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I work in SoMa and walk to and from the CalTrain every day. Reading this article you'd think I'd be ankle deep in poop during my walk. It's just not the problem

I work in SoMa and walk to and from the CalTrain every day. Reading this article you'd think I'd be ankle deep in poop during my walk. It's just not the problem it's made out to be, not even close. I think people who write these kind of articles like to take cheap shots at "lib" cities like SF. The last sentence of the article bears this out. Edit: Wow, I'm being downvoted for a personal observation that a story is exaggerated. Sorry if I disturbed your confirmation bias.

franciscop 7y ago
As a foreigner from Europe (Spain) living in Japan who just visited SF for a couple of weeks it's amazingly disgusting... I've seen people pooping in broad daylight near Market Street twice, many times peeing, and in some touristic areas I've had to literally jump over homeless people to keep going. True it's not "ankle deep in poop", but if that's the bar where we are comparing it with then there's something truly amiss in a 1-st world city/country.
- fiblye 7y ago
  Furthermore, one of the absolute richest cities in the wealthiest country on earth. A lot of these solutions just involve pumping money through injection sites, programs, etc. I think it’s something no amount of money will fix. Something needs to be done about a culture that not only accepts this as normal, but is trying to find ways to make it acceptable and easier to do in hopes that they’ll stop. There’s a reason other counties bus people into SF: it’s because they know people in SF will put up with it. There will be a constant flow of new people who don’t care about ruining a city.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    >There’s a reason other counties bus people into SF: it’s because they know people in SF will put up with it. There will be a constant flow of new people who don’t care about ruining a city. There's some serious cognitive dissonance here. The people who start in CA and end in Denver, Portland or Austin might not be shitting on the streets themselves but they fight tooth and nail for the kind of public policy that has led cities like SF and SD into their current pediment. They're shitting on the streets by proxy.
chippy 7y ago
How does it compare to other cities? Do other cities have dedicated "poop patrols"? Is the outcry about public defecation about gentrification or is it a genuine problem? How can we get accurate comparative statistics that also show how the homeless are treated. Like I have heard that by (almost) decriminalising public defecation and urination the city puts less stress on the homeless who wouldn't be able to afford any fines, and in "cleaner" cities the homeless have a harder life.
- pjc50 7y ago
  > How does it compare to other cities? This is a very rare problem in literally any other Western city. Even in the severely deprived ones which have used needle problems. Dog waste and public urination, maybe.
  - nutjob2 7y ago
    You do occasionally encounter it elsewhere, maybe everywhere, even in "clean" cities but the scale is incomparable to most other cities.
- brunoTbear 7y ago
  The comparison is best with San Diego as a warning: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/13/550674476/san-diego-washing-streets-with-bleach-to-combat-hepatitis-a-outbreak https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/13/550674476...
myvoiceismypass 7y ago
I walked through SoMa every day on my way to work (Financial District) for a year, and I saw more poop (and needles) on those walks than I have the rest of my life combined. I’ve lived most of my life in Philly, FWIW. Not exactly a bastion of cleanliness.
keiferski 7y ago
Politicizing and tribalizing an issue like this is the wrong approach. San Francisco has a serious problem and it’s plainly visible to anyone who visits.
chrisseaton 7y ago
'Not literally ankle deep' is a pretty low standard to be happy with. I've never seen human waste in any Western city except San Francisco. It should really give someone some pause for thought rather than dismissing it.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  FWIW, I see human poop on my walk to work in NYC about once per two weeks. But, that walk passes an area where homeless people congregate, so that's probably not characteristic of most parts of the city.
merpnderp 7y ago
In every single city around me for a thousand miles, you will go to jail for shitting in the street. There is also no shitting in the street. Let alone shitting on people's cars or other property, which only seems explicable as malice.
dev_north_east 7y ago
> take cheap shots at "lib" cities like SF Possibly but I'll throw my two cents in. Non-American here with no Dem or Rep axe to grind, SF is the most disgusting western city I've ever been to.
nutjob2 7y ago
I used to live in the Tenderloin nearish Market and you literally couldn't walk anywhere without keeping your eyes focused on the ground. It only takes a single poop to spoil your day, or at least your shoes. I don't think it's a cheap shot to criticize SF in this case, and as a liberal city. It takes a woefully unrealistic approach to homelessness. At its core, the problem is the more accommodative you are of homeless people the more you attract. No matter how much money you throw at the problem, you cannot "solve it" as a city. Homelessness has network effects just like the tech industry. Now I'm all for helping people less fortunate and those down on their luck, and SF does help people, but there are those who are chronically homeless. They fall into three groups: those who prefer the lifestyle, those who are mentally ill, and those who prefer to spend all their money on hard drugs (including drink). You're very unlikely to get these groups off the streets, no matter what you do, but you will still attract them.
jowiar 7y ago
I’ve lived in SF, NY, DC, and Chicago — all liberal cities. SF is the only city where human shit on the sidewalk is a common occurrence. It’s absolutely the problem it’s made out to be.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Basically every major city in the US is a "lib" city. Can we no longer criticize the stupid things they do without being accused of partisan trolling?
closeparen 7y ago
I live in SOMA near the Bay, and when I walk to Metreon I encounter a turd about half the time. When I walk to work on Folsom, Harrison, or Mission it’s just about 100% of the time, usually around 6th street. On Market I have twice seen people drop their pants and shit in front of me on a crowded sidewalk.
berberous 7y ago
I live in NY and I'm not a conservative taking a shot at a liberal city. There was shit on the building wall of my (not cheap) hotel. I was honestly shocked at how many areas of the city, while beautiful, clearly had a slight smell of piss or shit. NY smells like garbage half the time, but other than when you get on the bad car on the subway where some homeless guy has camped up, very rarely does it smell like human waste.

