zlacker

>>NaOH+(OP)
The title let me down; I was hoping this would be an article about a trebuchet. [edit: I see the post title has changed, the original one was something like "park ranger uses extraordinary methods to remove homeless from SF parks"]

I lived next to the park for several years and grew to loathe the dynamic where the lives of people sleeping rough in Golden Gate Park or Civic Center merit months of one-on-on outreach, while the lives of all of those who can't walk through the park in safety, can't send their kids there to play, and can't sit on the grass for fear of stepping on a used needle or a pile of human excrement, don't seem to matter.

I would like to see the city adopt a compassionate approach that doesn't at the same time enable years of lawbreaking by people who make nominally public spaces off-limits to the law-abiding. I'd like to see a San Francisco where there can be at least one clean, safe, working public toilet.

>>idlewo+L9
You should tell your elected officials that you support more initiatives to help the unhoused then.

I've ben homeless. It's not fun. Nobody does it because they want to. Ending up on the street trying to make the most basic of normality work is really hard work. I didn't end up on meth or anything (I stuck to alcohol), but I understand why some people facing this do. When your life is utter shite, drugs help.

Without any kind of social safety net the people who fall out of the bottom of society have nowhere to go except this. Build a decent safety net and they won't be living in the park and the park becomes the better place you'd like it to be.

So, on behalf of the unhoused: sorry your kids can't play in the park but we're facing bigger problems. Helping us with our problems will help you with yours.

>>marcus+ac
San Francisco's homelessness budget in 2021 was $1.1 billion, for a homeless population of maybe 10,000. That works out to $110K per person before you add in state and Federal money.

Say this budget was doubled. What should that money be spent on, that isn't being funded now?

>>idlewo+hm
I'll take the next $1.1 and provide them with new tents and sleeping bags and shoes.

More seriously, you get grafts like these. $800k for sheds in Los Angeles [1] or 300k for shipping containers in Oakland [2]. These are the type of stories that destroy hope that government us up to the task of handling the problem, no matter how much money they throw at it.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-05/lopez-co...

https://oaklandside.org/2024/07/10/oakland-fbi-investigation...

>>s1arti+jo
If I may give you some optimism for LA:

https://abc7.com/post/federal-judge-frustrated-missing-data-...

"frustrated" is an understatement.

"You're not working on your time frame now. You're working on mine," Carter said.

And surprise. LA is getting small improvements on the homeless situation.