EXCLUSIVE: San Francisco conducts massive cleanup operation, clearing homeless encampments and removing vagrants from street ahead of APEC trade summit

• San Francisco officials descended on homeless hotspots across the city on Wednesday to clear the area of people as a sanitation crew tossed mattresses, tents, chairs, and other street items into a garbage truck
• The city is attempting to conceal its rampant homelessness crisis as it prepares to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit from Saturday November 11 to November 17 
• DailyMail.com witnessed cops pushing homeless residents out, and sanitation workers conducting cleaning efforts in SoMa and Tenderloin ahead of the conference, which is expected to bring in over $50M in revenue

Drastic measures are being taken in San Francisco to ensure world dignitaries don’t have to interact with the homeless during the APEC trade summit, everything from clearing encampments to deploying ‘night ambassadors’ to keep vagrants out of the area, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The Chinese government, meanwhile, is posting 100 private security guards around the luxury St. Regis hotel where their diplomats and business executives are staying, supplementing security in a city their media has likened to ‘hell.’

The unprecedented measures are designed to present a clean and shiny image during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the city’s biggest gathering of global leaders since 1945, and prevent the sorts of street spectacles that have battered the city’s reputation.

The city expects the conference, which kicks off Saturday and will run through November 17, to draw more than 20,000 people and generate upwards of $50million in revenue. 

DailyMail.com witnessed police officers telling homeless residents to leave the area for a week, as part of the city’s attempt to hide its growing homelessness crisis ahead of the APEC conference

City workers clean the streets and remove tents and items belonging to homeless residents ahead of the APEC summit 

Waste management dump trucks could be seen carrying old street mattresses, tents, chairs, and other assorted belongings after removing them from the streets 

A homeless man is seen pushing a wheelchair loaded with his belongings while walking past the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco, as city officials take drastic measures to hide the city’s dark reality during the APEC trade summit 

The unprecedented measures are designed to present a clean and shiny image during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the city’s biggest gathering of global leaders since 1945, and prevent the sorts of street spectacles that have battered the city’s reputation

In a bid to ensure it goes off without a hitch, roads are being closed and traffic detoured, while protective steel barriers are being erected in the city’s SoMa District, where the conference is being held.

A short walk away in the Tenderloin District, workers on Wednesday afternoon descended on Jessie Alley, a homeless hotspot, forcing about two dozen people to step aside as a sanitation crew tossed their mattresses, tents, chairs, and other assorted belongings into a garbage truck. 

After it drove away, workers hosed down the street, washing away human feces, urine, and crack pipes. Aid workers, meanwhile, offered services and shelter, which most refused.

Donna Hilliard, executive director of Code Tenderloin, a homeless aid organization that is assisting the efforts, told DailyMail.com the city has also dispatched a four-member ‘night ambassador team’ to target homeless people 

Cops, meanwhile, made a special request that they avoid the area through next week.

‘The police just told me that there’s a major conference, that the president is coming, and asked if we could stay away for a week,’ Jamal Barnes, a 50-year-old homeless man, told DailyMail.com.

Barnes, a crack addict, said he’s been on the streets since being shot in the stomach in 2016, requiring a colostomy bag. 

After being rousted Wednesday, he returned to the alley minutes after crews left, carrying an old stereo speaker that he used as a seat.

‘They took everything, my tent, my cell phone,’ Barnes scoffed, wearing no shirt under his hoodie, dirty jeans, and untied sneakers.

‘I’ve got to start all over. I could have cursed them out, but it ain’t do me no good,’ he added. 

Another local, identified only as Michael, 63, refused a trip to a shelter, fearing he’d be separated from his wife if he went.

San Francisco is on track to set a record for fatal drug overdoses this year – 54 people died in the city from unintentional overdoses in September alone

City employees and police officers offered services and shelter to residents living on the street – which most refused

City, state, and federal authorities have been throwing money and resources at the liberal city’s drug epidemic since June to try and control the growing lawlessness that is plaguing the country’s sixth most expensive city

Workers with the sanitation department also hosed down the street, washing away human feces, urine, and crack pipes

‘We’ve got nowhere to go and they’re trying to push us to areas we don’t want to go,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s like they’re trying to throw away human beings.’

The city has uprooted a total of seven hotspots in the neighborhood in the past several weeks, ahead of the conference. 

One of the aide workers told DailyMail.com that the next target was Natoma Alley, where occupants would be given referrals for services along with warnings that the area would soon be cleared out.

Donna Hilliard, executive director of Code Tenderloin, a homeless aid organization that is assisting the efforts, told DailyMail.com about another program targeting homeless people who enter the conference area. 

The group will dispatch a four-member ‘night ambassador team’ to work late shifts during APEC, from 7pm to 3am Saturday and 6 to midnight Monday through Friday, approaching individuals. 

