S.F. police have stepped up foot patrols in Union Square to handle aggressive panhandlers turning off holiday shoppers.
Posted on 12/04/2011 5:33:52 PM PST by SmithL
The giant, glittery Christmas tree. Novice ice skaters giggling as they fall. A crazed panhandler quacking like a duck as he follows a startled family down the street.
Ah, it's holiday shopping season in Union Square.
Over the summer, we told you that hotel owners and merchants in the area were complaining to City Hall that aggressive panhandling was worse than ever - and that tourists were being stalked by beggars demanding payment.
We recently checked in with the same folks because this time of year is their second busiest season - and shoppers with bulging bags and fewer daylight hours make the situation even dicier.
"I just witnessed the strangest thing this afternoon," said Anna Marie Presutti, general manager of Hotel Nikko in Union Square, who described walking along O'Farrell Street and hearing an unusual noise.
"I was looking all over for it, thinking where in the heck is this coming from?" she said, adding she realized it was coming from behind a mom, dad and their two young boys. "It was this panhandler, and he must have approached them at the corner and he was just quacking like a duck behind them. They had sheer terror on their face."
So, um, it hasn't gotten any better then?
"No, it's not getting better, and I'm not even 100 percent sure if the powers that be understand the severity of the situation," Presutti said.
Since she and others - including the San Francisco Travel Association and Union Square Business Improvement District - launched their complaints over the summer, they've met several times with police brass and members of the mayor's administration.
Presutti said the mayor's team always cites impressive statistics like moving more than 12,000 homeless people off the streets over the past eight years.
But . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Liberal cities have this problem that everyone is equal including fruit nuts and criminals, plus city hall believes you need to redistribute your “wealth” to the poor, downtrodden bums. Cities I am directly familiar with that have this attitude include San Francisco, Portland and Santa Fe, NM.
Otherwise, you'll not be driving home, with the four flat tires and six broken windows.
A short blast of pepper spray will stop that “Duck” in his tracks! (My lady just showed the pepper spray canister to one aggressive clown who was getting to close for her comfort zone —— He was out of there!
I last went to San Francisco about 7 years ago. We stayed right near the wharf as I had wonderful memories from a previous trip. Needless to say, we were pretty disgusted by the beggars, cut our stay in the city short and drove north after 1 night. I have no plans of ever going back.
Yep, next time, I’m just going to Monterey and Carmel Bay.
Buggrit! Buggrit, Millenium Hand and Shrimp!
Sounds like, when they aren't begging in Anhk Morpork, (L-R) Arnold Sideways, Gaspode, Foul Ole Ron, and The ("Duck?!? WHAT duck?") Duckman like to vacation in San Francisco.
...that would be south. :)
You are just as nuts as the residents if you visit SF ... more so if you do it during any holiday! You are just as likely to be victimized by the police as you are by the resident weirdos.
Why would anyone go to Homeless central to shop? San Francisco is the Homeless Capital of the west—that and the illegal city by the bay. Until the leftists are toppled from power or a major, major earthquake hits the city nothing will change. Until then—avoid the place at all cost.
Foul Ole Ron's Smell owns a condo there.
They write themselves...
I haven’t been to SF in close to 20 years, but I remember the panhandlers were everywhere then — and some of them were super aggressive. I can’t imagine how it must be now.
Weird to celebrate Christmas in Sodom on the Bay
Oh, that’s right... it’s the holiday season, not Christmas.
What a shame. As a kid I remember SF as an elegant town. People there looked down on us southern Californians. California, believe it or not, was once a conservative state.
Twenty years later (in the 70s) it became the bummy/hippie/queer hellhole that seems to have only worsened. I would never go back there, ever.
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