Small business owners in the SF Tenderloin protested the rising disease and crime

SAN FRANCISCO — There’s a growing demand for business owners in San Francisco’s Auctioneer District to give their tax dollars back to the city.

They say that the city is failing to protect their environment and their source of income is about to collapse.

Small business owner Iman Diab and about 150 other business and property owners signed a petition asking for sales and property tax refunds.

Diab, a Palestinian immigrant, opened her cafe and sandwich shop in 2013 with joy, love and hope.

“I was so happy because this is what I wanted,” said Diab, who owns Da Hot Spot Cafe at the corner of Turk and Jones streets.

Nine years later, conditions in the Tenderloin have taken much of her passion out of her.

“Of course I regret it, I regret it from the bottom of my heart but the thing is, I have invested a lot (already) so I can’t stop,” Diab said.

She renovated the interior of the business twice and changed the menu twice, but few customers showed up at lunchtime on Fridays.

Her issues are not internal. They are external. Street drug deals and sidewalk litter.

“We don’t make anything — it’s not just a profit — we don’t make any[money]here,” Diab said. “Sometimes we can’t even open the doors because the homeless (people), the needles, they’re shooting (up), so you can’t even talk to them (because they’re high). We have to physically move them.”

A year ago, San Francisco Mayor London Braid declared a state of emergency and vowed to crack down on the drug market.

“Be more aggressive with law enforcement, be more aggressive with changes to our policies and be less patient with all the bulls**t that have destroyed our city,” Brad said at a town hall on December 14, 2021.

A year after that press release, people who live and work in the Tenderloin say nothing has changed in their neighborhood. Some think that conditions have deteriorated.

“The tourists are starting to come back, but they see it and they hate it,” said James Inglis, a longtime resident of the Tenderloin.

In addition to getting their tax dollars back, the newly formed Tenderloin Business Coalition is calling on the city to crack down on drug trafficking.

London Bridge’s office said the mayor met with officers in the district earlier this week to remind officers that they have support from the city to arrest drug dealers.

Iman hopes this time there is real action and not just empty words.

“We need more support from the police,” Diab said.

The Tenderloin Business Coalition said they heard from the mayor’s office and plan to meet with her in January. They want the city to come up with a plan to restore safety so people feel safe to live, shop and work in the Tenderloin.