Homeless Pooping In Public A Problem In San Francisco

How can people sink so low? It's here also but I stay way clear of those areas.

Feel sorry for some but not others.
 

Back when I was living in the SF bay area we had a big problem with those called hippies and some other strange groups. They were in SF and across the bridge in places like Sausolito and I think another place was Tiburon. Just as trashy as those today. They lived on the streets and used the streets as toilets too. They would just go anyplace they felt like and take over unoccupied properties. Those were then trashed and made unusable. There were some city and state parks they took over and made them unsafe for the tourist or locals to be able to use. It was often in the newspapers just how crude and inconsiderate they all were.

It seems that California still has not learned now to maintain a safe society for all its people. I still remember my times in SF area and still have family members living out there. But at today's housing prices in California, I bought a brand new house in 1960 for about $14,500. Today that home has been sold for near $400,000. It is a small trac home built with no insulation. I don't know where the people are working in California to be able to pay that much for a cheap old 60 year old home. Similar prices in the LA area too.

Maybe that is why so many folks are living on the streets and using the streets for their toilets too.
 
But for the grace of God go I.

I see so many here in Eureka, women my age, broken. I would like to know their story, but some either won't share it, or they are no longer mentally capable. I think about the people they loved, at one time, and those that loved them, maybe still do. I don't judge any because I don't know the "whys" behind their "life" such as it is now. It makes me all the more grateful that I still have some morals, and one, remaining marble that I am hoping will eventually, divide and multiply.
 
I think this is sad.

Some places won’t allow people to just come in and use the restroom. I’m not homeless, I always try to be clean and well-groomed, but I also know emergencies happen. I got very sick once on the bus, got off and had to run into a store and ask to use the restroom. I was directed to the employee lounge area. Otherwise I would have had an accident.

When working in an office I remember once when a temp at the front desk buzzed and said there was a woman wanting to use the rest room. Well, several people looked at each other and whispered and finally someone told her to give the woman the key. For crying out loud.

 
I think some people should try getting thru the day and pretend they don't have access to a bathroom. See what happens. Not a pleasant feeling. My mother and several relatives lost control of their bowel and urination functions later in life. It's humiliating and sad.
 
applecruncher said:
I think some people should try getting thru the day and pretend they don't have access to a bathroom. See what happens. Not a pleasant feeling. My mother and several relatives lost control of their bowel and urination functions later in life. It's humiliating and sad.
Click to expand...

I see your point but as someone who frequently worked outside, out of a car/truck, construction sites etc there are several ways to do your business that are free and more discrete for both men and women. Especially for those in question because discretion is apparently not a worry. A cup, bottle, box or bag from a trash can or dumpster can do wonders.

I'll admit there are places that don't allow the homeless or public to use their restrooms and I see why. I've seen them trash local libraries in more than city. One library had one guy was coming in at least once a week basically for his weekly bathing using all the paper towels and toilet paper after basically splashing their dirty water everywhere. Along with tying it for a half hour or so. Don't have to be rich to be neat or considerate.

There are reasons for sanitary standards this is not just about appearances.
 
Once again compassion appears to take second place to blame. Part of the side effects of being malnourished are urinary/bowel problems. Perhaps we should focus on the cause rather than denigrate the unfortunate. Speaking as a formerly homeless person, my sojourn on the street did not fill me with Either the capacity to be well groomed in a wet Vancouver winter, or a huge desire to be considerate towards people who happily ignored a hungry, shivering, frightened seventeen year old child who was not there by choice. You can imagine the offers I received as an incentive to be fed. one person offered me dinner and a bath in exchange for something I will not mention.
 
Thanks Shalimar, I can feel a lot of compassion, but in the same instant, look the other way. I feel some of the things that happen to us are things to give us more compassion for our fellow man/woman. I've been homeless, and only recently found a place I could afford on my low-income retirement. It's changed me for the good I hope, instead of being bitter or angry about it. I was at first. I'm sure no Mother Teresa as one gal liked to call me, I still want what I want, when I want it, and that is usually "yesterday" ;)
 
I hear you AC, that reminds me of how many elderly I see on the streets:( One gal was unwilling to try for anything, either that or she had, and somehow blew it. I know one gal got section 8 housing but allowed a guy, or maybe it was her kids to move in. So she lost her housing she said.
 
