I think I hate San Francisco.

[Manton]

SF-Berkeley has always had a serious homeless problem, going back at least to the Summer of Love. There have been peaks and troughs. In the last days of the Agnos administration, there was a huge homeless camp on City Hall plaza. That's one of the things that got Jordan elected. He was supposed to become some kind of Bay Area Giuliani but that didn't work out.

Anyway, the last time I was there--Labor Day Weekend, 2015--it seemed really bad. SOMA from Market to about one block from the ball park, is a pit now. Market seems to get worse and worse every time I see it.

 

[coolpapa]

I worked in the SF FiDi for ten years and there were always homeless people around, most clearly mentally ill, but it's much worse now. I visited in October for the first time in a few years and was appalled at how much things have degraded. I saw at least half a dozen drug deals conducted openly in the street and packs of homeless people on every single block around the tenderloin living in what looks like a sidewalk version of a shanty town.

 

[dieworkwear]

Homelessness has supposedly gone up in San Francisco, although I don't know if those studies are differentiating between homeless families (who are typically hidden away in vans, service centers, or a supporting friend's home) or crazy individuals on the street. Those seem like two very different populations (and two different kinds of urban problems).

From my view though, homelessness seems to have gone down in the Mission and Tenderloin. You're way less likely to see crack deals going down around 16th Street BART or Delores Park. The latter is now just a hip hangout spot for young people in their 20s and 30s. The Tenderloin is still a bit rough, but you no longer see South East Asian gangs, prostitutes, and people collapsing from heroin overdoses, like you did ten years ago.

 

[Manton]

I've only seen someone shoot up in public twice. Once was on the A train on the UWS. The other was in the Tenderloin.

 

[dieworkwear]

Honestly, it's not a pleasant experience (some lady almost spat one me when I was walking with Greg), but I don't know -- concentrating homeless populations around Tenderloin and Skid Row is also how a lot of service centers are able to help people. Everyone wants these people out, but where are they supposed to go?

The only reason why people like me come across the "crazier" sections of the homeless population is because we want to go to cool nightclubs and bars. The Mission basically started off as low-income neighborhood, then it was where people went to party on weekends. Then came the fancy boutiques, then the expensive housing. Now people are complaining that the homeless people -- who have always been there -- are scaring them. Same with the Tenderloin. I only really go there to get drinks at Bourbon and Branch, which is obviously an outpost bar targeted at a wealthier crowd.

 

[gdl203]

Honestly, it's not a pleasant experience (some lady almost spat one me when I was walking with Greg),

What makes you think she almost spat on you and not on me? I'm eminently spit-worthy!

We did see a quick drug deal across the street a block later btw - and it was just 7pm !

 

[Manton]

The Tenderloin has been a slum since Dashiell Hammett lived in there in the 1920s. The reason it 's still a slum is policy. The land is obviously mega-valuable. The libs who run the city think it would be a human tragedy to eliminate the last great urban slum in the middle of any otherwise functional American city. Junkies, hookers, thieves, etc. "deserve" a nice location. So the Tenderloin will never be allowed to improve.

 

[dieworkwear]



What makes you think she almost spat on you and not on me?  I'm eminently spit-worthy!

That's what I was wondering! Spit on the white man, not the Asian guy. Minorities are supposed to stick together.

 

[sugarbutch]



The Tenderloin has been a slum since Dashiell Hammett lived in there in the 1920s. The reason it 's still a slum is policy. The land is obviously mega-valuable. The libs who run the city think it would be a human tragedy to eliminate the last great urban slum in the middle of any otherwise functional American city. Junkies, hookers, thieves, etc. "deserve" a nice location. So the Tenderloin will never be allowed to improve.

I think that's a mischaracterization. There are a few mid-Market developments coming which will inevitably lead to at least partial gentrification of the Tenderloin. What the city seems to be doing as a matter of policy is protecting the tenancies of the service providers for the poor, addicted, and homeless people in the TL and preventing the conversion of the SROs. It will almost certainly lead to some serious conflicts between the new and old denizens.

 

[Manton]



I think that's a mischaracterization. There are a few mid-Market developments coming which will inevitably lead to at least partial gentrification of the Tenderloin. What the city seems to be doing as a matter of policy is protecting the tenancies of the service providers for the poor, addicted, and homeless people in the TL and preventing the conversion of the SROs. It will almost certainly lead to some serious conflicts between the new and old denizens.

The SF establishment is on the record in stating the view I summarized.

 

[sugarbutch]

I think the SF establishment is in flux. It is indisputable that some in the government do espouse that view, but I don't think it's settled. The return of Aaron Peskin to the board may do so, however.

 

[Bounder]



Everyone wants these people out, but where are they supposed to go?

Mill Valley?

I think the SF establishment is in flux. It is indisputable that some in the government do espouse that view, but I don't think it's settled. The return of Aaron Peskin to the board may do so, however.

They have more important things to worry about. This came up a few years ago, but I'm sure its still a burning issues, San Francisco-wise.

In a letter to Mayor Edwin M. Lee sent Tuesday, Tracy Reiman, PETA's executive vice president, suggested that city officials rename the neighborhood the Tempeh District, a homage to a soy-based meat substitute.

“San Francisco is now renowned for some of the best vegan cuisine in the world,” Ms. Reiman wrote. “And the city deserves a neighborhood named after a delicious cruelty-free food instead of the flesh of an abused animal.”

 

[emptym]

I'm contemplating a move to NYC, well, to the NJ suburbs. Not homeless related. Great job offer, close to family. But we just went into escrow on nice home in a great neighborhood. Decisions.

 

[lefty]

^ NJ has some very nice towns. Where?

A SanFo homeless guy spitting on my wife was the final straw for her. Three months later we were in NYC.

lefty

 

[jcmeyer]

My wife and I are moving to Redwood City in a couple weeks; too many Styfo members in SF.