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Update: See Paul's comment below about why they had to do what they did, and what they're doing about it.
Are there quiet, law-abiding people on Sixth Street? Sure, but it's hard to stand out when your neighborhood looks like something out of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome -- take a walk down 6th, especially at night, and you'll find yourself surrounded by brawls, the mentally ill, drug deals, screaming gibberish, glazed-over eyes, and people lurching unpredictably or just leaning against whatever they can find, waiting around for who knows what.
Sixth is a magnet for the unlucky poor. Some of them might benefit from rehab and job training, but many would not -- their damage is permanent, the result of brain-corroding drug addition or mental illness, and often both. In a perfect world, someone would pay for them to be institutionalized; but for these folks, the money isn't there. And even if it was, you can't lock up someone who wants to be free; and besides, the state's too busy buying unworn suits to pay for lifelong inpatient care. So until they pass away, they've got to go somewhere.
Organizations like The Tenderloin Housing Clinic cluster on 6th, serving as containment for many of these folks. On 6th, the THC is distant from most citizens' daily destinations -- so people who can't take care of themselves have a place to loiter, and most San Franciscans never even see them.
Until a year ago, when a guy named Jeff set out to raise up 6th Street's visibility. His jarring footage was drawing lots of eyes -- but now the THC has set out to stop him.
On his blog, Jeff posts video that he's shot of 6th Street, including a live webcam and surveillance footage from the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. He's lived in the THC building for years, having moved in when it was just a hotel. When the THC took over, he stayed, taking advantage of rent control; and his position inside the container that is the THC gives him a unique view into all of the screaming, attempted larceny, fighting, drug use, weird alleged THC staffers, and regular visits from police. On occasion, he says, the THC itself has requested his footage when their own security cameras failed to catch a crime.
None of this footage is surprising, of course -- when you live on a street designed to hold crazy people who can't afford or don't want to be institutionalized, life's bound to be messy. It can a little hard to watch -- so maybe that's why the THC threatened last week that unless Jeff stops making his documentaries, they'll evict him.
This eviction threat seems shady to Jeff. The THC says that videotaping inside its halls is a violation of a clause in the lease about "respect for private and community property." Jeff's response is that he's documenting far more egregious violations of that problem -- why go after the messenger? Oh, and also, he says, he never signed that lease.
We wrote to friends who work at the THC; they either declined to comment or didn't have access to info about the clinic's decision to go after Jeff's cameras. (Although one source suggested that the clinic's been trying to decide how to deal with the videos for a long time.) So what's next? It's like a game of legal chicken now. Who'll flinch first? And will it make any difference at all to the unfortunate folks who've wound up on 6th?
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This pisses me off - this happens far too often where the few people with the balls to stand up and say "Things should not be this way" get intimidated by non-profit organizations that feel threatened and want to stomp out the bad publicity instead of being real men and figuring out how to change their operation.
Please keep posting about Jeff's situation ... I'll be sending an email to Chris Daly and asking him to speak truth to power - in this case, the assholes at THC.
Wonder what Beyond Chron will have to say about his? I'm sure it will be thoroughly objective.
When I was less than lucky, I had to spend some time in that neighborhood. If Jeff has the pluck to weather the THC, he shouldn't be scared by some hollow legal pablum. Particularly if he never signed the damn thing. Here's to hoping he fights the good fight.
The THC building scares me in the daytime. I used to walk by there (quickest route between work and my home) and I can't even begin to explain the things I've seen - and I'm talking about just through the window into their lobby. You also need to walk on the other side of the street because people in that building throw garbage out the window. I believe you can thank Ronald Regan for 6th Street being extra skanky!
Or you can thank the District Attorney for refusing to press quality of life charges.
"speak truth to power"... LOL!! Hippie.
THC is like Citiapartments but for the lowest, poorest, and most down and out. It isn't shocking that they'd try to silence this man. Who wants the truth to come out that THC contains, not helps?
I've watched his videos, and I must say that they are certainly bad, but we all know that 6th can be much worse. Imagine what isn't caught on camera! Who will step up to the plate and fix the mess that is 6th St?
Also, has anyone noticed how the THC is snapping up more and more buildings? Where Naan'n'Curry used to be in the TL is yet another THC build. The Y? Another THC building.
What District Attorney? We have one? That's a suprise to me!
What should the THC be doing any differently? What would help?
Oh, come on - how long do you think sentences are for quality of life offenses? Cycling even more homeless people through the jails (I'm sure that already happens) is not a permanent solution.