Shalimar said:
Once again compassion appears to take second place to blame. Part of the side effects of being malnourished are urinary/bowel problems. Perhaps we should focus on the cause rather than denigrate the unfortunate. Speaking as a formerly homeless person, my sojourn on the street did not fill me with Either the capacity to be well groomed in a wet Vancouver winter, or a huge desire to be considerate towards people who happily ignored a hungry, shivering, frightened seventeen year old child who was not there by choice. You can imagine the offers I received as an incentive to be fed. one person offered me dinner and a bath in exchange for something I will not mention.
Click to expand...

A fellow traveler, I feel fortunate to have you here Shalimar.

The big cities are the worst as you know already. I recently read an article on homeless women in San Francisco. It was horrible scarey:( Some get a monthly SS check and when they get it, low-lifes are waiting for them to take it, rape them, even murder some. Eureka is a smaller town, and some ritzy areas, but you don't have to drive far to "old-town" near the boardwalk to see so many.

Like someone said, some choose it. They can't bear to be "caged" in, or under someone's supervision or management. It's been easy for me to just follow the rules at the 2 missions I stayed at before moving here. I mean, I kept looking at my alternatives like sleeping under bridges, or anywhere I think I might get a night's sleep in peace.
 
One thing that was big in the days I lived in SF area, was drugs. I suppose that and alcoholism could be part of the problem these days too. And there are other things that can happen as well that makes it hard to find a job for long periods of time. It is economics and things governments can do that can be a problem. Such a long list of ways for the people to get into such problems.

For some of us the drugs and alcohol can be disastrous.

Mind states can be among them. Where for some, they don't want to be in buildings as they prefer to be outdoors and in freedom they say. While working in Colorado a met a person like that. He lived in his small pickup truck. Summer or winter it did not matter he told me. He was working two jobs when I met him on my second shift factory job. He was a army vet and trying to build up enough savings to pay off a ranch in Wyoming where he intended to raise cattle and call that his retirement home. I hope he managed to do that. He was not one for mixing with people. At work he would lunch on his own, away from where the people gathered. A pretty nice person but really different from most of us. I was able to talk with him as my daughter had a Studebaker and there was the remains of one on the land he had started to pay for. It did not work out well but worth a try. The one on his land was too far destroyed to be any help. A long drive from mid Colorado to where his land was. At least it was just a short drive off I-25.
 
Last edited:
BobF said:
One thing that was big in the days I lived in SF area, was drugs. I suppose that and alcoholism could be part of the problem these days too. And there are other things that can happen as well that makes it hard to find a job for long periods of time. It is economics and things governments can do that can be a problem. Such a long list of ways for the people to get into such problems.

For some of us the drugs and alcohol can be disastrous.

Mind states can be among them. Where for some, they don't want to be in buildings as they prefer to be outdoors and in freedom they say. While working in Colorado a met a person like that. He lived in his small pickup truck. Summer or winter it did not matter he told me. He was working two jobs when I met him on my second shift factory job. He was a army vet and trying to build up enough savings to pay off a ranch in Wyoming where he intended to raise cattle and call that his retirement home. I hope he managed to do that. He was not one for mixing with people. At work he would lunch on his own, away from where the people gathered. A pretty nice person but really different from most of us. I was able to talk with him as my daughter had a Studebaker and there was the remains of one on the land he had started to pay for. It did not work out well but worth a try. The one on his land was too far destroyed to be any help. A long drive from mid Colorado to where his land was. At least it was just a short drive of I-25.
Click to expand...

I see the drugs and alcohol being "probably" the biggest reason for street-people/homeless-ness. But I haven't seen the whole picture. Lots of our veterans out there for sure:( Everyone has a story, sometimes you are fortunate enough to hear one. I say that because of a book I read called Mercy Beyond Measure. Can't think of the authors name now but he used to speak a lot around the country, and started Church on the Street in Atlanta (I believe I have the city right).

He was headed for college in Portland Oregon, and became fascinated (or drawn to) with the Burnside district. I lived near Portland about 20 years and most of our crowd didn't want to go near there. Skid Row. Anyway, he became so involved he would stay overnight with the street dwellers, and has spent much of his life helping them. He came close to being killed by a guy that was off his rocker, and the many stories he tells in the book are worth the read in my opinion.
 
