Historic Bay Area district littered with needles, sees droves of overdoses

Nearly 1,400 discarded needles have been collected around a pair of plazas in San Francisco’s Mission District as the city seeks to clean its streets and stave off drug overdoses.Supervisor Jackie Fielder, whose district includes the two BART plazas, told Mission Local that since January, community ambassadors have handled as many as 1,538 hostile street situations.The ambassadors — street workers who respond to certain emergency calls — also reversed 15 drug overdoses and collected 1,390 needles, she said.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story “This shouldn’t be a statistic that we’re proud of because of just how large it is,” Fielder said.“But they collected 1,390 needles off the street.”Addressing open-air drug use, illegal street vending and other problems around the Mission’s BART stations has been an ongoing effort involving Fielder, Mayor Daniel Lurie and other city officials.

In March 2025, after Lurie pledged to crack down on drug dealing and illegal fencing, the two stations saw an increased police presence and later hosted community pop-ups aimed at turning the plazas into more welcoming, family-friendly public spaces.Fielder pushed for additional resources in July, sending Lurie a letter requesting 24/7 community ambassadors at the 16th and 24th Street BART stations.Lurie’s office rejected the request, citing the cost, according to the Mission Local.The same letter also called on multiple city agencies to provide data that could be used to measure the progress of Lurie’s 90-day effort to improve conditions around the stations.

Fielder said she now plans to send another letter to the mayor’s office seeking additional ambassadors, more street cleaning, police foot patrols and better data on visible drug use that does not rely sol...