Hacker News Reader

Comment by blitmap | Hacker News Reader

I'm not saying the problems don't exist, but it feels like they have been amplified in a smear campaign. I think there's been a lot of propaganda to make SF and California look terrible in general, for political reasons.

Washington D.C. has a large percentage of homeless people than SF. It has been documented that other cities will buy bus passes for homeless persons to get them to California cities or other places like Portland, Oregon. It's a nationwide problem and it feels like the places trying to help the most are the ones getting flak for it.

You simply can't fix this problem from 1 or 2 states - or a few well known cities.

View on HN

I'm not part of a smear campaign, but in the last year I've had homeless tweakers squatting in my garage, had to get a restraining order against a mentally ill and violent homeless person who just decided to harass my apartment building, I've seen a HUGE guy sexually assault multiple women on BART, I've seen multiple people smoking meth/crack and shooting heroin in BART on my way to work, I see feces and needles DAILY. It's not a smear campaign. We're sick of living in these Medieval conditions when we work this hard and pay this much. It's not like this anywhere else in the country. It's really gotten worse in the past 2 years and seems to be getting worse by the day now.

The final straw for me, was when a bullet came through the wall of my bathroom at 1AM and when I called the cops they took 2 hours to get there, threw the bullet in a ziplock bag, then never called me or had any follow up. If this city doesn't take gun shots or violent crime seriously, then what good is the government or PD?

Whereabouts were you living, if I can ask?

Glen Park near Bernal Heights.

I've heard even worse things about Portland, for instance. But I just heard that the wealthy in San Francisco have started employing private police forces to handle the homeless and sanitation issues in their neighborhoods. Some areas have mandatory taxes (somehow) for homeowners to finance them.

Maybe it's a good thing, not for me to say, but that does seem like a very clear indication of mismanagement.

Regarding the mandatory taxes, I think you're talking about "green neighborhood" district taxes that supposedly help to deal with quality of life issues.

I'm talking about services like this http://www.sfspecialneighborhoodpolicing.org/about_us.html

I've read that some building/condos/whatever have HOA's that require them to fund it. I'm not providing an opinion. I just found it surprising, if true.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com