At Day 200, residents see progress and challenges in S.F.'s efforts at 16th St.

"That day, March 12, the San Francisco Police Department drove a "mobile command unit" - a large white vehicle with police branding on it - onto the southwest BART Plaza. "We are just getting started," Mayor Daniel Lurie said at the time, promising to be "relentless" in clearing Mission Street and the side alleyways and streets of unpermitted vendors, drug dealing and drug use."

"Drug users started congregating in the dead-end block of Caledonia north of 15th Street, for example, right around the time that the other alleys in that area got noticeably clearer, one 10-year Mission resident said. "My husband's getting out of the car and pushing people in their wheelchairs to the side. We're picking up debris. There's needles everywhere. There's people hunched over from the waist, completely incoherent and unable to move," she said."

Mayor Lurie's administration began a concentrated operation at 16th and Mission, deploying a police mobile command unit and pledging relentless action to clear unpermitted vendors, drug dealing and drug use. City efforts over 200 days produced uneven progress: BART plazas and some streets cleared, west side of Mission remained clear since early July while the east side near the Muni stop often fills after 5 p.m. Some alleys improved but areas north of 15th become more congested. Drug users began congregating on the dead-end block of Caledonia. Residents report debris, needles and incoherent people, and improvements falter when enforcement withdraws.

Read at Mission Local