I suspect that the upper class in SF sees this as being a little bit of exciting street theater, much as there are some who look back fondly on the Times Square of the '70s. You know, nostalgie de la boue and all that.
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With all the wealth in San Francisco one would think they could pay for public accommodations and street cleaners.
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She was on NPR Forum just a few minutes ago talking about this very issue among others. She talked about the lack of beds at the local behavioral health centers. It was, in addition to the homeless, framed as a blight on tourists and businesses.
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I spent half a year as an intern in SF during the mid-90s, working in SoMa, living in the Tenderloin, and definitely remember how nasty the problem was, especially in the Haight and Golden Gate Park.The city’s temperatures (never too hot or too cold) seem to attract a certain type of extreme hobo/punk. More than once I remember traffic jams caused by a naked homeless guy sleeping in, pooping on, or crawling across Market Street.
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There are several other cities in the Bay Area that aren’t a literal cesspool. The young techies will abandon SF and take their tax revenue with them.
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That is the definition of Oakland these days.
Also for the charities and non-profits that serve them. Where are the municipal street cleaners? Nowhere to be found in those neighbourhoods from what I’ve seen.
From what I’ve heard from them over the past few decades the wealthy of SF are not at all happy about it. At the same time, though, they’re not willing to make the sacrifices needed to start addressing the issue or elect politicians who’ll demand them of them. They all just throw up their hands and say “it sucks, but what can ya do?”
The temperatures are part of it, but from what I’m told an oddly permissive attitude that’s a holdover from the late 60s and 70s has given those “special” hobos and crustpunks the impression (borne out in practise) that they’ll be tolerated in the city no matter how nasty and aggressive they are. I’ve seen the same traffic jams, probably caused by exactly the same naked bum you saw.
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Unfortunately the residents of Oakland are getting moved out by gentrification. Same here in Austin, rich techies from Cali showing up, buying properties at ridiculous prices and tearing the homes down to build ugly modernist homes.
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How much respect are the homeless shown by the government, or the other citizens that aren’t having to piss and shit outdoors?
Respect is great, but it goes both ways.
How about you show them some respect by giving them places to at least clean up after themselves, if you won’t bother to find a way to house them?
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Which clearly isn’t enough to pay for street cleaning and well-maintained public rest rooms. The young techies have no idea what the cost of living in a civil society is and probably resent even paying amounts that are not enough to achieve it.
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I actually see the Central Market Community Benefit District (CMCBD) and East Cut CBD quite a bit but It can be overwhelming for them to keep up with all that waste. They do good work and should be acknowledged for it.
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We also tend to have a lot of homeless people in Austin, but not much shit on the ground. It’s definitely a lower population of homeless than San Francisco by a longshot but I wonder if the more relaxed attitude towards using the toilet in various places here helps. I just hope the waves of people from other places don’t erase that. Man, being able to enter a place and use the toilet is one of the things that makes this city great. We should market that as a tourist incentive.
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…I can’t wait for the slogan !
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I got the slogan:
Shit yeah!
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When I first moved to the Bay area, I was astounded by the number of businesses whose ‘solution’ to the homeless situation was simply not to have any restrooms for public use… even many places that serve food/drinks.
The homeless encampments have only grown steadily since then, and I walk past countless displaced people every day; it’s both dismaying and scary, because I know it could happen to me, fairly easily…
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It would have been nice if the mayor had acknowledged their work (and hey, maybe slipped them some funding) instead of suggesting that the service charities take responsibility for the problem in addition to their core work. This is just another example of how hapless (sometimes willfully so) San Francisco’s municipal government is when it comes to this issue.
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Yeah, that’s how most people become homeless… an abundance of respect for themselves and others…
Keep Punching Up, Mayor Breed.
You bums out with your bums out are bumming us out!
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The attitude of SF’s affluent toward the homeless resembles the attitude of wealthy people in L.A. who live in the Santa Monica Mountains toward the local wildlife. Most of the animals are harmless and blend into the scenery, sometimes you’ll see a raccoon going through the trash, you get used to catching the scent of a skunk or stepping in some scat on a semi-regular basis, and you accept that the occasional coyote might menace you. Once in a while there’s a serious attack, but they’re not frequent enough that animal control is going to come in and sweep out all the wildlife (or even all the coyotes).
Which is a long way of answering your question with “not a whole lot.”
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