Daly to Host Holiday Party
Benefiting Homeless San Franciscans

Written by Luke Thomas. Posted in Arts and Entertainment, News, Politics

• Ruth R. Snave

  Thanks for the article on Chris Daly’s holiday party.

  You quote Daly as saying “the Coalition has actively challenged the misguided policies of the Newsom Administration. In retaliation, the Newsom Administration has severely cut into the Coalition’s funding base.”

  It’s my understanding that the Coalition on Homelessness does not accept government money. Is that correct? If so, how has Newsom cut into their funding base?

  And if the Coalition does now accept government money, nearly every government-funding project has seen their budgets cut because of the city’s budget crunch.

  As to private donors, the Great Recession has cut into the funding available to nearly all nonprofits. Is Newsom responsible for the Great Recession?

  And then, of course, there’s this question:

  How effective has the Coalition on Homelessness been in promoting the well-being of homeless people in SF?

  My impression is that there are more homeless people here than ever before, and that most are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. The leading causes of death among the SF homeless remain drug addiction and alcohol poisoning.

  If this result represents success on the part of the Coalition, what would represent failure?

• marc

  Arthur, we’ve seen that economies with strong safety nets have not fallen as far nor stayed as far down as long as economies with no safety net to speak of.

  The antidote to Depression 2.0 is demand side stimulus, more so than fiscal discipline.

  That includes keeping public payrolls up. Are there areas where political disintermediation of service provision is necessary to check abuse? Of course.

  But the worst possible policy shift right now would be to sacrifice the fragile economy on the altar of the economic fundamentalists.

  -marc

• http://District5Diary Rob Anderson

  A Controller’s report from last year says that the city is having some success in dealing with homelessness:
  http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/CareNotCash_20080430.pdf

  As does a recent Grand Jury report::
  http://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1985

  Maybe ciity progressives would like to go back to the pre-Care Not Cash days, when Food Not Bombs and the Biotic Baking Brigade represented their response to the growing squalor on city streets.

• marc

  Rob, you forgot critical mass and the bicycle people.

• Ruth R. Snave

  Mayor Newsom does get credit for Care Not Cash and for breaking through the logjam of the supes in dealing with homelessness.

  However, care is not enough. Control is also required. Newsom failed to follow through with the second half, control.

  Most of those who live on the streets find themselves in this situation because of addictions to drugs and/or alcohol.

  They have created a toxic subculture for themselves that reinforces addiction and spurns treatment. It is destructive to those who live in it, the surrounding environment, and neighborhood residents.

  The unchecked growth of this toxic subculture is creating a growing public-safety crisis in certain neighborhoods. The Chron today (Thurs.) has an article by C.W. Nevius on such a development in the Haight.

  The politicians have failed in getting this threat under control. The failure involves the mayor, the supes, the D.A., and the judges.

  Only a voters’ revolt, from below, will correct the problem. It’s getting underway as I write this.

• greg kamin

  Hmmm… Rob says that there’s been success, and yet Arthur’s impression is that there are “more homeless than ever before.” You guys have to coordinate your message better.

• http://District5Diary Rob Anderson

  This is about homelessness in SF, Marc, not bicycles. Can I assume that you refuse to read the two documents I linked for you? You’d rather discuss the Bicycle Plan, like homelessnes another progressive failure?
  http://district5diary.blogspot.com/2007/12/marc-salomon-this-cycling-for-my-health.html

• ricksf1

  Oh Yes, cleaning the feet of the Homeless Once every 2 months is now called triage. Please, Homeless Connect is another Newsom media op.

  Thank you Chris Daly and COH for doing the actual work and advocacy to solve this problem.

• http://www.fogcityjournal.com/profiles/profile_h_brown.shtml Harold Brown

  Oh hell!

  Will someone please invite these two curmudgeons to a party? Rob’s complaints about the ‘Biotic Baking Brigade’ and ‘Food Not Bombs’ are obviously a cry for help from someone who doesn’t get invited to share many festivities so would therefore pretend they’re above stuff like that. And, having friends. I sure wouldn’t want to empty one of their stockings on Xmas morn.

  h.

• greg kamin

  The irony, h, is that Arthur and Rob could go if they want. Generally, the parties hosted by progressives, whether Chris, Ross, or anyone else, are pretty open. But try just walking into one of Newsom’s parties -it’s all closed doors and invitation-only. I think that sort of speaks to the character of the “progressive” vs. “moderate” side of the political divide.

• Ruth R. Snave

  In a post above, Greg Kamin says:

  “Rob says that there’s been success … and yet there are ‘more homeless than ever before.’”

  The contradiction is due to the fact that the city provides care without control.

  Nomadic addicts, alcoholics, and psychotics flock here from across the country to live on the streets. They get free food, pay no rent, have free medical care, buy and sell all the drugs they want, and commit whatever crimes they please, short of felonies, with no consequences.

  Blessed with these benefits, they would be fools not to flock here. No matter how many services they city may provide, there will always be newcomers flocking here to gobble them up and crowd out the nomads who are already here.

