San Francisco’s Sticky Stolen-Goods Dilemma
8th April 2024
Each day in San Francisco, vendors line busy city streets with a plethora of fully packaged items: shampoo, mouth wash, multi-vitamins, deodorant and laundry detergent.
Mayor London Breed calls it “Walgreens on the sidewalk” — a confluence of the city’s struggles with unchecked shoplifting, its fentanyl addiction crisis and a state law that has made it extremely difficult to get the vendors off the streets, even if they are selling stolen goods.
Breed is now pushing to change that law as widespread frustration with retail theft and the blatant sale of stolen merchandise threatens her reelection bid.