Miriam Zouzounis, who serves on the executive team of the Neighborhood Business Alliance, described the curfew as “collective punishment.”
She said that if stores lose business because of the curfew, the city needs to offset those losses through subsidies, grants, or fee reform. Meanwhile, she added, the curfew isn’t changing street conditions, because corner stores are not responsible for the poverty and drug use in the Tenderloin.
“Workers and businesses are bearing the burden of these systemic issues,” Zouzounis said. “The merchants feel like they know that we’re dealing with this because the city has failed.”
The curfew program is slated to continue until August 2026. Zouzounis said her group has asked the city to conduct research on the program’s efficacy and present its findings at a hearing after six months. Ideally, she said, the city will end the program after a year based on those findings.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.