
Disturbing photos highlight drug, homelessness issues in San Francisco's SoMa - Jerry2
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/disturbing-photos-SoMa-drug-use-homelessness-9624487.php
======
kafkaesq
"Disturbing" if you're new to the city, I guess. The numbers may be seasonal,
and the epicenters of misery may shift from time to time... but such images
are quite familiar to any long-term resident of the city.

~~~
micaksica
> such images are quite familiar to any long-term resident of the city.

This. I think there is an amusing misconception that the world outside of SF
has about the place, that it is an idyllic place full of rich technologists in
multimillion-dollar hipster-yuppie homes, working to change the world from
their conferences at luxury hotels and debating hot JavaScript frameworks over
single-origins at Sightglass, Blue Bottle or Ritual.

Well, some of that is true, but by and large the city is a place of wealth
disparity and struggle for a lot, and that narrative is conveniently lost in
the startup gold rush. Nothing in this post is that "disturbing" once you have
lived in SF for a while.

I don't understand why the Deli Board guy is now suddenly freaking out about
this. SoMa has always been "urban decay", and the spot Deli Board is in was
pretty cosmetically dirty even when Deli Board opened up there. Even then, SF
was a hell of a lot seedier than it is now 15 years ago that's what makes it
cool to a lot of people. I remember lots of shady raves down there, hanging
out at nightclubs and S&M bars, I remember when kink.com moved to the Armory
in 07 and SoMa had a small uproar.

Some pieces of that still remain along Folsom there (1015, like a block from
Deli Board, for example). I'm happy he's showing off what SoMa is like but
this isn't news to anyone, and it shouldn't be to him either.

~~~
ethanbond
There's a difference between a seedy city with some personality and a
culturally neutered city with homeless people and human feces everywhere.

San Francisco has not always been the way it is now. Look at the numbers. This
doesn't seem to be a complaint that poor people exist, it's that SF is failing
its citizens by allowing this to get worse.

~~~
micaksica
> it's that SF is failing its citizens by allowing this to get worse.

The electorate of San Francisco themselves are failing these people.

The San Francisco government is elected by and serves (primarily) the property
owners, then tenants, of San Francisco through their tax revenue. If people
are this pissed off about it, they should be funding and opening more shelters
and affordable housing, but instead NIMBYism and the zoning laws are forcing
more "luxury" apartments and lack of building that these people never had any
hope of affording.

Of course, slacktivism reigns due to its easier barrier to entry.

~~~
kafkaesq
Yup. We'd think that a city that literally pulled itself up from the ashes not
too long ago could take care of its current public defecation issues, if it
had a half a mind (and a bit of spare change) to devote to the issue.