  The answer is to provide control along with care. Homelessness is not a crime, but it iis not a license for criminal behavior, either.

  In other words, enforce existing laws regarding drug dealing, urination and defecation on the sidewalks, aggressive panhandling, environmental pollution, noise pollution, camping in public parks, setting fires, etc.

  Also, augment existing laws with a sit-lie law, which would prohibit groups of people from colonizing spaces in the vicinity of businesses and residences.

  Take these sensible steps, and balance will be restored.

• greg kamin

  Urination and defacation…. let’s talk about that for a sec. So OK, you don’t like seeing feces on the street. Got it. I don’t either. Yucky stuff to step in. But here’s the thing, 99% of the feces that I find on the street is NOT human feces. It’s dog feces. Same with urine, and it’s probably smellier in the case of dogs.

  So if we’re so concerned about feces and urine, why are we focused on a teeny tiny part of the problem, while ignoring the source of the vast majority of it?

  Oh sure, there are pooper scooper laws (though no laws to prevent dog owners from letting their pets pee in the streets, even though dog pee is just as yucky as human pee). But even in the former case, those aren’t ever enforced. No one is calling on the police to harass dog owners more. No one is calling for $500 fines or some sort of confinement for non-compliant dog owners. No one is proposing one-way tickets out of town. No one is proposing limiting dogs and their owners from loitering in front of businesses.

  In fact, no one seems to want to do anything about the source of 99% of the urine and feces out there. Which leads me to believe that all the people whining about urine and feces don’t really care about urine and feces at all.

  It’s about using the homeless as a political football to score points against political “enemies,” in this case progressives. It’s about upward redistribution of wealth. It’s about class bigotry. It’s about simple callousness and lack of empathy. It’s about the rich preferring to sweep the problem out of their sight to doing anything about the root causes. It’s about many things. But please, don’t insult my intelligence and tell me it’s about urine and feces.

• Ralph

  The Community Justice Center (CJC) deals with so-called “quality of life” crimes (public inebriation, drug abuse, mental problems) who are supposed to access social services. What social services? San Francisco’s budget for social service programs, permanent housing, and homeless shelters is already stretched to the maximum. As the economy worsens, the budget for social services will be further reduced or even eliminated while more San Franciscans will need those services. Solving social problems is a long-term, continuing process. And because there is little or no followup after a person has accessed a social service program, he or she will oftentimes be back on the street without an income, housing, or health services.

• Ruth R. Snave

  Thanks to Greg and Ralph for taking the time to write their thoughtful posts above. Some responses to each follow.

  To Greg –

  You say:

  “99% of the feces that I find on the street is NOT human feces.”

  Lucky you. The sidewalk in front of where I live is 100 ft long and 15 ft wide. It’s one of the largest public toilets in SF.

  The street people (mostly men, that is) routinely pull out their dicks and piss on it, and drop their pants and crap on it. They do this with total impunity, at all hours of the day and night. It’s become a norm of life here.

  I have to hose the sidewalk down several times a week. Otherwise, it becomes a public health hazard.

  There’s a free public toilet just down the street. That doesn’t matter to them.

  They have the same attitude toward litter. There’s a public dumpster at the corner. They sit next to it and throw all their garbage on the sidewalk.

  They’re stoned and drunk out of their minds. They don’t know what they’re doing when they do it, and they don’t remember it later.

  Sanitary conditions in parts of my neighborhood are like those in London in 1800. This is not an acceptable situation for a civilized society.

  You say:

  “It’s about upward redistribution of wealth.”

  The nomadic addicts and alcoholics who hang out in my neighborhood, and trash it, come from every economic class. Some from very rich backgrounds. Some from very poor. Many from middling. They are a cross-section of America.

  What they all have in common is addiction. I agree that they need services. But they also need control.

  Ralph –

  You say:

  “What social services? San Francisco’s budget for social service programs, permanent housing, and homeless shelters is already stretched to the maximum.”

  My neighborhood has one of the highest concentration of social services of any neighborhood in the city.

  The problem is that many of the nomadic alcoholics and addicts who live on the street refuse services.

  I see the same people (mostly males) picked up again and again, drunk and stoned out of their minds. They are offered services, and they refuse.

  They are out of control.

• DavidD

  Hopefully Daly will move to Fairfield soon and we’ll get someone in the D6 who does something positive for the hood.

• ricksf1

  Greg Kamin said: “It’s about using the homeless as a political football to score points against political “enemies,” in this case progressives. It’s about upward redistribution of wealth. It’s about class bigotry. It’s about simple callousness and lack of empathy. It’s about the rich preferring to sweep the problem out of their sight to doing anything about the root causes. It’s about many things. But please, don’t insult my intelligence and tell me it’s about urine and feces.”

  Amen and Right On, Greg. To blame progressives and Daly (the same malcontent spent the better part of the past 10 years also blaming Ammiano for every ill that he perceived). Do you ever see him blasting rightwingers and conservatives? Never. Malcontent.