Farmers market vendors forced to sell food 'next to drug dealers' as homeless encampments take over streets
San Francisco resident Jenny Chan on the homeless taking over city sidewalks where vendors used to set up every week for a farmers market.
A San Francisco resident is warning that one of the city's popular farmers markets is on the verge of extinction after being "taken over" by drug dealers and addicts from nearby homeless encampments.
Jenny Chan, who shared a photo online that shows how encampments have overwhelmed the Civic Center, described the city as on its way to becoming "the next Detroit" on "Fox & Friends First."
"People are leaving. Businesses are closing down. It's very unacceptable to live this lifestyle. I mean, the farmers market used to be the heart and soul of our city, and now we can't even have that," Chan said Tuesday.
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Chan described how many of the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market vendors have been replaced by drug dealers, saying only five vendors remain.
"We used to have rows and rows of crates of fresh vegetables, and now part of it is taken over by drug dealers on the sidewalk. There are vendors with stolen goods."
Chan said farmers feel scared to sell their produce at the market, describing the area as "dangerous" now that homeless people and drug addicts have overwhelmed the area.
"Would you want to shop like that? Would you want to shop for vegetables in the place where addicts are on the floor suffering?"
San Francisco County Sheriff's Office deputies pass by a sanctioned and fenced-in homeless encampment across from City Hall on May 19, 2020. (Jane Tyska / Digital First Media / East Bay Times via Getty Images)
"They were offering free needles and free foil and also free snacks if you're going in there to do drugs. And they really put it next to the farmers market. Why did we decide to do that? I don't remember voting on it and I have no idea why they put it there. But then drug dealers started coming in and started selling their goods."
Chan said it is time for the city to clean up its act so the farmers market and the city can thrive once again.
"I think someone was just arrested recently for being violent on the street at the farmers market. And I mean the overdoses, too. There are so many people who overdose from using drugs at the tents right next to the farmers market; this has been going on for maybe three years now," she added.
People sleep near discarded clothing and used needles on a street in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco on July 25, 2019. (AP Photo / Janie Har)
Chan noted it is still very expensive to live in The Golden City despite the deteriorating conditions.
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In June, San Francisco voted to recall then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin, whose critics said he implemented progressive policies, such as eliminating cash bail, and had a soft-handed approach toward drug crimes. Boudin's replacement, Brooke Jenkins, has reversed many of her predecessor's policies since being appointed, but that hasn't made the city noticeably safer, residents told Fox News last year.
"Crime in the city is worse right now," says "John," who has lived in San Francisco for more than 50 years. "We do have a new DA, so maybe things will get better."
"But I've been assaulted recently, so I'm kind of leery about that getting better right away," the 74-year-old continued.
Fox News' Jon Michael Raasch contributed to this report.
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