The Fillmore Merchants Association was born out of disaster. When the 1906 earthquake leveled downtown San Francisco, Fillmore Street was still standing. The merchants kept their doors open and served a devastated city. The association they formed in 1907 is still here, still meeting monthly with the Northern Station captain, and still making the case that a thriving corridor and a strong police partnership are one and the same.
Patti Mangan has been the association’s executive director since January 2022. About 200 businesses operate on Fillmore between Jackson and Eddy, spanning retail, restaurants, health services, legal offices, and international brands from France, Italy, Australia, India, and Israel.
Her job is to represent them all, and a part of that job is committing to the monthly Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB) meetings at the San Francisco Police Department’s Northern Station.
Community Policing & Reporting in Fillmore
Mangan’s most consistent message to her merchants is also the simplest: report every crime, every time, even when it feels pointless.
“Maybe there won’t be a resolution in terms of their specific crime,” she said. “But if the description of that individual and the time and date and what was taken is documented, and there is a string of incidents around one description, the police can start to build a case.”
The logic extends beyond any single incident. She described what happens when merchants don’t report: the data disappears, and so do the resources. Police deployment follows documented need. If a corridor isn’t reporting, it looks quieter than it is, and quieter corridors could get less attention.
“If you create the vacuum by not participating, by not reporting, then you get less,” she said. “The resources are deployed where the problem has been reported to be.”
Crime statistics for the Northern District and the entire city have been dropping through fiscal year 2025 into 2026. Mangan is quick to credit the collaboration, and she’s also honest that underreporting remains a real issue among her merchants. Time is the usual obstacle. People don’t want to spend an hour on a police report for something that’s already gone. She keeps making the case anyway, because the alternative is invisible crime that nobody can address.
“It’s like a whisper,” she said. “And therefore, the resources needed to protect any corridor are not deployed because it doesn’t seem to be a need comparatively.”
Mangan describes Captain Patrick McCormick as someone who pays attention to more than just the words in the room. That attentiveness, she says, is what makes the partnership work. When problems come up between meetings, she texts him directly. A recent issue with people camping in vehicles in the neighborhood came to her attention through a merchant. She informed McCormick, and it was resolved quickly.
Community-Building in Action in the Fillmore
The Fillmore Merchants Association has also hosted a theft-prevention product demo with the police and fire department, and they currently run seven street cleanups a month in partnership with Refuse Refuse, a local organization led by Vincent Yuen.
What started as Mangan producing street clean-ups alone once a month with a few volunteers has grown into a regular, volunteer-driven operation hosted by rotating merchants like Pinsa Rossa, Compton’s Coffee, Social Study, and Mattina, who provide food and drink after each cleanup.
The connection to public safety is direct. A clean, maintained block sends a signal.
“It’s neglect that invites criminal opportunities,” she said. “This looks taken care of. This looks together.”
She also volunteers at National Night Out every August, for three years running, where kids interact with officers, climb into police vehicles, and see the department as part of the neighborhood rather than apart from it.
Thoughts on What’s Next for Fillmore
Mangan is direct about her top wish for the coming years: consistency. During her time attending CPAB meetings, she’s worked with multiple captains. promotions, retirements, transfers. She’s crossing her fingers that Captain Patrick McCormick stays.
“He’s a gem,” she said. “He’s doing a great job.”
She’s also watching the academy numbers closely. As the department grows, she expects foot patrols to return to Fillmore Street, officers to walk the corridor regularly, and to build the kind of face-to-face relationships that make a neighborhood feel genuinely watched over.
The Clay Theater on Fillmore is heading into renovation, with an estimated opening sometime in 2027. New restaurants are opening. The street, she says, is in good shape and getting better.
“Fillmore provides such a friendly, family-oriented, and vibrant, eclectic collection of small business owners,” she said. “And wonderful dining. People are just delighted they’ve discovered something.”
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