Demand SF Stop Rampant Prostitution

Background

Street prostitution has spiraled into an unchecked crisis in the Mission since 2023, creating untenable conditions in our neighborhoods. Sex trafficking on our streets is both a public nuisance and a public health threat. It fuels crime, drives economic decline, and erodes quality of life. Traffickers prey on the vulnerable, local businesses suffer, and residents no longer feel safe in their own community. This is not tolerable—and it demands urgent, decisive action and real leadership.

In late 2023, after strong pressure from residents, the City and SFPD installed traffic barriers on Capp Street to curb prostitution. The result was displacement, not resolution—the trade simply shifted to Shotwell Street. When barriers went up there, the activity moved further north. By early 2024, Shotwell neighbors pressed SFPD and City Hall to install license-plate reader cameras to identify offenders. While that may have had some effect, ongoing conditions on Shotwell make clear it was far from sufficient. Shifting a problem is not solving one—again, enforcement is absent.

By the end of 2024, residents and business owners of the Inner Mission were forced to sue the City of San Francisco for its failure to curb the expansion of prostitution. The lawsuit cites widespread fallout: public intoxication, urination on sidewalks, increased crime, and unsafe conditions near schools and playgrounds.

Please stand with Mission residents in asking for a safe, clean, and crime-free neighborhood—rights that every community in San Francisco deserves.

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Message to Supervisor Fielder, cc: Mayor Lurie, Interim Chief Yep, Mission Police Captain, DA's office*

Dear Supervisor Fielder, &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Mission residents urge you to take decisive action to stop illegal prostitution from degrading the quality of life along Shotwell Street and nearby neighborhoods. So far, the City’s half-measures have merely shifted the problem from one street to another. That is not a solution. While you’ve expressed sympathy for the women being exploited on our streets, your constituents also deserve your sympathy—and your commitment—to end the sex trade in front of our homes, schools, parks and businesses.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Prostitution is not a victimless crime—families are forced to live with constant unsafe traffic, discarded syringes and condoms, and lewd acts in plain sight. It is unconscionable that we have endured years of trauma under supervisors who, through dysfunction or disregard, have failed their constituents. We demand a comprehensive, sustained strategy that uses every available tool and coordination across all relevant agencies to protect Mission residents and businesses from the harm of unchecked sex trafficking on our streets.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Specifically:&#13;&#10;Community–law enforcement cooperation: Build stronger partnerships between residents and SFPD to ensure accountability and shared responsibility.&#13;&#10;Real accountability: Measure success by concrete outcomes—such as reduced street prostitution and improved neighborhood safety—not by hours logged or nonprofits funded.&#13;&#10;Increased enforcement: Strengthen police presence and employ targeted interventions against traffickers and sex buyers.&#13;&#10;Expanded investigative tools: Authorize SFPD to use phone-tapping powers already permitted in human trafficking cases and proven effective in other jurisdictions, impounding the cars of johns, and sending ‘Dear John’ letters to their homes.&#13;&#10;Technology partnerships: Collaborate with tech companies to create tools and apps that support law enforcement and victim services.&#13;&#10;We ask that you commit to using every law and every tool available—without delay—to restore safety and livability to our community and put an end to illegal sex-trafficking and prostitution in the Mission.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Sincerely,&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;cc: Mayor Lurie, Interim Chief Yep, Mission Police Captain, DA's office&#13;&#10;

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Demand an End to Prostitution Ravaging Streets in the Mission