They’ll have a van to shuttle individuals to services, whether it’s a shelter bed, hospital, or sobering center, she noted.

Hilliard said she’s well aware that with media flooding into San Francisco, a single negative episode on the street could garner international attention and that the team hopes to head off potential problems involving homeless people suffering drug and mental health issues.

The beleaguered California city has already been labeled a ‘total failure’ by some China-based outlets as the city gears up for the event, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with President Biden.

Dozens of Chinese delegates, many wearing crisp dark business suits, were gathered Thursday checking into the upscale St Regis hotel

Guards, wearing dark blue uniforms and patches reading National Protective Service Private Security, were seen standing outside the hotel as the international guests arrived

The Chinese government has deployed 100 private security guards around the luxury St. Regis hotel where their diplomats and business executives are staying

‘Diplomatic pouches’ belonging to Chinese ambassadors were seen being unloaded by members of the Chinese security detail at the St Regis Hotel

It was similar around the corner at the Hyatt Regency, as other internationals checked in

Other headlines include the phrases ‘garbage city,’ ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city.’ Another headline from the Chinese Phoenix said the city had fallen into a ‘death cycle.’

‘San Francisco was once a jewel on the West Coast of the United States, but as the Democrats advanced their radical agenda.

‘Now it has become a mecca of crime, the streets are in disarray, and it is rapidly slipping towards the status of a ghost town.’

Chinese delegates and business executives began to arrive earlier this week, flying into the city and transported directly to the posh St. Regis San Francisco, just a couple blocks from APEC’s host Moscone Convention Center.

On Friday morning, San Francisco resident Christine Johnson, 55, stood outside the Moscone Center urging visitors to step outside the security bubble to see the homeless problem that’s been temporarily swept away.

She waved a green placard reading, ‘PLEASE VISIT THE TENDERLOIN TO SEE WHAT CHINA’S PHENTONOL IS DOING TO PEOPLE.’

A few minutes later, one homeless man in a wheelchair rolled past the center, alongside barricades. 

The man, James A., 45, said he was paralyzed from nerve damage and addicted to crystal meth. He was oblivious to the fact the APEC conference was due to start the following day, and that the city was making efforts to keep the area clear.

‘I’m just going to the park to sleep for an hour,’ James, shoeless and draped in dirty clothes and a red, white and blue blanket, told DailyMail.com, as he headed toward Tenderloin.

‘We’re living on the streets because we need to live on the streets, sometimes,’ he said. 

In a bid to ensure it goes off without a hitch, roads are being closed and traffic detoured

Protective steel barriers and other crowd control materials and structures were seen being assembled across large areas of the city 

Pictured above, city workers erect security fencing close to the St Regis Hotel

A man living at St. Regis, speaking with DailyMail.com, marveled at the steel fence being extended around the hotel Thursday and stretching toward the convention center

Guards, wearing dark blue uniforms and patches reading National Protective Service Private Security, have been stationed outside and around the perimeter of the hotel as the international guests arrived. 

Two of the guards, who wouldn’t share their names, told DailyMail.com that the Chinese government hired their San Francisco-based company to provide extra security for their delegates.

‘We’re working with the government right now, both the Chinese and the U.S.,’ a manager identifying himself as Imam Sheikh told DailyMail.com on Thursday. 

He said they had 10 officers working there for the day and that 100 would be there for the conference. 

‘If something happens, we follow the instructions that the Chinese government and the U.S. gives,’ he said.

‘We’re focused on whatever is suspicious,’ another guard told DailyMail.com when asked to explain their marching orders. 

‘If somebody’s being disruptive, like a homeless guy trying to get in, or a protester, we will report it to police or our boss. They are not allowed to go inside.’

Dozens of Chinese delegates, many wearing crisp dark business suits, were gathered Thursday in the lobby and adjoining hotel lounge, chatting and flipping through work papers. 

At lunchtime, plastic boxes of takeout meals were distributed to the guests. Most remained in the hotel for the day. Those who headed out stuck around the area, now lined by barricades.

Bomb Squad agents and security guards were stationed around the St Regis Hotel in the days leading up to the event

Two private security guards (not pictured) who did not want to be identified, told DailyMail.com that the Chinese government hired their San Francisco-based company to provide extra security for their delegates

Final preparations were underway on Friday for the APEC conference kicking off in San Francisco on November 11

On Friday morning, San Francisco resident Christine Johnson, 55, stood outside the Moscone Center holding a sign urging visitors to step outside the security bubble to see the homeless problem that’s been temporarily swept away

It was similar around the corner at the Hyatt Regency, as other internationals checked in.

‘Ninety percent of people here are reluctant to go out and explore the city,’ a female restaurant staffer told DailyMail.com. 

‘They can easily walk up the street, but not in the other direction where there’s a lot of crackheads.

