Is homelessness worse than Chicago or NYC? (San Francisco, San Leandro: rentals, neighborhood)

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by 7035683216

Hello, although some of my other posts asks about transportation and pubic libraries, people continue to warn me about homeless people in SF. Initially, I ignored it because every large city that I have been to had homeless people. But the post about viewing human feces made me double think the cleanliness of the city. For example, one of the complaints that I have about the Chicago is the nasty buses and trains. Today when I dropped by fan on the bus floor, I left it there because their was liquid on the ground with sap (no rain today)???

So basically I want a clean city. No smell of **** or human feces. But from my visits SF was cleaner than Chicago. Am I missing something?

I have not really been to Chicago or New York to comment, but I know that when I last went to San Francisco, my partner was astounded at the amount of homeless people there were.

Unfortunately, any city you go to will have it's homeless population. It is sort of sad when you see these things. In terms of clean cities, I would say that San Francisco ranked pretty high up there with me. The only other cities that are cleaner that I have been to are Charlotte, Provincetown, Tampa, and Key West.

[CaliNative83]

Originally Posted by FireballFL

I have not really been to Chicago or New York to comment, but I know that when I last went to San Francisco, my partner was astounded at the amount of homeless people there were.

Unfortunately, any city you go to will have it's homeless population. It is sort of sad when you see these things. In terms of clean cities, I would say that San Francisco ranked pretty high up there with me. The only other cities that are cleaner that I have been to are Charlotte, Provincetown, Tampa, and Key West.

San francisco is not a clean city. Maybe you only stayed in certain parts of the city as visiting is a whole different thing then actually knowing the area. They are trying to ban plastic bags here because they are all over the streets. Homeless people are all over the streets. Drugs are all over the Mission/downtown/ GG park etc. Chicago is a million times cleaner then SF.

[GW77]

In addition to all of the other reasons, I'm sure another is the year round mild, pleasant climate.

Giuliani did a great job with the homeless problem here in NY: we also have cold winters of course.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by CaliNative83

San francisco is not a clean city. Maybe you only stayed in certain parts of the city as visiting is a whole different thing then actually knowing the area. They are trying to ban plastic bags here because they are all over the streets. Homeless people are all over the streets. Drugs are all over the Mission/downtown/ GG park etc. Chicago is a million times cleaner then SF.

Well, I do live here & have been here since 1983 (on and off)... and while the downtown neighborhoods do have lots of homeless, and a good amount of dirt, it's overall fairly clean for a big city. And before you ask, I've traveled all over the world, including MANY big cities such as NYC, LA, London & so forth. We're not the cleanest, but certainly not the dirtiest either! And about the homeless, I think most are harmless enough (I've even become friends with a few near my work), and it's only a real issue in certain parts of town. I live in what's supposedly a "bad" area, and we hardly see any of them - aside from a crazy old Chinese woman, who rifles through our recyclables on trash night. Anyway, that's my take on this issue, as a long-time resident/almost-native San Franciscan.

[gizmo980]

And to answer the original question, I've never actually been to Chicago (aside from the airport), so I can't compare us to them... but I've spent lots of time in NYC, since I have relatives & friends there, and I'd have to say they're a bit dirtier overall. We might have more homeless people, though, probably due to our warmer climate. My mother has said "if you're going to be homeless, might as well do it in California!" - LOL. My sister went to college in Philadelphia, and actually saw a bum frozen to death on the street. We can get mighty chilly here, especially in the summer, but rarely to the point of freezing.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by FireballFL

I have not really been to Chicago or New York to comment, but I know that when I last went to San Francisco, my partner was astounded at the amount of homeless people there were.

Unfortunately, any city you go to will have it's homeless population. It is sort of sad when you see these things. In terms of clean cities, I would say that San Francisco ranked pretty high up there with me. The only other cities that are cleaner that I have been to are Charlotte, Provincetown, Tampa, and Key West.

Have you ever been to Portland, Oregon? I used to live up there (in Eugene), and was always AMAZED at how clean it is! But I think that has a lot to do with their weather, since it rains all the time... either people just aren't hanging out on the streets, or the water washes away the dirt. Either way, it's a beautifully clean city. But I agree, San Francisco is also pretty nice compared to other cities, especially if you've ever been overseas... I've seen foreign cities that would make you want to retch, and make San Fran look like a pristine paradise.

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by CaliNative83

San francisco is not a clean city. Maybe you only stayed in certain parts of the city as visiting is a whole different thing then actually knowing the area. They are trying to ban plastic bags here because they are all over the streets. Homeless people are all over the streets. Drugs are all over the Mission/downtown/ GG park etc. Chicago is a million times cleaner then SF.

It is not? Well, it seemed relatively tidy to me, but I will take your word for it since you live in that general vicinity and I am just a happy visitor.

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

And to answer the original question, I've never actually been to Chicago (aside from the airport), so I can't compare us to them... but I've spent lots of time in NYC, since I have relatives & friends there, and I'd have to say they're a bit dirtier overall. We might have more homeless people, though, probably due to our warmer climate. My mother has said "if you're going to be homeless, might as well do it in California!" - LOL. My sister went to college in Philadelphia, and actually saw a bum frozen to death on the street. We can get mighty chilly here, especially in the summer, but rarely to the point of freezing.

When I lived in Jersey, the Jerseyians nicknamed Philadelphia "Filthadelphia".

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Have you ever been to Portland, Oregon? I used to live up there (in Eugene), and was always AMAZED at how clean it is! But I think that has a lot to do with their weather, since it rains all the time... either people just aren't hanging out on the streets, or the water washes away the dirt. Either way, it's a beautifully clean city. But I agree, San Francisco is also pretty nice compared to other cities, especially if you've ever been overseas... I've seen foreign cities that would make you want to retch, and make San Fran look like a pristine paradise.

I had a bad experience with an Oregon driver while walking across a pedestrian walk at Fisherman's Wharf last time. He pushed me with his car and got all POed when I went New Jersey on him and slammed my fish on his BMW. Pedestrian walk, hello, yield to people walking! I crossed going to Portland or Oregon off my list that day because of one idiot that could not drive properly, but my sister does live in Seattle and she says that the city there is relatively clean.

If you think dirt is bad. New Orleans was putrid! The French Quarter did make me retch...... It was nasty, it reeked of urine, and it smelled of feces and dead bodies and this trip was 3 years BEFORE Hurricane Katrina
hit.

[fizbin]

(Disclaimer: I have only been to Chicago and NY once each, Chicago for a week and NY for three days, and never really got out of the downtown areas.)

My view is that the homeless situation in SF is much worse than Chicago and NY. Part of it has to be wintertime weather. No snow in SF. As a homeless dude where would you want to be?

But a semi-related element that is not weather dependent is general overall cleanliness. I was kind of shocked how clean Chicago and NY were compared to SF. Details like garbage and grime on the sidewalks, stuff like that. As a tourist destination I think that SF lives of the laurels of its natural beauty and the GG Bridge, and does not do the work necessary to keep it clean. I think this lack of work spills over to its lack of adequately dealing with the homeless issue.

My .02 . . .