Did anyone else read this weekend's article in The Chronicle, celebrating the five-year anniversary of Care Not Cash? SF Mayor Newsom, who jump started the program that cut monthly $422 welfare checks to $65 in exchange for residential hotel lodging, declared it a victory, saying he's helped rid SF of "9,293 homeless people." City streets, however, have actually seen "a slight rise over the past four years." And for those of you with working eyeballs, panhandling has definitely increased on city streets, because Care Not Cash recipients now have very little, you know, cash.

Can the SF homeless problem be solved? We say no. It really looks like an impenetrable task to solve. But an always optimistic Newsom thinks otherwise, telling the Chon, "It can be solved - it can be ... I'm not saying it's been an easy or perfect five years or that it's perfect today, but I am saying it's a much better system than it was five years ago. I'm lucky I became mayor or this would not be happening."

Another thing we're lucky for? People who aren't currently running for higher office, like Julie Michelle, a local blogger, whose April blog post helped a homeless woman and her family find shelter.