A riot nearly broke out at San Francisco's Civic Center on Friday after the organizer of a giveaway reneged on his promise to hand out $10 bills to the homeless. Posted on 02/25/2006 9:47:46 AM PST by SmithL
A riot nearly broke out at San Francisco's Civic Center on Friday after the organizer of a giveaway reneged on his promise to hand out $10 bills to the homeless.
More than 500 people -- some who had arrived before noon -- showed up for the 4 p.m. giveaway but walked away empty-handed. Joe Canada, an artist from Novato, spoke to the crowd for about an hour but drove away before he or any of his 20 volunteers could hand out any bills. The size of the crowd might have intimidated him, police said.
"There were too many people," Sgt. Anthony Manfreda said. "He just got spooked."
The crowd saw Canada pulling away in his truck on Polk Street and began walking quickly toward the truck. The volunteers headed the people off and convinced them to return to the area near the entrance to the Civic Center underground parking lot.
The crowd began cursing and yelling at Canada and his volunteers.
"This was just a great big joke on us," Steve Hunt said. "He better not show his face here again."
Rodney Brown, 50, said he sensed a mood change in the crowd as the temperature dropped and the winds whipped the Civic Center flags.
"I knew when it got darker, there was less of a chance that the money would come," he said. "The more people wait, the more unruly they get."
Canada had given out thousands of dollars at similar giveaways on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Lucky Jones, one of the volunteers.
Jones said Canada, who himself was once homeless,...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
You mean they would actually have to work for that ten bucks?
How cruel.
Novato was my old home town for almost 30 years. Strange creatures be there...
"Strange creatures be there..."
Just how strange? Are they weirder than folks at Venice Beach? I am not from California, so I am here to be educated on the folks of Novato.
This dude announced that he was delivering handouts and, much like the feds, realised that there were more freeloaders than he had imagined. Wanna bet that a bunch of these folks weren't homeless, but rather appeared to get $10 handout.
For those not familiar, Novato is the northermost city in Marin County, at one time the highest per-capita county in the US. Its claim to fame is its proximity to San Francisco, and the inevitable skyrocketing of home values as a result. It was originally chicken ranches and walnut orchards, but deems itself a "historical" place. It destroyed perhaps its greatest asset, a 9000-foot Air force runway, for the purpose of restoring "wetlands"... the real reason being to prevent it from becoming a feeder airport.
They are content to contribute to population and traffic, but not to a solution to anything. it is provincial and self-centered in the extreme. Chicken ranch and walnut orchard mentality in the 21st century.
Marin County has given us many flakes, including an ex-supervisor, now senator Boxer, and John Lind, traitor...
Novato is also a very few minutes from Lucas Ranch of worldwide fame. So as you can see, it is a mixed bag.
Sounds sorta like Austin.
We hear a lot about Austin, here on FR.
Wow, it really does sound like Austin.
A common fantasy of the narcissist is to go out and give money to those little people. Giving a speech is even better. When fantasy mixes with reality it's often both sad and funny.
That would be west marin, druggie heaven. There is even a town there that routinely takes down the state highway sign identifying it to keep "outsiders" out.
Definitely a weird county.
It is beautiful though. The only thing I missed while living there is a full night sky and the horizon.
"We hear a lot about Austin, here on FR."
Austin is our own freakshow. Austin was a fairly sleepy (well, as sleepy as as state capitol can be) until the 1960s. The Hippies swarmed UT and the ones who dropped out of college just stayed. Then, Austin's boom started in the 1980s and many out of state lefties and weirdos flocked there. They had a dude (names "Leslie") who ran for mayor in a bikini and a rainbow wig during every mayoral election. He would tour parts of downtown on rollerblades to advertise his candidacy. Then, there are all the New Age crystal worshipping folks, the Neo-Marxists, and other loonies. There are some sane people who live IN Austin, but they are in the minority. Most of the sane folk live outside the city limits.
Please excuse my typos, I typed a bit too fast on the previous post.
ROTFL!
I do love the way you think.
I suppose there's not much point in agonizing about it. I do visit there occasionally and reminisce. Nothing is forever.
I understand. I worked with a woman who grew-up in San Francisco and she waould talk about the way that it used to be. I like to visit Austin because of its history and for the parts that remain beautiful, but I couldn't live there - I'd go mad in a week.
Spent three days in Austin as sort of a getaway.Never again.Just the way people drive is enough to make you crazy,let alone cutting off some gangbanger.Whatever you do,dont get lost there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.