Posted on 12/09/2006 4:23:23 PM PST by Kitten Festival
SAN FRANCISCO - An effort to clean up some of the city's seedier neighborhoods and rid the streets of junkies, hookers and runaways has run headlong into San Francisco's free-to-be-who-you-are ethos.
Nearly four decades after the Summer of Love, residents and merchants frustrated with what they regard as blight are turning to the city for help or taking revitalization into their own hands.
But other residents of the Tenderloin district and Haight-Ashbury contend a crackdown would rob their neighborhoods of their identity and violate everything San Francisco stands for.
Joey Cain, a board member of the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council, complained that those who would drive the vagrants from the neighborhood are turning their backs on the Haight's "historic obligation" to shelter the downtrodden.
This is, after all, the city that proved so appealing to the Beats, the hippies and practically every other brand of noncomformist.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The whole thing, if you have a strong enough stomach, must be read to be believed.
Was just there and the place is a mess!!
"You can get around by the kindness of people's hearts," said Jaclyn, a 25-year-old who would only give her first name"
Wonder how far Jaclyn plans to go in life living on kindness? What a wing nut!!
You know what's striking to me - I lived there 15 years ago and these were the exact same issues. It's like this stupid place never changes or grows, it's still the same dog returning to its vomit, again and again and again. Nothing ever changes in that place, the stupidity is its permafrost. Call it permastupidity.
Chain stores? Is that what they are calling the McDonalds at Stanyan and Haight?
“San Francisco fights over its character”
That boat has sailed.
last time i was in CA we drove thru Sf while going from palo alto to sausilito.
we didn't stop in SF--just drove thru. i couldn't think of any reason to stop there.
(i hadn't been in CA for almost 40 years). we probably missed out on SOMETHING, but i can always read about it on the internet.
Uh...er...um...uh... What could anyone with an IQ above 70 say in response to that???
I read the whole thing. I guess they really don't realize that San Francisco has no character to lose.
I have no desire to go there.
Well things will change in a few years due to unchecked immigration. The Chinese will probably take over the City in a short time. The drugged up liberals are a dying breed cause they have aborted all there children, or died of AIDS. When the Chinese finally decide that they can make more money if the place was cleaned up, things will change quickly.
That's part of the problem.
One of the first things Mayor Moron Newsom said he would do would be to get rid of the bums (er, homeless). Instead, one of the first things he did was to illegally peform GAY marriages. As everyone knows, he hasn't done ONE thing to get rid of the homeless on the streets. I'm a SF native & resident. In the Marina, just a few days ago, a man was urinating right on Chestnut street. I couldn't believe it. The reason is, people pay them to stay. Every time you plunk money into their cup, you are paying them to stay. They may be homeless, but they're not fools. They're going to stay where they're being paid.
oops, peform = perform
HaHa. This is why SF's population went down from 776,733 (2000) to 745,774 (2003). It will always attract a share of hippies, but while the rest of the country is growing, SF is shrinking. In a few years, it will not even be in the top 20 cities in terms of population (in 2003, it was 18th; it may already be out of the top 20). It's something that places like SF and Detroit are shrinking, while Sunbelt towns in Arizona, Florida, and Texas are growing. People are voting for political ideas with their feet.
"An effort to clean up some of the city's seedier neighborhoods and rid the streets of junkies, hookers and runaways has run headlong into San Francisco's free-to-be-who-you-are ethos."
You forgot the homeless. I remember going there 5 years ago and seeing 5-6 homeless in a huge, drunken brawl in front of city hall.
Then I crossed the bay, saw Berkeley and was even more disgusted.
San Franciscan's need to all join Bum-anon, 'cuz they are all enablers and don't realize it.
What are you complaining about? I've seen bums dropping their pants, letting their crap fall to the curb along Market Street in the Civic Center. All while busy traffic of cars, buses, and pedestrians flow around the bums and watch in horror. Local businesses don't just hose down the sidewalks in front of their stores - they have to hose the walls, too. Some bums lower their pants, lean against the wall, and the crap slides down the wall. I've also seen them do this in the BART subway station hallways near stairwells to Market Street.
You're right about one thing - Mayor Newsom is a total failure as a mayor. All he does is cater to the gays and their idiot agendas.
What percentage of the population is the Chinese in SF?
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