San Fransisco suddenly clean just before dignitaries arrive

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California
Within 2 days, streets and sidewalks were cleaned, homeless people were moved out, and open-drug use ended in some of the most problematic areas near the conference center at the corner of Seventh and Mission Streets. These problems have existed for years, becoming increasingly worse and even dangerous.

For years, local residents, commuters, and business owners have complained, written the governor and their representatives in congress, and even the US president, explaining the filth and dangers in detail, demanding a solution.

When it was decided the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting would take place, bringing foreign leaders, including Xi Jiping, a massive transformation of these areas was undertaken, including power washing, landscaping, painting murals and decorating sidewalks, and turning a dilapidated plaza into a skateboard park and outdoor café, done in a matter of days, and on the city's existing budgets, leaving taxpayers to wonder why these efforts weren't undertaken for them.

The governor tweeted (or X'ed), "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true.”

And normal citizens are tweeting stuff like, "Amazing what San Francisco leaders will do to impress China but not the taxpayers who write their paychecks."

source: San Francisco Is Suddenly Clean and Newsom Just Admitted Why
 

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They used to roust the homeless in Florida of the main highways especially near the beach. By late November/early December people they barely noticed mid summer were being shooed away from buildings they used to sit or sleep against.

The funny things that not all snow birds or tourist would eat in their hotel or at the beach and would go inland for their usual Mickey Ds/fast food convenience store breakfeast. The homeless would hang out that those place en mass. One Mcky Ds had a waist high wall around their parking lot which makes the perfect bench. I counted 30 one morning. But every day shortly after sunrise that's where they would go I guess looking for handouts or spend the few dollars they scrounged up in change for coffee, dollar menu. Even smaller less busy places the homeless would hang in the corners of the dining areas. I thought hanging out in or near business was more troublesome than a few here or there leaning or sitting against a wall.

I saw on the news that the bay area had some protests and fires. I doubt visitors thought SF was a paradise because they still got a look at reality if they ventured away from the hotels and meeting areas.
 

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Murrmurr said:
Within 2 days, streets and sidewalks were cleaned, homeless people were moved out, and open-drug use ended in some of the most problematic areas near the conference center at the corner of Seventh and Mission Streets. These problems have existed for years, becoming increasingly worse and even dangerous.

For years, local residents, commuters, and business owners have complained, written the governor and their representatives in congress, and even the US president, explaining the filth and dangers in detail, demanding a solution.

When it was decided the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting would take place, bringing foreign leaders, including Xi Jiping, a massive transformation of these areas was undertaken, including power washing, landscaping, painting murals and decorating sidewalks, and turning a dilapidated plaza into a skateboard park and outdoor café, done in a matter of days, and on the city's existing budgets, leaving taxpayers to wonder why these efforts weren't undertaken for them.

The governor tweeted (or X'ed), "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true.”

And normal citizens are tweeting stuff like, "Amazing what San Francisco leaders will do to impress China but not the taxpayers who write their paychecks."

source: San Francisco Is Suddenly Clean and Newsom Just Admitted Why
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gotta love it
 
WhatInThe said:
They used to roust the homeless in Florida of the main highways especially near the beach. By late November/early December people they barely noticed mid summer were being shooed away from buildings they used to sit or sleep against.

The funny things that not all snow birds or tourist would eat in their hotel or at the beach and would go inland for their usual Mickey Ds/fast food convenience store breakfeast. The homeless would hang out that those place en mass. One Mcky Ds had a waist high wall around their parking lot which makes the perfect bench. I counted 30 one morning. But every day shortly after sunrise that's where they would go I guess looking for handouts or spend the few dollars they scrounged up in change for coffee, dollar menu. Even smaller less busy places the homeless would hang in the corners of the dining areas. I thought hanging out in or near business was more troublesome than a few here or there leaning or sitting against a wall.

I saw on the news that the bay area had some protests and fires. I doubt visitors thought SF was a paradise because they still got a look at reality if they ventured away from the hotels and meeting areas.
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When I managed an Italian restaurant (20-some years ago), I let the kitchen crew give food to the few homeless guys who showed at closing time. It was good stuff...orders that were sent back and deliveries that weren't picked up, and produce and bread we couldn't keep overnight. In other words, not garbage.

Like most others, that restaurant can't do that anymore. It violates Sac County's health and safety rules. The county says they're protecting the homeless from possibly spoiled food. I think it's ok for 24-hr fast-food places to do it, though, and I see groups of homeless hanging out at our local Taco Bell and McD's.

