A Republican lawmaker wants San Francisco’s main federal office building — named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — closed down until the “threat to public safety” has passed following an explosion of crime outside the facility.
In early August, the Department of Health and Human Services warned workers to steer clear of the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building “for the foreseeable future” over safety concerns, including a proliferation in drug dealing outside the facility.
On Wednesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), suggested workers relocate to other government facilities in the Bay Area where they won’t be “fearing for their lives.”
“Working at a Department of Health and Human Services building shouldn’t be a risk to your health or life, but it is now due to former Speaker Pelosi and the other liberal politicians that have allowed criminal chaos to overtake the streets of San Francisco,” Ernst said in a statement to The Post.
“If it’s not safe for federal employees to work here, it certainly can’t be safe for businesses to operate and families to live here,” she added. “I’m calling to shut down the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building. After all, they’ve already been forced to abandon it, so why should taxpayers keep the lights on in Nancy Pelosi’s haunted house?”
Ernst, a staunch proponent of mandating government employees return to work in person, made the pitch in a Wednesday letter to the General Services Administration, which manages the property.
The Pelosi building opened in 2007 and houses the California Democrat’s local office, as well as outposts of HHS, the Department of Labor and the Department of Transportation.
The former speaker has raised concerns for the safety of her staffers who have to enter the building, but has not gone so far as to recommend her five-person team work from home, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in August.
“The safety of workers in our federal buildings has always been a priority for Speaker Emerita Pelosi, whether in the building or on their commutes,” Pelosi spokesperson Aaron Bennett told The Post.
“Federal, state and local law enforcement – in coordination with public health officials and stakeholders – are working hard to address the acute crises of fentanyl trafficking and related violence in certain areas of the city.”
Some federal workers have been threatened with knives and at least one was chased with a hammer, the San Francisco Standard reported in September.
“The plaza is a dangerous, open-air drug market, with addicts shooting up, snorting, and smoking drugs in plain view. Drug users pass out on the public benches and used needles litter the ground,” Ernst wrote in her letter to the GSA.
“Overdosing is ‘a commonplace horror,’ with nearly 150 suspected overdoses— including more
than 30 deaths—on the block surrounding the federal building reported in the first half of this year. Dozens of dealers show up daily, one of which opened fire with a gun near the building recently. While fencing has been put up, addicts and dealers still hang out around the plaza.”
In response to the deteriorating situation, the Federal Protective Service has ramped up patrols, with some employees asking to be escorted in and out of the building, per the Chronicle.
“With at least five other federal facilities within the San Francisco area and GSA reportedly utilizing only about ten percent of its available office space, perhaps the Speaker Pelosi Federal Building should be shuttered for the foreseeable future with its workers relocated,” Ernst added.
The senator also demanded GSA detail the number of employees who regularly enter the building, the security threats they have faced, and all federal outposts where employees have been advised to work remotely due to safety concerns.
She is demanding answers to those questions by Dec. 20.
Concerns about crime have been well-documented in San Francisco, which some activists described as the “promised land of milk and fentanyl” despite recent efforts to crack down on lawlessness.
