The CleanSafe365 Coalition represents twenty-two partner organizations, thousands of local businesses and thousands of employees living within San Francisco. Our goal is simple: cleaner, safer streets that encourage, rather than hinder, the prosperity and wellbeing of citizens.

In 2020, San Francisco continues to face a crisis where the cleanliness of its most celebrated streets is impacted by human waste, broken glass, discarded syringes and encampments. Business owners, employees and visitors are increasingly fearful of unstable behavior on the sidewalks. These dangers threaten not only citizens’ immediate wellbeing but also the city’s economic health.

CleanSafe365 is composed of individual members who have already identified real pain points and possible solutions drawing on their experince. Together, we believe we can have a greater impact than individually. Founded by the Hotel Council of San Francisco, our members draw on existing connections to city leaders to bring meaningful, unified change to the streets.

We work with our elected officials and city departments to:

• Increase “beat policing” in high-traffic corridors and devote all available resources to enforcing existing laws
• Increase resources for mental health programs, including housing
• Increase resources for street cleaning programs

San Francisco’s annual budget is almost 12 billion dollars (San Francisco Chronicle, May, 2019). It’s one of the largest in the country with more expenditures per capita than any other major city in the United States — but only $11.9 million, not even .1%, of the city’s budget is spent on street cleaning. It’s clearly not working.

Thanks to its vibrant economy, San Francisco has the funds to address the challenges on our streets — but those funds must be applied responsibly, intelligently and with purpose. CleanSafe365 calls for a significant reassessment of how we’re using tax dollars to increase street cleanliness and safety — and reinvestment inon efficient, effective programs that measurably impact the cleanliness and safety of our street. These include:

• Increase of regular police foot patrols in high-traffic corridors and enforcement of existing laws, especially those regarding open-air drug dealing and usage

• Increase of resources for mental and behavioral health programs, including supportive housing options for homeless

• Increasing resources for street cleaning programs, e.g., sidewalk power-washing, Pit Stop toilets, and sanitation workers

Recently, the city’s Director of Mental Health Reform identified 4,000 individuals on our streets who are homeless, mentally ill, and struggling with substance abuse (San Francisco Chronicle, September 2019).

Meaningful efforts to provide shelter, housing, and services for these individuals would go far in eliminating many of the current blights on our streets. But the city needs both the support — and opinions — of residents, employees and business owners who experience those realities everyday.

None of this will happen if we don’t call upon our elected officials to make these services and programs a top priority in the city budget. By signing CleanSafe365’s petition, you join a focused, concerted effort to create cleaner, safer streets — for all San Franciscans.