My friends took me to the Haite-Ashbury area where the Grateful Dead use to hang out. Everyone was unwashed, filthy, and drugs were rampant. All in the name of being an individual. I mentioned to one of them there, if they are trying to stand out in the crowd, the easiest way would be to wash and wear a nice suit. He was visibily shaken when he realized I was right.
People that live around the area refer to San Francesspool as "Sodom by the Sea."
It's True.
Despite the "poor Victim" tone of some of this story, many of the ones I saw appeared to be good physical specimens, and not asylum escapees: They were professional beggars who would not work.
I have not been there for a few years, so possibly a freeper who is unfortunate enough to live or visit there can give us an update.
I won't be going back.
The article understates what it is really like. I went to high school there in the early 70's and worked in, "the city" for four years after getting out of the military. In the 60's they had tour buses that went through the Haight Ashbury area. They were loaded up with tourists from the MidWest that wanted to see how the doped up animals lived on the streets and in the parks. Dead bodies from drug OD's were a common find.
When I came back to the world it had gotten even worse. The homeless were no longer restricted to the Haight and Skid row areas. The homeless were now in the industrial and residentail areas. They crap and pee on the sidewalks in full view of passer bys, with the modesty of dogs. There is a fine line between the beggars and strong arm robbers, many of the homeless try to intimdate people into making donations. Some of them will lay on the hood of your car until you roll the window down and give. Usually gunning the engine will cause them to reconsider, but sometimes it is necessary to drive and hit the brakes to get them off the car.
There are certain areas where it is plain stupid to walk down an alley or side street, unless you are ready to take on the muggers.
A lot of people carry concealed regardless of what the law says. Some cops will tell you to buy a gun off the record.
I am the guy who took out the stop light bandits in 1984 by running over six of them with my bosses Volvo, and put an end to their three month reign of terror. The police thanked me and I was not arrested for hit and run. It scared the bejesus out of me, I'll never go back.
If anything, this article understates the extent of the problem. Unfortunately, "the city" has become little more than a public restroom. How compassionate of them.
I totally avoid SF unless it's absolutely necessary to go there. (I won't touch an earlier comment about carrying concealed. Something about "I'd rather being tried by 12 than carried by 6" comes to mind.)
At its core, the crisis of human byproduct dotting the wildland that is downtown San Franciso can only be dried up by moving its creators away to mental homes, halfway houses -- any place that actually tries to cure the underlying social tragedies.
I have seen some of these guys who were so filthy I could smell them before I turned the corner around the block. This is mental illness. And all the city does is give them a General Assistance check. It does draw a lot of bums from elsewhere, but many of these people need to be institutionalized. But of course, the ACLU says we can't do that, it would impinge on their civil rights.