The Tenderloin you don’t read about
There’s more going on in this neighborhood than its reputation, and the bulk of news coverage, might suggest.
If you were anywhere near Boeddeker Park Friday afternoon, you couldn’t have missed Recovery Day. There were throngs of people, laughter, live music, and booths set up to inform curious visitors. The free event was produced by the Recovery Day Planning Committee, which is co-managed by Tenderloin Housing Clinic and the New Community Leadership Foundation, and organized in collaboration with 20 other groups. Richard Beal, of THC, hosted the event.
It was a refuge for those who have faced addiction, or loved someone who has. People were there to celebrate and honor the service providers and community members who make a difference in that space. As in years past — this was the event’s fifth — politicians and other officials turned out and spoke.
But if you weren’t nearby, you might have no idea that it even happened — or that things like this ever happen in the Tenderloin. Do a Google search for news stories about “San Francisco Tenderloin.” See what you get.
Me? I get article after article about shootings and other violence, drugs, bad street conditions. Not to say that these issues don’t merit attention. People are deeply affected by them. But they’re not the full picture.
There are exceptions in those search results, of course. There’s this recent photo essay about local kids. Reporter Cami Dominguez gave them cameras and they documented their lives, showing a side of the neighborhood that’s rarely seen. The San Francisco Examiner’s Natalia Gurevich, and Mission Local’s Eleni Balakrishnan, have also brought some nuanced reporting to the Tenderloin.
In recent months, listening and learning in the lead-up to starting our newsroom to serve the Tenderloin, my team and I have become increasingly aware of the under-reported aspects of this neighborhood. There’s so much here. There are myriad communities, with wins and losses, passions, concerns, unmet needs. They are worth our understanding, empathy, and interest.
And, noting the vast distance between what I’ve encountered and what local news outlets tend to focus on, I’ve become increasingly certain that the public’s sense of this place is woefully distorted.
When we’re up and running, we’ll make sure that the many sides of the Tenderloin get their proper attention.