What's with all the bums? (San Francisco, Oakland: home, quality of life, taxes)

[tropical87]

I recently visited San Fran. Coming from Miami, I was SHOCKED at the depressing amount of homeless people EVERYWHERE. I was besieged, harassed and generally annoyed everywhere I went. It was unnerving.

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I will not be returning anytime soon.

How did it get so bad in San Fran?

[clongirl]

Big long thread about this already. Read if you have time.

//www.city-data.com/forum/san-f...ss-people.html

[analyze_this]

These bums are bums by choice and actually enjoy being homeless and begging aggressively. Since SF is very liberal it tolerates and even encourages them.

BTW I have been to Miami, except for the beaches, the rest of the city is a cultural and economic wasteland and the people are absolute trash.

[AngusHsu]

I am going to Miami for vacation next week and currently live in San Francisco. I will see how your homeless situation fares, OP...The homeless situation was even worse in 2010 and 2011, when the city noticeably went downhill- we are talking about quality of life issues like littering, pee, and feces strewn about the sidewalks and streets, and subway stations. Since 2011, the city has cleaned up significantly.

My brother says Miami is a cultural wasteland outside of Brickell and Downtown.

[BayDude]

Originally Posted by analyze_this

These bums are bums by choice and actually enjoy being homeless and begging aggressively. Since SF is very liberal it tolerates and even encourages them.

BTW I have been to Miami, except for the beaches, the rest of the city is a cultural and economic wasteland and the people are absolute trash.

The people of San Francisco are equally trash for tolerating so much homelessness.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by analyze_this

These bums are bums by choice and actually enjoy being homeless and begging aggressively.

Some are, some aren't. But one thing almost all of them have in common is alcohol and/or drug addiction.

There is definitely a "hobo grapevine" and San Francisco has always had a reputation as an easy place to get by if you can't or don't want to work. The weather is almost never too hot or too cold, the police generally don't hassle the homeless ("sit-lie" laws notwithstanding), and clueless tourists are easy marks for fake sob stories -- "I need $3 for the bus home to Modesto" and crap like that.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by tropical87

I recently visited San Fran. Coming from Miami, I was SHOCKED at the depressing amount of homeless people EVERYWHERE. I was besieged, harassed and generally annoyed everywhere I went. It was unnerving.

mod cut

I will not be returning anytime soon.

How did it get so bad in San Fran?

I lived near Miami a couple years and it beats being surrounded by gangster/thug wannabes, but to each his own lol. I rarely ever come across aggressive homeless people, usually they are past out from drugs or alcohol. Nonetheless, the homeless certainly is my least favorite thing about SF.

[DocGoldstein]

Homelessness is a huge problem in the Bay Area. In S.F on Market Street, you will find hundreds of homeless. The Tenderloin, it's even worse.

In Oakland, near MacArthur and 40th you will find homeless under the freeway sleeping in groups of dozens.

The problem is that the shelters are all at capacity, and they give priority to families, single moms with kids, and women in general. So what you get is a lot of homeless men trying to survive in the Bay Area sleeping on the street, BART Stations, and under 580 in Oakland.

It's depressing, kind of puts into perspective S.F spending millions of dollars to get a "twitter bus" going instead of opening more shelters.

[Youthanasia]

It's all over California, we are facing economic collapse and the highest taxes in the country... it's a pretty common sight here.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

Homelessness is a huge problem in the Bay Area. In S.F on Market Street, you will find hundreds of homeless. The Tenderloin, it's even worse.

In Oakland, near MacArthur and 40th you will find homeless under the freeway sleeping in groups of dozens.

The problem is that the shelters are all at capacity, and they give priority to families, single moms with kids, and women in general. So what you get is a lot of homeless men trying to survive in the Bay Area sleeping on the street, BART Stations, and under 580 in Oakland.

It's depressing, kind of puts into perspective S.F spending millions of dollars to get a "twitter bus" going instead of opening more shelters.

First of all, this isn't true

Secondly- THIS THREAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OAKLAND