Sorry to rag on you when I don't have a better idea. I too am frustrated and disgusted with the out-of-control homeless problem in SF. But I don't see how arresting more of them is going to help solve things. I mean, how is jail time a deterrent to someone who has so little to lose?
Excellent summary of the clusterf*ck that is 6th Street, MattyMatt. I agree with [4] that Reagan probably deserves a lot of the credit for the current state of affairs. I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for the people who bitch about the 6th Street ugliness without acknowledging the desperate level of need and helplessness of a lot of the people on the street.
As for Jeff's right to shoot video of the halls of his building, I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I have much respect for his commitment to bringing attention to the desperate state of affairs on 6th Street. On the other hand, I think filming in the building's hallways brings up some privacy questions. I'm not sure how I would feel if one of my neighbors set up a camera in our hallway. Would I want anonymous people on the Internet to be able to monitor when I'm coming and going and who's visiting me?
At the same time, threatening to evict Jeff seems pretty heavy handed. There has to be a comprise they can work out. Can't you all just get along?
I work at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. The City Attorney's Office has told us that his cameras are illegal. And we are not -- I repeat, we are not -- evicting him right now.
Paul, why did the THC request an opinion from the City Attorney's office regarding the matter? And if you're not evicting him right now, is because you don't have plans in place to do so or is it because the paperwork process hasn't completed? Less vague, please.
Let me rephrase that first question: Did the City Attorney contact THC regarding the matter, or did THC make contact? If the latter, why?
Hey that camera is down. i took it down, and THC is not evicting me as of this moment. But I got attorneys telling me this can't be right with the City Attorney either, and I sent a response back
Can you cite the law which the cameras are breaking?
Since we're a city of compassion (and deep pockets, at least when Chris Daly is arguing over where money should be allocated in the 6 billion dollar budget), why couldn't San Francisco operate it's own psychiatric facility?
A building with padded, inflammable walls would certainly be more humane than the sad sight of screwed up "residents" wandering aimlessly around streets and skid row apartments with no hope or professional help.
Well, so it seems most of you simply accepted accusations as fact. Gee. What a surprise that there is more than one side.
If the city attorney says it's illegal to video your neighbors (surprise surprise), maybe that's what THC told this guy.
NEITHER party is at fault.
And that "quality of life" line is such a load of crap. Whether you're tired of it or not, the fact is these people are there and jamming all of them into jail is MORE expensive than providing the pathways to self-help as well as being downright mean. It won't do anything but clog the jail system and still doesn't address the root causes.
I don't know how much clearer I can make it:
Many of these people cannot be helped; they have sustained permanent damage and will never be rehabilitated. Furthermore, they do not wish to be treated.
The minimal services that they already receive cost the city millions. The money to provide treatment that is adequate does not exist.
They will spend the rest of their lives living the way that they are living right now. It is what they choose to do. And they are unable to do any differently.
It's not "jamming them into jail," #18. It's holding people accountable for their actions. In the case of quality of life crimes, many perps also have outstanding warrants (as was discovered in NYC), and even if not, people who throw trash can be required to pick it up as a condition of their probation.
Do you favor the throwing of trash out the window with no consequences, #18? Some of us think that accountability is in fact "a pathway to self-help" just as much as a job or housing is.
Mattymatt et al., a little bit of accountability DOES help. Look at last week's SF Weekly in which the threat of incarceration kept one guy on his meds and no longer harassing people:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-08-08/news/breaking-the-cycle/
As a volunteer for a program [some years back] I have visited almost every one of those SRO hotels on 6th and have been in many of the rooms.
I could write a book about what I saw. Maybe I will. Since I'm OCD, I'm too busy with SFist in this phase.
The problems on 6th are so deep rooted in the people there that it's beyond description. The person throwing garbage out the window probably didn't know what planet they were on.
I don't think any one knows what the solution is. The THC sure as shit doesn't. They do a great job of kingdom preservation however.
Maybe laser death rays for half of them and ship the other half to Hillsboro? Then bulldoze the area and put up a new Rincon 1 condo tower?
hey Matt, how about this..Assuming your right about 'many of these people cannot be helped' etc, which I agree with for many of the people here.
then how about a terminology change, rather than call it housing for the homeless, call it housing for the hopeless. Or in the case of quite a few, housing for the non, semi, somewhat, criminally insane..
