San Francisco residents are fed up with city inaction on open-air drug use
city-journal.org
city-journal.org
There are very real problems in SF (as with every other major american city). Take your news sources with a serious dose of skepticism.
Depends on your definition of 'death'.
I take issue with JumpCrisscross's definition of 'it's not going to be as wealthy as it was.'
In fact I mourn the opposite.
The city is too expensive.
Specifically too expensive for new voices to take risks on interesting food ideas, or unique boutiques, or artistic expression.
The story of San Francisco is the story of gentrification chasing culture. Dating back to development of the Fillmore Jazz culture precipated by poor people moving into the boarded up buildings in what was then Japan town following the US government's rouding up and interning of Japanese residents.
I think San Francisco is dead, or at least 'dying', because all of the unique neighborhoods have become homogenised 'techie' centers; 'dead' because everyone seems unintersted in making efforts to push back on legislatively.
If the majority of your residents are primarily consumers of culture, and monied to the point that producers of culture are unable to afford to live there, then your city will lose any cultural identity.
I think it was perfectly encapsulated in a scene in "The Last Black Man In San Francisco". The protagonist was sitting at a bus stop and a fully nude person walked up and sat at the bus stop. They sat quietly together until the nude person asked how long the protagonist had been waiting. The protagonist answered and added a personal note about thinking it'd just be faster to skateboard instead. They nod in aggreement and then a party bus full of people adorned in what appears to be startup swag stop in front of the bus stop and drunkenly point out the 'hillarity' of this old naked person just sitting at a bus stop.
Something that was unconventional social behaviour was treated as normal by our San Francisco loving protagonist and the drunken tech mob vocally mocked and denigrated that part of the city's identity.
That two minute scene encapsulated the last 15 years in the city for me, and it broke me.
I have heard some people hope that the now many vacant store fronts that suffered the ultimate fate due to the pandemic means the city could have a resurgence, but I have grown cynical, and fear it will just result in further consolidation of ownership in a wealthy few.
It happened to Manhattan too; another city I love. It belongs to the banks and uber wealthy now.
It happens pretty much anywhere that becomes desirable to live for the rich.
I'm not really sure what could be done about it, since the rich are so good at getting what they want.
The recreational cannabis rollout was delayed when the city, in my opinion rightly, realised that the dispensary licenses were being granted to a wealthy few. (And likely people who had previously financially lobbied against the legalisation for years.)
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sfs-proposed-cannabis-regula...
Build more housing. Shut down streets to car traffic. Encourage first time business owners. Expand social programs. Fund the arts. Make these wealthy companies buying up property pay for it. If they threaten to leave for Salt Lake or Austin then kindly wish them well.
Who isn't being honest here?
https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/These-charts-show-...
https://sfist.com/2021/06/24/recall-chesa-boudin-campaign-tr...
Does anyone here pass through that area? How bad is it actually?
My expectation is that there is a drug problem in the area, the 'article' is exaggerating it by an order of magnitude, and that that the real goal is political and not humanitarian.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesa_Boudin
>Boudin was born in New York City to Jewish parents.[4] His parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were Weather Underground members, both convicted of murder.
Since Chesa is under a recall campaign there is a concerted social media effort to defend him on places like Twitter.
Look up the efforts to discredit Dion Lim who has done stories about the Asian American victims of crimes committed by career criminals who were released by Chesa.
I've seen Chesa speak once. He referenced his parents when telling his story and has lobbied for their early release [1].
We aren't defined by our parents. Their crimes aren't our own. But if a child defends his parents' crimes and advocates against their prosecution, it's fair to bring it up.
[1] https://sfist.com/2020/11/25/da-chesa-boudin-lobbying-to-get...
But not once, not once has anyone ever mentioned why he is seeking their release, as if that's not even relevant.
