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Expected to be a wholesome festive outing for families, San Francisco’s taxpayer-funded outdoor Christmas market is in fact a dystopian hell besieged by the city’s notorious drug addicts.
At least that’s what concerned residents living near the market have revealed to DailyMail.com, with one owner filming and posting on social media of what he described as a “horrific decline” in the area.
The ‘Winter Wanderland’ set up shop in Union Square in downtown San Francisco, just minutes from the now-closed Tenderloin center, where addicts contacted rehab facilities and where DailyMail.com revealed drug use had been taking place. illegal.
The footage filmed by the concerned mother of two stands in stark contrast to promotional material posted by Christmas market organizers on social media channels, who described the event as “family-friendly”.
Expected to be a wholesome festive outing for families, San Francisco’s taxpayer-funded outdoor Christmas market is in fact a dystopian hell besieged by the city’s notorious drug addicts. The reality is shown on the left, while a scene from an ad promoting it is shown on the right.
In the footage filmed by the concerned mother, viewers can see a person sleeping next to what appears to be a pile of clothes, with injections scattered among the belongings.
The video is then sped up to show its proximity to the Hallidie Plaza and Powell BART station ‘Winter Wanderland Holiday Village’.
The 25-second video ends in a nearly empty square with two costumed people dancing on a stage, one in a snowman costume and the other with a reindeer.
In a caption of the photo, the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, writes: “Misery, drug abuse, overdose, drug dealing and the mayor’s ‘Winter Wanderland’ at Hallidie Plaza and the Powell BART station in downtown San Francisco”. Who is this farce for?
However, the promotional images uploaded to social networks by the organizers of ‘Winter Wanderland Holiday Village’ tell a different and more polished version of the events.
The video opens with an artist juggling, set to the soundtrack of Christmas carols before transitioning to a group of children anxiously watching.
In the footage filmed by the concerned mother, viewers can see a person sleeping next to what appears to be a pile of clothes, with injections scattered among the belongings.
The 25-second video ends in a nearly empty square with two costumed people dancing on a stage: one in a snowman costume, the other with a reindeer.
The camera zooms in on a man sitting on the steps watching the show, who appears to be drinking from a brown liquor bottle.
The ad then shows a woman dressed as the beloved Children’s character ‘Minnie Mouse’ while wearing a COVID-safe face mask, with the caption ‘fun with balloons and face paint’ at the bottom of the screen.
The woman is seen politely greeting viewers and saying ‘hello’ before the video ends at the festive Christmas tree display.
While preparing Christmas Eve dinner for her family, the mother of seven-year-old twins told DailyMail.com about the “nightmare” her once-beloved city has become.
“I own property right above the Powell BART station,” she said.
‘[I’ve seen a] Horrible decline since March 2020. It’s a nightmare, it’s all drugs.’
The San Francisco resident said she had a love/hate relationship with the city, but was forced to move due to the declining situation.
“We just made an offer on a house in Alameda, we can’t take this anymore,” he said.
‘I have a love/hate relationship with the city. I don’t want to move, but I have no other choice.
However, the promotional images uploaded to social networks by the organizers of the ‘Winter Wanderland Holiday Village’ tell a different and more polished version of the events.
The video, which begins with an artist juggling, set to the soundtrack of Christmas carols, then cuts to a group of children looking on excitedly.
Union Square Alliance, through a $500,000 grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, installed Christmas trees, wreaths, snowflakes and other hanging decorations, along with a host of vendor booths on site.
Downtown San Francisco’s economic recovery has been uneven, and 2021 saw episodes of large-scale retail theft.
The Union Square Christmas tree experienced some shenanigans and vandalism earlier in the month, but organizers weren’t worried as the festive season kicked off.
San Francisco is governed by a leadership that seems to have set its priorities on masking the ever-present and deteriorating situation in its downtown district.
His progressive and humanitarian self-image has been at odds with the law, even as he sought solutions to save people’s lives, such as controlling the sale and use of drugs throughout the city.
The holiday market is just a 15-minute walk from the now closed Tenderloin center, which was supposed to put addicts in touch with rehab facilities, but DailyMail.com revealed that it operates as a secret illegal drug use site that it has since closed.
The Tenderloin Center was opened by San Francisco Mayor London Breed earlier this year to address the city’s ongoing drug crisis and cost an estimated $22 million to operate.
The Tenderloin Center was dedicated by San Francisco Mayor London Breed (left) earlier this year to address the city’s ongoing drug crisis.
A former addict said that in San Francisco that ‘overt drug use has become normal’ in the city
Supervised drug consumption sites remain illegal under federal law, and the health department said the Justice Department “has yet to articulate a way forward.”
The site was often referred to as a “safe place” for addicts to “get high without getting robbed,” according to one person who used the center.
In the first four months of the center’s opening, it was said to have referred only 18 people out of the more than 23,000 it received at the site.
Overall, less than one percent of visits ended in a ‘full link’ to behavioral health programs.
City leaders, including Breed, now say the site was a “temporary solution” offered as a way to prevent the more than 640 overdose deaths that occurred in San Francisco in 2021.
Despite their efforts, 2022 has been almost as deadly, as more than 500 people have died of drug overdoses across the California city. In 2021, there were 641.
Officials also hoped the site would offer a place to deal with the homelessness crisis the city has faced in recent months and years.
Some estimates indicate that hundreds of people visited the Tenderloin Center while it was open, and more than 350 overdoses were reversed at the location.
Mayor Breed had originally allocated just $10 million for the project, but it quickly increased to more than double that estimate.
In total, about 400 people received assistance each day, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
A large portion of those who took advantage of the site used it specifically for shelter or food.