The Bay Area Soiled/Homeless/Infested/Trashed Containment Thread (San Diego: real estate market, landscaping)

[Mistermobile]

What do they say? "If we all do it, then no one is responsible."



So if there are homeless everywhere (and I have seen them in Washington, DC in the winter laying on grates over steam pipes), then some say there's is nothing we can do about it.



I call bullsh*t on that.



I have drilled down beyond the white paper the city produced on the problem.


Seems there are actually 16,000 homeless residents, 8,000 out on the street and 8,000 basically living in welfare hotels at taxpayer expense. The city of San Francisco spends a quarter of a billion (yes with a "B") dollars to remedy the problem. Each new mayor maintains the status quo; the last mayor hiring pressure washer, city sidewalk cleaners at $185,000 @year.



So far, the city fathers can't get a handle on the homeless problem although the city has passed Prop "C" which is a new tax on tech companies to further fund homeless remediation. Should raise about $300,000,000.


P.S. This reminds me of a true story arising from a Congressional hearing involving the acidification of lakes in New England resulting from smoke plumes (acid rain) from coal electric generators. The environmentalists wanted expensive scrubbers on every unit. One senator asked how many fish were on average in each lake, then asked how much fish cost per pound. It seems it would be better by a factor of 50 to go buy a replacement fish.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Mistermobile

What do they say? "If we all do it, then no one is responsible."



So if there are homeless everywhere (and I have seen them in Washington, DC in the winter laying on grates over steam pipes), then some say there's is nothing we can do about it.



I call bullsh*t on that.



I have drilled down beyond the white paper the city produced on the problem.


Seems there are actually 16,000 homeless residents, 8,000 out on the street and 8,000 basically living in welfare hotels at taxpayer expense. The city of San Francisco spends a quarter of a billion (yes with a "B") dollars to remedy the problem. Each new mayor maintains the status quo; the last mayor hiring pressure washer, city sidewalk cleaners at $185,000 @year.



So far, the city fathers can't get a handle on the homeless problem although the city has passed Prop "C" which is a new tax on tech companies to further fund homeless remediation. Should raise about $300,000,000.


P.S. This reminds me of a true story arising from a Congressional hearing involving the acidification of lakes in New England resulting from smoke plumes (acid rain) from coal electric generators. The environmentalists wanted expensive scrubbers on every unit. One senator asked how many fish were on average in each lake, then asked how much fish cost per pound. It seems it would be better by a factor of 50 to go buy a replacement fish.

Still not sure what your agenda is ... though you appear to have moved on past Pelosi for the moment.

Fact is: homeless ARE everywhere ... and things ARE being done about it.

But what’s being done can’t keep up with the rate / growth of new homeless ...

Because, while many services ARE responding, the primary underlying cause - lack of affordable housing - is a wickedly difficult bear to wrestle in a free-for-all capitalist culture. Old housing venues, such as SRO’s are all but disappeared now as redevelopment occurs in cities ... and real estate in general is coveted and hoarded like gold.

[bmw335xi]

I want to know why are cities like DC and NYC able to shelter the homeless and keep the majority of them sane where as San Francisco spends hundreds of millions, can barely shelter any of them and a large about are literally crazy, aggressive, destructive and just allowed to do it. There are politicians in SF pocketing a lot of money, that's my theory.

[likealady]

The garbage problem is a big issue. I have to agree with your last sentence, BMW. Wasn't someone in the city government just arrested the other week by the FBI for fraud?

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by likealady

The garbage problem is a big issue. I have to agree with your last sentence, BMW. Wasn't someone in the city government just arrested the other week by the FBI for fraud?

Yes exactly, I bet there is a lot more going on. One of my rich friends in SF started talking about his friend’s family is the only supplier for the city of this one simple product, I forgot the actual item but it was maybe signage but I’m not sure, anyways he said the city is all about who you know. If you are connected you can basically name your own price on bids. We were talking about why do projects take so long to get built here and why are the roads bad despite all the tax revenue and fees the city gets. There has to be a lot of negligent waste and/or money being pocketed.

[Mistermobile]

I believe that problems are not made, they are created.


I've read that for the average wage slave, he/she would have to work 4.7 full time jobs to pay for housing in the San Francisco market. Why so high?


If it were just market forces, too many buyers chasing too few sellers, that would be the cause of our problem. But it is not.



Anyone can see that there is money to be made by maintaining a large homeless population. How so? Does anyone believe that the city could not house its street people with receipt of a Billion Dollars every four years? Where does the money go? That coupled with a city government hostile to its downtrodden, and the problem of the homeless becomes chronic and unsolvable by design.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Mistermobile

I believe that problems are not made, they are created.


I've read that for the average wage slave, he/she would have to work 4.7 full time jobs to pay for housing in the San Francisco market. Why so high?


If it were just market forces, too many buyers chasing too few sellers, that would be the cause of our problem. But it is not.



Anyone can see that there is money to be made by maintaining a large homeless population. How so? Does anyone believe that the city could not house its street people with receipt of a Billion Dollars every four years? Where does the money go? That coupled with a city government hostile to its downtrodden, and the problem of the homeless becomes chronic and unsolvable by design.

Are you saying the city purposely doesn't shelter homeless here so they can keep asking for more $$$$? If so, I wouldn't be surprised. However, I also think San Francisco is the epicenter of safe space, political correctness, etc which plays a part that they just let them do whatever they want, wherever they want, wherever they want.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Mistermobile

I believe that problems are not made, they are created.

what's the difference between "made" and "created"?

Originally Posted by Mistermobile

I've read that for the average wage slave, he/she would have to work 4.7 full time jobs to pay for housing in the San Francisco market. Why so high?

That's from a 2014 report and what it actually said was that it takes 4.7 MINIMUM wage jobs to afford rent in SF, not average wage job. Rent is too high in SF but it's supply and demand, it's not the result of some nefarious plot.

Originally Posted by Mistermobile

If it were just market forces, too many buyers chasing too few sellers, that would be the cause of our problem. But it is not. Anyone can see that there is money to be made by maintaining a large homeless population. How so? Does anyone believe that the city could not house its street people with receipt of a Billion Dollars every four years? Where does the money go? That coupled with a city government hostile to its downtrodden, and the problem of the homeless becomes chronic and unsolvable by design.

Of course it's 'market forces' that cause increases in the cost of housing. I won't argue that much of the money spent on solving homelessness in San Francisco is wasted but how can that influence the price of housing? What are you trying to say, that people paid to work on homeless issues make so much money that they price everyone else out of the housing market?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by likealady

The garbage problem is a big issue. I have to agree with your last sentence, BMW. Wasn't someone in the city government just arrested the other week by the FBI for fraud?

I'm not sure if someone in city government was arrested but what the hell does that have to do with garbage?

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I'm not sure if someone in city government was arrested but what the hell does that have to do with garbage?

Because he was referred to as "Mr. Clean" responsible for keeping San Francisco streets clean. He was charged with corruption, taking bribes, wasting tax payer money to fill his own pockets, etc.



https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-po...r-15011155.php