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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:12 PM Jan 2015

The Streets of San Francisco Are Covered in Human Shit

Poop on Mission Street. Poop between cars. Poop in the alley. Poop in the Tenderloin. Poop in the escalator—so much poop that the escalator breaks down under the strain of all that poop. Everywhere you look, San Francisco residents are saying, there is poop, poop, poop.

<...>

Counterpoint: it's a little funny. There's a nice poetic justice to the gilded paradise of new-money tech-dudes teeming with the inescapable waste of people left behind or displaced by the awful march of disruption.

But the jokes come as a consequence of a pressing and critical problem: Homelessness. And a sore lack of public facilities that homeless people are accessible to homeless people. Will Kane at Ratter, the local-reporting site launched by former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio, dove into the issue last month:

<...>

While tourists and shoppers can sneak into a hotel or store and use the bathroom many people who don't have access to a bathroom during the day "get turned away because they are poor, and they are black," Friedenbach said. "Human beings do not want to defect or urinate in public. It is not natural and they do so out of desperation because they have no where else to go."


http://justice.gawker.com/the-streets-of-san-francisco-are-covered-in-human-shit-1679930931/+tcberman
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The Streets of San Francisco Are Covered in Human Shit (Original Post) Cali_Democrat Jan 2015 OP
Actually, the problem comes from a lack of public restrooms. Xipe Totec Jan 2015 #1
There are a handful KamaAina Jan 2015 #6
Right. Not nearly enough Xipe Totec Jan 2015 #10
It's just ridiculous that US cities don't provide public toilets. The self-cleaning toilets underahedgerow Jan 2015 #2
There was talk about getting some of those a year or two ago arcane1 Jan 2015 #14
Yikes! NaturalHigh Jan 2015 #3
The new San Francisco treat? Rex Jan 2015 #4
Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time seveneyes Jan 2015 #5
That is the JAM n/t Cal Carpenter Jan 2015 #11
One of the most transcendent pieces of music ever recorded. nt Codeine Jan 2015 #12
And no one's composting it?! KamaAina Jan 2015 #7
Xposting to California group KamaAina Jan 2015 #8
Aw, crap! KamaAina Jan 2015 #9
Defect? WillowTree Jan 2015 #13
I lived in SF for 20 years. . . . BigDemVoter Jan 2015 #15

Xipe Totec

(43,890 posts)
1. Actually, the problem comes from a lack of public restrooms.
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:14 PM
Jan 2015

As one of my uncles loved to say:

Either bury me for free, or I'll stink up the town. Your choice.

Xipe Totec

(43,890 posts)
10. Right. Not nearly enough
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:22 PM
Jan 2015

I curse Boston for their scarcity, but SF seems worse.

Maybe the stench of feces covered sidewalks will wake up some enlightened self-interest.

underahedgerow

(1,232 posts)
2. It's just ridiculous that US cities don't provide public toilets. The self-cleaning toilets
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:16 PM
Jan 2015

available throughout the cities in France are always clean and easy to use, and so far, I've never seen anyone boinking in them, which, after all, is what Americans are afraid will happen!

No one can sleep in them because they hose themselves down after each use. And, after a specific time, the doors open automatically.

It's just common sense.

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
14. There was talk about getting some of those a year or two ago
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:30 PM
Jan 2015

I'm not sure what ended up happening to that plan, or why

NaturalHigh

(12,778 posts)
3. Yikes!
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:16 PM
Jan 2015

Couldn't a city that prides itself on its liberal reputation find a few bucks in the budget for public toilets that are accessible to the homeless? An honest effort to end homelessness would be better, but I quit holding my breath waiting for that a long time ago.

 

seveneyes

(4,631 posts)
5. Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 04:19 PM
Jan 2015

I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit.


BigDemVoter

(4,150 posts)
15. I lived in SF for 20 years. . . .
Fri Jan 16, 2015, 05:49 PM
Jan 2015

Yes, every morning when I left for work, I had to step over steaming (and stinking) piles of human excrement. . .

It's pretty easy to know when it's from a human; the smell is very, very particular!

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