I mean, if that's the case, then I've been unwittingly incorporated into an insane asylum against my will.(all approved by the board of supervisors, no less) Isn't that ironic?
just like in the movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
it just seems like we keep going around in circles with this..Whattya do?..No easy answer
well, at least I made my tiny little section a little safer, if nothing else
and thanks Matt, you done good in my book
Jeff
aj, the idea of "accountability" for most of the people we're talking about... between the mental illness and the drug abuse, that's just not a very powerful tool, here, you get what I'm saying? I'm really glad that a few people can "break the cycle" but for most... a lot of these people have hit "rock bottom" and kept right on falling.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Mattymatt's assessment of a lot of these people as being pretty much beyond hope, as depressing as it is to say that.
I didn't even think about the relative cost of incarceration vs. other sort of treatment & shelters when I made my earlier comment (#10), but it doesn't surprise me that it's a relatively expensive (as well as short-term) solution. One more reason I don't think it's the answer, though I humbly admit I don't know what the answer is.
The thing that I see is that, get a GA check that pays the rent, then there is no contract that active participating in a stabilizing service program is a required condition to continue living in the THC housing program.
Yeah, of course there's a lot of stuff on 6th Street that needs to be changed. But videotaping your neighbors in the hallways of the building you live in together is the mark of a creep. 6th Street has plenty of paranoia to go around---pretty sure the videotaping isn't changing a damn thing besides letting a bunch of people gawk at the chaos vicariously.
There's plenty of people on 6th who are trying their best to live decent lives, usually they are just mentioned in passing; as did this author. But their stories never get written about on the blogs...
Well I live in the same building and have been living here over 8 years and have been following what has been going on with Jeffs camera. There are alot of people in this building that are flat out criminals, there are however a few that are trying to do the right thing even if the situation is difficult for them. Unfortunatly it definetly seems like there are more people trying to ' get over ' on the system than even trying to do the right thing. As far as the trash being thrown out the windows, just the other night I called the police because someone thru a bottle or jar outside when someone at around 3am started yelling up at the front of the building. Usually when I hear bottles or glass break out front it's cause someone is yelling up to get someone's attention or someone is arguing. Not that I agree with throwing stuff out the windows at people , someone could seriously get hurt, I can understand it though when you can't even get any real sleep with all the yelling , fighting , and screaming that goes on day and night. Heck one night I almost got hit myself walking back from the store when a jar was thrown at someone else. Hopefully with the camera's and the press coverage there will be some resolution of some sort for those of us who live in the buiding that are trying to do the right thing and so we don't feel like we could wind up in the hospital or dead just trying to empty the trash let alone go out of the building itself .
hey thesurpluspopulation , you know what's even creepier than my webcam?..seeing the staff rip off your neighbors and thinking you might be next when you're away..
you do know that THC has had their own cameras in place for 3 years now, but nobody ever watches them, and the exact same incidents I caught on my cheap little webcam couldn't be found by THC own security system even tho it happened in front of their own cameras?
my webcam mght be creepy, but it it's not nearly as creepy as dummy cameras that nobody uses and people that are supposed to be controlling them doing weird things in front of your own camera.
I will say it once again..there never should have been a need for my web camera. I never would have put it up if THC had been competent at using their own cams in the first place
there should not be a need for it for it now, and there shouldn't be a need for it in the future, but this assumes that THC will suddenly become competent, and one can trust them because.....hmmm...because....randy Shaw or paul Hogarth says so?..because they are a non profit?...hmmm
I'm not sure what you think is creepy, but for me, passing spent needle boxes on the way to the shower every morning is plenty creepy for me
and that never used to be here, until THC took over
Jeff
How much is the salary of the Executive Director of THC? What part of SF does he live in? Anyone know?
MattyMatt #19 is right on. I have an uncle who would be on the streets if not for my father trying to take care of him, despite him being an evil bastard towards my father and anyone else who tries to help him.
I don't have much sympathy for the people who chose to take various drugs and drink themselves into stupors until they became stupid nitwits with deranged mental problems like my uncle did to himself. There is no good solution for these half-alive people... zombies if you will ... San Francisco is way too accomodating of this bullshit.
As for the camera in THC - everybody should be able to videotape common areas if they so choose. Common areas are just that ... common. Take your drug deals and hitting your boys/women into your rooms if you don't like being videorecorded. As violent as the place sounds, I'd want to have security cameras at my door too ... and this is YouTube's time, no?
Just assume you're being videotaped when not in the privacy of your home .... c'est la vie... and who gives a damn except the criminals worried about being caught or some non-profit jerkoffs who are worried about losing some money or their reputation. I joked when I posted I'm going to tell Chris Daly he should "Speak Truth to Power" at the THC... that "Speak Truth to Power bullshit is something he likes to say ... well, your non-profit buddies at THC are the powerful trying to intimidate this tenant ... put up or shut up.
