Mayor declares a state of emergency in San Francisco's Tenderloin district

Mayor declares a state of emergency in San Francisco's Tenderloin district

Transcript¹

San Francisco's move to clean up what the mayor calls "nasty streets" in an area long troubled by crime and drugs underscores the challenges that many cities face tackling big systemic problems.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

San Francisco has won praise for its handling of the pandemic, a bit less so for tackling another public health crisis - drug overdoses and related disorder². Mayor London Breed announced an emergency plan last month for the part of the city known as the Tenderloin. She said that overdoses, drug dealing³ and street chaos⁴ were, quote, "totally out of control," and she promised tough love for those who break the law. NPR's Eric Westervelt asked how it's working.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE⁵: Mayor Breed's emergency order certainly risks undermining San Francisco's reputation for tolerance⁶ and City Hall's pledges to deemphasize policing to solve problems. But many residents and businesses here strongly back the mayor's call to, quote, "take back our Tenderloin."

RENE COLORADO: They're tired of open-air drug dealing, seeing other people suffer and die on the street from drug overdoses, and they're tired of crime in the Tenderloin.

WESTERVELT: Rene Colorado, with the Tenderloin Merchants Association, says so far, the city's actions have not meant more cops harassing⁷ or sweeping⁸ homeless encampments. He's hopeful this is the start of ending what he calls a sense of anarchy⁹ afflicting¹⁰ too many of the neighborhood streets.

COLORADO: That's what success would look like to me. It's tough because to do that, you need police. They need to make arrests. And that's something that, for some reason or another, people that don't live in the Tenderloin are uncomfortable with. But residents don't want drug dealing here.

WESTERVELT: The Tenderloin's problems - homelessness, poverty, substance abuse - have been around for a long time, and it's become even more a kind of containment¹¹ zone for those challenges amid the rise of tech wealth and its staggering inequality. But the pandemic mixed with the spread of a dangerously powerful synthetic¹² opioid have recently made things here even worse.

MATT HANEY: What is new here is fentanyl. That's the state of emergency.

WESTERVELT: City Supervisor¹³ Matt Haney lives in and represents the Tenderloin. At a diner near his home. he points out the city is averaging nearly two overdose deaths a day. Over the last two years, the city has seen more than 1,360 overdose fatalities¹⁴, more than double the total COVID death toll¹⁵ here. And he points out that almost three-quarters of the overdose deaths involved fentanyl.

HANEY: If you're smoking or shooting up fentanyl, that's like Russian roulette. People are dying within minutes or seconds of buying drugs on a corner. And it has ripple¹⁶ effects throughout the entire neighborhood that are devastating¹⁷.

WESTERVELT: Haney says the city's relatively¹⁸ agile¹⁹ handling of the pandemic shows what can be done when government commits and moves fast to confront a health crisis. The mayor's latest emergency order now helps city departments do just that - light a fire under notoriously lumbering²⁰ bureaucracies. A centerpiece of the plan is a newly opened linkage²¹ center. It's a walk-in, one-stop shop for city services where folks can try to get access to drug, alcohol, mental health and homeless support, and possibly a shelter bed and eventually maybe permanent housing. Mayor Breed.

LONDON BREED: What's so important is that we have solutions and we don't just say, we don't like it, we don't want to see it. This is about trying to help people, and that's exactly what we're going to keep fighting for.

WESTERVELT: Breed says she has no illusions that the new linkage center will quickly transform the Tenderloin, but she hopes it's offering a new lifeline that meets people where they are.

BREED: The fact is, people who struggle with addiction²² - it's not as easy as they're just going to walk through the door and ask for help, or we can't force them into treatment. Part of the goal is to make sure that they know that there's a place where they won't be judged, and when they're ready for help or assistance, they can get help or assistance.

WESTERVELT: But many of those most affected²³ by the policy shift say, so far, nothing's really changed. Shy Brown says she's lived in the Tenderloin, mostly on the streets, for a decade. She's sitting half in, half out of a small sidewalk tent. Pigeons are busily picking at remnants of a handout²⁴ dinner. I ask if she's seen changes or even heard about new options.

SHY BROWN: Hell no. I want to know what the strategy plan is and how we're going to execute it, you see what I'm saying? And I don't see that happening. So, no, it's not going to work. It's not going to work.

(SOUNDBITE OF POWER WASHER SPRAYING)

WESTERVELT: Nearby, a man power washes the street after a free lunch giveaway near GLIDE²⁵, a nonprofit that provides daily meals and other services to the homeless and poor in the Tenderloin. Jean Cooper, chief strategy officer with GLIDE, hopes the emergency plan and new linkage center result in real change. But she also worries it's just another patch addressing only surface symptoms.

JEAN COOPER: The realities is is the drivers to what we see on the street here are, you know, deep-seated, systemic issues that not only San Francisco struggles with, but, like, you know, major cities across the United States are struggling with right now. And it's around a lack of affordable²⁶ housing, a lack of access to affordable and quality health care, and that includes mental health and substance use treatment.

WESTERVELT: To underscore the challenges, as if on cue, a homeless man stumbles down the middle of the street, teetering. He's mumbling²⁷, no shoes or shirt. His pants are filthy²⁸ and falling down. He's unresponsive when people approach him. I ask Cooper what might be done.

COOPER: You know, our staff will get him a pair of shoes and a shirt, you know, give him something to eat, sit him down, and they'll watch over him if anyone tries to prey²⁹ on him.

WESTERVELT: Right. So the guy behind us who's shirtless and passing out - you couldn't actually physically³⁰ get him to a bed tonight.

COOPER: No. We don't have access to beds, you know? So it's not like we can actually get someone into a bed directly.

WESTERVELT: And maybe that's really the challenge. How does the city turn its emergency order and linkage center into a viable³¹ strategy for long-term solutions to long-standing problems, ones that are more expensive and more complicated than the daily wave of triage in the Tenderloin?

Eric Westervelt, NPR News, San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF LEAVV'S "BLUE VIEW")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

7 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

8 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

9 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

10 afflicting   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是困扰现代社会的严重问题之一。
• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是危害社会的弊病之一。

11 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

12 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

13 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

14 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

17 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

18 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

19 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

20 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

21 linkage   

n.连接；环节

参考例句：

• In their monographic treatment of linkage,they have emphasized this especially.他们在论连锁的专题文章中特别强调了这点。
• Occasionally,problems with block inheritance or linkage are encountered.有时会遇到区段遗传或连锁问题。

22 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

23 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

24 handout   

n.散发的文字材料；救济品

参考例句：

• I read the handout carefully.我仔细看了这份分发的资料。
• His job was distributing handout at the street-corner.他的工作是在街头发传单。

25 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

26 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

27 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

28 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

29 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

30 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

31 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。