the amount of human waste, discarded needles, and mentally ill homeless has highlighted the severity of the problem. In late April, the mayor announced $12.8 million for street cleaning, expanded public toilet services, and a new rapid-response team for cleaning up syringes.
“As a longtime resident of San Francisco, I’ve never seen the streets this dirty,” said District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani. She thanked the mayor and supervisors on the Budget and Finance Committee “for making this a priority and adding these needed funds.”
In addition to the new spending, Farrell is expanding the Fix-It Team, which is designed for quick response to quality-of-life problems, such as broken streetlights and graffiti.
“Every day I hear from residents, visitors, and business owners who are complaining about street cleanliness — we are taking decisive measures now to fix those problems,” said Mayor Farrell. “We will combat the cleanliness problems plaguing our streets, and we will do so in an aggressive, targeted and smart manner.”
