The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Here's an interesting local vote to watch: San Francisco's sit/lie referendum.
If you want to be annoyed to the point of apoplexy, read what San Francisco's vagrants have to say for themselves in Heather MacDonald's terrific piece about the homelessness industry in the Haight-Ashbury. I'm trying to find a quote to extract here, but it's a challenge, because they seem to be unable to express themselves without using profanities. Ah, I found one that's not obscene, at least not technically--although it's certainly monumentally irritating:
Why should people give you money? “They got a dollar and I don’t,” Cory replies. Why don’t you work? “We do work,” retorts Eeyore. “I carry around this heavy backpack. We wake up at 7 AM and work all day. It’s hard work.” She’s referring to begging and drinking. She adds judiciously: “Okay, my liver hates me, but I like the idea of street performance. We’re trying to get a dollar for beer.” More specifically, they’re aiming for two Millers and a Colt 45 at the moment, explains Zombie. Aren’t you embarrassed to be begging? “I’m not begging, I’m just asking for money,” Cory says, seemingly convinced of the difference. How much do you make? “In San Francisco, you don’t get much—maybe $30 to $40 a day,” says Eeyore. “When you’re traveling, you can make about $100 on freeway off-ramps.”
What more conventional people consider “employment” is, in the eyes of the street punk, something conferred gratuitously. “People see you, they’re like, ‘Get a job.’ You’re like, ‘Okay, pay me, hire me. You know, do something!’ ” a boy complains on a promotional video made by Larkin Street Youth Services, a local organization that serves “homeless” youth. Meantime, welfare will do just fine. A strapping young redhead trudging down Haight Street with a bedroll and a large backpack explains the convenience of his electronic food-stamp card, which he can use to pick up his benefits wherever he happens to be—whether in Eugene, Oregon, where he started his freight-train route last Halloween, or in California.
Anyone who's ever been there knows these descriptions are absolutely accurate. I'm so annoyed now that I have to stop thinking about this lest I have a hemorrhage.
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May '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
You see panhandlers sitting on the sidewalk using a Starbucks cup for begging. Then you see them at Starbucks downing the beverage of their choice.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
from the article - Aren’t you embarrassed to be begging? “I’m not begging, I’m just asking for money,” Cory says, seemingly convinced of the difference.
Panhandling isn't just for the homeless. I had a relative (no more info than that for my family's sake) who referred to his government disability check as his "paycheck" - as if he had worked for it. No embarrassment. He was entitled to it.
Makes me nuts just thinking about it.
May '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
I'm a lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fanatic. I hate the Oakland Raiders. More to the point, I detest the Raiders' fan base - they are proof positive that you can buy football tickets with food stamps. I used to watch Chiefs-Raiders games and ponder these degenerates, wondering, "Where do all these freaks come from?" Now I know.
May '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
I was walking down the Street the other day and there was a guy sitting on the ground, leaning against a telephone poll. A young woman strode by purposefully. When he stuck out his hand, she barked, "You're a grown man. Stop asking women for money!" Claire, you would have been proud.
Oct '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Its cases like these that really anger me because there are people who are homeless not by choice and who are in need of help. I want to help those people, but how do you distinguish them from the posers? Is it a matter of age? I have always taken the philosophy that if they are lying or really not in need, then God will be their judge, but I find it hard to maintain that philosophy at times.
Maybe next time, if some kid asks me, I'll offer to pay him for some real work and see if they actually take it up.
Edited on Oct 29, 2010 at 6:49amMay '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
chadn737: Maybe next time, if some kid asks me, I'll offer to pay him for some real work and see if they actually take it up. · Oct 29 at 6:46am
Edited on Oct 29 at 06:49 am
There are plenty of places in San Francisco where able-bodied men gather for day-labor jobs; the Haight Ashbury is not one of them.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Wonder how many times these bums get to vote.
Sep '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Trace Urdan
chadn737: Maybe next time, if some kid asks me, I'll offer to pay him for some real work and see if they actually take it up. · Oct 29 at 6:46am
Edited on Oct 29 at 06:49 am
There are plenty of places in San Francisco where able-bodied men gather for day-labor jobs; the Haight Ashbury is not one of them. · Oct 29 at 7:03am
More than a few times, as a child, I rode with my Grandmother to a rough part of town where she'd role down the window and hire random men to work in her yard.
She was viewed as a little eccentric but plucky. Today, they congregate in a differnt location, near "rehab" clinics. It would be an insane risk but I wonder if they'd be willing to do hard manual labor. The entitlement mentality and drug abuse are the big changes.
May '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
A policeman here in north Houston once told me some "bums" make more money than he does. I'm more comfortable giving food. It is difficult to know genuine homeless from the fakes.
When I attended the University of Houston, a guy regularly stood by the traffic light at the highway entrance. One morning, I happened to have a bag of trail mix, so I held it out for him as I was passing by and he took it. It was the end of the semester. When I returned weeks later, the guy recognized me and waved. It's easier to discern who genuinely needs help in retrospect.
I've always been more sympathetic when it comes to places to sleep. One can spontaneously and quickly find a way to earn food. But shelter requires contracts and a reliable source of income. The great injustice against the homeless is that public property isn't really public. If you don't own property, the law essentially holds that you have no right to be anywhere. If someone complains about a bum's presence, police will force him to move (offer a night in jail, if they're generous and have space).
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
I lived on Ashbury Street in the '80's. It was always a "colorful," with some left over drug trade from the hippie days. But the businesses were solid. A funky bowling alley, clubs, independent retailers, affordable small restaurants, along with thrift stores and an occasional head shop (until they were essentially outlawed in the mid-eighties.) In fact there was a little bed and breakfast where I housed my parents when they came to visit and they never complained. The biggest "blight" for the neighbors was when they put a GAP at the corner of Haight and Ashbury. (Gentrification, oh no!) Still, it went in without being burned down.
