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   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://sfstandard.com/business/castro-merchants-threatening-civil-   
   disobedience-over-mental-health-drug-crisis-finds-sympathetic-audience/   
      
   A family from New Jersey, Bay Area day trippers and visitors from the   
   U.K., Germany and Italy were among the dozen or so people gathered around   
   the giant rainbow flag in the center of the Castro to embark on a walking   
   tour of one of the city’s most iconic neighborhoods.   
      
   Kathy Amendola, the owner of Cruisin’ the Castro Walking Tour, has been   
   giving these tours for close to two decades, infusing local LGBTQ history   
   with a brash East Coast delivery.   
      
   Recently, though, she’s had to limit her tours to three days a week   
   because of what she said are individuals living in the neighborhood with   
   unaddressed drug or mental health issues that have threatened her and her   
   customers.   
      
   While giving a biography about Harvey Milk in the neighborhood’s Muni   
   station, her eyes flitted to a man up the stairs tearing posters off   
   telephone poles and ranting and raving in circles. On the escalator up to   
   street level, she flashed the pepper spray she keeps in her bag for   
   protection.   
      
   “We’re a nice, compassionate community, but they have pushed our limits,”   
   Amendola said. “This is inhumane for us and for them. That’s why a lot of   
   businesses are closing because we are traumatized.”   
      
   Complaints about the declining street conditions spurred the Castro   
   Merchants Association to send a letter to city leaders calling for 35   
   designated beds for the neighborhood to provide treatment to the troubled   
   individuals, a comprehensive plan for those who decline services and a   
   level of accountability through clear reporting on those who have been   
   offered shelter or services, as well as successful placements.   
      
   Castro Merchants Association President Dave Karraker raised the potential   
   of withholding certain city fees or taxes to put pressure on city   
   officials as a form of civil disobedience, a move that has grabbed   
   headlines and the attention of similarly minded groups in the city.   
      
   “We hope it would never in anybody’s imagination come to that, but the   
   outpouring of support we’ve seen across the city says to us people are at   
   the end of their rope and there’s a general feeling of hopelessness around   
   the subject,” Karraker said.   
      
   Karraker is aiming to use the letter—and the city-wide frustration from   
   the inability to solve the issue—to bring together a coalition of merchant   
   associations, businesses, trade groups, community organizations and   
   private citizens to find solutions.   
      
   “Our goal with all of this is to get these people help because what the   
   city is doing right now to our eyes isn’t solving the problem,” Karraker   
   said. “Our hope is to see that there is actually a citywide plan, and if   
   not, then maybe we can help facilitate one.”   
      
   Next on the agenda is a planned town hall meeting in October with city   
   leaders in public health and homelessness to hear firsthand how they are   
   trying to address the issue and offer suggestions to help.   
      
   Officials at the Departments of Public Health and Homelessness and   
   Supportive Housing responded to the Castro merchants’ letter, detailing   
   current efforts to expand the city’s number of treatment beds. Specific   
   plans to address the demands laid out by the Castro Merchants Association,   
   however, were in short supply.   
      
   “One of the big things we know is that 50% of the people that are offered   
   services don’t take it for whatever reason, so how are we addressing that   
   specifically?” Karraker said.   
      
   Merchant groups across the city sympathized with the plight of business   
   owners in the Castro, reporting similar issues in their own communities.   
   Few explicitly signed on to the pledge to withhold payments to the city,   
   however.   
      
   Henry Karnilowicz, vice president of the South of Market Business   
   Association, said any major changes are predicated on businesses’ ability   
   to band together to advocate for solutions.   
      
   “Small business owners are all mainly busy running their businesses. They   
   may moan and groan, but trying to get them to organize and protest is   
   another story,” Karnilowicz said. “I applaud the Castro merchants and what   
   they’re doing and we plan to talk more to the association about how to   
   support them.”   
      
   Karnilowicz, who also serves as co-chair of SFPD’s Small Business Advisory   
   Forum, said that in his experience, conversations with city departments   
   like the police, district attorney or public works devolve into blame-   
   shifting and buck-passing.   
      
   “Oftentimes, it’s like talking to a brick wall,” Karnilowicz said.   
      
   Ryen Moztek, president of the Mission Merchants Association, said the   
   situation in the Mission has become dire. Moztek pointed to a recent fatal   
   stabbing at the 24th Street Mission BART station as an example and said   
   the organization’s board members are in discussions about how to support   
   the Castro merchants and their coalition.   
      
   “Sometimes drastic measures are needed to grab attention,” Moztek said. “I   
   believe that the Castro merchants are very sensitive to mental illness and   
   drug addiction, it’s not like they’re saying to hell with them, it’s our   
   businesses or bust.”   
      
   Moztek said the lack of observable action from officials leads to   
   situations where troubled individuals are hurt or hurt others. He   
   mentioned a recent experience he witnessed where a mentally ill person   
   pulled his pants down and masturbated in front of a group, who responded   
   by pushing him and spraying him with pepper spray.   
      
   “Everyone lost there,” Moztek said. “If I see someone at the middle of the   
   road, and with their clothes barely hanging on that’s confused about where   
   they are, that’s a crisis that needs to be addressed.”   
      
   Masood Samereie, a realtor in the Castro and the president of the SF   
   Council of District Merchants Associations, said the call for civil   
   disobedience is “extreme” but admits issues around street conditions have   
   clearly worsened.   
      
   Over the past three years, Samereie said he’s had furniture thrown at him,   
   has been attacked by a person wielding a stick and in one case has been   
   pepper sprayed by an individual on the street.   
      
   Edward Siu, chairman of the Chinatown Merchants United Association, said   
   he completely agrees with the stance taken by the Castro merchants and   
   voiced frustrations in having to struggle with street issues more than two   
   years into a pandemic.   
      
   “A lot of merchants are blaming it on the city and on the state,” Siu   
   said. “Why are we paying taxes when we’re not being protected or getting   
   any of the benefits?”   
      
   Many of the troubled individuals in the Castro are well-known to community   
   members, who have maintained a running list for years of around 20 to 25   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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