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Residents press police commission to address Buena Vista Park camping; advocates warn against criminalization
Summary
Residents presented a petition with 700+ names and urged more enforcement and resources for Buena Vista Park; homelessness advocates cautioned that lowering enforcement thresholds could criminalize vulnerable people and urged services and shelter capacity increases.
Residents and advocacy groups clashed over how to manage illegal camping in Buena Vista Park during public comment at a San Francisco Police Commission meeting.
"There's a petition with over 540 names... and another 200 names," said Isabel Wade, a 57‑year resident near Buena Vista, calling the situation "out of hand" and asking the commission to push the district attorney to lower the threshold of tickets required for escalated enforcement from 25 to 10. Wade said more timely enforcement would increase the likelihood that citations lead to meaningful follow‑up.
Kenneth Epstein and Eugene Delon, residents in the Panhandle, thanked Park Station for recent responsiveness but warned current patrols are a temporary fix. Delon, a clinical psychologist, urged the commission to pair enforcement with services, saying some people in the parks have untreated mental‑health needs and require outreach rather than repeated citations.
Shera Noel, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Homeless Youth Alliance, urged the commission not to further criminalize homelessness. "The more tickets that come, the more times people are being told to move... they have no other options," Noel said, citing a figure of about 6,000 homeless people in the city and 1,139 shelter beds.
Captain Gregory Corrales defended the station’s use of citations as a tool to send a message that camping in parks is not permitted, saying enforcement is necessary when other services have not resolved the problem. "We're not criminalizing homelessness. We're criminalizing sleeping in the park," Corrales said.
Commissioner Petra de Jesus raised concerns about tone in the Park Station newsletter, saying some items "ridiculed" homeless people. Corrales acknowledged the complaint and said the newsletter format had been changed in response.
The commission did not adopt new policy at the meeting; Chair Tom Mizuho said he would contact the district attorney about citation thresholds and noted the complexity of balancing public‑safety and humanitarian considerations.
Next steps noted on the record included continued coordination between Park Station, Rec and Park, and neighborhood advisory boards; the commission invited written materials and promised to follow up with the DA's office regarding enforcement thresholds.
