Results tagged “homeless”

SFist received a pressing (albeit insensitive and Nevius-esque) question in the editor's inbox this afternoon. Perhaps you can help? A reader (who asked to remain anonymous) writes:

Via Brian Monnier: "Just saw a homeless guy bum $2 from someone and then burn it in front of the guy. Just awesome, I love sf."

"Homeless superhero" by Yan Pritzker Photo/Flickr.

Not likely. But a new effort to sanitize Sixth Street is underway, starting this month, care of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. And what, exactly, will clean up San Francisco's scariest and urineiest intersection? Two-way radios. According to SF Examiner, "Two full-time officials will begin patrolling the street and its alleys this month. They will have two-way radios to report crimes, provide advice and clear paths for pedestrians." The city will dish out $150,000 to employ two full-time guides (not SFPD officers?) to "patrol the corridor for a year." SF Coalition on Homelessness, of course, thinks this is a bad idea. COH Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach tells the Ex that these kinds of programs simply "remove the presence of poor people," homeless or not.

"A Sad State of Affairs In the City of San Francisco" by Plug1. (Image shot dangerously close to SFist HQ. This is the neighborhood on a good day, folks.)

You may recall this study that was released a couple weeks back by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in which San Francisco was named the 7th meanest city to the homeless, and LA was named first. Well, you may have also noticed that our little liberal sister city to the east, Berkeley, came in 10th, and The Berkeley Daily Planet is having none of it! Reporter Riya Bhattacharjee spoke to a number of Berkeley's proud homeless and local homeless advocates, all of whom swear up and down that Berkeley is actually super awesome to its homeless and this ranking must be rigged!

Do you still stop to check?

You've probably heard that some California counties are fuming over the new state budget, which borrows $4 billion from county budgets and will mean major cuts in local services from health care to public works. Rich Gordon of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors says this budget will, once put in practice, "fall apart."

While looking at this tasty bit of insanity over at Curbed, we came across this bit of good news for renters in need. It seems, according to commenters who are, of course, cantankerous over federal assistance going to SF residents. Reader MRTim writes, "Joe Stalin must be rolling over in his grave, with laughter."

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, who just released a report cloyingly titled "Homes Not Handcuffs," San Francisco is the seventh meanest city in the county. That is to say, we're the seventh meanest place when it comes to dealing with the homeless and homeless crisis in the U.S. Curbed reports that "out of the 273 cities the study looked into, San Francisco ranked 7th on the list."

Image of Silver Terrace happening by eb78 / Flickr.

A San Mateo man is currently on trial for allegedly putting a beatdown on another homeless man. Why? Well, according to SFGate, Jason Everett Keller, 40, reportedly attacked fellow happy-wanderer Stephan Fava in South San Francisco this past March. It seems that Fava "was chatting with an acquaintance, who is also homeless, about 'quantum physics and the splitting of atoms' [when] Keller joined in the conversation and, for reasons unknown, got upset." The report goes on to say that Keller, presumably demonstrating how atomic and subatomic systems can be created or whatever, "picked up his skateboard and hit Fava in the face with it, splitting his lip." Keller is expected to take the stand soon, testimony that we very much look forward to hearing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that many of San Francisco's homeless are savvy at finding ways to go online regularly. Shelter attendants say the number of overnight visitors with laptops is growing, and SF Homeless, a two-year-old Internet forum, has 140 members. As noted, many job and housing applications must be submitted online, and some homeless advocates say the economic downturn is pushing more of the wired middle class on to the streets.

Think twice, is right. How very bad you must feel right about now.

"Urban Hibernation" shot at 20th Street in the Mission District.

      

After speaking in Berkeley on Saturday, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Martin's Soup Kitchen, which primarily serves food to the homeless. Protected by heavy security and traveling in a long armored motorcade, the Dalai Lama served pasta and spoke to some of the less fortunate locals.

According to the latest biannual census of the city's homeless by the SF Human Services Agency, there are 6,514 homeless living in the city, an overall increase of 2% since 2007. 78% surveyed said they were living in the city when they became homeless -- up from 62% two years ago, which homeless advocates point to as proving that it is not necessarily true that the city is a homeless magnet.

