Mayor Lee: No Room For Homeless In Super Bowl 50 Fan Village
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- While San Francisco city officials count down to Super Bowl 50 and the opening of the "Super Bowl City" fan village at the foot of Market Street, there are concerns about the large amount of homeless who frequent the area.
Mayor Ed Lee says there simply won't be room for the homeless people who camp out or loiter in Justin Herman Plaza and the adjacent plaza on the south side of Market Street across from the iconic Ferry Building.
When asked by KPIX 5 and KCBS Radio reporter Phil Matier: "So are we not going to let people hang out like they have been doing?"
Lee answered, "I think for the benefit of the thousands, there won't be any room. To be quite candid with you, there won't be any room for anybody."
Police cleared homeless and other campers out of the area before Tuesday's unveiling of the plans for Super Bowl City.
"They said they were having a doings here, so all of us had to move. So, we all went over there where the trees are and some of us slept on the side of it," one camper said.
Police told KPIX 5 off camera that the tactic is pretty much the usual drill.
"When there are big events a lot of times homeless people get the short end of the stick," Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness said.