Rules Committee advances Haney-backed street-level drug-dealing task force and recommends nine appointees

The Rules Committee recommended a slate of nine candidates Wednesday to sit on a newly proposed street-level drug-dealing task force aimed at addressing open-air drug sales concentrated in the Tenderloin, South of Market, Civic Center and Mid-Market.

Abigail Rivamante Mesa spoke for Supervisor Matt Haney’s office and read his statement explaining the task force’s purpose. "This task force will bring swifter action, stronger accountability, and real solutions to address this crisis," the statement said. The presentation added the task force will include experts, city departments and people directly impacted by street-level drug dealing, and will examine prevention, law enforcement, recidivism, economic development, diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration while holding public hearings and collecting data.

Haney’s office included a data claim to explain the urgency: the district, the statement said, accounted for 68% of drug-sales arrests citywide in the cited 2017–early 2018 period. The transcript records the claim but does not include underlying data or methodology.

The committee heard two dozen applicants for nine seats; applicants included harm-reduction practitioners, reentry-program staff, residents with lived experience, small-business owners and representatives of local institutions. Applicants emphasized a range of approaches from restorative justice and harm reduction to targeted enforcement and business-community partnerships.

Portia Dixon, a Tenderloin resident who said she began selling drugs as a teenager and later worked with Hospitality House and the Gubbio Project, told the committee: "I'm here to help think of a better way to get people off the streets instead of taking them to jail because jail is not always the way." Other applicants who spoke about lived experience and outreach included Curtis Bradford, Louie Hammonds, Maria Richard and Nicole Richardson.

Supervisor Walton moved the committee recommendation of nine names to the full Board: Lindsay LaSalle (seat C1), Janet Ector (C2), Teresa Lynn Friend (seat 3, with a residency waiver requested), Pedro Bridal Flores (seat 4), Curtis Bradford (seat 5), Portia Dixon (seat 6), Louie Hammonds (seat 7), Max Young (seat 8), and Thomas Wolfe (seat 9). The clerk repeated the list and the motion carried as a committee report.

Supporters from neighborhood organizations including the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, Hospitality House, and the Budget Justice Coalition urged diversity of lived experience and community representation on the task force. Several speakers asked the Board to consider expanding the group beyond nine members or building broad engagement mechanisms to ensure many local voices can participate.

The committee recommendation will go to the full Board of Supervisors, which will consider formal appointment and any residency waivers that were flagged during the hearing.