Mid-Market/Tenderloin Joint Operations Pilot Program

MMBA&F, along with the three area Community Benefit Districts (CBD)—Civic Center, Mid-Market and Tenderloin—came together to establish the Joint Operations Pilot Program.

The primary question the Pilot Program hoped to answer was:

Can a new approach to cleaning and safety service delivery increase the effective and efficient use of both public and private resources, and lead to a transformational change in the quality of life in the Mid-Market/Tenderloin area?

Challenge/Issues

Even before the COVID-19 public health crisis, many Mid-Market/Tenderloin area stakeholders recognized that, although a great deal had been accomplished through years of public and private investment in the area, the current strategy for creating clean and safe shared spaces needed to be reexamined.

With impending budget crises for both the City and its private sector partners, a continuing pandemic that disproportionately impacted low-income, unhoused residents, and communities of color; and with small businesses and employers in the neighborhood grappling with the challenges of re-opening and returning, there was even greater urgency for the need to pause, re-prioritize, and form broader strategic partnerships for the benefit of everyone in the neighborhood.

What the Pilot Program was meant to be

The Pilot Program was a new model for how the public and private sectors integrated their resources to deliver daily public safety and maintenance services with the goal of achieving consistently cleaner and safer shared public spaces. The object was not to return to pre-pandemic conditions, but to establish a “Next Normal” in which clean and safe conditions were significantly better and sustainable.

What the Pilot Program was not meant to be

The Pilot Program was not simply enhanced communication or more meetings between the Pilot Program partners and the City; nor was it CBDs maintaining one another’s territory, or the City directing private sector resources.

Implementation

The program used the City’s Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC) framework as a model, but with two important differences; in addition to City agency collaboration, significant private sector leadership, collaboration, and investment were added, creating a truly community-based program.

Limited Geographic Area

The geographic scope was limited so that action could be taken swiftly. The boundaries include portions of the Civic Center CBD, Tenderloin CBD, Mid-Market CBD and the Mid Market Business Association.

Outcomes and Takeaways

The Project delivered a more coordinated and efficient use of resources with a need for less cleaning over a fixed period of time during the project’s phase but has not continued and did not scale to the entirety of Mid-Market. The Project did serve as a model to engage city agencies at the inception of the Tenderloin Emergency Initiative and is still utilized by public and private sector partners as part of the sustained joint field operations managed by the Department of Emergency Management where appropriate. A renewed holistic look at coordinating cleaning efforts along Market Street is needed.