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> I think New York actually has worse problems with crime and homelessness than SF And you’d be dead wrong. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/public_safety/

> I think New York actually has worse problems with crime and homelessness than SF And you’d be dead wrong. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/public_safety/crime-selectcities.htm https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/public_safety/crime-sele... I don’t know how you could even think that. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/nyregion/new-york-city-crime-2017.amp.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/nyregion/new-york-city-cr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callahan_v._Carey?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callahan_v._Carey?wprov=sfti1 > I watched as over a hundred people walked past and sometimes over him. Have you ever walked through a mid-market BART station?

ericbarrett 6y ago
I lived on 8th & Mission and dated somebody in the Loin for several years (protip: Hyde is better to walk than Leavenworth), so yes. My charitable contributions have in the majority gone toward SF homeless orgs. And I'm not afraid to talk to people. I really think you are conflating indigence and callousness. The people in the mid-Market BART stations have the support of other homeless in the community. The most disheveled are generally end-stage drug users. Their methadone clinic (if that's their poison) and many support shelters are within two blocks. If they're passed out and nodded off there it's because they chose to be incapacitated in a (very relatively) safe spot, where they're not exposed to the elements and relatively out of the way of the walking path. They probably know the other homeless, and people in a bad way will be checked on. Missionaries and street outreach folks will sometimes come by with food or clean blankets. Of course, they'll also have to deal with robbers and random assaults. Life on the street is tough. This guy was obviously not an end-stage drug user. He was dressed nicely, in a crisp white shirt and clean black pants. He was sprawled against a news stand on the corner, his legs squarely in the sidewalk, which as you know is not so wide in midtown Manhattan at 6:15pm. And he was utterly ignored. I know the numbers, and I too used to argue them, but the apathy and coldness in "safe" New York was undeniable.

ericbarrett 6y ago

I lived on 8th & Mission and dated somebody in the Loin for several years (protip: Hyde is better to walk than Leavenworth), so yes. My charitable contributions have in the majority gone toward SF homeless orgs. And I'm not afraid to talk to people. I really think you are conflating indigence and callousness. The people in the mid-Market BART stations have the support of other homeless in the community. The most disheveled are generally end-stage drug users. Their methadone clinic (if that's their poison) and many support shelters are within two blocks. If they're passed out and nodded off there it's because they chose to be incapacitated in a (very relatively) safe spot, where they're not exposed to the elements and relatively out of the way of the walking path. They probably know the other homeless, and people in a bad way will be checked on. Missionaries and street outreach folks will sometimes come by with food or clean blankets. Of course, they'll also have to deal with robbers and random assaults. Life on the street is tough. This guy was obviously not an end-stage drug user. He was dressed nicely, in a crisp white shirt and clean black pants. He was sprawled against a news stand on the corner, his legs squarely in the sidewalk, which as you know is not so wide in midtown Manhattan at 6:15pm. And he was utterly ignored. I know the numbers, and I too used to argue them, but the apathy and coldness in "safe" New York was undeniable.