From the article:
"The move comes after a separate request for Gilbert's clemency last week, reported by the Chronicle, that was signed by 45 faith leaders, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, and Mohandas Gandhi's granddaugther. Also appealing to Gov. Cuomo since the prison in question is in his state, they wrote that "We see daily that elders in prison, especially those with compromised immune systems and underlying health concerns, are in grave danger and many have died. For us, like you and your father before you, opposition to the death penalty is a religious and moral principle.""
"New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision data shows that in that state, there have been 3,400 coronavirus cases and 23 deaths in the prison system. Boudin told the Chronicle there are more than 100 cases at his father maximum security prison, Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
""I'm worried my father could die of COVID-19 in prison. He has always expressed great remorse for the victims and he has never tried to deny or minimize the role he played in a serious crime," he added, to SFGate. "There is no compelling reason for my father to remain incarcerated.""
It's literally in the subtitle of the article in the comment to which you're replying.
It's a fact that a lot of HN readers never actually click through to read the articles people post anyway, so most people go by the contents of the comments not the articles.
I'd bet you anything that most people who read this thread didn't click through and read that article itself, which is why I quoted it. Now they damn well know what it says.
How many rapes has he refused to prosecute?
And then he turns around and blames the cops, even though the reason they are overwhelmed is he keeps letting repeat offenders off to immediately commit new crimes.
His views on justice are incredibly twisted, likely starting with the pretzel he had to turn is brain into to justify his parents being murderers.
You're implying the reason cops are abusing their power is that they're overwhelmed?
How about the sadistic, power tripping cops among them that actually murder people, assault or torture them, plant evidence, lie and frame people, etc...
No, being overwhelmed (even if they are) doesn't remotely excuse any of that.
"he keeps letting repeat offenders off to immediately commit new crimes"
What crimes? If they're crimes of drug possession, in my eyes they should be let off because the War on Drugs is unjust, ineffective, and wrong.
If you actually paid attention to what is going on, this DA is saying the cops aren't bringing him enough cases to prosecute. The cops say they're arresting people with multiple outstanding violent offenses against them, so that they can't ever reduce the number of offenders because they keep getting let back out.
Do you not give a shit about assaults, rapes, robberies and violent people being let out over and over? You one of crazy people who would rather just get rid of all the cops and enjoy some Wild West mob justice/lynchings? Cause humanity went without cops for far longer than it had cops, and we know exactly how that works out.
Yes cops need reformed, but tell that to someone who's daughter was raped by a repeat felon, awaiting multiple trials, who some turd DA thinks restorative justice means license to rape.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+apple+doesn't+fall+...
I was quite intrigued by this Wikipedia article below.
> The Weather Underground was a radical left wing militant organization...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground
I also had some fun researching how the CIA (I thought was probably) involved in all of this. Found some stuff on Wikispooks.com about Chesa Boudin and also this comment (and more) from [1]:
> The whole Weather Underground was a project of Cointelpro-New-Left. The idea was to brand students as radical and violent marxists and put out propaganda about them to break up genuine student organizing in opposition to the Vietnam War. It’s a classic guilt-by-association strategy – by labeling progressive policies as “Crazy San Francisco” it causes a reactionary policy implementation almost everywhere else. Boudin is so obviously CIA as was Gascon and now we have yet another phony CIA culture war that gets everyone outraged, divided, and distracted.
[1] https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/san-francisco-da-blame...
Drug abuse should not be a law enforcement issue, but a medical issue.
The problems on that street are a failure of the mental health system, lack of social safety nets, and the abject failure of the war on drugs which forces people to use unsafe drugs in unsafe ways instead of making sure that safe drugs can be used safely (which is what legalization or at least decriminalization would help ensure).
The comment you're replying to concerns itself with drug dealers. Not users. Theirs is not a medical issue, but a law enforcement one.
The whole War on Drugs is completely unjust, immoral, misguided, and ineffective.
People should not go to jail for using or selling drugs.
Both should be made legal and regulated.
You literally couldn't write that as a comedy any better.
He's like the Left Coast Trump.