So if it hasn't gone to eviction, that means someone at THC hasn't cornered Jeff to deliver the "If we get in trouble, it'll really hurt a lot people" line that non-profits caught behaving badly love to trot out. I'm sure it's just a matter of time and I hope Jeff doesn't let them get away with that cop-out.
A big part of the blame goes not to Reagan but to the ACLU and other advocacy groups who fought for and won the right to be crazy and left alone. Today, nowhere in the US can you be put under psychiatric care against your will unless you are a danger to others. Being a danger to yourself is not enough. That's the real problem, and if we can't institutionalize the mentally ill, the problem has no solution. It's not a lack of money; San Francisco spends $200 million a year on homeless services.
I live in another THC opperated hotel and had been doucumenting drug deals in the halls and outragous
conduct by the manager for three years. The power too bring bad conduct to light reshaped the way persons acted in the halls. Last night one of the drug dealers gave me a warm "Hello _____" after hearing the news from our manager, this means hes back in business and the very few people here who work are in trouble.
Anonomous....Can you guess why?
Mattymatt,
The solution to the THC and 6th woes is simple. First we must decide that we want to solve the homeless problem once and for all, and be willing to make the choices to curtail it.
We can have compassion and solutions, instead of compassion and greed like we do now.
1) Quality of life crimes are caught and quickly prosecuted. Suspects are evaluated and offered high quality life-skills assistance. Repeat offenders are jailed for extended periods of time or exiled from the city, their choice.
2) The city opens a mental health center as part of their socialized health care program. Ill individuals who will never get better will be treated there by professional and unpolitically motivated medical staff to make sure that both their qualify of life is maintained, as well as the citizens of San Francisco's.
3) Housing for the poor programs are ended. In their place are assisted income housing, which is mixed in with the general population's housing. Market rate rents are paid to landlords, but subsidized by various housing programs, perhaps even the THC, so that someone trying to get on their feet doesn't live in slum and disparity, and landlords are motivated to do upkeep.
What's it going to cost, and who's going to pay for it?
you all do realize that we are supposed to have a mental health clinic that voters approved but mitch katz and the city squandered the money. So now they are warehousing some at laguna honda, and that's to make sure gavin gets reelected!
suckers!
Police, courts, and prison budget comes from the general fund and state. Since we'll be ending the social housing programs, there will be millions free for life skills training and market-rate housing.
The funding for social health care has already been put in place. The question about the mental health hospital is an interesting funding question. Which is more expensive, having police act as mental health professionals and having emergency care for them as well, or running a hospital dedicated to taking care of the mentally ill?
I have plenty of bad things to say about the SFPD, but no doubt they'd have more leeway with their time if they didn't have to constantly deal with those who will never get better.
My proposal is to actually shift around the resources that we already have. There won't be an additional cost, just a large reallocation of resources from coddling to training and education. The idea is to kick out those who cause trouble, treat best we can the ones that can't help themselves, and give those who are just down and out the opportunity to achieve greatness in our city if they so choose.
Running a dedicated hospital would be undoubtedly more expensive than having police and emergency rooms deal with the mentally ill.
I have the benefit of living with the director of neurobehavioral sciences at one of California's largest providers of mental health residential care, so I hear a lot about how the mental ill are cared for.
There is no doubt in my mind that the most cost-effective way to deal with the mentally ill is to release them on their own recognizance, leaving professionals to tend them only when they get into trouble rather than 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, it is probably also the least humane way of dealing with them.
It still comes down to the mentally ill agreeing to receive treatment. Most people don't understand this. You cannot force treatment on someone who's mentally ill, even if that person is completely disconnected from reality. You can't institutionalize them and you cannot make them take medication. It is simply not legal unless they are a proven danger to others.
But you make a condition of receiving services.
There is a dedicated hospital for the mentally ill, or at least a dedicated facility at SF General. The The Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility (MHRF). The website says 147 beds are dedicated to adult programs. In this year's budget, Gavin cut 14 locked beds for the most severely unstable.
That Beyond Chron article includes this link to details about when people can be involuntarily committed.
I would not describe the MHRF as being a particularly successful in rehabilitating the mentally ill. And it's not their fault: besides the budget cuts, the problem is that people wind up there when they injure themselves and need physical treatment; when they're healed enough to leave, they often do, because they don't want to be rehabilitated (and often cannot be, due to permanent mental disability).
Forcibly committing them would be the only way to keep them from ranting and raving on the streets. And even then, it doesn't guarantee that they'll get any better -- just that the public wouldn't have to look at them. In those cases, the patients would have to be permanently committed. A life sentence.