‘There’s a lot of restaurants out there, but people are saying they don’t want to go out because it’s not safe,’ she added. ‘They’re just using Yelp and ordering takeout.

‘I know the city is trying to show off that it’s clean,’ she said. ‘But these people have seen what’s happening with the homeless here on Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram. There’s a lot of zombies outside. I tell people to be careful going out there.’

A city parking control officer was promoting the city as he stood near the St. Regis, cheerfully greeting visitors as he directed cars not to turn in front of the hotel.

‘The city wants everything looking great,’ the officer told DailyMail.com. ‘They want this whole place looking great, official, especially with these Chinese dignitaries up here and other individuals coming into town.’

He decried the widespread building vacancies, tent cities and open drug markets, and said he was glad the city could get some positive attention with the downtown spruced up for APEC. 

Jamal Barnes, a 50-year-old homeless man who has been on the streets since 2016, told DailyMail.com he was asked to leave the area, but returned to the alley minutes after crews left, carrying an old stereo speaker that he used as a seat

One homeless man in a wheelchair, identified only as James A, told DailyMail.com Friday (pictured) that he was oblivious to the fact the APEC conference was due to start the following day and that the city was making efforts to keep the area clear

James, a crystal meth addict who was paralyzed from nerve damage, rolled past the center, alongside barricades on Friday said he was now headed to the park ‘to sleep for an hour’

‘Right now, we’ve got to get this place all taken care of because we want people to have a great impression of San Francisco,’ he said. 

‘We’re doing the best we can to give a great image. All the Asian countries, all the countries on the Pacific Rim, we want your business. We need your business.’

A man living at St. Regis, speaking with DailyMail.com, marveled at the steel fence being extended around the hotel Thursday and stretching toward the convention center.

‘It will be pristine inside that fence,’ he enthused. ‘The schmuck that goes to the Moscone Center and walks over here, do you think he’ll see anything? No. He won’t see s**t. 

‘If he goes to the Four Seasons or the Marriott, he won’t see s**t because they’re cleaning the area up. The city should put its best foot forward. We need tourism. We need people coming back here.’

Steven Rice, a program manager with Code Tenderloin, was more concerned with finding lasting solutions to the city’s homeless crisis than with the APEC-related focus on image.

Steven Rice, a program manager with Code Tenderloin, was more concerned with finding lasting solutions to the city’s homeless crisis

‘We shouldn’t need a reason to help people,’ Rice said as crews cleared Jessie Alley, a couple blocks from his office. 

‘APEC is not going to be here forever. We don’t want this to be a temporary situation. This is our opportunity to let them (unhoused people) know a more permanent solution is down the road for them.’

The St. Regis resident told DailyMail.com that he’s not optimistic.

‘This is like a partial Band-Aid. It will fall off in a week,’ he said.

San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that an official in the city’s Public Works Department listed the seven target areas in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods in an email to city officials Sept. 25.

‘With APEC coming, I am concerned about historical encampments that are close to priority areas,’ Christopher McDaniels, superintendent of Street Environmental Services, wrote in the email, the publication reported.

Later that same day, McDaniels’ boss, Deputy Director of Operations DiJaida Durden, replied by noting that an encampment on Van Ness Avenue had ‘popped up in the last two weeks,’ the paper added.

‘Are any of these locations on schedule?’ Durden reportedly asked. APEC ‘is coming and we need to stay on top of the growing encampments; do we have a plan?’

The city was opening a 30-bed shelter on Friday at Natoma and Eighth streets, and working to add 300 beds to existing shelters within the next few months, the paper reported.

A worker cleans the sidewalk outside the Moscone Convention Center where the conference will take place 

San Francisco is on track to set a record for fatal drug overdoses this year – 54 people died in the city from unintentional overdoses in September alone.

City, state and federal authorities have been throwing money and resources at the liberal city’s drug epidemic since June to try and control the growing lawlessness that is plaguing the country’s sixth most expensive city. Efforts from politicians and leaders have escalated in light of the summit, which will welcome 21 of the world’s most prominent economies’ leaders.

Eight government agencies – including park rangers, Public Works employees and nonprofit Urban Alchemy workers – have put manpower into controlling the mess of illegal activity in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Residents of San Francisco are concerned for their safety and security in the crime-ridden city and a flock of businesses are slamming their doors shut for good in the seemingly hopeless area.

In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions leading some analysts to predict that the city has entered a ‘doom-loop’ of permanent decline.

Restaurants on one of San Francisco’s most storied streets are closing at an alarming rate – and owners are saying it’s due to the city’s spiraling crime.

In June of this year – a group of fed-up San Francisco residents cobbled together $25,000 to buy garden planters, typically used to feed livestock, to line streets in the city’s troubled Mission District in order deter homeless people from setting up camps there.

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