While Gavin Newsom tours California to tout his successes as mayor of San Francisco -- not to mention spending the weekend at the insider-baseball-y Democratic Convention in Sacramento, along with practically every other SF progressive and wonk -- he hasn't solved San Francisco's ails as thoroughly as he might want you to think he has.

With coverage on Oprah, followed by countless other media stories on the Third World-ish homeless camp, Sacramento's 'Tent Camp' will officially close over the next few weeks. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who's clearly freaked out by this kind of attention, plans to shut it down and move its residents to nearby shelters. The Oakland Tribune says, "With foreclosure rates in the Sacramento region among the highest in the nation, the ragtag camp has been depicted as a symbol of the economic meltdown — people who'd lost their homes and were suddenly pitching tents along a riverbed."

The body of a 44-year-old man was discovered inside a bathroom at the San Francisco Bloomingdale's complex on Friday. Patrick Callahan, who was homeless, "was found in the morning when employees opened the store," according to AP. While the exact cause of death has yet to be revealed, "investigators are also trying to determine if Callahan broke into the store and hid out in the bathroom, or if he was there before the store closed and fell unconscious." A Bloomingdale's spokeswoman described Callahan's death as "very sad."

In an effort to "help establish a more comprehensive accounting of the extent of homelessness in San Francisco," Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco's City’s Human Services Agency (HSA) announced plans to conduct the bi-annual homeless count on Tuesday, January 27, 2009. Fun! It will go down from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.and involve hundreds of volunteers who spread across San Francisco and calculate the amount hobos, happy wanders, extreme nature lovers, and housing-free folks living on the streets and in the parks of SF.

A South Bay man sits in jail today after killing a transient man for trying to wash his car windows at a Salinas gas station. Orion Moore, 29, drove up to refuel at Pilot Truck Stop when a 60-year-old homeless man approached him and asked if he could clean his windows for a small fee. Moore said no, but the elderly man persisted. Peeved, Moore allegedly then "ran out of the Pilot and knocked the transient to the ground. The man struck his head on the pavement and was transported to a nearby hospital." Moore was arrested at the scene.

Thrive, indeed.

Deborah Samuel and her cat, Princess, receive a little bit of help from Project Homeless Connect on Wednesday.

With Thanksgiving a little over a week away, and before we list the top restaurants for turkey dinners, remember that the SF Food Bank needs you help. With over 300 tons of food (!) moved through their warehouse every week, this fine local organization needs assistance sorting and packaging meals for distribution.

Smile!

Yesterday a commenter asked for a PDJ with "a little humor, class, and grace," an image "representative of the better side of this town" Well, we tried. Each time we attempted to save an image of Dede Wilsey, our system crashed. Rightfully so. And there were just too many of Vanessa Getty from which to choose. So this? Is the best we could do.

Two men were arrested in this week's savage beating death of Richard Weiland over at San Francisco's least favorite intersection, Turk and Taylor. Robert Hannah, 57, and Michael Cooper, 44, were nabbed by cops near the scene of the crime after witnesses ID's the two. If anyone else saw what happened or knows more, please contact the SF fuzz homicide line at 415-553-1145, or anonymous tip line at 575-4444. (SJ Merc)

The City's 57th (58th?) homicide happened yesterday morning in the infamous Tenderloin hood. Over on Turk and Taylor, Richard Weiland, 53, was found beaten to death. According to reports, Weiland was robbed and repeatedly punched at around 2 a.m. Of course, no arrests have been made. Also, quality-of-life zealots, please use discretion when commenting on this, OK? Thanks.

While SFist is much to dainty to post such vile images of something so natural, fearless LiveJournal blogger Jameth isn't. See, ever since he's been working on Stevenson Street a few weeks ago, Jameth's has collected a harrowing image galley of the (presumably) human excrement dropped daily on the sidewalks of the SOMA not-so-hot spot. Warning: these images are graphic, depressing, and ickypoo. You've been warned.