While this new SFPD ‘Hospitality Task Force’ arrives the weekend before the double-team of the NBA All-Star Game and the Chinese New Year Parade, the reconfigured police staffing will be in effect year-round in the Union Square tourism district.

We’ve noted that the NBA All-Star Game and the annual Lunar New Year Parade will fall on the same weekend in SF, and alas, that weekend is next weekend. In advance of this, Union Square got some good news today in the form of a report from the Examiner that many of the big famous sneaker companies are doing pop-ups in vacant Union Square stores for that weekend. Foot Locker, New Balance and Puma will have temporary shops in vacant stores (Puma’s will promote this strange LaMelo Ball-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shoe release), Nike will place some sort of giant “wraparound ad” all over its Stockton and Post streets store, and some sort of giant video wall is being placed as we speak at Powell and O'Farrell streets.


But it only takes one shooting of a star athlete or one car ramming into a store in a smash-and-grab robbery to change the whole narrative of the weekend.

So as downtown SF gets ready for its national TV close-up next weekend, the Chronicle reports that new mayor Daniel Lurie announced he’s launching an SFPD “Hospitality Zone Task Force” in the high-tourism area that will be full of free-spending tourists next weekend. Lurie made the announcement Thursday, flanked by SFPD Chief Bill Scott and others.


Wait, what’s the story with those pink-jacketed folks behind Chief Scott? And is DA Brooke Jenkins intentionally wearing boots that match them? A closer-up angle from KPIX shows that those peoples’ hats say “Yerba Buena Partnership,” which is the new name of the former Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. And that district does have its own set of community ambassadors, though these ambassadors have not traditionally worn pink. The pink jackets might be a one-weekend deal, since the All-Star Game-Chinese New Year weekend also coincides with Valentine’s Day weekend.


Anyway, this newly established “Hospitality Zone” covers Union Square, the Moscone Center, the San Francisco Centre mall (like anyone’s going there!), and Yerba Buena Gardens. That area is currently split between three SFPD districts, Lurie wants to reconfigure these into a dedicated district, adding a new police district there.


“The Hospitality Task Force will break down siloes to increase the police presence across the areas that drive our city’s economy – not just during large conferences but 365 days a year,” Lurie said in a release before the press conference. "With a safe, bustling downtown, we will attract businesses, shoppers, tourists, and conventions – creating jobs, generating revenue, and helping us provide better services for everyone in San Francisco.”

But frankly, this plan just sounds like setting up a new silo. Officers in that zone would only focus on calls to that area, and would not take calls in other parts of town.

This may backfire on Lurie’s plans to clean up Sixth Street, and resurrect an argument that Mayor London Breed used to face for being more concerned with high-end handbag shops than public safety in other parts of the city.

But honestly, we do really want to get through next weekend without any massively embarrassing crime incidents while the eyes of the world are on SF. We’ll see if Lurie’s strategy does this next weekend, and for the remainder of the year ahead.  

Related: SF Hires NY Consultant Firm to Jazz Up Union Square With 200 Events Next Year [SFist]

Image: ​​@SFPD via Twitter