Potrero Hill, San Francisco

Deputy City Attorney, Machaela Hoctor recently spoke to the Potrero Hill Boosters Neighborhood Association about the city’s Civil Gang Injunction Program.

From the Press Release:

Civil gang injunctions — which have been used with remarkable success in Southern California since 1980 — involve civil lawsuits against gang members to prohibit conduct that constitutes a public nuisance, including loitering, carrying pagers, blocking traffic, vandalism, trespassing, conduct associated with drug trafficking and a variety of other activities.

Although the location of the first gang injunction has not been determined, Potrero Hill has been identified as an area affected by gangs (the 2 major ones in Potrero Hill’s Public Housing are the Zoo Block gang and the 25th St. gang). The first injunction will hopefully be issued by Fall 2006.

This program seems particularly relevant given the popularity of message boards topics regarding Public Housing & the Sierra Heights development.

This part of the City Attorney’s press release seems to indicate that the quality of life in surrounding areas is positively enhanced by gang injunctions:

Recent studies have shown that the community typically finds itself newly-empowered in taking back control of gang-ridden neighborhoods once injunctions are in place.[1] When a gang is enjoined from certain conduct in a given area, the Police Department is given a new and powerful tool to abate gang-related neighborhood nuisances in advance of more serious felonious and violent crime.

Read More
• Gang Injunction Initiative Announced [SF Gov]