You gonna put trust the future of your community to the kid of some "activists" or are you gonna trust the future of the community to someone raised in a household where the parents were a little more professional?
Furthermore, the apple in question has spoken at length about their beliefs and seems to have only learned that you can't bomb your way into making people agree with you. It's one thing to judge someone by their parents when you have no indicators or when you have indicators that they're different from their parents. It's a much safer bet when you have evidence confirming they are the same.
I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt but that's impossible to do for Chesa Boudin since there is no doubt.
Lots of good people come from bad places. And lots of people coming from good places take that goodness for granted.
"Tucked deep in San Francisco's sixth district is Dodge Place, a residential street located in the notorious Tenderloin neighborhood. It's been overtaken by drug users who come to get high, descend into madness, and then destroy themselves and their surroundings."
Never even considering that there could be any causes for any of this other than drugs.
Many people have mental health issues even before trying any drugs, and many self-medicate or try to cope with street drugs because the established mental health system and social safety net has failed them.
"At any given time, dozens of people congregate in the small alley to inject or smoke their substance of choice."
Where else are they supposed to go?
Many of them are homeless, after all, and if they have homes they may not want to do drugs in front of their families so as not to set a bad example or because their families would not be supportive.
In some countries there are clean facilities where you can get clean drugs and clean needles and be monitored by medical staff.
In the US you're forced to use mystery drugs that you could easily overdose from because you neither know what you're getting, what the purity is, or the dosage is, use dirty needles, and/or do your drugs on the street where you can get attacked while you're passed out.
This is a failure of society, not of drug abusers, who are victims and need medical help not sensationalistic, moralistic screeds.
"Teenagers to seniors, of all races and demographics, jab needles into their bloody, bloated limbs, hands, and feet."
They're bloody and bloated because they're not getting adequate medical care.
Again, a failure of society and of the medical system.
"One inexplicably common figure is a man neatly dressed for a day at the office who drives syringes deep into other people's necks. Soon after imbibing, users stand still as statues but bent at the waist, colloquially known as the "fentanyl fold." Some collapse and crawl, while others sit listlessly on the curb, lining the walls."
What many people who've never tried heroin (which is probably what this reporter is describing) don't understand is that when the high hits you feel incredibly good, and users are just paying attention to the overwhelming internal sensations as the outside world becomes not as relevant.
So give these people somewhere clean and safe to lie down, if the mere sight of them harshes your mellow and offends your delicate sensibilities so much.
"Or they wander, run, or flail, screaming at each other as well as invisible demons."
More mental health funding would be in order here, not demonization of people suffering from mental issues.
"Many urinate and defecate in their clothes, on the pavement or doorsteps, despite the 24-hour facilities nearby."
24-hour facilities which are dangerous to go in because they're windowless and you could be jumped when you get out... and "nearby" is often not nearly near enough if you're sick or under the influence of drugs that make you lose control of your bowels or bladder.
Again, there's a right way to deal with all these issues, which is to provide clean, safe facilities for drug use and make drugs legal.. and a wrong way: which is to demonize drug users and support the failed policy of prohibition.
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/
"The sky is falling all the time" is the modus operandi of such alarmism.
Yet in actual reality, SF is SO bad that literally half of the world's tech professionals are crowding themselves into the city.
In the conservative American cities with 'better policies' and 'better policing' and near zero taxes to 'promote business', crickets are chirping instead of the prophesied economic miracles.
Free market religion combined with cultural conservatism not being able to stomach their belief not being proven true, needing to make hit pieces about the successful 'heretics'.
"How can they be successful without having the faith and doing how we do."
That's what it is.
Reading the article: wow it's like a warzone out there.
>Scores of dealers, nearly all young males from Mexico and Central America, openly sell narcotics. ...
Oh it's that kind of writer. kthxbye.
Score means 20. Scores to me mean at least 40 (more than one score). Is the writer implying that there are at least 40 drug dealers in a tiny dead-end street [0]?
And that they're all from Mexico/Central America right?