California
Related: About this forumS.F.’s homeless crisis: Can Mayor Ed Lee clean up streets?
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has vowed during his campaign for four more years in office to address the citys worsening homeless problem, pledging to devote the kind of time and attention to it as he did to creating jobs and boosting the economy during his first term.
But the delayed response nearly five years since becoming interim mayor in January 2011 has left some San Francisco residents wondering, What took so long?
After all, homelessness is the citys in-your-face problem. Its plainly viewable from Lees own office window. Its crept into just about every San Francisco neighborhood. And residents appear to be more fed up than ever, according to data from the citys 311 call center. Complaints about human waste, camps and needles have surged this year.
In the past 12 months alone, the citys Department of Public Works has steam-cleaned more than 10,000 pieces of feces and 765 puddles of urine from streets and sidewalks. San Franciscos Alley Crews which clean up after the homeless have picked up close to 800,000 pounds of trash and more than 12,000 hypodermic needles in that same time span, much of it from homeless camps. Every day on average, residents ask Public Works to clear 13 encampments.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-s-homeless-crisis-Can-Mayor-Ed-Lee-clean-6585482.php?t=ab7a56d4d37d4f3860&cmpid=twitter-premium
arcane1
(38,613 posts)He'll surely want to sweep them all up somewhere before the Super Bowl, but after that? I'm afraid to ask.
Vote 1-2-3 to evict Ed Lee!!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1040609395974042/
yuiyoshida
(41,765 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)S.F. mayor: Homeless have to leave the street for Super Bowl
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/S-F-mayor-Homeless-have-to-leave-the-6465209.php
yuiyoshida
(41,765 posts)We are always going to be supportive. But you are going to have to leave the street. Not just because it is illegal, but because it is dangerous.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)But I don't believe he cares about homelessness.
yuiyoshida
(41,765 posts)I think He does care, but we shall see.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Response to yuiyoshida (Reply #5)
RandySF This message was self-deleted by its author.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Santa Clara has only a handful of hotels, clustering around the convention center that's right across from Levi's Stadium. Neighboring San Jose has more, but let's face it, is not exactly a tourist attraction. So a large number of people will stay in SF and somehow find their way to Levi's Stadium for the game.
And there are far more homeless in San Jose than in Santa Clara, more than in SF in fact! It's just that it's easier for them to stay out of sight (and thus out of mind ) here; many live in the dry creek beds.
RandySF
(57,661 posts)RandySF
(57,661 posts)All the work being done in SOMA and Mid-Market shifted transients around to other neighborhoods like mine.
kimbutgar
(20,882 posts)I am so disgusted by him.
As a lifelong resident and 3rd generation San Franciscan from birth I think he is a terrible mayor and only if he gets a donation from the homeless will he work on the problem. One of the reasons we have so many homeless now is that they have been displaced by the rising rents brought on by Lee wooing the Silicon companies to start busing their employees from San Francisco to Silicon and back. I was walking down the street recently and someone said my name. I turned around and it was a person I knew from high school who had been evicted by their apartment via the Ellis Act and they ended up on the street. This person came from a good family, worked hard and because of their age lost their long time job. He was still able to pay his rent doing odd jobs then he got evicted because his apartment was brought by an investment fund and he got evicted. They gave him a little money but he couldn't afford anything and couldn't move to the suburbs because he didn't own a car and all he knows is SF. So he was on the street and suffering. I gave him some money but this was another reminder to me that Lee has let down long time residents for monied interests.
I am sorry I ever voted for him.