October 10, 2007
It's a Motherf------ Column-Off
After last week's dueling press conferences and memo-leakage, the Homeless issue is becoming the Issue du Jour, leading to a full-fledged reporter dogpile. First came CW Nevius who weighed in with yet another story on the issue, this time saying that even in liberal, tolerant, San Francisco, residents might not be feeling so liberal and tolerant when it comes to dealing with the homeless. As evidence, he points to one of those online polls SFGate ran about the issue in which 90% of the people said they wanted something to be done. We, as a rule, hate those "polls" because it's actual scientific value is nil as it's all determined by people who were motivated enough to play along and doesn’t factor in those who were too lazy to.
In response, Steven T. Jones wrote about the column on the Bay Guardian's blog. In the posting, Jones compares Nevius to Ken Garcia and also says that Nevius is wrong to say San Franciscans are not so down with the homeless. He then accuses the Chron, and Nevius, of trying to stir things up to play to all the suburbanites out there as they are the only ones who hate the homeless, not local residents, and yadda...yadda...yadda... Spanish American War. Steven then posts the email back-and-forth he had between him and Chuck which is kind of interesting if slightly cringe-worthy in the same way as the Bill Maher show on HBO is. Not to be outdone on the fun, Garcia himself joined in with a column about homelessness, mainly to use it as an attempt to slam Chris Daly.
We're sure SFist Rita will detail all of this in We Read the Weeklies but this week's Bay Guardian seems to be the "Homeless Issue," which is just like Rolling Stone's Hot Issue except without Kid Rock on the cover and fun story about The Office inside (editor's note: more Toby). In the issue, the SFBG weighs in the recent fracas with an editorial and a lengthy story about how much all of these "Quality of Life" citations are costing the city.
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I'm a San Francisco resident and I support Mayor Newsom's actions to help homeless folks voluntarily or involuntarily 100%.
A column-off? Isn't that like saying Kucinich is calling out Hillary for a debate? Seriously ....
This has been going on for years. Sometime early in the 90's there was a care-not-cash initiative that passed with over 60% of the vote, but it was never implemented. I imagine support for enforcing standing laws would be even higher.
But, I agree that the Chron is turning into a freeper echo chamber, and the polls are definitely going to reflect that. It's a bit disingenuous to write a story, then have a poll about the story, and then another story about the poll about the story, and so on in an endless factoid feedback loop, and still claim to be doing journalism. Polls have to be independent and objective in order to be credible news fodder.
We love homeless people. We hate cleaning up their poop.
SFBG once again showing how out of touch it is with the public. I notice no one on the BOS except Daly is going nuts over this - I think its telling.
The more affluent SF gets, the less "liberal tolerance" you'll see for classic quality of life problems - like, for example, pooping on the streets.
Get thyselves down to the library on Paige tonight and see all this go down LIVE. No please do, it's a mayoral candidates debate and it will be stuffed with "Professional Homeless Advocates" ha, ha, ha. I want to see these fuckers in the flesh. Hope I can get off work in time to see it, because you know most of the opposition have jobs and can't claim this event on their expenses. And I really hope one of them parks in my driveway. And I really hope it all kicks off like one of those sessions of the taiwanese parliament, punches thrown, buttons ripped off shirts. Awesome
BTW, I always spell Paige like that, it's alternative.
Twisting Nevius' column into a claim that "San Franciscans are no longer tolerant of the poor" is an outrageous hyperbole; intolerance of people shitting on the sidewalk or smoking crack on my doorstep is a far cry from intolerance of "the poor"
And it's only because of the liberal white guilt of Jones and other "progressives" that the rest of still have to put up with this behavior. Being tolerant of the crackhead isn't good for the tolerator or the crackhead, but Jones, Daly, et al. are too pussy to do anything about it because they're scared of being called "intolerant"
Tolerance is a great idea, but we live in a world where some things are not worth tolerating. Shitting on the sidewalk and public crack smoking are two of those things.
But "intolerance" doesn't have to mean "taser the homeless and throw them off the bridge". It could also mean that, for the sake of the greater good, we take the people who need help and force them to get help even if they don't want it.
And what is toleration, anyway? It's accepting that you're just gonna have to live with something, even if you don't like it. Fuck that. I don't accept humans (or dogs) shitting on my sidewalk, and I don't want to just live with it. I'd rather be intolerant and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
I think that what people are really tire of is street behavior that unfortunate the homeless people get scrap goated for. Not all people who do the pee and poo thing on your door step are homeless. And who it it to say for certain that that pile might belong to one of your neighbors.
