XPost: talk.politics.drugs, talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.homosexuality   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   Operators of corner stores in the Tenderloin are outraged that San   
   Francisco officials may force them to close earlier as part of efforts to   
   fight the city's illegal drug markets. Smoke shops may also face tighter   
   regulation.   
      
   New legislation from Supervisor Dean Preston would make it more difficult   
   to open smoke shops in the Tenderloin. Preston’s office says residents   
   believe such businesses facilitate late-night illegal behavior.   
      
   Meanwhile, conversations are reportedly taking place behind closed doors   
   between Mayor London Breed and other city officials about a proposal to   
   limit the hours of operation for some stores in the neighborhood.   
      
   The city has cracked down on drug activity since last spring, making   
   thousands of arrests and finding some success in cleaning up the   
   Tenderloin's streets during the day. But nighttime drug dealing and   
   illegal vending persist.   
      
   Much of this late-night activity tends to congregate around stores that   
   sell snacks, drinks and—more notably—pipes and torches used to smoke   
   drugs. At least three of these businesses are open 24/7; others are open   
   until 2 or 3 a.m.   
      
   ‘The problem is the drugs, not the stores’   
   Store owners and staff are furious about the proposals. They say the   
   problem is drugs, not their stores, many of which opened before the   
   fentanyl crisis hit San Francisco. Owners contend the neighborhood wasn’t   
   exactly a utopia when they arrived.   
      
   Ameer Ahmed, who has worked at the Hyde & Turk Market for three years,   
   said he worries that such changes could endanger jobs. He called proposed   
   new regulations on businesses unfair, claiming they may worsen the   
   neighborhood’s problems.   
      
   “The problem is the drugs, not the stores,” Ahmed said. “If I don’t have a   
   job, what do I do? I’d have to go to the street to make money.”   
      
   A few blocks away at New Princess Market, owner Willie Masarweh balked at   
   the ideas—especially considering the issues Tenderloin business owners   
   have dealt with.   
      
   Masarweh acknowledged that some stores stock their shelves with drug   
   paraphernalia, potentially making them complicit in the crisis. However,   
   he said he still believes the answer isn’t to punish law-abiding business   
   owners.   
      
   “If they came to my store and they saw my shelves were empty and selling   
   nothing but a crack pipe, I’d understand,” Masarweh said. “But every drug   
   addict is walking through the neighborhood with a torch and a pipe. If   
   those stores didn’t have the clients, they wouldn’t have the product.”   
      
   Masarweh noted that the city’s health department funds harm reduction   
   programs that provide people with drug paraphernalia. He gestured around   
   his shop, which closes at 2 a.m., pointing at groceries and other   
   necessities that fill the shelves.   
      
   “They’re going after retailers? What happens next?” he asked. “People are   
   going to walk 10,000 blocks to buy milk?”   
      
   Preston’s proposal has passed through the Planning Commission and will   
   soon be heard by the Board of Supervisors. But it still has to pass   
   through the board’s Land Use Committee and then garner a majority vote   
   from the full board before it becomes law.   
      
   The legislation would effectively bar new businesses in the neighborhood   
   from stocking more than 10% of their shelves with tobacco products—unless   
   they receive special authorization from the city, which is likely to be   
   costly and challenging to acquire. Similar restrictions are already in   
   place on Haight and Polk streets. Existing stores would be exempt from the   
   law.   
      
   Preston’s legislative aide, Li Lovett, confirmed that city officials,   
   including Breed, are holding separate conversations about restricting   
   hours of business for markets in the Tenderloin. But Lovett said those   
   discussions are in the early stages.   
      
   “Businesses have been hurting, especially since the pandemic,” Lovett   
   said. “So that becomes a whole other set of considerations.”   
      
   Breed’s office wouldn’t confirm that such conversations are ongoing but   
   said in a statement that it’s “working on a multi-strategy coordination   
   involving city departments and the Tenderloin community.”   
      
   “We must disrupt and remove the problematic night markets harming our   
   neighborhoods,” Breed’s office said.   
      
   Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said he   
   supports Preston’s legislation—as well as restrictions on store   
   hours—because he believes the neighborhood is flooded with businesses that   
   are complicit in the drug trade.   
      
   “They open up these tobacco stores that end up being open 24 hours just to   
   subsidize and help drug dealers,” Shaw said. “They just proliferated in   
   the last few years, and they don’t have any viable business except from   
   the dealers and the drug users.”   
      
   One notable example, Shaw said, is the Plaza Snacks & Deli shop in Civic   
   Center. Most nights, people engaging in drug activity and selling stolen   
   products crowd around the shop. At its front counter, the store   
   prominently displays torches and pipes used to smoke drugs.   
      
   A man working behind the counter, who identified himself only as Jay and   
   said he was an owner of Plaza Snacks & Deli, said Wednesday it was unfair   
   the city was blaming business owners such as himself for the street   
   crises.   
      
   “This area was not Hollywood before we opened the store,” he said. “Even   
   if we shut down, the people will still be there.”   
      
   https://sfstandard.com/2024/03/08/tenderloin-stores-close-drug-crisis/   
      
   --   
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.   
      
   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
   Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
   dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)