franciscop 7y ago

As a foreigner from Europe (Spain) living in Japan who just visited SF for a couple of weeks it's amazingly disgusting... I've seen people pooping in broad daylight near Market Street twice, many times peeing, and in some touristic areas I've had to literally jump over homeless people to keep going. True it's not "ankle deep in poop", but if that's the bar where we are comparing it with then there's something truly amiss in a 1-st world city/country.

fiblye 7y ago
Furthermore, one of the absolute richest cities in the wealthiest country on earth. A lot of these solutions just involve pumping money through injection sites, programs, etc. I think it’s something no amount of money will fix. Something needs to be done about a culture that not only accepts this as normal, but is trying to find ways to make it acceptable and easier to do in hopes that they’ll stop. There’s a reason other counties bus people into SF: it’s because they know people in SF will put up with it. There will be a constant flow of new people who don’t care about ruining a city.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  >There’s a reason other counties bus people into SF: it’s because they know people in SF will put up with it. There will be a constant flow of new people who don’t care about ruining a city. There's some serious cognitive dissonance here. The people who start in CA and end in Denver, Portland or Austin might not be shitting on the streets themselves but they fight tooth and nail for the kind of public policy that has led cities like SF and SD into their current pediment. They're shitting on the streets by proxy.

chippy 7y ago

How does it compare to other cities? Do other cities have dedicated "poop patrols"? Is the outcry about public defecation about gentrification or is it a genuine problem? How can we get accurate comparative statistics that also show how the homeless are treated. Like I have heard that by (almost) decriminalising public defecation and urination the city puts less stress on the homeless who wouldn't be able to afford any fines, and in "cleaner" cities the homeless have a harder life.

pjc50 7y ago
> How does it compare to other cities? This is a very rare problem in literally any other Western city. Even in the severely deprived ones which have used needle problems. Dog waste and public urination, maybe.
- nutjob2 7y ago
  You do occasionally encounter it elsewhere, maybe everywhere, even in "clean" cities but the scale is incomparable to most other cities.
brunoTbear 7y ago
The comparison is best with San Diego as a warning: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/13/550674476/san-diego-washing-streets-with-bleach-to-combat-hepatitis-a-outbreak https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/13/550674476...

myvoiceismypass 7y ago

I walked through SoMa every day on my way to work (Financial District) for a year, and I saw more poop (and needles) on those walks than I have the rest of my life combined. I’ve lived most of my life in Philly, FWIW. Not exactly a bastion of cleanliness.

keiferski 7y ago

Politicizing and tribalizing an issue like this is the wrong approach. San Francisco has a serious problem and it’s plainly visible to anyone who visits.

chrisseaton 7y ago

'Not literally ankle deep' is a pretty low standard to be happy with. I've never seen human waste in any Western city except San Francisco. It should really give someone some pause for thought rather than dismissing it.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
FWIW, I see human poop on my walk to work in NYC about once per two weeks. But, that walk passes an area where homeless people congregate, so that's probably not characteristic of most parts of the city.

merpnderp 7y ago

In every single city around me for a thousand miles, you will go to jail for shitting in the street. There is also no shitting in the street. Let alone shitting on people's cars or other property, which only seems explicable as malice.

dev_north_east 7y ago

> take cheap shots at "lib" cities like SF Possibly but I'll throw my two cents in. Non-American here with no Dem or Rep axe to grind, SF is the most disgusting western city I've ever been to.

nutjob2 7y ago

I used to live in the Tenderloin nearish Market and you literally couldn't walk anywhere without keeping your eyes focused on the ground. It only takes a single poop to spoil your day, or at least your shoes. I don't think it's a cheap shot to criticize SF in this case, and as a liberal city. It takes a woefully unrealistic approach to homelessness. At its core, the problem is the more accommodative you are of homeless people the more you attract. No matter how much money you throw at the problem, you cannot "solve it" as a city. Homelessness has network effects just like the tech industry. Now I'm all for helping people less fortunate and those down on their luck, and SF does help people, but there are those who are chronically homeless. They fall into three groups: those who prefer the lifestyle, those who are mentally ill, and those who prefer to spend all their money on hard drugs (including drink). You're very unlikely to get these groups off the streets, no matter what you do, but you will still attract them.

jowiar 7y ago

I’ve lived in SF, NY, DC, and Chicago — all liberal cities. SF is the only city where human shit on the sidewalk is a common occurrence. It’s absolutely the problem it’s made out to be.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

Basically every major city in the US is a "lib" city. Can we no longer criticize the stupid things they do without being accused of partisan trolling?

closeparen 7y ago

I live in SOMA near the Bay, and when I walk to Metreon I encounter a turd about half the time. When I walk to work on Folsom, Harrison, or Mission it’s just about 100% of the time, usually around 6th street. On Market I have twice seen people drop their pants and shit in front of me on a crowded sidewalk.

berberous 7y ago

I live in NY and I'm not a conservative taking a shot at a liberal city. There was shit on the building wall of my (not cheap) hotel. I was honestly shocked at how many areas of the city, while beautiful, clearly had a slight smell of piss or shit. NY smells like garbage half the time, but other than when you get on the bad car on the subway where some homeless guy has camped up, very rarely does it smell like human waste.