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SF Lamp Post, Corroded by Urine, Nearly Kills Motorist
Since residents aren’t potty trained, San Francisco now coating public walls with urine-proof paint. (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco is disgusting. Yes, the bay, mountains, and ocean are beautiful. The geography might make it the most scenic setting for a metropolis outside of Rio de Janiero. But the city itself? Yuck.
Viewed from a high-rise or a fine restaurant, San Francisco remains striking, but stroll down a crumbling sidewalk and you’ll see the uglier reality. Trash blowing through the streets, grime coating every stationary object, and a putrid dumpster smell wafting through it all. Any identifiable tourist is quickly surrounded by scammers, vagrants and the meanest beggars you’ll find in the states.
The city’s Spanish-language motto is translated “Gold in Peace, Iron in War.” The first three words are accurate enough (“peace” might be misspelled), but the lamp posts are going to need a lot more iron if the residents can’t win their war on incontinence.
Concerns about San Francisco’s decaying light poles were ignited Monday night after one corroded by urine toppled onto a car, narrowly missing the driver.
The three-story-tall lamp post at Pine and Taylor streets snapped around 6:30 Monday and landed on a nearby car, almost crushing the driver. No one was injured.
A perfect storm of conditions rusted out the base of the pole, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials say, and caused it to fall. At the time, the lamp post, which was already old, was damaged by urine and weighed down by an oversized banner.
“We believe there was some contribution of dog or human urine on the base of the pole,” PUC spokesman Tyrone Jue said. “It has actually been an issue for us in the past. We encourage people and dogs alike to do their business in other places, like a proper restroom or one of our fire hydrants, which are stronger and made out of cast iron.”
I’ve never run a mayoral campaign, but opposing death by urine-corroded lamp posts might be a winning issue for the next challenger. Maybe the Ricochetti can help me in the comments. For all their talk about environmentalism, sustainability and stewardship, why are liberal cities so filthy?
Published in Culture
Cartman navigating through the “smug” of San Francisco:
The ardor is much reduced, but I did promise to say a few words for the city of St. Francis. Yesterday’s ardor came from two things.
1) I occasionally lecture at conservatives for always missing the boat. For being too conservative. For being too happy with what they are used to. In this case missing the boat relates to a huge societal change in America, the revitalization of cities and towns. This should be a natural movement for conservatives but since we are not used to nice cities, and since we have been deeply trained as Americans to be suspicious of cities, we are leaving this powerful new movement to liberals. SF and most cities where the revitalization is happening are filled with natural conservatives who end up liberal by default because conservatives have this weird anti-city allergy.
2) I really like SF. Speaking to this second point, at the risk of being rude, I have to say once more, what, fer chrissake, are you all looking at? Or smelling? Ok, I have read here and there – and on this thread – about the pampered SF homeless leaving smelly packages on the street or in apartment hallways. But isn’t there some exageration going on? No need to get into the beauty of SF, or that it’s just a great place to wander and enjoy architectural masterpieces (and I don’t mean only the Victorians). I mean everyone knows that. But what’s this dysfunction line? And panhandling? Really? How have I missed all that on my recent visits. Was I just lucky? I think not.
Gentrification (which I hope to turn into a positive word since what it means is re-vitalization and re-civilization) is happening everywhere. One way to measure that is safety. So much of SF now just seems very safe, and the boundaries of safety are constantly expanding. My wife and I went (only once!) to a one dollar movie theater on Market Street 40 years ago. Now THAT was an example of everything you all are talking about. But now? That section of the street has become a fantastically interesting shopping mall that is an architectural wonder full of happy normal people. The Ferry Building is back! And the former war zone between the Ferry Building and AT&T Park is a great walk, with old buildings brought back to life, and all of it packed with normal people doing normal things, and enjoying it. AT&T itself is another architectural wonder, and not only for the structure itself. It’s nestled perfectly into its neighborhood instead of being dropped into the center of an oceanic parking lot, as most post war ball parks are, and as Candlestick Park was. Speaking of which, the tsunami of safety, civility, and civilization called gentrification seems to be on the verge of rolling over Hunter’s Point, which was not only home to candlestick, but home to SF’s own Gaza strip. Soma and the Mission District, which used to be only slightly better than Hunter’s Point, are home to all the techies who have brought gentrification and civilization to those areas, too.
Ok, I’ll stop. But I hope a few people reconsider their positions. Especially the default conservative position that cities are dens of deprivation to be avoided at all costs. We’re missing a really important boat.
No. At least from my perspective, there’s not.
I’d ask…do you live here? Because I can testify from the position of having to pay absurdly high taxes for food, fuel, homes, basic municipal services…to see the monies squandered on supporting a sanctuary mindset that discourage tourism and even our office from booking company sponsored events for fear of attendees safety…is not exaggerated. (specifically, passing on a venue – The Monarch- because of the needle exchange that was in full effect next door)
I’ve not forgotten how stunningly beautiful this city is but, sadly, I’ve not been able to appreciate it’s post card qualities now for some time. I’m too busy worrying about my laptop getting stolen out of my car in Potrero Hill, were I to quickly run into Farley’s for a coffee-to-go. I’m afraid I don’t get the luxury of gazing at the scenery as much.
But hey, if my own testimony won’t serve, I suggest you hit up the parents of Katie Steinle and ask them if what happened to their daughter took any shine off this beautiful city by the bay.
Buster, no worries. Your testimony serves, and it is discouraging. But it seems true, at the same time, that, bad as your description might be, the borders in which you can feel a general sense of safety are much wider than they used to be. In addition to the large areas mentioned before, here’s a micro area…
It was close to 40 years ago when I actually lived in SF. My wife and I paid, as I recall, $140 a month for a grungy studio on Page St. It was a short walk to Market St. when Market St really WAS grungy. And maybe it’s only because I’m comparing to what came before, but the entrance areas to the Market St. BART stations are vastly nicer now. Oh, and that neighborhood I lived in, full of winos and broken glass, now has a name: Hayes Valley, and a million dollar cachet. Whoops, I forgot about SF prices. A ten million dollar cachet. My wife was shocked, literally, when we took our son by to show him how we once lived. All the stories of sluming it in those days lost all credibility!
I can only guess that pampered homeless, bolstered by the sanctuary mindset, might be pushing back against gentrification in the only smelly and/or dangerous way they can. Hopefully it’s a last gasp effort. Hopefully the new money set will grow tired of it. Hopefully, conservatives will give up their anti-city prejudices, move back, and help with the revival.
You make a few very salient points, Matty.
Hayes Valley is truly unrecognizable from the den of iniquity it once was. Now flourishing as the go-to spot for a meal of any variety.
The Duboce triangle is also, with the Valencia Gardens projects gone. Even more stark is by Pier 39, where once upon a time, the cable cars would offload unsuspecting tourists into what was essentially the “quad” of the projects there, where the cars were spun around, leaving the poor folks to run a virtual gauntlet in order to get to the wharf. That too, has all been swept away with gentrification (like you, I think the word a blessing, not a curse).
Perhaps I’m just angry over the tragedy on the pier and what it signifies. I really need to lift my head more to see my fortune at living in one of the most picturesque cities in the world, and with such rich history.
Thanks for the check. ;)
For what it’s worth, a friend of my recently gained a new roommate. One of the first things the roommate said upon moving here was she can’t believe how dirty San Francisco is. Granted she moved here from Singapore, but I’m pretty sure she was visiting the touristy areas and not deep San Francisco.