I was a cosponsor and ran Proposition N, Care Not Cash in 2002 and I learned a great deal about this issue and the politics involved. Those who support the current situation, of people dying on the streets, immediately say anyone who wants to change that situation are heartless or that they are pandering to “suburbanites, yuppies or the rich.”
During the course of the campaign, I was insulted, abused and ridiculed to a degree beyond anything I have faced in my 15 years of running campaigns. This includes running the campaign against the 49ers stadium, Mayor Newsom’s campaign and the Governor of Oregon’s reelect.
Most of those who are homeless are mentally ill, addicted to drugs or both. Dealing with these people is complex and requires not just services to treat the addiction and provide housing but also incentives that either rewards or punishes their behavior. If people break the law then they should suffer the consequences but it is also an opportunity to get people into a system that they either cannot or will not access.
The solution by the way to homelessness is not as simple as more housing. Most people on the streets, as many as 80% by some studies, are mentally ill and addicted to drugs. They simply cannot deal with the steps needed to get housed. No matter how much is available.
Many people mistake the homeless for those who are hustling. They are not in many cases the same thing. Many or the most visible panhandlers and hustlers on our City’s streets are not homeless but are trying to shake loose a few dollars. Not that they don’t need the money, they just don’t need it for housing.
Before we put Care Not Cash before the voters then Mayor Brown called the problem unsolvable and basically gave up. At the Board of Supervisors, Chris Daly would not schedule a hearing for the issue. Homelessness is an issue that many of our elected officials just want to go away. Unless the media writes about it and debates it, the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors will hide from this issue.
Be intollerant at the library tonight dude. I want to see it.
jerry what kind of neighborhood do you live in? jesus!
maybe your neighbors deserve to be soylent green just like the homeless and teenage junkies in the haight!
I love this quote:
San Franciscans realize that simply offering Chris Daly's homeless services just isn't going to cut it. Only one in ten will take the shelter and housing. The remaining addicts, alcoholics, etc. need a cop and a choice community outreach or community court.
Check out: Liberals March 'Right' Over Progressives by Gavin Newsom Sucks.com.
Gavin Sucks Poll: Do you agree with Newsom's “Services or Citation” Homeless Plan?
God, that quote is frustrating and twee. Ick.
Almost as irritating as the spammy post. Admin, please ban GavinSucks from posting links.
It is good to remember that some of panhandlers are not homeless. Too bad there is almost nothing we can do to prevent people from harassing me in the street for change.
It's not all about shitting in my doorway, smaller stuff like being agressively panhandled 20 times day (a conservative estimate)is also pretty tiring.
Oh well.
the regressives can try and dismiss c.w.'s recent work all the want, the simple truth is that everyone is fed up with these worthless excuses for human beings and we aren't going to take it anymore. the 180 million we spend per year on them is not working. it's time to try something new, like forced incarceration until they agree to get their shit together. the crowded jails will take care of them for us along the way. this is not a suburban opinion either. i've lived here since 87 and 9 out of 10 people in my hood feel the exact same way. shoot them, jail them, bury them, i don't care, just get them off the street for good.
i'd say we'll have about 10/10 feeling this way in the city in the next 12 months.
Perhaps you forgot, Jim, I didn't just calendar the hearing on Newsom's welfare reform measure, I also calendared his other 30 or so measures on homelessness. He failed to show up at committee.
Then at the full Board when the items were considered, he was in Cabo San Lucas.
It's public record, Jim, I called the Sargent at Arms, and Mike Farrah came to report that Gavin was in Mexico. But you knew that when you chose to misrepresent the history on this, didn't you?
Actually I think you called it on the day of his mother's funeral...
Well after Prop. N qualified for the ballot.
Nobody cares about what Daly did or did not do years ago. We care why he and his fans are okay with people pooping in the street, now.
Small quality of life things like crapping in the street, aggressive panhandling, public intoxication, and sleeping on sidewalks burn up goodwill at a very rapid rate. There would be much more room for compassion and public support for programs and services to assist the homeless if we weren't all burned out by these little things perpetuated by a few selfish assholes.
That, and the fact that we ALREADY spend $150M per year and are still not getting results, even post Care Not Cash.
As a simple example, if that money were redirected to Muni, they could eliminate the fare. (think of the heart palpitations among the left on that one!)