People talk about the filth, drugs and crime from all over the world about SF. People from New York and Australia talk about it on their visits. Our local papers discuss it regularly. It's a quality of life issue in one of our country's major cities. And to talk about it doesn't mean you hate living here or are miserable in life
As president of S.F. Travel, the city’s visitors bureau, Joe D’Alessandro’s job is to promote San Francisco. You’d think he’d be hyping the city’s gorgeous vistas, top-notch restaurants and glorious museums.
Instead, he’s getting honest.
Sure, San Francisco has great facets worthy of postcards and travel books, but it also has a worsening underbelly that D’Alessandro says he can no longer gloss over.
People injecting themselves with drugs in broad daylight, their dirty needles and other garbage strewn on the sidewalks. Tent camps. Human feces. The threatening behavior of some people who appear either mentally ill or high. Petty theft.
“The streets are filthy. There’s trash everywhere. It’s disgusting,” D’Alessandro said, adding he’s traveled the world, and San Francisco stands out for the wrong reasons. “I’ve never seen any other city like this — the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs.
“How can it be?” he continued. “How can it have gotten to this point?”
Remember, this is the man whose job is to glorify San Francisco, which tells you something about how far the city has sunk.
“We can’t be quiet anymore,” D’Alessandro said. “We’ve got such a glorious history, such a beautiful setting, and the fact is, we’re letting it all slip away into this quality of life now that is not good for anybody. We’ve become complacent, and I think we’ve taken this as a kind of new normal, and it’s not. It’s wrong, and we have to do something about it.”
He said so many visitors are sending complaints to him about their experiences in San Francisco, he’s got to speak up. He joins a growing chorus of people whose jobs make them dubious about telling a columnist their real opinions of San Francisco, but who say they have to because working behind the scenes isn’t moving the needle. Well, so to speak.
In January, I told you about hotel managers and owners speaking out. Kevin Carroll, executive director of the Hotel Council, which represents 110 hotels, said at the time, “People say, ‘I love your city, I love your restaurants, but I’ll never come back.’”
In February, I told you that the Union Square Business Improvement District, which assesses extra property taxes to pay for services in the shopping mecca, was having to train retail workers on what to do when a severely mentally ill or drug-addicted person wreaks havoc in their store.
“We’re desperate enough to expose ourselves to look for solutions,” said Karin Flood, executive director of the business improvement district.
Paying for shelters and supportive housing, teams to coax the homeless inside, and drug, alcohol and mental health services costs a lot of money. And who brings in the biggest pot? Yep, the tourists and conventioneers. They spend $9 billion in San Francisco every year, $725 million of which goes to City Hall in the form of taxes.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Clean-up-San-Francisco-s-streets-tourist-12839281.php
Darth Omar (08-18-2018)
Bigdog (08-18-2018)
Bigdog (08-18-2018)
you were the one that said the comment first.
i mean you are super progressive. clearly there are way more progressive countries you'd be happier in.
so if you aren't going to leave for greener progressive pastures, why would you expect cawacko to leave liberal california?
are you self aware at all?
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