In addition to shuffling the drug users to parts of the Mission District, the city's efforts to "clean up" Sixth Street and parts of the Tenderloin also just shuffled a crowd of users over to Jefferson Square Park on Cathedral Hill. And the park was just the subject of a large-scale raid by police.

The UK Daily Mail picked up the story last week of a "once-peaceful park in San Francisco" that had been "overtaken by drug-addled 'zombies'" according to neighbors, in more of that paper's ongoing coverage of SF's fentanyl crisis. One neighbor in the area also told SFist that complaints had led the SFPD to conduct stakeouts from the roof of a building next to Jefferson Square Park, in order to collect evidence for future arrests.

Those arrests appear to have occurred last night, as the Chronicle reports on a large-scale raid that was conducted by the SFPD, sheriff's deputies, and "staff from other city agencies."

Police were heard yelling "Come out come out! You're under arrest!" to people hiding in bushes, and police also blocked the intersection of Eddy and Gough with squad cars and arrested at least one person sitting in a parked vehicle by the park.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who newly represents the district, tells the Chronicle that he was informed of 80 citations issued and arrests made in total.

Mahmood issued a statement praising the SFPD, saying, "I commend their efforts on listening to the community and trying different strategies to shut down the market there."

While the drug market in Jefferson Square Park might be permanently or temporarily "shut down," the fairly recent existence of this drug market in this park is further evidence Whack-a-Mole game being played — and the larger ineffectiveness of these "clean-up" efforts, which just serve to move the drug activity elsewhere.

Last week we talked about how the stepped-up enforcement efforts on Sixth Street had shifted a significant number of users and dealers over to the BART station plazas in the Mission District, at 16th Street and 24th Street. City efforts have also focused on parts of the Tenderloin, including Willow Street, a notorious alley off of Van Ness Avenue that has been a frequent magnet for encampments.

Maybe city leaders and police are just hoping everyone will get frustrated and move to another Bay Area city? Because it's not looking like they're going to stop doing fentanyl anytime soon.

Previously: Sixth Street Crackdown Seems To Be Just Merely Pushing Blight to Mission District

Photo: misiopisio88/TripAdvisor