Why doesn't the city just get rid of the homeless people? (San Francisco: city hall, hotel)

[Curmudgeon]

San Francisco is an equal opportunity city. It provides sanctuary for illegals so it must tolerate the homeless. It makes a sizable portion of the population feel all warm and cuddly inside and superior.

In San Francisco, homeless = pets!

[peninsular]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

San Francisco is an equal opportunity city. It provides sanctuary for illegals so it must tolerate the homeless. It makes a sizable portion of the population feel all warm and cuddly inside and superior.

In San Francisco, homeless = pets!

Thank you, thank you so much for answering the question that puzzled me for such a long time! I couldn't quite figure out why I and everyone around me feel so superior. Could it be the education? No, no way. Career possibilities and relatively high income? Absolutely not. Maybe the natural beauty or the climate? Not even close. And the answer is so elegant in its simplicity - it's the homeless! Arghhh. I wish I could have come up with that myself. Just like the iPhone and google search. Dang it!

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by peninsular

Thank you, thank you so much for answering the question that puzzled me for such a long time! I couldn't quite figure out why I and everyone around me feel so superior. Could it be the education? No, no way. Career possibilities and relatively high income? Absolutely not. Maybe the natural beauty or the climate? Not even close. And the answer is so elegant in its simplicity - it's the homeless! Arghhh. I wish I could have come up with that myself. Just like the iPhone and google search. Dang it!

Ya gotta be quick around them thar parts!

[gone down south]

This is the West Coast - the combination of a "live and let live" culture and weather that lets you survive outside year-round means that marginal people from all over the country find there way here. Always been like that, always will be.

The solution isn't to magically "get rid of them", it's to implement a coherent social policy that gets help to those who want it.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by NYCtoSF

The strong ones like me recognize and appreciate strength.

So why don't you just go and take out the homeless population yourself, and show the world how "tough" you really are? Nothing like a macho Guido attitude to show us wimpy West coast liberals how to solve problems.

[Mr Facts]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

All of those mentally ill people in the good old days would be institutionalized getting the help that they need. This is why you typically didn't see many homeless people on the streets back then.

Then the ACLU came along and helped put an end to the practice of holding schizos against their will. I guess the law decided that allowing them to be a danger to themselves and others while starving and freezing to death on the streets was more humane.

ACLU? You mean Ronald Regan?

[Oleg Bach]

Originally Posted by Ceece

I never like sounding heartless but we've let "homeless" become a lifestyle choice for many. I think we do need to offer some kind of shelter/institute and give them that choice, but ferel people wandering the streets diong whatever isn't acceptable.

Unless you are totally nuts there is no reason not to have some sort of meager roof over your head. In my hood there is one grey haired guy with a big white beard..He wanders about pushing a load of crap he has tied to a bike... I can't stand the guy. He smokes a pipe..that he stokes with cigarette buts..I totally ignore the creep- reason being I used to have conversations with him..He was calm intelligent and fairly articulate..There is no reason for him to be out in the streets.



This guy knows where to shower- where all the missions are and the free meals...He has his own little system of a life of homeless leisure. I hold him in contempt because he knows better- If it is a dumb person or a crazy person- I grant sympathy..But this guy really pisses me off...It is a life style choice for this old goof.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Oleg Bach

But this guy really pisses me off...It is a life style choice for this old goof.

There are old goofs everywhere. We need to address the true crazies who are potentially dangerous to themselves and others first, which obviously hasn't been adequately accomplished where so many reside.
The Wet House thing is a decent start for addicts.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Oleg Bach

Unless you are totally nuts there is no reason not to have some sort of meager roof over your head. In my hood there is one grey haired guy with a big white beard..He wanders about pushing a load of crap he has tied to a bike... I can't stand the guy. He smokes a pipe..that he stokes with cigarette buts..I totally ignore the creep- reason being I used to have conversations with him..He was calm intelligent and fairly articulate..There is no reason for him to be out in the streets.



This guy knows where to shower- where all the missions are and the free meals...He has his own little system of a life of homeless leisure. I hold him in contempt because he knows better- If it is a dumb person or a crazy person- I grant sympathy..But this guy really pisses me off...It is a life style choice for this old goof.

Sometimes these guys are Vietnam vets with some sort of PTSD. Many seem fine enough and highly intelligent but they just can't cope with "normal" society.

My dad has a little vacation property handed down by family out in the boonies out near Donner. There's no running water or electricity but there's this kinda creepy guy that my dad allows to live there as a sorta caretaker. He just sort of set up camp 30yrs ago and my grandmother didn't have the heart to tell him to leave. He's all by himself (except his dog), has a decrepit old camper, set up a generator and what not.

He's a Vietnam Vet that apparently is just incapable of being around the rest of society--so sometimes this is the case with people that seem fine or capable enough, but dig a little deeper they may be fully aware of their own lack of coping skills and choose to live this way--in the shadows of society. Also, one must remember that the troops coming home from Vietnam back then were treated horribly by our own citizens and virtually forgotten and neglected by the government.

I want to add, that I'm fully aware of the disturbing (and yes, gross) problem in San Francisco--I'm not blind to how nasty it is. I grew up around it and yes, for some reason it's become far worse than in times past, particularly on Market St. I honestly don't think there is a great solution to the problem since we're dealing with the mentally ill, ptsd, runaways that may have been abused/sexually abused, and drug addicts/severe alcoholics---it's not really a "homeless" problem, but a problem with several different conditions/plights that probably need to be addressed individually to make any difference (and of course $$ and resources for all of these individual problems isn't there)

[+Daimon]

Originally Posted by clongirl

Sometimes these guys are Vietnam vets with some sort of PTSD. Many seem fine enough and highly intelligent but they just can't cope with "normal" society.

My dad has a little vacation property handed down by family out in the boonies out near Donner. There's no running water or electricity but there's this kinda creepy guy that my dad allows to live there as a sorta caretaker. He just sort of set up camp 30yrs ago and my grandmother didn't have the heart to tell him to leave. He's all by himself (except his dog), has a decrepit old camper, set up a generator and what not.

He's a Vietnam Vet that apparently is just incapable of being around the rest of society--so sometimes this is the case with people that seem fine or capable enough, but dig a little deeper they may be fully aware of their own lack of coping skills and choose to live this way--in the shadows of society. Also, one must remember that the troops coming home from Vietnam back then were treated horribly by our own citizens and virtually forgotten and neglected by the government.

I want to add, that I'm fully aware of the disturbing (and yes, gross) problem in San Francisco--I'm not blind to how nasty it is. I grew up around it and yes, for some reason it's become far worse than in times past, particularly on Market St. I honestly don't think there is a great solution to the problem since we're dealing with the mentally ill, ptsd, runaways that may have been abused/sexually abused, and drug addicts/severe alcoholics---it's not really a "homeless" problem, but a problem with several different conditions/plights that probably need to be addressed individually to make any difference (and of course $$ and resources for all of these individual problems isn't there)

/thread IMO.