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Home Front: Culture Wars
San Francisco Fights Over Its Character
2006-12-09
SAN FRANCISCO Dec 8, 2006 (AP)— An effort to clean up some of the city's seedier neighborhoods and rid the streets of junkies, hookers and runaways has run headlong into San Francisco's free-to-be-who-you-are ethos.

Nearly four decades after the Summer of Love, residents and merchants frustrated with what they regard as blight are turning to the city for help or taking revitalization into their own hands.
I can't imagine why.
But other residents of the Tenderloin district and Haight-Ashbury contend a crackdown would rob their neighborhoods of their identity and violate everything San Francisco stands for.
Posted by:.com

#16  The Tenderloin looks a lot like the Bowrey in NYC.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-12-09 22:42  

#15  I'm still ROFLMAO over the term "Tenderloin District". Completely sums up my (red-state, southern) impression of the looniest city in the US, lol!
Posted by: BA   2006-12-09 21:50  

#14  Never been to Portland DB. Couldn't say on that one.
Posted by: Thoth   2006-12-09 20:38  

#13  Worked and lived in downtown SF for 15 years. I hate the place with a passion. While there are many nice parts, mostly it's an open gutter of a city. A couple of districts like Bernal Heights and the Marina hardly makeup for all of the districts like Hunters Point, The Mission, the Tenderloin, the Lower Haight; I could go on. The sheer volume of drunks, drug addicts, and vagrants in SF is nothing short of staggering. They're, what, 20% of the population.
Posted by: Secret Master   2006-12-09 20:16  

#12  Howdy, Thoth! Sen de a note when you get a chance. I lived and worked in San Francisco in 1982 for a short time. I liked it OK. I lived and worked in Portland, Oregon in 1990. I LOVED it. Have to disagree with ya Thoth, Portland is the most beautiful large city in the US>
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2006-12-09 19:40  

#11  I knew if I left this story in the hopper .com would jump all over it ...

Like so much uncovered meat.

By far the most beautiful large city in the U.S.

An easy case to argue, especially since it routinely places among the top ten tourist destinations in the entire world. It is also restaurant heaven. Northern California has three of the top thirteen finest restaurants in the entire world, all within driving distance of SF. While the antics of its politicians leave much to be desired, the scenic beauty and quality of life in the Bay Area is unbeatable. It is one of the world's largest and safest natural harbors. The view from Mount Diablo is rivaled only by Mount Kilamanjaro (and better than Everest). The Central Valley supplies 50% of the produce consumed in the USA. Silicon Valley remains the technological engine of the entire world and California's economy usually places among the world's top ten nations.

We must be doing something right. Why else would so many people want to live here?
Posted by: Zenster   2006-12-09 19:39  

#10  I'm from San Jose, but spent years working in San Francisco. By far the most beautiful large city in the U.S., and the most quirky. I've given my contributions to that as well, and have slept in Golden Gate park after getting stoned off my rocker a few times. Enough is enough though. Most San Franciscans aren't like the extremists you see on the news all the time. The extremists are the loudest though. I guess, kind of like how it is with Muslims. Don't know. If they clean it up, kudos to them!
Posted by: Thoth   2006-12-09 19:19  

#9  When the Big One happens, I hope it swallows that place whole...
Posted by: tu3031   2006-12-09 18:23  

#8  San Francisco has completely mainstream values. At least that's what Nancy Pelosi and the MSM keep telling us.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-12-09 18:04  

#7  In hollyweed at a dinner party just before the first election of the Governator I met a leftist lady who supported him. I asks why... "Because he might get the bums who piss on my front wall off the street!"

So hollyweed get's that much. What the hell is wrong with SanFran?
Posted by: 3dc   2006-12-09 09:43  

#6  Only an Ultra Right Wing Conservative would object to street people defecating outside their ice cream shop don't ya know.

and the state health inspector.

On a side note, recalling that SF is a sanctuary city, why does anyone have a door on their house or apartment? I mean, if you really support he notion of open borders and an open society, you should demonstrate that by open portals [formerly known as doors] on all buildings. That should end the sight of people living on and urinating in the street. Issue solved.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2006-12-09 08:56  

#5  Only an Ultra Right Wing Conservative would object to street people defecating outside their ice cream shop don't ya know.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2006-12-09 08:32  

#4  Elected officials in San Francisco know they must tread lightly to avoid offending people's ultraliberal sensibilities.

So, I suppose they would tread equally lightly to avoid offending ultraconservative sensibilities? Hello, hypocrisy?
Posted by: gromky   2006-12-09 05:25  

#3  I knew if I left this story in the hopper .com would jump all over it ...
Posted by: Steve White   2006-12-09 01:32  

#2  Joey Cain ... complained that those who would drive the vagrants from the neighborhood are turning their backs on the Haight's "historic obligation" to shelter the downtrodden.

Perhaps Joey and his kind could take them under their wing and offer them a room in their house to live in. For free.

Build them a shelter. If that isn't enough, change the laws to get them help for whatever mental condition they have that makes them think living out in the elements and the constant fear of getting shanked is better than working 8-5 to pay for shelter, getting healthcare benefits, and having a computer with a high-speed internet connection.
Posted by: gorb   2006-12-09 00:56  

#1  Aw, come on, just when I've convinced al Qaeda to set off their dirty bombs in the city by the bay.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-12-09 00:43  

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