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There is no link. The people who shit on the sidewalk or street have serious mental issues. A large amount of the homeles there are batshit fucking insane and can be very dangrous.

A person in the right mind does not shit in the middle of a street or sidewalk, they'll shit in an alley or something. Or over a storm drain.

It's not like it's tourists urinating in public because there are so few public bathrooms.



We used to have institutions for the batshit fucking insane. Then came deinstitutionalization and we closed them in favor of the supposedly more humane community-based care organizations. Look how good a job those organizations are doing.


But why have I never seen this in Western Europe?

We have mental people here too. (And homeless mental people, it's not like all of Europe is some social democratic paradise.)

I think the root cause in SF is the crisis of homelessness which seems massive compared to what I have seen elsewhere.


Exactly. Apart from that, we have fecal collection bag dispensers (bin + bags) for collecting dogs' feces. It is emptied on a daily basis. Most homeless people here actually use it, apart from going to a homeless shelter which is another option.


SF has a weird advocacy culture that keeps people on the street. I can’t recall any other US city where this problem exists at scale.




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