L.A. has a sizable "skid row" near the downtown area; the smell of excrement & urine wafts on the breeze there. It's my understanding that sometime back in the 80s it was decided that mental health care for the indigent was "too expensive", so they were cast out onto the streets The reasoning cited was that it was a violation of an individuals rights to be held against ones will in a mental hospital, if they were not a threat to themselves or others. Of course, not all homeless fit in this category, but I believe that it is the sub-group of homeless that have mental health issues that cause the most feeling of revulsion for society at-large.
 
Access to mental health and rehab services, employment services, childcare, safe shelters with graduation to safe public housing. But where does the money come from is the biggest problem. If they could build a model with all of those services in place, they could get a lot of people off the streets. Paying for it I don't know.
 
tnthomas said:
L.A. has a sizable "skid row" near the downtown area; the smell of excrement & urine wafts on the breeze there. It's my understanding that sometime back in the 80s it was decided that mental health care for the indigent was "too expensive", so they were cast out onto the streets The reasoning cited was that it was a violation of an individuals rights to be held against ones will in a mental hospital, if they were not a threat to themselves or others. Of course, not all homeless fit in this category, but I believe that it is the sub-group of homeless that have mental health issues that cause the most feeling of revulsion for society at-large.
Click to expand...

Good point tnt, some have scared the daylights out of me. I heard about the mental hospitals "back when" that came about. I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time, but I have met many of those cases, either that or they are good actors. One guy here in this area talks to himself and laughs, every time I see him he is doing it, and that is pretty often I see him. He'll sit on the boardwalk and take much of his clothing off and just sit in the Sun, rub his feet and legs like they are hurting him:(

Another gal I saw around in Coos Bay where no shelter would allow her in for overnight, just appeared so normal, cute little thing although most of her teeth were jagged. But she would go off for no apparent reason. I saw her take a fork at dinner when I was at the mission there, and she started yelling and stabbing the table.

The worst I believe I ever ran into in this last year was a gal that believed she was being tormented by demons/satan. Maybe she was but her solution was bleach:( I smelled it strong so I asked her if she'd been cleaning something. She explained that she washed her hair with it, and her skin. We found out she was not using water/showers at all. The final straw was catching her gargling with bleach. The mission managers really freaked then, and so did I when I saw her doing it. I have no idea where she went when they kicked her out because she had no intention of stopping.

God only knows where she is now.
 
tnthomas said:
L.A. has a sizable "skid row" near the downtown area; the smell of excrement & urine wafts on the breeze there. It's my understanding that sometime back in the 80s it was decided that mental health care for the indigent was "too expensive", so they were cast out onto the streets The reasoning cited was that it was a violation of an individuals rights to be held against ones will in a mental hospital, if they were not a threat to themselves or others. Of course, not all homeless fit in this category, but I believe that it is the sub-group of homeless that have mental health issues that cause the most feeling of revulsion for society at-large.
Click to expand...
That was after Kennedy was assassinated. No one would follow up on his plans for community based mental health treatment vs shutting people up in institutions. Most of the mental hospital were closed or just partially open and all these mentally ill people were cast out on the streets. For the funding for their care was gone. I was a case manager at that time and patients were put in jail, for their inappropriate behavior. When they just needed to be on medication. It was a horrible revolving door thing. Put them in a psych ward for 72 hours, long enough to stabilize them. Then back out on the streets, not keeping follow up appts. Then back in jail for "pooping in the street" or other inappropriate behaviors. Do not know if it has improved/changed any.
 
fureverywhere said:
Access to mental health and rehab services, employment services, childcare, safe shelters with graduation to safe public housing. But where does the money come from is the biggest problem. If they could build a model with all of those services in place, they could get a lot of people off the streets. Paying for it I don't know.
Click to expand...

That's the crux of the problem for sure, money. Just think if everyone chipped in a few bucks, voluntarily I mean. There are lots of donations, see them all the time, but only from a small part of the population. Even I could afford something, but I don't give often enough. It's hard to say we live in a "great" country when there are so many suffering. Seems like the "haves" and the "have nots".

But again, there are such wonderful folks out there, truly giving their all to help. One thing is all the empty buildings/houses and lot after lot of unused RVs in storage. Those that live close enough to the hills or mountains sometimes just disappear into them to make their way. I don't know anyone personally that's done that, just heard about them. Escape from New York comes to mind, old movie, but seems it could be a reality one day.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top