Addiction and mental illness ravage SF’s iconic gay Castro area.

February 9, 2020 compassq 5 THINGS TO KNOW, DESTINATIONS, LIFESTYLES Comments Off on Addiction and mental illness ravage SF’s iconic gay Castro area.
A woman referred to as "individual M" at Castro and Market streets on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in San Francisco, Calif. The woman is on a list which San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman has created a list of 17 people who most need the city’s help. (Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle)

Heading up Market Street the other day from City Hall to the Castro, we spotted her: a woman sitting on a concrete median in the middle of Duboce Avenue, her skinny, sore-covered legs and bright orange shoes hanging dangerously into traffic.