California: San Francisco Business Owners Raise Alarm on Crime, Drugs, Homelessness Issues, Threatens Not to Pay Taxes

San Francisco businesses in California are threatening to stop paying taxes unless the city officials respond to the area's crime, drug trade, and homelessness.

The Blaze reported that the Castro Merchants Association sent a letter to city officials, noting their plans not to pay taxes if the city refuses to do more to respond to the growing issues.

The letter said that people living on the streets "regularly experience psychotic episodes" and have vandalized storefronts. The business owners added in their letter that people on the streets have harassed business owners, employees, residents, and tourists.

The letter also said the community was "struggling to recover from lost business revenue," as well as burglaries and "never-ending vandalism/graffiti."

The group asked the city to assign 35 of "the city's shelter beds for the neighborhood's homeless population," including the creation of a comprehensive plan on how to offer services to individuals who refuse help.

Co-president of the association, Dave Karraker, noted that if the association's demands were not met, the group could ask business owners to stop paying taxes and other city fees.

San Francisco Businesses Threaten to Stop Paying Taxes

Dave Karraker said the city was not providing the services that were supposed to be given to business owners based on what they were paying to the city.

The co-president of the association noted that business owners were now at a point where it was "next to impossible to run a business" in San Francisco's Castro District while dealing with issues that small business owners should not be concerned with.

The association also called on city officials to have a monthly metric on how many people in Castro District were offered services compared to how many placements were made, according to KRON 4 News.

The association of the business owners noted that the Castro neighborhood has 21% vacant storefronts now, which could likely increase if the city does not address homelessness and drug addiction.

San Francisco Crime and San Francisco Drug Trade

City workers were seen cleaning the streets with a power washing after the association's letter was spread online. City officials responded to the letter and said they would work to address the concerns, Daily Mail reported.

They noted that they appreciate hearing from community members about "what they are seeing on the streets." Last February, homelessness across Sacramento County was experienced by around 9,278 individuals, showing a 67% increase in nightly homelessness since the last count in 2019.

Meanwhile, San Francisco was also facing a huge amount of fentanyl coming into the area, which is affecting the homeless population. Fox News reported that one million fake pills containing fentanyl were seized from a Los Angeles home earlier last month.

San Francisco has also been seeing increased murders, rapes, and smash-and-grab robberies.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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