We are the neighbors, residents, small businesses, renters, home owners and local communities who live and work within the current, and proposed larger, boundaries of the Southern Station.
Petition calling on Mayor Lurie, the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Police Commission, and the San Francisco Police Department to fully support the public safety needs of the residents, businesses, and communities within the Southern Station’s boundaries, without the addition of a quarter more of the City’s challenges, by providing adequate staffing and resources for the Southern Station and the growing populations it serves.
WHEREAS, the current Southern Station boundaries mandate jurisdiction over everything South of Mission Street including Moscone Convention Center, Oracle Park/Giants Stadium, Chase Center/Warriors Stadium, Embarcadero Navigation Center, SOMA West, South Beach, Rincon Hill, Mission Bay, East Cut, Yerba Buena, and more throughout downtown, as well as Treasure Island;
WHEREAS, Southern Station is already unable to cover the needs of the residents and businesses it currently oversees;
WHEREAS, adding the corridor of Market to Mission throughout SOMA and the entirety of Market Street, including northern and southern sides, from Van Ness to the Embarcadero, would vastly add to the already-stretched-thin limits of Southern Station’s capacity, including a striking increase of nearly 18,000 additional 911 calls, just within the first six months of 2025;
WHEREAS, the proposed larger boundaries of Southern Station will also include such notable areas as the site of Westfield Center’s implosion and dilapidation, Mid-Market’s Whole Foods closure and empty storefront, the well-known open air drug markets of Market Street, the high concentration of crime and drugs on 6th Street, and increase the number of city services which tell their residents, patients, clients, and neighbors to simply ‘call the police’ rather than provide true public safety operations for the neighborhood;
WHEREAS, the proposed larger boundaries will also include the Theater District’s Orpheum, American Conservatory, and Golden Gate Theaters with populations from throughout the Bay Area attending shows and events thereby becoming ‘the face’ of San Francisco to many entering the City;
WHEREAS, all four of the City’s downtown BART stations would be added to the jurisdiction which already includes the heavily populated terminus stations for Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, SamTrans and all services at the Salesforce Transit Center, meaning a further increase of the public safety needs for those who arrive into the City from throughout the Bay Area, including downtown employees and employers, hotels and convention guests, and tourists from around the world, all of whom make up the economic engine for the City;
WHEREAS, the Southern Station already operates with 46 officers below capacity at the same time it’s seeing an increase in its own crime dashboard statistics of nearly 50% in SOMA during just the first six months of the year;
WHEREAS, the SF Chronicle reports that the current Southern District has the highest ratio of violent crime to officers in San Francisco;
WHEREAS. the SF Standard reports that the Embarcadero Navigation Center, the block surrounding it, and Sixth St between Market and Mission have the highest overdose counts in the City;
WHEREAS, the corridor of Market to Mission in SOMA has one of the highest levels of crime in the City, including, just within the first six months of 2025: 336 burglary and theft related crimes, 1,600 assaults and violent related crimes, 674 drug offenses, and 500 other crime-related activities;
WHEREAS, the most recent census data shows that the neighborhood populations under Southern Station’s jurisdiction are exploding: Mission Bay has grown in population 92%, the Financial District/South Beach 61%, and South of Market 43%.
WHEREAS, we support the concept of a dedicated station for the needs of the Tenderloin, but not to the overall detriment of SOMA’s greatly increasing needs which, according to from the police department’s own analysis, these proposed boundary changes will include a nearly 25% increase in Calls for Service and a nearly 29% increase in crime incident reports while other jurisdictions are seeing decreases in need yet still receiving higher levels of staffing and resources;
WHEREAS, Southern Station’s jurisdiction requires dedicated staffing for Treasure Island, Moscone Convention Center, Chase Center/Warriors Stadium, Oracle Park/Giants Stadium, and now adds the Theater District and other large-scale events, marches, parades, and other demonstrations held on Market Street, all of which bring visitors throughout SOMA, Mission Bay, and downtown; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, the Police Commission and the San Francisco Police Department cannot increase the boundaries and add to the burden of Southern Station without providing adequate resources and staffing for the residents, businesses, commuters, and tourists throughout its jurisdiction;
FURTHER RESOLVED, the Police Commission and the San Francisco Police Department must demonstrate an adequately proportional staffing and resource plan for Southern Station prior to potentially adopting new borders;
FURTHER RESOLVED, San Francisco must ensure that Southern Station has regular staffing to meet its dedicated foot beat officer commitments which are required by the Embarcadero Navigation Center Inter-departmental MOU and currently leave the three dedicated beats in SOMA West unfilled; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, San Francisco must take responsibility for, and meaningfully address, the public health and safety crises particularly exacerbated around the Embarcadero Navigation Center, the 6th street corridor, the 12th street corridor, and from the hosting of nearly 26% of all Homelessness and Supportive Housing shelter and transitional housing beds citywide in SOMA;
FURTHER RESOLVED, San Francisco must answer for the inequitable disparities created by its own policies which negatively impact the safety and well-being of the residents, businesses, employees, families, youth, tourists, and guests to our City throughout all areas of Market Street and SOMA, the burgeoning neighborhoods of Mission Bay, East Cut, Rincon Center, and SOMA West, as well as the historical homes of the Filipino Cultural Heritage, Transgender, and Leather and LGBTQ Cultural Districts; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, San Francisco’s leadership must join our communities in speaking out against the continued gerrymandering of our neighborhoods into containment zones for all of the City’s ills, while substantially decreasing the staffing, resources, and services for our public safety; and
FURTHER RESOLVED, We deserve better. We deserve to be safe in our neighborhoods. Staff Southern Station!