I visited the area four years ago to rent bikes and ride in Golden Gate Park with another family. All the great shops were gone and it was so infested with old stained mattresses, urine smells and aggressive panhandlers we couldn't get out fast enough, except we couldn't find a cab that would stop in the area.
If you think spoiled college kids and poor Gen-X workers have entitlement issues, these street punks have the market cornered. Along with the advocates who defend them.
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Read the article, Aaron. SFPD cannot roust these hostile indigents. The law makes it impossible. And I don't agree...public property is that which we collectively support financially and is to be used appropriately by agreement of the community. Sidewalk living is not "appropriate." And the vestibule of a business is private property and the owners/renters deserve to use it to benefit themselves and society.
According to this article, 100 beds a night go empty in homeless shelters in San Fran. This is not about homelessness, it's about behavior. These punks are like all spoiled children...they have not had to deal with the consequences of their actions. (Arrest, conviction and time served.) So they continue with their indulgent behaviors to their own and society's detriment.
Edited on Oct 29, 2010 at 7:46amMay '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Not in San Francisco my friend. If someone complains about a bum's presence they have to be willing to go to court to testify against them. You come and see this for yourself. Houston is several universes away from what goes on today in Denise's old stomping grounds.
Feb '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
FDR, ironically, said it best:
"The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. ... The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief."
I take him at his word that he intended for welfare to be a temporary measure. He certainly sounds sincere and seems to understand how morally corrupting it is.
Yet here we are, with millions in "continued dependence" which leads to "spiritual and moral disintegration" that destroys the human spirit.
The lethal combination is the power the government gains when people become dependent upon it. People become addicted to government help, and politicians becomes addicted to the votes of the dependent and to the power it gives government to tinker with society and achieve desired social ends. This is why the welfare programs were never ended.
Oct '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
Up here in Vancouver, we have a very similar problem, though I don't think it's as rough as described in the article. However, there are plenty of fakes. I wouldn't mind helping some of them, but there's just so many, and it's hard to know who's real and who's not.
Pedestrians in downtown Vancouver suffer from homeless fatigue, with many of them staking out their claim to their own piece of the street.
One of them even snarled that my wife was fat when we turned him down. Yeah, that's a good way to build sympathy.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
[Hope this isn't a duplicate post.] Isn't the vote irrelevant? Probably more out of resignation than laziness - but resignation is a kind of laziness - the writer treats judicial review as inevitable and unfavorable. Whatever San Franciscans vote for, we are to understand it'll be reversed.
Is this true? And is it distinctly American? I have read any number of news items about Brazilian court actions and I think I've heard only once of a law being overturned. More to the point, though, I have never heard any Brazilian consider this to be normal. Whether it goes on always, sometimes, or never, for sound or bogus reasons, nobody expects it. And that is admirable. I hope America regains an ability to be amazed by the capers of judges, and an unstinting preference for legislators over lawgivers.
Jul '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
The social services industry in San Francisco is one of the most powerful interest groups in the city. It has managed to convince people it occupies the high ground on such issues as whether it should be permissible to defecate on the streets without penalty, if you set aside the occasional tut-tut from uptight individuals who might pass as someone's bowels are being evacuated. But what right to they have to lay their hygiene trip on somebody else? Creating ever-expanding classes of victimhood creates more work for bureaucracy that must perforce grow to minister to their needs. It is the rare liberal politician (there have not been any conservatives in office for two decades or more now) who can stand up to the ravenous social services industry. Supervisors are elected by district, making it possible for tightly organized radicals to capture political control by increments. The moral relativism they bring to bear -- who says clean streets are a higher value than freedom to beg? -- means there are no common assumptions anymore than can be brought to bear on matters of civic importance. Freedom has become license, but nobody cares in Baghdad by the Bay.
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
What do you think, is the proposed ordinance an appropriate way to address this problem? I wonder.
Aug '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
My favorite homeless story is the time I saw a guy on the street corner with his sign asking for money talking on his cell phone!
In all seriousness, I think the homeless problem really accelerated in this country when the mental health advocates "freed" the mentally ill from insitutions. These folks make up the majority of hard core homeless and most should be institutionalized for their own good and the good of society.
This would also help separate the mentally ill who truly need help from the posers and punks, who I'm guessing would stop panhandling if it meant they had to spend some mandatory time in a mental health facility.
May '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
I thought twice about it honestly. I like my police on a short leash generally. But the experience of other cities that have similar ordinances is that it acts as an effective deterrent. It's not an automatic ticket to the hoosegow -- only if you fail to move when the police ask. And the issue of obnoxious kids in the Haight is far less severe than the more serious matter of busting up drug trafficking in the Tenderloin. "Everybody keep moving along" is not a bad government policy for an economy in recession.
Jul '10
Re: The Unbearable Self-Indulgence of San Francisco's Vagrants
In the 1990's, I was considering moving from the leafy Upper West Side of Manhattan to a new high-rise in the grittier Times Square neighborhood.
My wife was concerned about crime around Times Square, so I visited the police precincts in both neighborhoods to research the statistics.
Turned out that the oh-so-civilized Upper West Side had five times more violent crime than Times Square.
Why? The uber-liberal folks uptown had aggressively lobbied the City over the years to establish a network of homeless shelters in their neighborhood. Sort of a reverse-gentrification drive to make them feel virtuous and welcoming to the unfortunate homeless.
And those poor, vulnerable homeless guys went on a spree of rape, robbery and murder.