All retail food and tobacco businesses, excluding restaurants and bars, will be banned from operating between midnight and 5 a.m. in a section of the neighborhood during the two-year pilot. The program will apply to a 20-block section between O'Farrell and McAllister streets and between Polk and Jones streets, designated as a 'high-crime area.' Effectively, the ordinance chops just two hours off the business day, since businesses are already not permitted to operate between 2 a.m.
The program, which got initial approval from supervisors last month, comes in response to 'the high rate of drug-related crime in the Tenderloin,' according to the ordinance, which leads many in the neighborhood to believe they face health and safety risks. A petition in support of the legislation was submitted with 521 signatures of Tenderloin residents and community organizations. One of the organizations that collected signatures was the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.