If the city's attorney is really concerned about the legality of what is going on at the THC, then residents broadcasting webcams should be the least of their worries. Nothing like raw footage of REAL crimes being committed to get the legal vultures taking notice. Pathetic.
Jeff-
You know what? I would actually concede a point. I had some friends who lived at the Seneca a long time ago, and you are right--the place has gone downhill since THC took over. While there's probably nothing that can be said that could make me say "videotaping your neighbors is fine and dandy" what you are doing is an understandable reaction to a lot of the dumb-shit that goes on in there.
The fact is that THC should know better. There are other housing programs in SF who manage not to turn their buildings into hell-holes. Even the very best non-profit is still going to have a bunch of challenges keeping the community safe. HOWEVER, I agree that most THC buildings have become worse in terms of safety than when even the Patels (no angels) ran the show.
I'd call your attention to other buildings in the area. The San Cristina Hotel and the Midori manage to prevent their buildings from becoming out of control. Why the hell can't THC at try to rise to these standards AT LEAST! It ain't that hard, even with all the barrage of BS in the neighborhood. Most well-run hotels install surveilance cameras on areas where non-residents can sneak in, not on the residents themselves.
Anyhow, apologies for my poor choice in words, you don't deserve the creep tag.
Many of those drug addicts came from dysfunctional families where they suffered debilitating abuse that damaged their young minds long before drugs came to finish the job.
A part of the answer to our drug problem is to stop producing so many damaged children.
The opportunity for good jobs for parents will facilitate family formation and reduct the number of destroyed children who grow up to haunt our society.
Much of our industry has moved offshore because of the crushing burden of an out of control health care system. By relieving our businesses from this unworkable burden, we become more competitive as a society and are more able to provide jobs for our citizens and save the lives of their children, the future brain damaged drug addicts of san francisco.
Credible estimates for the total cost of the war in iraq top a trillion dollars, which would have gone a long way toward removing the albatross of death spiral health care costs from around the necks of our businesses, if we did not have a retarded ideolog trust fund dimwit C student with no experience of real life who seems to be a damaged as some of the residents of 6th street as our Commander in Chief.
Currently the Federal Reserve is making plans to lower interest rates despite the effect of increased inflation, a "market failure" bailout of the super rich at the expense of us all.
Free markets are only for poor people when they shop for a rental unit or health insurance. In no way do the rich live under "free markets."
We must seriously wonder if we would not have been better off with the person who throws trash out the window sitting in the White house.
The United States will not financially survive another eight years like the last eight. We won't have the luxury of this argument much longer so don't worry.....
Death to VIdeodrome....
here's an update. The City Attorneys office never said my cams were illegal, and they never were contacted by Tenderloin Housing Clinic on the matter.
I got this myself from the city Attorney press office. Who did they talk to?..the janitor?
also, to clear something up about how that cam was run. The cam was never live on the net, and this is something I refused to do because it would let people watching know when people were coming and going, and for me, that WOULD be a breach of privacy and security.
Instead, the cam was on motion detect, so it was triggered anytime somebody walked by.
At the end of the day, in fact, on most days, everything was deleted, because I have no interest in watching people walk down the hallway, which is something I see anyway, if I just step out the door
It was only when I heard loud noises, something unusual, or when I found out later something happened that I saved that one clip, just in case, but everything else was deleted.
apparently people did not know this and asked me to clear that up..Hope it helps, thanks
The Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility was closed in 2003 by Newsom and Katz. It was reopened as the Behavioral Health Center. There are still 147 beds but a large number were given over to residential care. This program looks much like a THC program. Basically a flophouse with minimal supervision by staff who haven't a clue as to how to deal with mentally ill individuals. The mayor wanted these beds for his Care not Cash program so a large group of patients were transferred out of county to make room for the street people. San Francisco General Hospital received a citation and $10K fine for moving the patients without an ok from the State of CA.
Randy Shaw, ED of THC- Lives in the Oakland Hills, in a lovely large home, with his attorney wife.
He is, a true poverty pimp. Just like Cecil....
They provide the worst social services, the staff are the lowest paid, and most abused.
Other agencies do do it better.
Thanks for the update. I never believed that the City Attorney would be involved in this. THC lied.
Wow. Wonder how this will get spun?
theres a lot of thc bashing in this discussion. my view is that they gave me a home when all i got from anyone else was the runaround. i was placed in a dump but i had a door, it was safe enough, and warm. eventually i rented a place from the tndc. everyone i encountered at thc had a good understanding of who theyre dealing with and were familiar how to work with the system.