Posted on 05/03/2003 1:02:33 AM PDT by sarcasm
SAN FRANCISCO — The advertisements that showed up on taxis and buses in San Francisco this week are meant to be as provocative as they are purposeful.
"Today we rode a cable car, visited Alcatraz and supported a drug habit," reads one featuring a tourist couple at Fisherman's Wharf.
Another ad depicting a girl in pigtails reads: "Today I adopted a cat, gave some change and shut down my corner grocer."
The attention-grabbing ads sponsored by the Hotel Council of San Francisco are the latest effort to put the squeeze on panhandling.
Hoteliers say San Francisco has such a reputation for being soft on the homeless that they are coming from everywhere to beg, spoiling the city's image as a world-class travel destination. The $65,000 We Want Change campaign is meant to discourage residents, workers and visitors from putting money into all the outstretched cups and open hands.
Some homeless people resent the way they are portrayed in the ads.
"I think that's really cold. I know a whole bunch of people who aren't on drugs or alcohol," Carol Oyama, 60, said from her customary perch on Market Street. "People give me $20s, $5s, $10s and they give it to me because they want to, not because they have to."
Mayor Willie Brown, who criticized the hotel council last year when it sponsored billboards questioning the city's efforts to deal with homelessness, thinks the campaign is misguided.
"Negative publicity is just a poor way to drum up business, and this seems to be falling on one's own sword," spokesman P.J. Johnston said.
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"It's been a major complaint of groups coming in, saying, 'Why don't you do something about this?' " said Robert Begley, the trade group's executive director. "When we're on sales trips, the first question we normally get today is, 'What has happened to San Francisco?' "
San Francisco for 10 consecutive years has been named the best U.S. city to visit by the well-heeled readers of Conde Nast Traveler. San Francisco and New York consistently rank among the top two destinations in Travel & Leisure magazine's annual reader poll.
But the number of people attending conferences in San Francisco was at an eight-year low in 2001, the last year for which statistics are available. There is little doubt the city's hospitality industry is hurting.
Some wonder whether it's fair to blame panhandlers for hotel vacancies when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the nation's weak economy and other factors have led to similar declines in other cities across the United States.
Panhandlers have "always been a feature of San Francisco," said Teddy Witherington, who runs the annual Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade. "It existed when times were good in 2000, and people were so busy making money they never thought to do anything about it."
According to Witherington, the city risks losing something more than panhandlers if people take the hoteliers' message to heart. He said one of the reasons people visit San Francisco in such large numbers is because of its culture of acceptance and tolerance.
I've been seeing the same hapless "offramp bums" swapping posts at various intersections for years now.
Want to help these losers? Don't assume they'll spend their handouts on health food. CONTRIBUTE TO A LEGITIMATE CHARITY.
Ah. The crystal-clear logic of the crackhead.
Well, no, that's not true. Winos have always been a feature of San Francisco, but they weren't allowed to move beyond South of Market and take over the downtown until middle-class hippie panhandlers led the way in the late 60s. It was another one of those things for which we have to thank the young well-off left.
Can someone explain what this means? Did she lead an Al Sharpton like protest at the grocer? I assume the "gave some change" part refers to the beggers, but maybe I'm wrong about that. Did she give so much change to so many beggars that the grocery doorway was swamped with them, and the store went out of business? Is this some colloquial San Fran speech that I do not understand?
HELP! THANK YOU!
Hotel occupancy is back to the high 80s (percentage) in DC and there's a mini-boom in downtown construction. Cities that have something to offer tourists will, now, get their share of tourists back. Outside factors that consistently keep people away have to be considered as the cause of SanFran's declining numbers.
Some should wake up and smell the urine in the streets.
I was told to hand over $20 or have my windshield smashed when I visited S.F. last October. I gave the guy a few bucks -- after all he had a baseball bat -- but I won't be going back to California anytime soon.
Gee, so much for the city of "acceptance and tolerance".
And that's putting it nicely.
That's essentially what the ad means. There have been many instances of small shop owners in San Francisco being driven out of business by the presence of these dangerous psychotics - especially shops that cater to tourists.
San Francisco's entire economy is based on tourism. As word gets out that the place is unsafe and unpleasant to visit, the city's budget deficit is starting to mirror the state's.
For all its visual ugliness, there isn't that much violent crime in San Francisco, compared to New York under Dinkins. It's mostly quality of life crime - bums, grafitti, trash, poorly maintained streets and sidewalks, no apparent police presence (I don't know where they all came from when we had the anti-war protests - I didn't even know we had that many!) and an overall malaise that comes from Democrats and Progressives (Communists) holding every single political office and every important appointed post in city government.
City Supervisor Gavin Newsom is running for Mayor. He is a liberal Democrat, which makes him a conservative by the standards of San Francisco politics, and he is determined to end the problem of bums owning the streets. I doubt he can do it by himself even if he does get elected, but things might improve a little bit.
By the way, I only work in San Francisco. I would never live there.
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