But Sacramento has dozens of missions, restaurants, and churches that serve one meal a day, 5 to 7 days a week, all of them near homeless encampments. They're volunteers that have city permits to do this.
 
MarciKS said:
I would think it would be safer to do that than have them eating from your dumpsters.
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it always worries me when I see people dumpster diving for food.. not so much the homeleess because they have to take chances or risk starving.. but people who dumpster divve for food rather than pay full price for it.

they pull out unopened packages of processed food, sandwiches et al.. sighting the fact they're unopened and potentially still in date as safe to eat.

Nothing could be further from the truth.. When my daughter was a baby I worked in 2 of our better quality supermarkets( Waitrose & Sainsbury) .. and much of the food that's thrown out has been stored wrongly.. so that salmonella has potentially got in there due to improper temperatures or cross contamination... ..so people are taking a great risk at thinking they've struck Gold by finding and eating food from a supermarket dumpster..
 
I was there in downtown San Francisco last Saturday 11/11/23, the first APEC day. While it may have been true that they had cleaned up parts of downtown, there were other areas just as gross as before. When I visit downtown areas or Oracle Park stadium (SF Giants) or Chase Arena (Golden State Warriors), I park in the relatively safe upscale hilly Portrero Hill neighborhoods. To reach downtown, then take the SF Muni bus Route 19 north a couple miles to downtown at Mission Street at 7th Street.

Walking east, until I reached mid 5th Street that is opposite the SF Chronicle newspaper building, there were numbers of junkies. Further east, yes they were cleared. They also cleared out the huge tenting mess about the civic center where I attended a Hip Hop dance event. Expect the Tenderloin areas just northeast were as foul looking as usual because those APEC visitors would have no reason to visit that west of downtown area.
 
hollydolly said:
it always worries me when I see people dumpster diving for food.. not so much the homeleess because they have to take chances or risk starving.. but people who dumpster divve for food rather than pay full price for it.

they pull out unopened packages of processed food, sandwiches et al.. sighting the fact they're unopened and potentially still in date as safe to eat.

Nothing could be further from the truth.. When my daughter was a baby I worked in 2 of our better quality supermarkets( Waitrose & Sainsbury) .. and much of the food that's thrown out has been stored wrongly.. so that salmonella has potentially got in there due to improper temperatures or cross contamination... ..so people are taking a great risk at thinking they've struck Gold by finding and eating food from a supermarket dumpster..
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Markets throwing away perfectly good food is how "Free-Stores" got started in the US....literally called "Free-Stores" and they're still around.

Back in the 60s, big chain store markets like Safeway and Albertsons would toss out bruised apples, lumpy lettuce, blemished bananas...just all kinds of produce that wasn't ideally pretty. So, a group of hippies in San Fransisco went around gathering it all up to take to their incense shop and give it away.

They got into trouble with the city after the supermarkets complained (ironically), but instead of getting all mad about it, these hippies formed an organization and asked the city for permission to open the US's first Free-Store.

And, if I remember right, it was Harvey Milk of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who helped them get a permit and business license and all that. Milk was assassinated in the 70s.
 
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David777 said:
I was there in downtown San Francisco last Saturday 11/11/23, the first APEC day. While it may have been true that they had cleaned up parts of downtown, there were other areas just as gross as before. When I visit downtown areas or Oracle Park stadium (SF Giants) or Chase Arena (Golden State Warriors), I park in the relatively safe upscale hilly Portrero Hill neighborhoods. To reach downtown, then take the SF Muni bus Route 19 north a couple miles to downtown at Mission Street at 7th Street.

Walking east, until I reached mid 5th Street that is opposite the SF Chronicle newspaper building, there were numbers of junkies. Further east, yes they were cleared. They also cleared out the huge tenting mess about the civic center where I attended a Hip Hop dance event. Expect the Tenderloin areas just northeast were as foul looking as usual because those APEC visitors would have no reason to visit that west of downtown area.
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You can bet the city won't let their visiting dignitaries see any of the bad parts.

Sacramento does pretty much the same thing; keeps the important tourist areas nice and clean. It's still hard to ignore the closed, shuttered businesses near those areas, though. It wouldn't surprise me if the city gives major tax breaks to the ones they want to stay open.
 
hollydolly said:
it always worries me when I see people dumpster diving for food.. not so much the homeleess because they have to take chances or risk starving.. but people who dumpster divve for food rather than pay full price for it.

they pull out unopened packages of processed food, sandwiches et al.. sighting the fact they're unopened and potentially still in date as safe to eat.

