SF cleans up streets for Xi visit

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Gavin Newsom slammed for only cleaning up San Francisco "for Xi Jinping"

"I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true," Newsom said.

www.newsweek.com

I don't think the overall SF situation opens the door for a Republican takeover, but it might for Independents.

 

[Citysnaps]

Gavin Newsom slammed for only cleaning up San Francisco "for Xi Jinping"

"I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true," Newsom said.

www.newsweek.com

I don't think the overall SF situation opens the door for a Republican takeover, but it might for Independents.

SF has been working on that independent of and way before APEC.

But yes, with the leaders of 21 APEC countries coming into SF, and wanting to offer a great experience for them with the goal of fostering future trade relationships with SF, certainly accelerated that. Is the media really getting huffed up about that? Mice nuts.

If I was still in grade school I'd muster up an oversized "duuuuuh" in concert with one of my very best eye-rolls.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

SF has been working on that independent of and way before APEC.

But yes, with the leaders of 21 APEC countries coming into SF, and wanting to offer a great experience for them with the goal of fostering future trade relationships with SF, certainly accelerated that. Is the media really getting huffed up about that? Mice nuts.

If I was still in grade school I'd muster up an oversized "duuuuuh" in concert with one of my very best eye-rolls.

Still not a good look for those on the right who target SF specifically for “the future of a Democrat America” propaganda. My boss commutes from SF and will be the first to tell you that it isn’t the blanket shithole the right loves to harp on.

Right or wrong, the left and their media don’t go out of their way to advertise the Republican governed shitholes full of poverty, crime, and drug addiction of which there is no shortage. I think I posted in another thread that the right-wing think tanks who love to advertise crime ridden liberal cities purposely set the population floor so that it wouldn’t include Republican cities. So if data shows that cities with a population of 100k with high crime and poverty are run by Republicans they set the floor at 120k so those cities won’t be included in their data. At whatever population size becomes mostly Democrat run that’s where they’ll collect their data.

 

[Yoused]

Still not a good look for those on the right who target SF specifically for “the future of a Democrat America” propaganda.

The question is, will SFPD, starring Harry Callahan, be ready to handle a potential WTO-Seattle-scale protest, if such were to develop?

 

[Herdfan]

SF has been working on that independent of and way before APEC.

But yes, with the leaders of 21 APEC countries coming into SF, and wanting to offer a great experience for them with the goal of fostering future trade relationships with SF, certainly accelerated that. Is the media really getting huffed up about that? Mice nuts.

If I was still in grade school I'd muster up an oversized "duuuuuh" in concert with one of my very best eye-rolls.

But if you had to live with it day in and day out, would you not be pissed that they could have cleaned it up long ago but simply chose not to until some foreign leaders came to town?

 

[Citysnaps]

...that they could have cleaned it up long ago but simply chose not to until some foreign leaders came to town?

Where to start... Could have? And simply chose not to? Really? Simply by snapping their fingers and saying "Let's Do it!" ?

SFPD is down somewhere between 300 - 500 sworn officers, despite massive recruiting efforts and offering a *starting* salary of $103,000/yr with generous benefits and retirement packages. It's tough to recruit as housing prices and rents are astronomical in SF and surrounding areas.

Mental health and homelessness... You just can't wish that away if people refuse help. A large part of the problem is Fentanyl. 50x stronger than heroin, much more addictive, cheap, and plentiful. New programs are being tried that hopefully prove fruitful. People can't simply be bussed away and made someone else's problem, like Florida and Texas do.

The pandemic and the resulting loss of retail businesses has also had a toll.

I was up in San Francisco last Saturday and it's not as bad and scary as many people believe it is. SF has a long way to go, but to trivialize the problem suggesting it was a mere choice to not do anything is just wrong.

 

[Herdfan]

Where to start... Could have? And simply chose not to? Really? Simply by snapping their fingers and saying "Let's Do it!" ?

Well that is kind of what it looks like. I guess my point it they showed the ability to do it, so why did they wait until foreign leaders were coming? That is a slap in the face to the citizens that says these people are more important that you are.

 

[Citysnaps]

Well that is kind of what it looks like. I guess my point it they showed the ability to do it, so why did they wait until foreign leaders were coming? That is a slap in the face to the citizens that says these people are more important that you are.

I think you're focusing on visible decorations installed for the benefit of APEC leaders. Rather than the real work solving the problem that has been going on and flys below the radar

The smallish city I grew up in did the same thing for the 4th of July parade and rodeo.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I think you're focusing on visible decorations installed for the benefit of APEC leaders. Rather than the real work solving the problem that has been going on and flys below the radar

The smallish city I grew up in did the same thing for the 4th of July parade and rodeo.

I think there is a middle ground here. While they may not have been able to do it years ago, even Newsom (almost proudly) admitted that they accelerated cleanup efforts for this event. And it’s not just decorations. Homeless and their encampments have been completely removed from the streets in some areas and the streets and buildings hosed down and scrubbed. The real test will be what happens after this events ends and both SF residents and the media will be monitoring it closely.

 

[Citysnaps]

I think there is a middle ground here. While they may not have been able to do it years ago, even Newsom (almost proudly) admitted that they accelerated cleanup efforts for this event.

Yes but that's mostly transient and not permanent. And expected for when 21 country leaders visit the City. I do the same thing when we have guests coming over to our house. After a week has past, things more or less return to normal.

I suspect at the City level repetitive sprucing up is a matter of resources and stretched thin budgets, competing with more pressing and impactful issues.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Yes but that's mostly transient and not permanent. And expected for when 21 country leaders visit the City. I do the same thing when we have guests coming over to our house. After a week has past, things more or less return to normal.

I suspect at the City level repetitive sprucing up is a matter of resources and stretched thin budgets, competing with more pressing and impactful issues.

But in parts of SF what has become normal isn't good. I expect residents of SF to be pissed off if things return to that normal.

I can't think of any other issue for SF that is more pressing than the cost of living, homeless, crime, and open drug usage and those are all in one way or another connected.

 

[Citysnaps]

But in parts of SF what has become normal isn't good. I expect residents of SF to be pissed off if things return to that normal.

I can't think of any other issue for SF that is more pressing than the cost of living, homeless, crime, and open drug usage and those are all in one way or another connected.

Yeah, that's a huge problem. Rising housing costs (purchase and rent) due to tech gentrification starting 10-12 years ago have pushed many people out of SF (including around 40 of my photography/artist friends). Businesses too, helped along with the three year pandemic and huge drops in sales. Add in cheap/plentiful Fentanyl and resulting addictions and homelessness, mental health issues, and it's a very sorry situation.

Unfortunately City income/revenues/resources also suffer. If there were infinite City revenues it would be an easier problem to deal with. If there were another 500 SFPD cops on the force, that would help a ton. But even offering $103,000/yr for rookie cops it's just not happening as fast as needed. Thus police response times and followups are hugely affected.

However, with the above as a given, *visually* it's not as bad as the media tends to portray.