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I was in Chinatown talking to my grandmother on my cellphone. A homeless person walked up and punched me in the face. SF has the worst homeless problem I've ev

I was in Chinatown talking to my grandmother on my cellphone. A homeless person walked up and punched me in the face. SF has the worst homeless problem I've ever seen in the first world, and it rivals the worst of what I've seen in the third world. It's a disgrace and it sucks and I don't have to like it. Whatever the local/state government is doing isn't working. And sure, maybe a lot of the homeless are just normal folks down on their luck. But as others have pointed out in this thread, a lot of the homeless are also: * There by choice * Violent criminals * From out of state * Mentally unstable I can have empathy for them and also want them not to piss and shit in public, beat me up, steal from me, turn a quaint downtown into a war zone (Santa Cruz), ad infinitum.

ktRolster 11y ago
> A homeless person walked up and punched me in the face. Did he steal your phone, or just didn't like you?
- MrMullen 11y ago
  > Did he steal your phone, or just didn't like you? Does it matter?
  - Lawtonfogle 11y ago
    Yes. You have to know what the victim did so you know what to tell them not to do next time. Stolen cell phone means that the victim shouldn't been out on their cellphone in the area. If it was because he didn't like the victim, it must have been some communication, I'm guessing non-verbal, that triggered the homeless person to attack. This is basic material that we go over in Victim Blaming 101. (/s, because last time I thought the sarcasm was heavy enough, people still thought I was being serious.)
    - joeguilmette 11y ago
      He had a TV or radio or something slung in his right arm. I was facing 45 degrees away from him. As he got within 2 arm lengths away from me he transferred the object to his left arm, punched me in the face with his right. He barely broke stride, and kept walking on, talking to himself. Some bystanders asked if I wanted to call the police.
  - x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
    Intentions matter.
  - ktRolster 11y ago
    Nothing matters nihilistically, but from a practical standpoint I'd like to know if this is something I have to worry about now when I'm in San Francisco - getting punched by random homeless people.
    - joeguilmette 11y ago
      It is. This incident was a few years ago. Last time I was in the city, a few months ago I was walking down a long set of stairs. A homeless guy was walking up. As he passed me he held eye contact and said something like "You fucking bitch." I was ready for him to attack me or whatever but we both kept walking. I'm just one guy, but I have never even lived in the city and I live out of country now. My friends who do live in the city all have lovely stories - people breaking into and sleeping in their cars, shitting in their cars, coming home and finding a homeless person standing in your bedroom (Santa Cruz).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
mikeash 11y ago
Your post made me realize that most of the complaints in this open letter aren't about homelessness, they're about crime. Quickly re-reading it, I see fights, indecent exposure, public disturbances, trespassing, harassment, assault. If this author had merely eliminated all mention of homelessness and replaced it with discussion of crime and criminals, it would have ditched all the heartless idiocy while still getting to the problems they care about. If a lot of homeless people are violent criminals then IMO the relevant question for that particular aspect is not why homeless people are allowed to live on the streets, but why violent criminals aren't being arrested and prosecuted. The fact that they're homeless is irrelevant.
- rconti 11y ago
  I'm sympathetic with the parent post, of course, but the blog post repeated said he felt "unsafe" and then didn't bother to mention anything remotely dangerous that happened.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Someone leaning on your car and then getting into a street fight ought to qualify, I'd say. The other incidents don't seem safety related, just weird and possibly uncomfortable.
- joeguilmette 11y ago
  Of course nobody with half a heart harbors any animosity towards a person who who for whatever reason is homeless and just wants to eat and live their life. It's the combination of the tragedy that so many live on the streets and the crime that such a population brings to the rest of us that is the issue. These people are often mentally unstable, violent, drug addicted, disturbed, etc. Throwing them in jail is a waste of their potential and our money. Instead of only providing soup kitchens and free beds (which combined with the weather simply incentivizes out of state folks to come to SF), we should also provide some sort of long term, institutional mental care for these people - the present two options aren't working (a bed and some soup or if you get convicted of a crime a cage and some nutraloaf).
vinhboy 11y ago
My friend got punched in the face by a homeless person. Unprovoked, for no apparent reason.
- SeoxyS 11y ago
  Me too. It really is a huge problem.

ktRolster 11y ago

> A homeless person walked up and punched me in the face. Did he steal your phone, or just didn't like you?

MrMullen 11y ago
> Did he steal your phone, or just didn't like you? Does it matter?
- Lawtonfogle 11y ago
  Yes. You have to know what the victim did so you know what to tell them not to do next time. Stolen cell phone means that the victim shouldn't been out on their cellphone in the area. If it was because he didn't like the victim, it must have been some communication, I'm guessing non-verbal, that triggered the homeless person to attack. This is basic material that we go over in Victim Blaming 101. (/s, because last time I thought the sarcasm was heavy enough, people still thought I was being serious.)
  - joeguilmette 11y ago
    He had a TV or radio or something slung in his right arm. I was facing 45 degrees away from him. As he got within 2 arm lengths away from me he transferred the object to his left arm, punched me in the face with his right. He barely broke stride, and kept walking on, talking to himself. Some bystanders asked if I wanted to call the police.
- x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
  Intentions matter.
- ktRolster 11y ago
  Nothing matters nihilistically, but from a practical standpoint I'd like to know if this is something I have to worry about now when I'm in San Francisco - getting punched by random homeless people.
  - joeguilmette 11y ago
    It is. This incident was a few years ago. Last time I was in the city, a few months ago I was walking down a long set of stairs. A homeless guy was walking up. As he passed me he held eye contact and said something like "You fucking bitch." I was ready for him to attack me or whatever but we both kept walking. I'm just one guy, but I have never even lived in the city and I live out of country now. My friends who do live in the city all have lovely stories - people breaking into and sleeping in their cars, shitting in their cars, coming home and finding a homeless person standing in your bedroom (Santa Cruz).
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

mikeash 11y ago

Your post made me realize that most of the complaints in this open letter aren't about homelessness, they're about crime. Quickly re-reading it, I see fights, indecent exposure, public disturbances, trespassing, harassment, assault. If this author had merely eliminated all mention of homelessness and replaced it with discussion of crime and criminals, it would have ditched all the heartless idiocy while still getting to the problems they care about. If a lot of homeless people are violent criminals then IMO the relevant question for that particular aspect is not why homeless people are allowed to live on the streets, but why violent criminals aren't being arrested and prosecuted. The fact that they're homeless is irrelevant.

rconti 11y ago
I'm sympathetic with the parent post, of course, but the blog post repeated said he felt "unsafe" and then didn't bother to mention anything remotely dangerous that happened.
- mikeash 11y ago
  Someone leaning on your car and then getting into a street fight ought to qualify, I'd say. The other incidents don't seem safety related, just weird and possibly uncomfortable.
joeguilmette 11y ago
Of course nobody with half a heart harbors any animosity towards a person who who for whatever reason is homeless and just wants to eat and live their life. It's the combination of the tragedy that so many live on the streets and the crime that such a population brings to the rest of us that is the issue. These people are often mentally unstable, violent, drug addicted, disturbed, etc. Throwing them in jail is a waste of their potential and our money. Instead of only providing soup kitchens and free beds (which combined with the weather simply incentivizes out of state folks to come to SF), we should also provide some sort of long term, institutional mental care for these people - the present two options aren't working (a bed and some soup or if you get convicted of a crime a cage and some nutraloaf).

vinhboy 11y ago

My friend got punched in the face by a homeless person. Unprovoked, for no apparent reason.

SeoxyS 11y ago
Me too. It really is a huge problem.