Nothing could be further from the truth.. When my daughter was a baby I worked in 2 of our better quality supermarkets( Waitrose & Sainsbury) .. and much of the food that's thrown out has been stored wrongly.. so that salmonella has potentially got in there due to improper temperatures or cross contamination... ..so people are taking a great risk at thinking they've struck Gold by finding and eating food from a supermarket dumpster..
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well some of them are aware of when restaurants throw out the last of the food they couldn't sell that day. around here the dumpster behind kentucky fried chicken gets lots of business.
 
Murrmurr said:
Within 2 days, streets and sidewalks were cleaned, homeless people were moved out, and open-drug use ended in some of the most problematic areas near the conference center at the corner of Seventh and Mission Streets. These problems have existed for years, becoming increasingly worse and even dangerous.

For years, local residents, commuters, and business owners have complained, written the governor and their representatives in congress, and even the US president, explaining the filth and dangers in detail, demanding a solution.

When it was decided the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting would take place, bringing foreign leaders, including Xi Jiping, a massive transformation of these areas was undertaken, including power washing, landscaping, painting murals and decorating sidewalks, and turning a dilapidated plaza into a skateboard park and outdoor café, done in a matter of days, and on the city's existing budgets, leaving taxpayers to wonder why these efforts weren't undertaken for them.

The governor tweeted (or X'ed), "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true.”

And normal citizens are tweeting stuff like, "Amazing what San Francisco leaders will do to impress China but not the taxpayers who write their paychecks."

source: San Francisco Is Suddenly Clean and Newsom Just Admitted Why
Click to expand...
I suggest we have major summits in every big city in North America from now on! Surely there are enough important subjects to discuss to clean up the most run-down areas in no time!
 
I reckon that given the choice between not eating, and eating from a dumpster, I'd make the right and necessary decision. Others choose to eat from the dumpster.

But seriously, rules/laws like not allowing restaurants to give away food to the homeless are just evil. Can you be more hate filled? Just like one of our politicians who wanted to introduce a tent ban for the homeless. It's a sick mentality that would suggest such a thing. It also shows a complete lack of understanding and empathy. I don't personally want to see rows of tents full of the homeless on my streets, but if I did would the problem be the tents, or that people are being left to live this way?

And yes, many are drug addicted, or with mental health issues, but wouldn't you need something to help you cope with eating from dumpsters and being on the street every night to be mocked by drunk resellers? What do people really expect, they'd all enroll in college?!?
 
Truly astounding, isn't it? i don't know what's more disturbing - that or the lack of American flags from the pictures I've seen.

Absolutely, tons of Chinese flags and no American. I can see having some Chinese flags up to greet the dignataries from China but the American flag should be at least equal to the Chinese and, ideally, should outnumber them.

Is this America or China? Has the CCP taken America/California over and they just haven't told us?
 
VaughanJB said:
I reckon that given the choice between not eating, and eating from a dumpster, I'd make the right and necessary decision. Others choose to eat from the dumpster.

But seriously, rules/laws like not allowing restaurants to give away food to the homeless are just evil. Can you be more hate filled? Just like one of our politicians who wanted to introduce a tent ban for the homeless. It's a sick mentality that would suggest such a thing. It also shows a complete lack of understanding and empathy. I don't personally want to see rows of tents full of the homeless on my streets, but if I did would the problem be the tents, or that people are being left to live this way?

And yes, many are drug addicted, or with mental health issues, but wouldn't you need something to help you cope with eating from dumpsters and being on the street every night to be mocked by drunk resellers? What do people really expect, they'd all enroll in college?!?
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Re: your tent-ban politician - Maybe the city is paying for the tents. Mine does. They have a contract with a major outfitter business. Every year the city gives them a fat check, and business gives the city thousands of dome-tents that sleep 2 to 4, and the contract gets bigger: more money for the outfitters, more tents for the city.

That's a misuse of taxpayer money, imo.

I've been sending my governor and state representatives the same letter for the past 4 years urging them to use our tax dollars to purchase a few of our largest abandoned malls and office complexes and turn them into factories that produce good citizens....homeless ne'er-do-wells go in, and up to 3 years later, self-sufficient people come out.

Inside: private rooms, a couple of cafeterias, mandatory rehab treatment program, a mental health center, skills and job training programs, job placement assistance, and finally, permanent housing assistance.
 

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