6 ms·
If SF weren't such a liberal city, it would have far fewer homeless. Part of the problem is all the services that San Francisco provides to people down on thei
by whyenot 17y ago
If SF weren't such a liberal city, it would have far fewer homeless. Part of the problem is all the services that San Francisco provides to people down on their luck. It makes the city a good place to live if you have nowhere to live. But some shop owners have lost their patience, and I don't blame them. I think I'd lose my patience too, after having to hose human feces off of the sidewalk outside my store several mornings in a row. In some parts of the city (like the Haight, anywhere near GG Park), it's gotten pretty bad.
- pmorici 17y agoIf there were more public bathrooms there would probably be a lot less shit on the streets.
- whyenot 17y agoI'm talking about the corner of 9th and Irving. Golden Gate Park, and public restrooms are only two blocks away.
- mattchew 17y agoWait, a grown adult chooses to take a shit on the sidewalk and you want to blame someone else for this behavior? My cat has enough self respect to hold his feces if we accidentally close the door to the laundry room for a while.
- pmorici 17y agoDo you think if they choose to crap in the woods in GG park that would be any better?
- jeff18 17y agoHow do you explain the human feces nearby the public bathrooms that exist?
- pmorici 17y agoLong lines? I honestly don't know.
- jeff18 17y agoI think that most outside poopers are severely mentally ill and untreated or severely drugged out. I think the notion that these people are like characters in the Sims where they tried super hard to get to the nearest city-provided restroom or various public restrooms like the ubiquitous McDonalds in SF -- yet they could not make it in time so they reluctantly pooped on the sidewalk is very naive. Granted, it could be long lines -- I don't have the data either.
- timr 17y ago"If SF weren't such a liberal city, it would have far fewer homeless." Sorry, but that's an argument that you have to prove, with actual facts. You can't simply assert your worldview to be true. Could the homelessness problem in SF be caused by excessive social services? Sure, I suppose it could. But it could also easily be caused by the incredibly moderate weather (which makes it possible to live on the streets year-round, without fear of freezing to death -- many cities with moderate climates have similar problems). Or, for that matter, the homelessness problem could be due to the absolutely insane cost of living, and a lack of social services. I don't know the cause of the problem, but I'd still wager that it's a bit more complicated than a simple-minded theory involving the politics of the city government. I also question the premise of any theory that assumes that the homeless and mentally ill (neither of whom are highly mobile populations) are packing up and heading west explicitly to take advantage of the "liberal" social services in San Francisco.
- neilc 17y agoWell, one data point: "38% of homeless survey respondents reported that they first became homeless outside of San Francisco or were relative newcomers, having lived in the City for three months or less." And that's actually a significant decrease from the 2007 survey. http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/lhcb/homeless_count/SF2009HomelessCountFINALReport.pdf http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/lhcb/homeless_count/...
- ardit33 17y agoSan Diego has much better weather than SF, yet there are no homeless there. People there are more centrist/republican leaning. So Weather is not the reason bums come to SF. But the lunatic support the city gives to the homeless. Last time they counted, 2/3 of the homeless were not from California at all. SF, is like a homeless mecca. http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-city-in-the-u-s/ http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-ci...
- lg 17y agoi wondered about that. i suspect that SD actively tries to get rid of them. the cops there seemed pretty aggressive.